Event 11, the $2,000, no-limit, hold 'em event fell just short of a $3 million dollar prize pool, but for Anthony Harb, it means a much larger bankroll. Harb, a 28-year-old professional poker player from Southfield, Mich., headed out to Las Vegas with only a one-way ticket. His plans were to play what he could, stay with friends in the interim and then head back home. After winning $569,254, his stay will most definitely be extended.
"The money helps out a lot," Harb said after the World Series of Poker. "It gives me a big bankroll. It means I have the opportunity to play a lot more tournaments."
Sounding like a seasoned pro, Harb said winning the money is only half the story.
"The gold bracelet means a lot," Harb said moments after his victory. "It means I am here to stay. I made it through this very tough field, against all these pros. I can say that I hung with the best of the best."
Prior to his victory, Harb only had two WSOP cashes for a total of $5,991. He cashed in earlier this year at the Stimulus Special, Event 4, ($1,000 no-limit hold 'em) finishing in 436th place. Harb defeated a field of 1,646 for the 2009 WSOP, Event 11, win.
Going into heads-up play against Peter Rho, Harb had a slight chip lead, and the tournament didn't take very long to finish. Only a few hands in, Rho flopped two pair with 9-8 while Harb turned a straight with Q-10. Rho could not hit his full house on the river, and for the second time in six months, Rho finished as the runner-up in a major tournament (he was second in the Aussie Millions Championship event).
Making the money, but not the final table, was Phil Hellmuth. In doing so, Hellmuth made his 70th WSOP cash. Also making a historic cash was T.J. Cloutier, who cashed in for the 54th time in his career, fifth on the all-time list.
Other notable finishers include Hellmuth (29th), Tom McEvoy (53rd) and Perry Friedman (71st).
Below are the complete results of Event 11 at the 2009 World Series of Poker:
Event 11: No-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: $2,000
Entries: 1,646
Prize pool: $2,995,720
Players in the money: 171
1. Anthony Harb ($569,254)
2. Peter Rho ($350,019)
3. Jim Geary ($230,670)
4. Adam Adler ($161,768)
5. Jonathan McGowan ($116,833)
6. Adrian Dresel-Velasquez ($92,867)
7. Scott Hall ($76,390)
8. Michael Dyer ($65,905)
9. Brent Sheirbon ($59,315)
10. Mike Carlson ($41,640)
11. David Mandt ($41,640)
12. John Hartery ($41,640)
13. Jeff Finucane ($29,148)
14. Eric Ladny ($29,148)
15. Chris Taylor ($29,148)
16. Kenneth Smaron ($20,400)
17. Jason Koon ($20,400)
18. Olav Prinz Von Sachsen ($20,400)
19. Jovan Sudar ($14,828)
20. Pilar Tucker ($14,828)
21. Steven Fager ($14,828)
22. Michael Simpson ($14,828)
23. Jose Rosenkrantz($14,828)
24. Warren Woodall($14,828)
25. Robert Goodson ($14,828)
26. Nicolas Walters ($14,828)
27. Brian Fleming ($14,828)
28. Tom Chen ($12,761)
29. Phil Hellmuth ($12,761)
30. Kevin McColgan ($12,761)
31. Ryan Gentry ($12,761)
32. Jonathan Aguiar ($12,761)
33. Scott Blackman ($12,761)
34. Steven Goosen ($12,761)
35. Mark Tarich ($12,761)
36. Terry Stewart ($12,761)
37. Alexander Korolev ($10,425)
38. Romik Vartzar ($10,425)
39. Eddylee Martin ($10,425)
40. Roy Gillie ($10,425)
41. Yesniel Pulido ($10,425)
42. Dong Xu ($10,425)
43. Kenneth Dunford ($10,425)
44. Aaron Kweskin ($10,425)
45. Howard Widman ($10,425)
46. Michael Schmidt ($8,807)
47. Troy McLain ($8,807)
