Thankfully we’ve come to the end of the WSOP ’07 recap.

Quoting from Mark Napolitano’s recent article The Road To Riches:

‘how can a modern-day professional poker player reasonably expect to buy in to all of these major tournaments, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just to buy-in? The honest answer to that question is: most cannot. ‘

Here’s a few who made a couple bucks in this year’s WSOP.

Position Cash$ Player Event# Total Pay (if necessary)

6 $84,858 Michael Gracz 8
9 $43,684 Michael Gracz 22
110 $5,161 Michael Gracz 49 $133,693

Michael doesn’t seem bothered by insufficient information.

1 $742,121 Michael Graves 52

189 $51,398 Michael Laing 55

Laing still finds backers.

155 $4,451 Michael Mizrachi 47
56 $11,828 Michael Mizrachi 49
63 $6,634 Michael Mizrachi 53 $22,900

The Grinder was finally ground down.

1 $252,290 Michael Spegal 4

17 $7,145 Mickey Seagle 5
53 $190,053 Mickey Seagle 55 $197,198

Old school scores.

11 $21,435 Mike Matusow 19
15 $15,134 Mike Matusow 36
16 $88,800 Mike Matusow 39 $125,339

Speaking of millions won and lost.

90 $2,360 Mike O'Malley 6
46 $12,197 Mike O'Malley15
50 $6,634 Mike O'Malley 53 $21,100

15 $35,732 Mike Sexton 7
36 $17,172 Mike Sexton 22
18 $6,514 Mike Sexton 24
17 $7,174 Mike Sexton 42 $66,492

When sorted by first name Mike and Mike are together again like on that fateful trip to India to advise the new founders of PartyPoker.

21 $4,906 Mimi Tran 14
17 $15,390 Mimi Tran 30
317 $39,445 Mimi Tran 55 $59,741

5 $174,537 Minh Ly 7
449 $29,883 Minh Ly 55 $204,420

4 $161,425 Morgan Machina 15
19 $21,993 Morgan Machina 38
41 $11,291 Morgan Machina 45 $194,709

101 $4,108 Nam Le 27
54 $4,675 Nam Le 30
3 $239,324 Nam Le 35 $248,107

Nice guys can make money in poker.

11 $10,128 Nick Binger 4
264 $2,948 Nick Binger 35
151 $4,451 Nick Binger 47
165 $51,398 Nick Binger 55 $68,925

The Bingers has 12 cashes between them.

41 $10,728 Nick Frangos 28
2 $65,902 Nick Frangos 32
32 $18,546 Nick Frangos 47 $95,176

Nick used to deal to us at the Diamond Club in NYC. As he says. “I’ve come a long way.”

6 $108,457 Nick Schulman 22
28 $16,766 Nick Schulman 45 $125,123

29 $5,584 Noah Boeken 43
40 $15,578 Noah Boeken 47
20 $6,634 Noah Boeken 53 $27,796

‘Exclusive’ can’t beat Marcel Luske either. The Dutch are getting a complex about Marcel.

20 $14,608 Norm MacDonald 28

A genuinely funny man in person. Holds the record for most failed sitcoms.

3 $46,547 O'Neil Longson 29
19 $5,106 O'Neil Longson 46 $51,553

Don’t ever play Razz with this man.

3 $311,394 Patrik Antonius 50

27 $4,259 Paul Darden 14
29 $4,824 Paul Darden 40 $9,083

Bad boy runs bad.

9 $23,030 Paul Wasicka 31

Previous year’s seconds often tank.

7 $57,063 Perry Friedman 28

Tiltboy still has his bracelet.

4 $72,497 Pete Lawson 37

Young gun getting older.

17 $16,582 Phil Gordon 31
28 $16,989 Phil Gordon 35
15 $7,320 Phil Gordon 40 $40,911

104 $3,901 Phil Hellmuth 10
1 $637,254 Phil Hellmuth 15
6 $76,464 Phil Hellmuth 28
25 $7,761 Phil Hellmuth 34
31 $13,344 Phil Hellmuth 45
95 $4,840 Phil Hellmuth 52 $742,364

By the way, did you hear about 11?

2 $143,820 Phil Ivey 11
4 $65,424 Phil Ivey 26 $209,244

Rumor has it he won more betting against Hellmuth.

11 $29,073 Phil Laak 22
62 $7,418 Phil Laak 28 $36,491

He’s got to get Tilly a movie, quick!

62 $10,571 Rafe Furst 47

There’s always RoShamPo.

1 $227,005 Rafi Amit 48

The guy who put Jack Effel on the front page of USA Today.

14 $27,031 Ram Vaswani 45
1 $217,438 Ram Vaswani 53 $242,469

A mobster who can play.

200 $51,398 Randall Holland 55

18 $9,024 Randall Skaggs 26
35 $3,890 Randall Skaggs 46 $12,914

Someday I’ll tell you how courageous Randall is.

6 $59,220 Randy Jensen 36

The dreamcrusher may actually have made money. Nah!

43 $4,615 Raymond Davis 9
28 $15,800 Raymond Davis 27
66 $8,717 Raymond Davis 47
4 $34,012 Raymond Davis 51 $63,144

Ok, if Phil Ivey keeps buying.

173 $4,080 Rene Angelil 47

We are going to miss Rene if he leaves Las Vegas with his wife.

26 $6,263 Rob Hollink 9
90 $4,310 Rob Hollink 19
16 $6,757 Rob Hollink 21
33 $9,212 Rob Hollink 31 $26,542

See Noah Boeken.

