TOURNAMENT HEADLINES
Alexander the
Great
Alexander
Anter Wins $1,500 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em Contest
Anter Becomes
First Scandinavian Champion at 2011 WSOP
Anter Wins
Final Hand with Royal Flush
Lucky
Sevens: New Champion Rakes-In Monster $777,928
Pot
Full House at
the 2011 WSOP -- Tournament Attendance Currently on an All-Time Record Pace
56 Gold
Bracelets Won – Only Two More Events Still to Go
OVERVIEW
It took 42
days. It took 56 events. It took over a million poker hands. But it finally
happened.
A
Scandinavian poker player finally won a gold bracelet at the 2011 World Series
of Poker.
Alexander
Anter, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Uppsala, Sweden, won the
most recent competition at the 2011 World Series of Poker. Anter’s first major tournament victory came
in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship, officially classified as
Event #56 on this year’s WSOP schedule.
Anter
overcame a monster-sized field totaling 3,389 players en route to a thrilling victory. Played from start to finish, the tournament
took five days.
The mystery
surrounding Anter’s victory is not that he managed to win his first gold
bracelet and a staggering amount of prize money -- $777,928 to be exact. The real surprise was that it took so long
for a Scandinavian poker champion to finally emerge at this year’s WSOP.
Scandinavian
poker players – identified as those from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden –
have baked themselves into the upper crust of the poker world. Per capita, players from Northern Europe
have, in general, outperformed players from every other region of the
world. Several Scandinavians have won
WSOP gold bracelets previously – most notably 2008 world champion Peter Eastgate,
from Denmark. But an odd thing happened
this year. The Scandinavians seemed to
disappear.
To be clear,
a few players from Anter’s region did come close to victory. But there’s little doubt 2011 has been a down
year for Scandinavians – at least until July 8th, when Anter
ultimately prevailed, reminding everyone once again of the seismic skill set of
so many great players from Northern Europe.
For a
comprehensive recap of Event #56, please visit the WSOP.com tournament portal
page HERE.
EVENT #56 CHAMPION – ALEXANDER ANTER
The 2011
World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em champion is Alexander
Anter, from Uppsala, Sweden.
Anter is also
known as Hasan Anter, or Hasan Alexander Anter.
Anter is a
22-year-old semi-professional poker player.
He plays many hours and says he may turn pro after this win. But at the time of his victory, he was also a
full-time college student.
Anter was
born in the same town where he now lives – Uppsala, Sweden. It’s the fourth-largest city in Sweden and is
located about 50 miles north of Stockholm, the nation’s capital.
Anter is also
a college student. He is studying
website development.
Anter started
playing poker when he was 16-years-old.
Anter plays a
lot of online poker. He also plays in
live games in several local clubs. While
Sweden does not have full-fledged casinos, there are a number of small private
cardrooms with poker games.
This was the
first year Anter has attended the WSOP.
This was the
second tournament Anter has entered at the WSOP. It was also his first time to cash.
Anter came to
Las Vegas expecting to play in the WSOP Main Event Championship. However, he decided to enter a few of the
lesser buy-in tournaments. He busted out
of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, leaving this event as his
last and only shot at a victory prior to playing the Main Event.
Anter
acknowledged later that his goal in this tournament was simply to cash. He did far more than that.
For his
victory, Anter collected $777,928 for first place.
According to
official records, Anter now has 1 win, 1 final table appearance and 1
in-the-money finish at the WSOP.
Anter currently
has $777,928 in career WSOP winnings.
Anter is to be
classified as a semi-professional poker player (in WSOP records and stats).
WINNER INTERVIEW:
On how he got started in poker:
“Some friends started
to play at home games and they showed me the game. I learned it and I was hooked right away. I was a total fish back then and I went back
to the game and played with them every week and gave them my money. Then I started to read some books and I
started to win after that. I read more
books and I read more books and I started to play online and at some clubs in
Sweden. I played more and more and more.
I learned the game when I was around
16-years-old, six years ago, but played seriously and was living on it since
four years ago.”
On if he really expected to win at his
first-ever World Series of poker:
“No, I didn’t expect
to win. I was happy to make the money. My goal was to make the money in the Main
Event. I came for the Main Event. I didn’t even plan to play this, so this is a
big surprise.”
On his thoughts when he lost the chip
lead playing heads-up:
“Keep playing like I
would always do and not break down. Just
trying to play good poker and make good decisions. I was all in with bluffs a couple of times and
I was lucky he didn’t call it.”
On what it means to win a gold
bracelet:
“It’s a big honor. Now, I can finally show my parents that I’m a
poker player and maybe they won’t yell at me to be studying.”
On what he plans to do with the $777,928
in prize money:
“It’s my bankroll. I’m going to play more poker so you guys get a
chance to win it back.”
THE FINAL TABLE
The official
final table was comprised of the top nine finishers.
The final
table contained no former gold bracelet winners, which guaranteed a first-time
champion.
Four
different nations were represented at the final table – including Australia (1
player), France (1 player), Sweden (1 player) and the United States (6
players).
The runner up
was Nemer Haddad, from Farmington Hills, MI.
