Wsop 2003 Winner
Perhaps the most famous world champion is Chris Moneymaker, whose improbably 2003 win set off a decade-long poker boom. Regardless of their post-WSOP life, the winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event will always have a prominent place in tournament poker history.
Chris Moneymaker: Winner of the 2003 World Series of Poker Championship. Chris Moneymaker, appropriately named considering how easy it was for him to make money through playing poker, is an inspiration to all amateur poker players out there that want to someday take it to the next level. Having started off playing poker from the comfort of his own home, Chris somehow managed to take a $39. The World Series of Poker Main Event has had a $10,000 buy-in since 1972. Some purists want to continue to keep the price at $10K, but other modernists would like to see the buy-in updated to reflect inflation. A dollar in 1972 is worth approximately $6.25 today, so the Main Event price tag today should be closer to $62,500. In 2003, while working as an accountant, Moneymaker paid a paltry $86 to gain entry into an online poker tournament that ultimately led him to the WSOP final table. Playing heads-up against seasoned pro Sam Farha in what was his first live tournament, Moneymaker ultimately won the main event of poker and a cool $2.5 million—a nice return on. When Chris Moneymaker ran a 'balls out' bluff heads up in the WSOP MAIN EVENT in 2003, some say he single-handedly launched the poker boom.
Table Of Contents
Over the weekend, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) wrapped up its Planet Hollywood Online Circuit Series, which awarded a dozen gold rings.
Several well-known players scored victories including bracelet winner Jared “darrensrabbi” Jaffee, who topped a 417-entry field to win Event #1: $50,000 GTD NLH Freezeout for $23,804.44 and his second career ring.
Two days later, Ari “philivey” Engel bested a 157-entry field to win Event #3: $50,000 GTD PLO Big $500 for $16,350.13 and his 10th career ring.
Ralph 'sosana' Perry (Event #2: $75,000 NLH), Steve 'gborooo' Gross (Event #5: $150,000 GTD Monster Stack), and Andrew 'WATCHGUY42' Lichtenberger (Event #7: $100,000 GTD High Roller) were just a few others players to nab jewelry.
All those who captured gold rings are now eligible for the year-end $250K GTD WSOP Online Circuit Championship. There are multiple ways a player can become eligible for that event:
- Win a WSOP Gold Ring Event during the 2021 season
- Win a $10,000 Player of the Month Leaderboard
- Win a Second Chance Fast Forward Be one of the top 50 players on the Cumulative Circuit Leaderboard who are not otherwise eligible (50)
Daniel “juice” Buzgon Captures Two Rings
One of the biggest stories to come out of the online series was New Jersey’s Daniel “juice” Buzgon capturing two rings in three days. First, he topped a 281-player field to win Event #8: $50,000 NLK Knockout Freezeout for $14,896.92, and two days later followed it up by besting a 261-entry field in Event #10: $75,000 GTD NLH Big $500 for $24,840.57.
The wins marked his fifth and sixth gold ring victories respectively
“Winning any poker tournament is always an exciting moment, especially when they have something extra like a WSOP ring attached to it,” Buzgon told PokerNews. “To do it twice in three days made it all that more special.”
He added: “I was happy to see that WSOP made online circuit events a priority this year due to the uncertainty of live poker. I am definitely going to try and play as many events as I can this year and hope I can run as well the rest of the year as I have in the first two series.”
Derek “rickyguan” Sudell Wins Main Event
The $525 buy-in, $250K GTD Main Event attracted 470 players who rebought 253 times, which meant the 723-entry field resulted in a $361,500 prize pool. That was paid out to the top 100 finishers including Katie “katelin” Lindsay (16th - $2,675.10), Richard “Gladiator8” Rossetti (23rd - $2,205.15), Jonathan “jetsfan14” Borenstein (34th - $1,735.20), Ryan “Protential” Laplante (37th - $1,735.20), and Andrew “WATCHGUY42” Lichtenberger (52nd - $1,337.55).
After 11 hours and 37 minutes of play, it was Derek “rickyguan” Sudell besting “jnja1719” in heads-up play to win the gold ring and a $57,623.10 first-place prize. It was his second career gold ring after he won October’s WSOP.com Online Fall Circuit Event #4: $100,000 NLH Monster Stack for $50,688.