26 $6,017 Robert Mizrachi 5
40 $4,615 Robert Mizrachi 9
6 $32,069 Robert Mizrachi 16
5 $49,632 Robert Mizrachi 26
1 $768,889 Robert Mizrachi 50

At last! Robert beats his brother Michael.

94 $3,844 Robert Stevanovski 19
2 $218,456 Robert Stevanovski 36
63 $3,235 Robert Stevanovski 42
69 $6,634 Robert Stevanovski 53 $232,169

Those tarheels can play.

177 $51,398 Robert Varkonyi 55

An ex-champ cashes in the Final.

10 $41,229 Robert Williamson 7
67 $3,214 Robert Williamson 12 $44,443

Team Williamson needs an infusion.

6 $84,788 Roger McDow 1
16 $19,644 Roger McDow 10
32 $6,941 Roger McDow 16
78 $6,757 Roger McDow 21
90 $4,840 Roger McDow 52 $122,871

This guy is starting to get my attention.

107 $5,115 Roland DeWolfe 3
50 $3,956 Roland DeWolfe 9
33 $9,212 Roland DeWolfe 31
45 $9,238 Roland DeWolfe 45
6 $98,293 Roland DeWolfe 47 $125,814

1 $176,358 Ryan Hughes 20

17 $9,024 Sam Grizzle 26
43 $9,238 Sam Grizzle 45 $18,262

Even a Doyle’s Room logo can’t save him.

1 $333,379 Saro Getzoyan 18

16 $17,771 Scott Fischman 13

10 $11,658 Scotty Nguyen 5
2 $110,731 Scotty Nguyen 24
17 $16,582 Scotty Nguyen 31
4 $31,610 Scotty Nguyen 46
15 $30,992 Scotty Nguyen 50
11 $476,926 Scotty Nguyen 55 $678,499

Best finish by a former champ in the Final since Harrington.

5 $111,455 Shane Schleger 8

150 $3,831 Shannon Elizabeth 25

Another one who needs a movie.

465 $29,883 Shirley Williams 55

Like Jane Gold, Shirley outlasted her son in the Main Event.

Stephen Ladowsky $137,963

1 $536,287 Steve Billirakis 1

Steve’s is a record that may never be broken. 21 years and ten days will be tough to beat.

90 $5,157 Steve Dannenmann 25
35 $12,554 Steve Dannenmann 28 $17,711

See Paul Wasicka.

4 $146,259 Steve Paul-Ambrose 1
30 $13,932 Steve Paul-Ambrose 8
98 $2,435 Steve Paul-Ambrose 12 $162,626

23 $20,034 T.J. Cloutier 22
11 $10,902 T.J. Cloutier 37
17 $25,593 T.J. Cloutier 47 $46,529

14 $6,201 Ted Forrest 14
10 $9,591 Ted Forrest 20 $15,792

If Ted only makes $15k, it was a difficult year.

2 $287,345 Terrence Chan 30
42 $6,634 Terrence Chan 53 $293,979

When he left Poker Stars to play, we thought he was crazy.

8 $60,254 Tex Barch 22

248 $3,478 Thomas Wahlroos 3
14 $19,173 Thomas Wahlroos 28
79 $6,453 Thomas Wahlroos 52 $29,084

Thor Hansen 6 cashes, 3 final tables. $380,549. He’s a god.

13 $103,008 Tim Phan 39
28 $22,137 Tim Phan 50 $125,145

66 $6,159 Tobey Maguire 45
292 $39,445 Tobey Maguire 55 $45,604

It’s nice that he remains serious. He has so little else to do.

Todd Brunson 6 cashes and 1 final table $119,554

202 $3,408 Tom McEvoy 15
239 $2,948 Tom McEvoy 35
34 $8,820 Tom McEvoy 41
93 $5,378 Tom McEvoy 47 $20,554

Not a chump, but running bad forever now.

2 $364,761 Tommy Vu 8

More money to back others.

33 $9,212 Tony Gouga 31
29 $5,345 Tony Gouga 42
10 $58,852 Tony Gouga 45 $73,409

The G no longer stands for goofball.

57 $7,185 Tony Hachem 45
552 $20,320 Tony Hachem 55 $27,505

Joe’s brother.

35 $5,887 Toto Leonidas 16
5 $46,060 Toto Leonidas 31 $51,947

82 $6,757 Vince Van Patten 21

Beat John McEnroe twice. (at tennis)

20 $16,212 Vinnie Vinh 8
22 $12,468 Vinnie Vinh 30 $28,680

Seems to be having some personal problems. Hope he’s ok.

186 $4,297 Warren Karp 3
123 $4,125 Warren Karp 25
22 $6,443 Warren Karp 43
70 $130,288 Warren Karp 55 $155,053

Col. Mustard with two cards in the Amazon Room.

4 $162,389 Wil Wilkinson 54
51 $190,053 Wil Wilkinson 55 $352,500

Owns the Grand Casino in Cali. Kills the WSOP every year.

1 $566,916 Will Durkee 10

3 $136,493 William Thorsson 18
22 $7,631 William Thorsson 37 $144,124

From the e-mailbag:

Hi Mike,

Loving your "how did you favs do" articles.

Just a quick question about one of my all-time favourite players, Mr. Prahlad "Mahatma" Friedman - I was wondering if he was playing in any of the WSOP events this year, and figured you're probably the right guy to ask!

Thanks,

Mischa.

I did see his name a few times as playing, but he didn't record a cash. I agree, he's a sensational player and brutally handsome. Strange guy. Thanks for writing.

And finally, Young Phan showed again how tough this business is. You can be a great player and lose a fortune by playing a lot of events. He’s such a nice guy. I hope he was backed for most of what had to be a $100k bath.

Love

Mike Paulle

Email: mikepaulle@aol.com

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