48. Blake Stepp ($8,807)
49. Trevor Hackworth ($8,807)
50. Kenneth Hicks ($8,807)
51. Alexander Millar ($8,807)
52. Yue Huang ($8,807)
53. Tom McEvoy ($8,807)
54. Jeffrey Vanchiro ($8,807)
55. Jim Meehan ($7,639)
56. Ryan Milisits ($7,639)
57. Bobby Bresner ($7,639)
58. Allan Le ($7,639)
59. Zackary Weiler ($7,639)
60. Jason Gray ($7,639)
61. Randy Tedy ($7,639)
62. Jeremy Coon ($7,639)
63. Jason Mercier ($7,639)
64. Tyler Smith ($6,770)
65. Sean Getzwiller ($6,770)
66. Neil Ho ($6,770)
67. Keith Baker ($6,770)
68. Francis Mahiout ($6,770)
69. Michael Blanovsky ($6,770)
70. James Tapp ($6,770)
71. Perry Friedman ($6,770)
72. Chris Parsons ($6,770)
73. Patrick Omalley ($6,081)
74. Patrick Minton ($6,081)
75. Peter Christensen ($6,081)
76. Chris Bush ($6,081)
77. Umberto Sabato ($6,081)
78. Ben Lamb ($6,081)
79. Jesse Chaney ($6,081)
80. Kevin Okeefe ($6,081)
81. Jack Grigsby ($6,081)
82. Jesse Mull ($5,452)
83. David Finkelstein ($5,452)
84. Mike Sica ($5,452)
85. Dau Ly ($5,452)
86. Sean Golin ($5,452)
87. Faraz Jaka ($5,452)
88. Jeffrey Scholz ($5,452)
89. Michael Parizon ($5,452)
90. Kyle Bowker ($5,452)
91. Chad Siu ($4,942)
92. Philippe Xie ($4,942)
93. Patrick Stemper ($4,942)
94. Richard Newman ($4,942)
95. Marc Whitford ($4,942)
96. Thomas Franklin ($4,942)
97. Jack Land ($4,942)
98. Michael Dietrich ($4,942)
99. Gabriel Sack ($4,942)
100. Doyle Depratter ($4,523)
101. TJ Cloutier ($4,523)
102. Jeremiah Fitzpatrick ($4,523)
103. David Pederson ($4,523)
104. Cody Shedd ($4,523)
105. Cherie Beasley ($4,523)
106. Jen Yue Chiang ($4,523)
107. Nancy Moskowitz ($4,523)
108. Andrew Chen ($4,523)
109. Tommy Pope ($4,523)
110. Lawrence Lin ($4,523)
111. Jeff Hakim ($4,523)
112. Howard Boyd ($4,523)
113. James St Hilaire ($4,523)
114. John Gordon ($4,523)
115. Maximillian Singer ($4,523)
116. Jamie Brown ($4,523)
117. Stephen Hvonen ($4,523)
118. Anna Calder ($4,194)
119. Josh Sorenson ($4,194)
120. John Morstad ($4,194)
121. Celso Feltrin ($4,194)
122. Danny Noam ($4,194)
123. Michael Schwartz ($4,194)
124. Jean Paul Seatelli ($4,194)
125. Michael Mauerhan ($4,194)
126. Joseph Dulaney ($4,194)
127. Lucian Cappello ($4,194)
128. Justin Newton ($4,194)
129. Larry Gurney ($4,194)
130. Fausto Lendeborg ($4,194)
131. Thomas Brown ($4,194)
132. Jared Hamby ($4,194)
133. Brian Kee ($4,194)
134. Anthony Ditomaso ($4,194)
135. Cory Albertson ($4,194)
136. Steve Ungrey ($4,194)
137. Thomas Alenius ($4,194)
138. Harry Thomas ($4,194)
139. Jordan Smith ($4,194)
140. Mike Somma ($4,194)
141. Kevin Song ($4,194)
142. Thanh Chau ($4,194)
143. Nicholas Slepica ($4,194)
144. Arnold Kirschenmann ($4,194)
145. Leonard Vancruchten ($3,894)
146. Steve Rassi ($3,894)
147. A Ram Hong ($3,894)
148. Steven Taxarchis ($3,894)
149. Christos Liandzi ($3,894)
150. Brian Brunner ($3,894)
151. Brad Waddell ($3,894)
152. Hector Quinones ($3,894)
153. Danny Goossens ($3,894)
154. Jiachen Gong ($3,894)
155. Scott Montgomery ($3,894)
156. Jonathan Gamerov ($3,894)
157. Matthew Zola ($3,894)
158. Bruce Buffer ($3,894)
159. Bartlett Jeffrey ($3,894)
160. Deaitra Virden Burks ($3,894)
161. Adam Ross ($3,894)
162. Jerome Johnson ($3,894)
163. Josep Montervino ($3,894)
164. Matthew Cutler ($3,894)
165. Michael Maher ($3,894)
166. David Farber ($3,894)
167. Allen Bari ($3,894)
168. Christopher Andler ($3,894)
169. Eric Neal ($3,894)
170. Maria Mayrinck ($3,894)
171. Tu Ta ($3,894)