He received a consolation prize amounting to $479,521.
Final table
play began on a Thursday afternoon at 8:00 pm.
Played concluded about 9 hours later (playing time wise) at 5 pm on the
following day. The players were given a
break due to the so-called hard-stop rule, which allows a maximum of about 12
playing hours each day/night.
The Amazon
Room hosted the start of the Main Event Championship, Day 1-A (and Day 1-B)
which coincided on the same day. The
final table stage was the press box feature table.
OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS
The top 342
finishers collected prize money.
Aside from
those who made it to the final table, among those who cashed in this tournament
were former gold bracelet winners – Gavin Smith (12th), Jordan Smith
(71st), Dan Kelly (117th), Ken Aldridge (209th),
Brett Jungblut (266th), Tom McEvoy (302nd), David “the
Dragon” Pham (309th) and Lisa Hamilton (325th).
Tournament results
are to be included in all official WSOP records. Results are also to be included in the 2011
WSOP “Player of the Year” race.
“WSOP Player
of the Year” standings can be found at WSOP.com HERE.
ODDS AND ENDS
This tournament
attracted 3,389 entries.
There were
149 female entrants, which represented 4.4 percent of the field.
The average
age of all entrants was 35.9 years.
This is the 947th
gold bracelet awarded in World Series of Poker history. This figure includes every official WSOP
event ever played, including tournaments during the early years when there were
no actual gold bracelets awarded. It
also includes the 16 gold bracelets awarded to date at WSOP Europe (2007-2010). Moreover for the first time ever, one gold
bracelet was awarded for this year’s winner of the WSOP Circuit National
Championship.
The official
WSOP gold bracelet ceremony takes place on the day following the winner’s
victory (or some hours later when the tournament ends very late). 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. The
ceremony usually starts around 2:20 p.m.
The national anthem of the winner’s nation is played. The entire presentation is open to the public
and media. Video and photography is
permitted by both the public and members of the media.
Anter’s gold
bracelet ceremony will take place on Sunday, June 10th.
2011 WSOP STATISTICS
Through the conclusion
of Event #56 the 2011 WSOP has attracted 68,455 combined total entries. $125,813,610 in prize money has been awarded to
winners.
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of nationality of gold bracelet
winners has been:
United States
(35)
Canada (5)
Ukraine (4)
France (4)
Great Britain
(3)
Russia (3)
Brazil (1)
Pakistan (1)
Sweden (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the national origin (birthplace) of winners has
been:
United States
(31)
Canada (5)
Ukraine (4)
France (4)
Great Britain
(3)
Russia (3)
Israel (1)
Honduras (1)
Indonesia (1)
Germany (1)
Brazil (1)
Pakistan (1)
Sweden (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the home-states of (American) winners have been:
California (7)
New York (6)
Nevada (5)
Texas (3)
Florida (2)
Illinois (2)
Connecticut
(2)
New Jersey
(1)
Tennessee (1)
Indiana (1)
Maryland (1)
Virginia (1)
Michigan (1)
North Dakota
(1)
Washington
(1)
Ohio (1)
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the breakdown of professional poker players to
semi-pros and amateurs who won gold bracelets has been:
Professional Players
(43): Jake
Cody, Cheech Barbaro, Eugene Katchalov, Allen Bari, Harrison Wilder, Matt
Perrins, Sean Getzwiller, Viacheslav Zhukov, David Diaz, Andrew Badecker, Tyler
Bonkowski, Brian Rast (2 wins), John Juanda, Aaron Steury, Darren Woods, Jason
Somerville, Bertrand Grospellier, John Monnette, Elie Payon, Mark Radoja, Chris Viox, Dan Idema, Andy Frankenberger, Chris Lee, Sam
Stein, Mark Schmid, Jason Mercier, Mikhail Lakhitov, Fabrice Soulier, Mitch
Schock, Matt Jarvis, Justin Pechie, Ben Lamb, Rep Porter, Andre Akkari, Joe
Ebanks, Lenny Martin, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Antonin Teisseire, Matt
Matros, Marsha Wolak, Maxim Lykov
Semi-Pros (6): Sean R. Drake, Amir Lehavot, Oleksii Kovalchuk,
Eric Rosawig, Arkadiy Tsinis, Alexander
Anter
Amateurs
(7): Geffrey Klein, Foster Hays, James
Hess, Kirk Caldwell, Ken Griffin, Owais Ahmed, David Singontiko
Since
tracking first started in 2005, this year’s WSOP has the greatest disparity of
professionals winning over semi-pros and amateurs than any year recorded, so
far – with 49 out of 56 events being won by pros or semi-pros.
Through the
conclusion of this tournament, the victories of 12 of the 56 winners (22
percent) marked the first time the new champion had ever cashed at the WSOP.
Every WSOP
held over the past 11 years has included at least one multiple gold bracelet
champion (meaning two or more wins within the same year). The last year the WSOP was comprised
exclusively of single-event winners was back in 1999. The record for most multiple gold bracelet
winners within a single year was in 2009, when five players managed to win two
or more titles. Brian Rast’s victory in
two tournaments – Events #15 and #55 -- means the multi-gold bracelet streak
will continue for at least another year.
