WSOP Tournament Results.
WSOP Tournament Reports.
WSOP Tournament Event #4,
Day Three, Final Results.
Rio Hotel Casino, Las Vegas NV.

World Series of Poker Report
and Results.
Kianoush Abolfathi Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet

Iranian-born student now living in Los Angeles
wins biggest limit hold’em prize in history!


Las Vegas, NV – Once upon a time there was a poker game called “Limit Hold’
em.”  It was the most popular game in the land.  Everywhere you went, in each
cardroom and every casino, limit was the game that was played.  Then, the earth
shook and the poker world changed -- perhaps forever.

When ESPN began showing the 2003 World Series of Poker in prime time, millions
of television viewers were exposed to an exciting “new” poker game for the very
first time.  No-limit hold’em, a game previously tucked away inside smoky
backrooms played regularly only by a few dusty old-timers, skyrocketed in
popularity and revolutionized poker and the way it is perceived everywhere.

Limit hold’em has since become poker’s step-child.  Sure, remains widely-played
and is a staple game inside many cardrooms.  But, in tournament poker, no-limit is
king.
Limit poker requires a very different set of skills and strategies to win.  Unlike the
reckless “all in” mentality often present at no-limit tables, limit is a game of
patience and percentages.  For that reason it is not nearly as dramatic to watch,
due to its more methodological qualities.

Nevertheless, the first limit hold’em event at this year’s World Series attracted
one of the largest “limit” fields in poker history.  A whopping 1,068 players put up
$1,500 each for the chance to win a gold bracelet.  One-thousand, and sixty-eight
entries.  Ho-hum.  Just another day at the 2006 World Series of Poker.

The winner was a 29-year-old Iranian-born student from Los Angeles named
Kianoush Abolfathi.  He won $335,289 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.  Abolfathi’
s comeback victory from one of the lowest stacks was as impressive as it was
remarkable.  He started at the final table eighth in the chip count.  It took
Abolfathi just under seven hours to obliterate eight would-be champions en route
to his first major tournament victory.

After two long days of play, the limit final table was set with the nine survivors.  
When the first hand was dealt out, seating positions and chips counts were as
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The first player eliminated was the shortest stack.  In fact, the hand would set the
stage for what would ultimately become “the Kianoush Abolfathi show.”  Matthew
Elsby was dealt pocket aces and got into a raising war with Abolfathi after making
trip kings (holding K-Q) when a third-king fell on the river.  The big pot put
Abolfathi up to third in the chip count, zooming from pretender to contender.  
Elsby earned $32,801 as the first player out.

Lars Hansen is one of many talented Scandinavian players who have fared well at
the WSOP in recent years.  However, he went out next when he lost a series of
pots and had to commit his final chips with a dog hand.  The dog failed to bark,
and Hansen marched away in eighth place.  He received $36,446.
Patrick Maloney suffered much the same fate – a few bad hands and then low on
chips -- a forced final commitment with a weak hand.  Maloney’s 7-6 failed to slay
Michele Lewis’ Q-10 and the night was over for the Las Vegas-based poker pro.  
Seventh place paid $43,735.

Hank Sparks arrived as the co-chip leader at the start, but got a shock on his final
hand of the night when his pocket nines lost to Michele Lewis’ pocket tens.  
Sparks, appropriately enough an electrical engineer by trade, got zapped and had
to settle for $51,024 for sixth place.

Vipul Kothari, from Edison, NJ was eliminated next.  Kothari left in a disappointing
way, losing with A-K suited after the flop brought two cards to his suit.  But the
flush card of salvation failed to come.  All of Kothari’s chips went over to Kianoush
Abolfathi.  Kothari went to the cage and collected $58,313 for fifth place.

The first female to make a final table appearance at this year’s WSOP was Michele
Lewis, a real estate broker and full-time mother of two children.  Lewis arrived
within striking distance of the chip lead a few times, but suffered a tough beat on
her final hand of the tournament.  Lewis was dealt pocket aces against Josh
Schlein’s Q-10 suited.  After the flop came with two of Schlein’s suits, a raising war
broke out.  A spade on the river completed Schlein’s flush and paved the exit path
for Lewis.  Part of her $72,891 in winnings, she says, will go to a charity that
works to promote and fund cancer research.

Down to three players, just as it looked as though Josh Schlein might start to pull
away from his two rivals, he took a number of disappointing beats with the
second-best hand and ended up the victim of a complete chip reversal.  Schlein
finally busted-out with top pair (kings) which lost to Abolfathi’s set of deuces.  
Third-place paid $101,318.

That big hand gave Abolfathi a 4 to 1 chip lead when heads-up play began.  His
lone opponent, Eric Buchman would prove to be a tough final blockade.  Despite
being out-chipped by a large margin throughout the final duel, Buchman won
several key hands and did his best to pull off a comeback.  He got close a few
times, but in the end – the big stack and the more aggressive player who knew
how to take advantage of the situation won.  After 90 minutes of scratching and
clawing, Abolfathi finally delivered the knockout blow with a pair of tens to
Buchman’s no-pair, and a new poker champion was crowned at the Rio.

