HIGH-FIVE: ENGLAND
Is 2010 the English Series of Poker?

Steve Jelinek Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event 41

English Poker Pro Collects $245,871 in Prize Money

Jelinek Becomes Fifth British Winner in 2010 – Most Ever for Any Non-U.S. Nation

British Player Scoops Victory in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split

For the tournament portal page for this event, including official results click HERE.

OVERVIEW

Steve Jelinek was the winner of the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker.  This marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory, following three previous cashes here in Las Vegas.  Jelinek earned a breakthrough victory and collected $245,871 in prize money.

Jelinek is from Birmingham, UK.  He became the fifth British player to win a gold bracelet this year, following previous victories by Praz Bansi, James Dempsey, Richard Ashby, and Mike Ellis.  With Jelinek’s win in this event, players from Great Britain have won more gold bracelets in 2010 than any other nation within a single year at the WSOP, other than the host nation United States.

The runner up was John Gottlieb, from Houston, TX.  The second-place consolation prize in this tournament amounted to a very respectable $151,884.

The top 81 finishers collected prize money.  Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Phil Hellmuth (7th), Barry Greenstein (12th), Richard Austin (22nd), Mike Matusow (49th), and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (75th).

1989 World Champion Phil Hellmuth added to his lofty status as the WSOP’s premier achiever.  He cashed for the 78th time at the WSOP, which ranks first on the all-time cashes list.  He remains 10 in-the-money finishes ahead of Men “the Master” Nguyen, who holds second-place.  Hellmuth also made his 41st career final table appearance.  This ranks first in the all-time rankings -- two ahead of Men “the Master” Nguyen and three ahead of T.J. Cloutier.

THE CHAMPION – STEVE JELINEK

The $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split champion (Event #41) is Steve Jelinek, from Birmingham, England.

Jelinek is 39 years old.  He will turn 40 in September.  

Jelinek grew up in the industrial Midlands of Great Britain.

Jelinek is a professional poker player.  He has been playing full-time for about two years.

Jelinek is a graduate of the University of Manchester.

Prior to playing poker for a living Jelinek worked as an IT manager.  Among the companies he worked for longest was Kellogg’s (cereal) for seven years.

Jelinek cashed for the first time at the WSOP back in 2005.

Jelinek has more than 50 cashes at major tournaments held throughout Europe and Great Britain.  Prior to this win, his best showing was a $200,000+ cash at a European Poker Tour championship in 2007.

Jelinek collected $245,871 for first place.  He was presented with his first WSOP gold bracelet.

According to official records, Steve Jelinek now has one win, two final table appearances, and four cashes at the WSOP.  His career WSOP earnings now total $290,727.

Perhaps most impressive about Jelinek’s feat was that he made it to the final table of this same event last year.  Jelinek finished sixth in 2009.

WINNER QUOTES

On coming in sixth place and first place in this event over the past two years:  “I have not quite worked it out yet.  There is another tournament like this tomorrow.  If I do well in that, I may start to believe I can play it myself.”

On his game strategy:  “I tend to think the game is less about pre-flop action like in Hold’em.  I think it is about being post-flop aggressive and adjusting to behavior and about thinking about bullying the opposition.  It is a much different game than No-Limit Hold’em.”

On being the fifth English player to win a gold bracelet in 2010:  “I’m not really surprised.  There are a great number of very fine players from the UK.  I am part of the old school.  But these new young players, so many of them are doing quite well.  I am not surprised at all.  Of course, I take great pride in being English – but it does not mean I am anti-everyone else.”

On what winning his first gold bracelet means:  “It’s not quite sunk it yet.  But you would not know how much this means to me because I’ve been a professional for two-and-a-half years and a serious player for seven.  I’ve been down on my luck, maybe through poor play, maybe through a bit of mismanagement, or picking the wrong games.  My bankroll was down a bit.  I decided to come to the WSOP this year and try and get a gold bracelet to try and continue my poker career and that’s what it means to me – not only to win the biggest prize in poker, in the best setting, in the best tournaments, against the best players – but to be able to continue my poker career as a winner.”

More on what the victory means:  “There are so many great players who have not won a gold bracelet, including some of my friends who have helped me.  To win this gold bracelet is a great honor.”

THE FINAL TABLE

The final table included only one former WSOP gold bracelet winner – Phil Hellmuth, Jr.  Once he was eliminated in seventh place, a first-time winner was guaranteed.

The final table began nine-handed.

The final table included players from three different nations: Canada, Great Britain, and the United States.

The runner up was John Gottlieb, from Houston, TX, who collected second place prize money of $151,884.

The third-place finisher was Anders Taylor, from Las Vegas, NV.  He cashed for the fourth time this year and the seventh time in the last two year with this, his highest WSOP finish, to date.  Taylor collected $97,913.

The fourth-place finisher was Michael Chappus, from Windsor, Ontario (Canada).   He collected $71,728.

The fifth-place finisher was Ben Lamb, from Las Vegas, NV.  He cashed for the seventh time at the WSOP, which includes his best finish in last year’s Main Event, when he finished 14th.  Fifth place paid $53,319.

The sixth-place finisher was Mandy Thomas, from Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada).  This was her first time to cash at the WSOP, which paid $40,169.

The seventh-place finisher was 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, from Palo Alto, CA.  A 12th WSOP victory for Hellmuth remains elusive, especially in non-Hold’em games.  Had Hellmuth won this tournament, it would have been his first non-Hold’em career victory.  All gold bracelet wins were in Hold’em tournaments.  Hellmuth collected $30,633 for seventh place.

The eighth-place finisher was Ryan Karp, from West Chester, PA.  This was his first time to cash in a WSOP tournament, which paid $23,635.