WSOP.com Circuit Planet Hollywood Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek “rickyguan” Sudell | $57,623.10 |
| 2 | “jnja1719” | $42,657 |
| 3 | “muskrrr” | $31,450.50 |
| 4 | Mark “victb” Ioli | $23,063.70 |
| 5 | Michael “itwasthator0” Gagliano | $17,930.40 |
| 6 | “akapp” | $13,700.85 |
| 7 | James “bagelbud” Lillis | $10,375.05 |
| 8 | Daniel “SilasSilver” Turner | $7,880.70 |
| 9 | “schmagel” | $5,928.60 |
WSOP.com Circuit Planet Hollywood Ring Winners
Over the course of its 12-event schedule, the series catered to a combined 4,722 entrants and awarded $1,791,400 in prize money.
| *Date | Tournament | Buy-in | Players | Re-Entries | Total Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize* |
| Wednesday, February 17 | Event #1: $50,000 GTD NLH Freezeout | $250 | 417 | 0 | 417 | $97,161 | Jared 'darrensrabbi' Jaffee | $23,804.44 |
| Thursday, February 18 | Event #2: $75,000 GTD NLH | $320 | 307 | 175 | 482 | $144,600 | Ralph 'sosana' Perry | $24,726.60 |
| Friday, February 19 | Event #3: $50,000 GTD PLO Big $500 | $500 | 88 | 69 | 157 | $73,319 | Ari 'philivey' Engel | $16,350.13 |
| Saturday, February 20 | Event #4: $100,000 GTD NLH Double Stack | $320 | 323 | 143 | 466 | $139,800 | Fadi 'fadiphatu1' Elsmaily | $23,905.80 |
| Sunday. February 21 | Event #5: $150,000 GTD NLH Monster Stack | $525 | 343 | 127 | 470 | $235,000 | Steve 'gborooo' Gross | $40,185 |
| Monday, February 22 | Event #6: $50,000 GTD NLH Deep Turbo | $215 | 323 | 110 | 433 | $86,600 | Bryan 'lifeofodds' Hayes | $14,808.60 |
| Tuesday, February 23 | Event #7: $100,000 GTD NLH High Roller | $1,000 | 135 | 83 | 218 | $208,190 | Andrew 'WATCHGUY42' Lichtenberger | $43,428.43 |
| Wednesday, February 24 | Event #8: $50,000 NLH Knockout Freezeout | $300 | 281 | 0 | 281 | $79,242 | Daniel 'juice' Buzgon | $14,896.92 |
| Thursday, February 25 | Event #9: $75,000 GTD NLH 6-Max | $320 | 240 | 133 | 373 | $111,900 | Michael 'mygame' Lavenburg | $21,484.80 |
| Friday, February 26 | Event #10: $75,000 GTD NLH Big $500 | $500 | 162 | 99 | 261 | $121,887 | Daniel 'juice' Buzgon | $24,840.57 |
| Saturday, February 27 | Event #11: $100,000 GTD NLH Double Stack | $320 | 302 | 139 | 441 | $132,300 | Vijay 'eclypzed' Para | $22,623.30 |
| Sunday, February 28 | Event #12: $250,000 GTD Main Event | $525 | 470 | 253 | 723 | $361,500 | Derek 'rickyguan' Sudell | $57,623.10 |
Big Freezout $350K GTD on March 7
This Sunday, March 7, WSOP.com will hold its biggest freezeout tournament of the season at 1 p.m. PT. With a high-stake $5,300 buy-in and a $250,000 guarantee up for grabs, poker players based in Nevada and New Jersey are invited to join the action. Leading up to the WSOP BIG Freezeout, satellite qualifying events will be available daily.
Here's an overview of satellite events:
- Satellites Daily (excluding Sunday and Tuesday): $320 buy-in 1 Seat GTD at 4:30 p.m. PT
- Satellites on Sundays and Tuesdays: $525 buy-in 1 Seat GTD at 2:30 p.m. PT
- 10 Seat Scramble: 10 Seats GTD, Saturday, March 6, $320 Buy-in 2:30 p.m. PT start time
- Freeroll Wednesday, March 4 at 4:15 p.m. PT to the 10 Seat Scramble
- ALL-IN Satellites 64 player and 128 player starting March 1
The next WSOP.com Online Circuit, the third of the year, will be the Silver Legacy Circuit from March 19-30. That series will feature 12 gold ring events, over $1 million in GTDs, and offer a $25k Freeroll on Thursday, April 1.
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Ari Engel
The 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January. Harrah's announced that future WSOP tournaments will be held in a moving circuit of member casinos.