The streak of
consecutive male WSOP gold bracelet winners is currently at 212 consecutive
events. Aside from the annual Ladies
Poker Championship, the last female player to win a WSOP tournament open to
both sexes was Vanessa Selbst, in 2008.
The longest “cold” streak for female players occurred between years 1982
and 1996, when 221 consecutive open events passed without a female champion.
The highest
finish by any female (open events) at this year’s WSOP was by two players. Maria Ho finished second ($5,000 buy-in
No-Limit Hold’em). Kim Nguyen also
finished as the runner up ($1,500 buy-in Six-Handed Limit Hold’em).
The highest
finish by any defending champion at this year’s WSOP was by David Baker, who
after winning the previous $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball
World Championship finished in sixth place in defense of his title.
Reigning
world poker champions rarely perform well the following year after their
victory. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was the
last world champion to win a gold bracelet the next year, which happened in
2001. Perhaps it’s due to the increasing
size of the fields. But there’s also
great pressure on the champions to do well.
What follows is a list of the only world champions in history to win a gold
bracelet after winning the championship during the previous year:
Johnny Moss
(1975)
Doyle Brunson
(1977)
Bobby Baldwin
(1979)
Stu Ungar
(1981)
Johnny Chan
(1988)
Hamid
Dastmalchi (1993)
Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson (2001)
By contrast,
players who make it to the final table of the Main Event Championship (November
Nine) one year tend to do quite well in subsequent WSOP years. Consider that last year, three former Main
Event finalists won gold bracelets – Eric Buchman, Tex Barch, and Scott
Montgomery. This year, Matt Jarvis won
his first gold bracelet one year after making it to the November Nine in 2010.
New
tournament records set at the 2011 WSOP (to date):
Biggest
Heads-Up tournament prize pool in history ($3,040,000) – Event #2
Largest
live Omaha High-Low Split Tournament in history (925 entries) – Event #3
Largest
live Six-Handed tournament in poker history (1,920 entries) – Event #10
Biggest
Deuce-to-Seven tournament prize pool in history ($1,184,400) – Event #16
Largest
live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3157 entries) – Event #18
Largest
live $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in history with single day start
(3175 entries) – Event #20
Largest
consecutive-days starting field sizes in poker history (combined 6,332 entries)
– Event #18 and Event #20
Largest
live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history (1,071 entries) – Event #22
Largest
Mixed-Game (Eight-Game Mix) in poker history (489 entries) – Event #23
Largest
Seniors tournament in poker history (3,752 entries) – Event #30
Biggest
Seniors No-Limit Hold’em championship prize pool in history ($3,376,800) –
Event #30
Largest
single-day live tournament start in poker history (3,752 entries) – Event #30
Largest consecutive-days starting field
sizes in poker history (combined 6,580 entries) – Event #30/Event #32 (broke
Event #18/Event #20 record from earlier in 2011 WSOP)
Largest four-consecutive days field sizes in poker history
(2,500+3,752+2,828+3,144 =12,224 entries) -- Events 28, 30, 32, 34, June 16-19,
2011
Largest Mixed Pot-Limit tournament in history (606 entries) – Event
#39
Biggest Pot-Limit Omaha prize pool in live poker history
($3,393,400) – Event #42
New player
records set at the 2011 WSOP (to date):
The
35-year span between Artie Cobb’s first cash in this event (1976) and most
recent cash in the same event (2011) represents the longest time span in WSOP
history. He accomplished this in
Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split (Event #25).
Phil
Hellmuth added to his record as the individual all-time leader in cashes (84)
and final table appearances (43).
Howard
“Tahoe” Andrew added to his record as the player with the longest consecutive
streak of WSOP appearances (entering at least one event), currently at 38 years
and counting (1974 to present).
First
player in history with three second-place finishes in a single year – Phil
Hellmuth
RAISING AWARENESS: BAD BEAT ON CANCER AND THE WSOP
Bad Beat on
Cancer was created in 2003 by Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst as an easy and fun way
for poker players to donate to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It all began when Chris Moneymaker pledged 1
percent of his 2003 Main Event winnings and went on to capture the championship,
contributing $25,000 when he was awarded the $2.500,000 first- place prize. By taking the pledge, wearing the patch, and
joining ‘Team 1%’, players can feel good supporting a cause that only benefits
when they win. As the official charity
of the WSOP, pledges simply indicate to the payouts staff that they are
donating 1 percent of their winnings, and the funds are automatically withheld.
A tax receipt is generated and sent to
their mailing address. Several high
profile professionals have made ‘life pledges’ of 1 percent of all their
winnings -- including Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Lee Childs, Paul Wasicka,
Andy Bloch, Dennis Phillips, and others. Since 2003, the initiative has raised over $3,500,000
for cancer prevention research, education, and community outreach programs. Players can pick up a patch and join Team 1%
by stopping by the Bad Beat on Cancer booth, located at the 2011 WSOP opposite
the Amazon Room in the concourse. The Nevada Cancer Institute based in Las Vegas
is a benefiting charity from the Bad Beat on Cancer.
Note:
Various categories and statistics will be updated with each gold
bracelet event as they are completed.