The ninth-place finisher was Jeffrey Baker, from Goleta, CA.  This was his first time to cash at the WSOP, which paid $18,432.

The final table began at 5 pm and ended at 3:10 am, for a duration of nine hours and 10 minutes.

OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS

The top 81 finishers collected prize money.  Former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included – Phil Hellmuth (7th), Barry Greenstein (12th), Richard Austin (22nd), Mike Matusow (49th), and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (75th).

Phil Hellmuth cashed for the 78th time at the WSOP, which ranks first on the all-time cashes list.  He remains 10 in-the-money finishes ahead of Men “the Master” Nguyen, who holds second-place.

Phil Hellmuth made his 41st career final table appearance.  This ranks first on the all-time rankings, two ahead of Men “the Master” Nguyen and three ahead of T.J. Cloutier.

Tony Cousineau cashed in 14th place.  He added to his unparalleled moniker as the “Buffalo Bills of Poker,” by finishing in-the-money again, yet remains without a WSOP gold bracelet victory.  Cousineau continued to put distance between himself and the rest of the poker world, by achieving his 45th career cash – with no wins.  Cousineau currently ranks in 16th place on the all-time cashes list.

Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Barry Greenstein cashed for the first time this year.  He now has 45 cashes, which ties him with Tony Cousineau (see above) for 14th place on the all-time list.

2000 world poker champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson cashed for the 62nd time, which currently ranks third on the all-time list – behind Phil Hellmuth and Men ‘the Master” Nguyen.

The defending champion was Brandon Cantu, from Las Vegas, NV.  He entered this year’s tournament but did not cash.

ODDS AND ENDS

Tournament attendance increased from 762 entries last year to 847 entrants in 2010.  This represents an increase of 11 percent.

This was the largest live Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split tournament in poker history.

This is the 869th gold bracelet event in World Series of Poker history.  Note:  This figure includes every official WSOP event played, including tournaments during the early years when there were no actual gold bracelets awarded.  It also includes the 11 gold bracelets awarded to date at WSOP Europe.

The official WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s victory (or some hours later when the tournament runs past midnight).  The ceremony takes place inside The Pavilion, which is the expansive main tournament room hosting all noon starts this year.  The ceremony begins at the conclusion of the first break of the noon tournament, usually around 2:20 pm.  The national anthem of the winner’s nation is played.  The entire presentation is open to public and media.  Video and photography are permitted by both public and members of the media.

Jelinek requested that the national anthem of Great Britain, “God Save the Queen,” be played at his WSOP gold bracelet ceremony, held Friday June 26th, 2010.

EVENT HISTORY

Omaha High-Low Split has predominantly been a limit game since it was first introduced into most cardrooms during the early 1980s.  However, about five years ago online poker sites began offering a new game called Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split, which sparked broader interest in the game.  Pot-Limit Omaha High-Slow Split made its debut at the 2007 WSOP.

During the first two years, the Pot-Limit Omaha High-Slow Split tournament had a buy-in of $1,500. Last year and this year, there have been two Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split events, one at the $5,000 level and this tournament at the $1,500 level.

TOURNAMENT PLAY

The tournament was played over three consecutive days, from June 21-24, 2010.

There were 847 entries.  The total prize pool amounted to $1,143,450.  The top 81 finishers collected prize money.

2010 WSOP STATISTICS

Tournament attendance is up significantly from this same point last year.  Last year, through 41 events, there were 39,616 entries.  Thus far this year, there have been 43,832 total entries, an increase of 12.8 percent.

Through the conclusion of Event #41, the nationalities of gold bracelet winners have been:

United States (27)
Great Britain (5)
Canada (4)
Hungary (2)
New Zealand (1)
France (1)
Russia (1)

Through the conclusion of Event #41, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has been:

United States (20)
Great Britain (5)
Canada (4)
Vietnam (2)
China (2)
Hungary (2)
New Zealand (1)
France (1)
Lebanon (1)
Russia (1)
Mexico (1)
Bangladesh (1)

Through the conclusion of Event #41, the ratio of professional poker players to semi-pros and amateurs who won gold bracelets is as follows:

Professional Players (28):  Michael Chow, Michael Mizrachi, Praz Bansi, Josh Tieman, Peter Gelencser, James Dempsey, Men “the Master” Nguyen, Matt Matros, Yan R. Chen, Steve Gee, Carter Phillips, Jason DeWitt, Eric Buchman, David Baker, Richard Ashby, Dutch Boyd, Sammy Farha, David Warga, Will Haydon, Matt Keikoan, Mike Ellis, Luis Velador, Ayaz Mahmood, Phil Ivey, Luigi Kwaysser, Scott Montgomery, Steven Kelly, Steve Jelinek

Semi-Pros (5):  Frank Kassela, Tex Barch, Miguel Proulx, Jeffrey Papola, Frank Kassela

Amateurs (8):  Duc Pham, Aadam Daya, Pascal LeFrancois, Simon Watt, Vanessa Hellebuyck, Jeff Tebben, Konstantin Puchkov, Harold Angle

Through the conclusion of Event #41, here is the list of repeat WSOP gold bracelet winners:

Praz Bansi
Men “the Master” Nguyen
Russ “Dutch” Boyd
Sammy Farha
David Warga (* his first WSOP win was in a non-open event)
Matt Keikoan
Luis Velador
Phil Ivey
Frank Kassela (two wins this year)

Through the conclusion of 2001 World Series of Poker -- Event #41:

Youngest Winner – Steven Kelly (21)
Oldest Winner – Harold Angle (78)
Female Winners (open events) – None
Multiple-Event Winners (this year) – Frank Kassela