Preliminary events[edit]
| Number | Event | Winner | Prize | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 Casino Employee's LimitHold'em | Carl Nessel | $40,000 | Cory Pocket |
| 2 | $2,000 No Limit Hold'em | James Vogl | $400,000 | Shawn Rice |
| 3 | $1,500 Seven-card stud | Ted Forrest | $111,440 | Chad Brown |
| 4 | $1,500 Limit Hold-em | Aaron Katz | $234,940 | Richard Gardner-Brown |
| 5 | $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | Curtis Bibb | $160,000 | Paul Phillips |
| 6 | $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'Em | Minh Nguyen | $155,420 | Lorne Persons |
| 7 | $1,000 No-Limit Hold'Em | Gerry Drehobl | $365,900 | John Juanda |
| 8 | $2,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Chau Giang | $187,920 | Robert Williamson III |
| 9 | $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em | Scott Fischman | $300,000 | Joe Awada |
| 10 | $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split | Cyndy Violette | $135,900 | Pete Kaufman |
| 11 | $2,500 Limit Hold'Em | Eli Balas | $174,440 | Steve Shkolnik |
| 12 | $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. | Scott Fischman | $100,200 | John Cover |
| 13 | $5,000 No Limit Hold'Em | Thomas Keller | $382,020 | Martin De Knijff |
| 14 | $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split | Hasan Habib | $93,060 | Tommy Polk |
| 15 | $2,000 Limit Hold' Em | Daniel Negreanu | $169,100 | Chris Hinchcliffe |
| 16 | $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw | Barry Greenstein | $296,200 | Chris Ferguson |
| 17 | $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout | Kathy Liebert | $110,180 | Kevin Song |
| 18 | $1,500 No-Limit Hold 'Em Shootout | Phi Nguyen | $180,000 | Kirill Gerasimov |
| 19 | $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | Annie Duke | $137,860 | Ron Graham |
| 20 | $1,000 Ladies Limit Hold 'Em | Hung Doan | $58,530 | Millie Shiu |
| 21 | $2,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em | Antonio Esfandiari | $58,530 | Phi Nguyen |
| 22 | $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | Brett Jungblut | $187,720 | John Cernuto |
| 23 | $1,500 No Limit Hold'em | Ted Forrest | $300,300 | Susan Pritchett |
| 24 | $5,000 Seven Card Stud | Joe Awada | $221,000 | Marcel Lüske |
| 25 | $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'Em | Gavin Griffin | $270,420 | Garry Bush |
| 26 | $1,500 Seven Card Razz | T. J. Cloutier | $90,500 | Dutch Boyd |
| 27 | $1,000 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw | Farzad Bonyadi | $86,980 | Trung Ly |
| 28 | $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em | Gary Gibbs | $136,960 | Carl McKelvey |
| 29 | $5,000 Limit Hold 'Em | John Hennigan | $325,360 | An Tran |
| 30 | $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em | Mike Sica | $503,160 | John Kabbaj |
| 31 | $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Ted Lawson | $500,000 | Lee Watkinson |
| 32 | $1,500 A-5 Draw Lowball | Norm Ketchum | $84,500 | Barry Greenstein |
Main Event[edit]
There were 2,576 entrants to the main event - more than three times the number of the previous year. Each entry paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time. Many entrants, including the overall winner, won their seat in online poker tournaments. 1995 Main Event Champion Dan Harrington made the final table for the second consecutive year. His bid for a second Main Event title came up short once again as he finished in fourth place.
Final table[edit]
| Name | Number of chips (percentage of total) | WSOP Bracelets* | WSOP Cashes* | WSOP Earnings* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Raymer | 8,215,000 (32.4%) | 0 | 1 | $5,345 |
| Matt Dean | 4,920,000 (19.4%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Arieh | 3,205,000 (12.6%) | 1 | 6 | $306,990 |
| Glenn Hughes | 2,275,000 (9.0%) | 0 | 4 | $44,270 |
| Dan Harrington | 2,245,000 (8.9%) | 2 | 8 | $1,975,858 |
| David Williams | 1,575,000 (6.2%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Al Krux | 1,305,000 (5.1%) | 1 | 6 | $345,705 |
| Mike McClain | 885,000 (3.5%) | 0 | 2 | $12,679 |
| Mattias Andersson | 740,000 (2.9%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
*Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2004 Main Event.
Final table results[edit]
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 |
| 2nd | David Williams | $3,500,000 |
| 3rd | Josh Arieh | $2,500,000 |
| 4th | Dan Harrington | $1,500,000 |
| 5th | Glenn Hughes | $1,100,000 |
| 6th | Al Krux | $800,000 |
| 7th | Matt Dean | $675,000 |
| 8th | Mattias Andersson | $575,000 |
| 9th | Michael McClain | $470,400 |
Other High Finishes[edit]
NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | Marcel Lüske | $373,000 |
| 15th | Eddy Scharf | $275,000 |
| 17th | Gary Jones | $175,000 |
| 18th | Harry Demetriou | $147,500 |
| 26th | Chris Ferguson | $120,000 |
See also[edit]
Wsop Winners List
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