Event #11, the $5000 No Limit Holdem Shootout, at the 2008 World Series of Poker would end with a victory by Phillip Tom, who has been an avid participant at this year’s WSOP, having finished in 30th place at the $5000 Limit/No Limit Holdem Event that took place last week. As the tournament was a shootout, Phillip Tom had to best two tables before making it to the final table, where each player would begin with $1,000,000 in chips.
These six players would fight it out at the final table:
Phillip Tom from
Greg Mueller from
Leo Wolpert from
Sirous Jamshidi from
Timothy West from
Thomas Roupe from
Final table play began quite slowly, with most players acting cautiously, wary of unnecessarily tangling with the others. As such it would take three and a half hours of play before anyone was eliminated.
Thomas Roupe was the first to fall at the final table. His chip stack had been nearly annihilated when he pushed all-in with pocket eights on a flop of [7d][3h][3s] when his opponent held pocket nines. With less than 40,000 in chips, Roupe had no choice but to move all-in and hope for the best. His [10s][7s] was no match for the [Ah][Kh] of Leo Wolpert and Thomas Roupe would exit in sixth place, richer by $38,070.
The next to fall would be Timothy West, this elimination occurring shortly after Roupe’s. Timothy West had been playing cautiously throughout the day and saw his stack dwindle away as time wore on. West made his move while holding pocket nines and received one caller in Leo Wolpert. To West’s dismay Wolpert held pocket kings, an advantage that the pocket nines of West could not overcome. Timothy West’s fifth place finish was rewarded with $63,450.
Sirous Jamshidi encountered a most foul run of luck that would run him all the way to the rail. Jamshidi had a decently sized stack when his pocket aces got overcome by the pocket kings of Phillip Tom. The two would tangle again when Jamshidi pushed all-in, Jamshidi holding pocket Jacks and Tom holding pocket aces. This time the pocket aces would not be overcome and Jamshidi was gone in fourth place, having won $118,440.
Play slowed down after Jamshidi’s elimination, but when his stack took a beating, Leo Wolpert decided the time had come to move all-in. Greg Mueller called the all-in bet and showed his K-2. Wolpert was only holding K-3 making it likely the pot would be split by the two hands. The flop fell A-Q-8 and the turn fell 5m making it even more likely that Wolpert and Mueller would split the pot. Instead of a split pot, Mueller won the hand when a 2 landed on the river. Leo Wolpert finished in third place, earning $187,812.
Phillip Tom and Greg Mueller would now fight for the title in heads-up play, with Tom starting with a slight chip advantage. The slight chip advantage would grow larger when Tom won a huge pot four hands into heads-up play. The tournament would not last much longer, and the final hand began with both players checking the flop of [Jh][9d][3c]. The [5h] fell on the turn and the action began. Tom tossed out a bet, which Mueller responded to by making a raise. Tom reraised Mueller and if Mueller decided to make the call his tournament life would be at risk. Mueller did indeed make the call, holding top pair with his [Js][8d]. However, Tom showed that he had him beat with top pair top kicker when he flipped over [Ad][Jc]. The river card of [Kd] was no help to Mueller. Phillip Tom had won Event #11 and earned the WSOP bracelet and the first place prize money of $477,900. Greg Mueller earned $298,638 for his runner-up performance..
