J.C. Tran, with four final tables and two wins, including a WPT main-event title to his name already this year, will surely start as the overwhelming favourite, but another player has also hit a hot streak at just the right time.
Up till now Jared Hamby, better known by his online moniker “Wacokidd”, has struggled to translate his phenomenal online form into live results. That has been put to bed however, since Hamby won two WPT World Championship preliminary events within 5 days, earning him over $500,000 in prize money and TWO entries into Saturday’s Championship event.
Hamby began by winning the $2500 No-Limit Hold’em event on April 10th, outlasting 250 players and collecting $223,780 and a $25,000 entry into the main-event. More importantly for Hamby he had his first major live-tournament victory.
Then, five days later, Hamby triumphed again, catapulting himself into sixth place on the Player of the Year leaderboard, and ensuring his live-tournament anonymity would be no more. This time it was the $2000 No-Limit Hold’em event, and a much larger field of 483 players. The prize was $298,955, and yet another $25,000 entry into the Championship event.
Below is the full list of winners for the 2007 Bellagio WPT World Championship preliminary events:
(All No Limit Hold’em)
Event 1 – ($1500) – Motoyuki Mabuchi - $264,950
Event 2 – ($2000) – Paul Lee - $206,795
Event 3 – ($2500) – Jared Hamby - $223,780
Event 4 – ($3000) – J.C. Tran - $272,320
Event 5 – ($5000) – Mike Hauptman - $365,995
Event 6 – ($1500) – Anh Van Nguyen - $303,320
Event 7 – ($2000) – Jared Hamby - $298,955
Event 8 – ($2500) – Alfredo “Toto” Leonidas - $328,000
Event 9 – ($3000) – TBD
Event 10 – ($5000) – TBD
Event 11 – ($2500) – TBD
Event 12 – ($25,000 WPT Main Event) – TBD