As the runner-up, Eric Buchman received $174,938 in prize money.  The winner
showed great appreciation for the moment and proudly snapped on the coveted
gold bracelet.  Abolfathi was the $1,500 Limit Event champion.  

by Nolan Dalla
Full Tilt Poker
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Official WSOP Tournament Results, Event #4:
Place, Name
Hometown
Prize
1.        Kianoush Abolfathi
2.        Eric Buchman
3.        Josh Schlein
4.        Michele D. Lewis
5.        Vipul Kothari
6.        Hank Sparks
7.        Patrick Maloney
8.        Lars Hansen
9.        Matt Elsby
10.        Brandon Bates
11.        Sean Luckey
12.        Robin Mezhibousky
13.        Chad Davis
14.        Kevin Manley
15.        Ron Burke
16.        Gary Margadonna
17.        Stuart Krasney
18.        Aaron Z. Bartley
19.        Genki Jinno
20.        Joe Cassidy
21.        Phil Ivey
22.        Chris McHugh
23.        Troy Tuggle
24.        Chris Tsiprailides
25.        Steve Wong
26.        Jonathan Little
27.        Ryan McGuire
28.        Young Phan
29.        Jason Gillis
30.        Selma Gluhbegovic
31.        Wyley Lynch
32.        Michael Russ
33.        Greg Mueller
34.        Howard Boyd
35.        Peter Dominie
36.        Julio Rodriguez
37.        Jorge Martinez
38.        Ed Sass
39.        Van Nguyen
40.        James Giuffre
41.        Jed Pickerson
42.        Phil Gordon
43.        James Green
44.        Brad Anderson
45.        Mitch Kroll
46.        Robert Vollmer
47.        Ed Brodsky
48.        Michael Hill
49.        Aaron Ogus
50.        Jerry Dunning
51.        George Billias
52.        Kuei Chi Chang
53.        Bud Lavassani
54.        Alan Schein
55.        Fi Tran
56.        Jim Wavra
57.        Jesse Martin
58.        Christopher Feeney
59.        Eugene Ji
60.        Joshua Blanchfield
61.        Kendrick Roberts
62.        Phuong Nguyen
63.        Paul A. Taylor
64.        Victor I. Parashiv
65.        David G. Pincus
66.        Gregory S. Wilson
67.        Kyle D. Miaso
68.        Keith N. Sexton
69.        Eric J. Nickelson
70.        Andre Ross
71.        Unknown
72.        John Jenkins
73.        Cal Namihino
74.        Jesse Jamison
75.        Donald Sekorky
76.        B.I. "T.D." Dong
77.        Tom Koral
78.        Claudie Holland
79.        Jonathan Aquiar
80.        Vanessa Rousso
81.        James Richburg
82.        Salem Valimahomed
83.        Kenny Chanthamalo
84.        Mark Jones
85.        James Browwer
86.        Andrew Wynn
87.        James Gaill
88.        Michael Castelli
89.        Chad Burum
90.        Eric H. Young
91.        Ernie Scherer III
92.        David Stroj
93.        Joel Black
94.        Larry Thomas
95.        Christopher James
96.        Kevin Kim
97.        Denton Gleaves
98.        Allan Cunningham
99.        Jeff Mervis
100        Tim Post
Marina Del Rey, CA
Valley Stream, NY
Owings Mills, MD
Houston, TX
Edison, NJ
Long Beach, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Copenhagen, Denmark
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Las Vegas, NV
Holmdel, NJ
Greenville, TX
Arlington Heights, IL
La Selva Beach, CA
Granbury, TX
Tustin, CA
Cary, NC
Kanagawa, Japan
Costa Mesa, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, NV
Brighton, MI
Syracuse, NY
Hoofddorf, Holland
Pensacola, FL
Las Vegas, NV
Garden Crove, CA
San Clements
Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, NV
Nutley, NJ
Boamlager, Germany
Westchester, OH
Charlotte, NC
Baily, CO
Key Largo, FL
Wallingford, CT
Bell Gardens, CA
Chicago, IL
Oceanside, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Columbia, MO
Fresno, CA
Solon, OH
Springboro, OH
San Diego, CA
Wiesbaden
Kimbland, WA
Sarasota, FL
E. Lyme, CT
Taiwan
Burbank, CA
N. Miami, FL
Los Angeles, CA
Spokane, WA
New York, NY
Orlando, FL
New York, NY
Boston, MA
Houston, TX
Auborn, WA
Las Vegas, NV
Chicago, IL
Davis, CA
Crystal Lake, IL
Scottsdale, AZ
Henderson, NV
San Jose, CA
Montreal, Canada
NA
Walnut Creek, CA
Honolulu, HI
Phoenix, AZ
Medino, OH
Palo Alto, CA
Skokie, IL
Fayetville, NC
Boston, MA
Las Vegas, NV
Long Beach, CA
Cambridge, MA
East Lyme, CT
Manhattan Beach, CA
Marysville, WA
New York, NY
Appomattox, VA
Ottowa, IL
Muvato, CA
Ontario, Canada
Los Angeles, CA
Chula Vista, CA
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
San Leandro, CA
Castleton, NY
Los Angeles, CA
North Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, NV
Humcston, IA
$335,289
$174,938
$101,318
$72,891
$58,313
$51,024
$43,735
$36,446
$32,801
$29,156
$26,970
$24,783
$22,596
$20,409
$18,223
$16,036
$13,849
$11,663
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$9,476
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$7,289
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$5,831
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$4,373
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$3,645
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,916
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$2,187
$1,749.60
$1,749.60
$1,749.60
$1,749.60
$1,749.60
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Poker News from Around the World
Name
Vipul Kothavi
Matt Elsby
Josh Schlein
Michele Lewis
Eric Buchman
Kianoush Abolfathi
Lars Hansen
Hank Sparks
Patrick Maloney
Chip Count
$132,000
$51,000
$243,000
$225,000
$213,000
$75,000
$156,000
$243,000
$259,000
Seat #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9