Barry Greenstein wins Event 26 – $1500 Razz

Barry Greenstein won the third WSOP bracelet of his career last night as he took down 2008 WSOP Event #26, $1500 Razz. This was his second final table of this year’s World Series, he finished 3rd just six days earlier in the $5K w/ rebuy No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw event. This third bracelet added to his long list of poker accomplishments which already included four WPT titles and $6 million in career winnings.

The big winner of tonight’s tournament is most likely charity as Barry Greenstein is best known for donating his tournament winnings to charities (see: charities Barry Greenstein donates to). Tonight’s top place prize was $157,619. In addition to being known as the most charitable player in poker, Greenstein is also known for his book ‘Ace on the River’ and his affiliation with the online poker room PokerStars.com.

Event and Final Table Coverage

The $1,500 Razz tournament attracted 413 players for a total first place prize of $157,619 out of a $618,345 total prize pool. If you’re not familiar with Razz think of it like 7-Card stud except the exact opposite. In the end the lowest hand wins. Flushes and straights are ignored so a wheel (A-2-3-4-5) is the absolute nuts.

Players were noticeably tired come into this final table. Day two had lasted well into the early hours of the morning and this event had included a very tough field such as defending champion Katja Thater and noteworthy pros such as Greg Raymer, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Kenna James, Marco Traniello, Chad Brown, Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Ted Forest Dewey Tomko, Huck Seed and many more.

When the final eight began play today at 3PM the chip counts were:

Chris Viox 359,500
Barry Greenstein 243,000
Brandon Leeds 206,500
Joseph Michael 155,000
Archie Karas 113,000
Mark Tenner 108,500
Chris Klodnicki 105,000
Mike Wattel 74,000

About 30 minutes into tonight’s action the final table had it’s first victim. Mike Wattel put all his chips in on third street in a three way pot with Barry Greenstein and Chris Viox. As is often the case in Razz, unlike Hold’em and other games, Greenstein and Viox continued to make bets after Wattel was all in, rather than simply check it down. Here is what the players showed:

Viox: (Ax)-(2x)-(5x)-10x-4x-3x-Kx
Greenstein: (x)-(x)-6x-7x-9x-8x-(x) – Mucked
Wattel: (x)-(x)-4x-6x-Ax-4x-(x) – Mucked

Viox won the main pot and the side pot and sent Wattel was the to rail in eight place collecting $16,386 for his efforts.

The next Razz player to fall was Archie “The Greek” Karas who earned 7th place money worth $19,478. Karas raised to 8,000 after a bring in from Barry Greenstein and then Brandon Leeds re-raised to 16,000. Karas put in his last 3,000 of chips and they ran it. Leeds showed 6x-5x-4x-2x-Ax and Karas drew much worst.

Round 20 was very unfriendly to Jospeh Michael and Brandon Leeds as they were both eliminated in a matter of a few hands. Michael ended up going home in 6th place after Chris Viox’s 8-7-6-4-A beat his 9-7-6-4-3 after getting all their chips in. Finishing in 6th place earned Michael $25,661. Leeds was taken out in 5th place and earned $33,081 after he put his short stack in against Chris Viox. Viox ran well and improved his hand to a 6-5-4-2-A on the final street to beat Leeds 8-6-4-3-A.

The end of the road was fourth place for Mark Tenner, who ended up with $43,284 for his efforts. He ran into Chris Klodnicki’s 7-6-4-3-2 with J-7-6-2-A after getting all his money in on fifth street and that was all for Tenner.

Three handed play was an intense battle that lasted over 5 hours and 20 minutes (including a 20 and 30 minute break) which finally came to and end with Chris Viox hitting the rail in third place. On fifth street Viox put all his chips in against Klodnicki and players showed:

Viox: (7)-(4)-6-K-2
Klodnicki: (9)-(4)-2-Q-3

6th street came giving Viox an Ace and he and his supports were very happy and nearly had Klodnicki crushed. However, they were yet to see that Klodnicki drew a five and had outs. Viox saw his river card and said. “I didn’t improve.” Right after Viox spoke Klodnicki saw his final hole card and flipped it over and showed a wheel. Chris Viox shook hands and earned $58,743 for his excellent three day performance.

When heads up play started the chip counts were:

Barry Greenstein – 985,000
Chris Klodnicki – 380,000

After just one hands of heads up play it looked like it would be an early night for Greenstein as after just one hand the counts were:

Barry Greenstein – 1,203,000
Chris Klodnicki – 162,000

Chris Klodnicki put on a valiant performance doubling up several times and at one point drawing close to event to Greenstein. Eventually Klodnicki chip count dropped to under 110K, less than 2 big bets, when he called down to the river and then mucked after Greenstein showed a 7-6-4-3-2. It was all over on the next hand when Klodnicki tossed his remaining chips in on 3rd with A K 3.

At show down the cards were:

Klodnicki: A-K-3-K-8-6-3 for a king low
Greenstein: 4-9-A-J-4-9-7 for a jack low

Chris Klodnicki collected $97,389 for his runner up finish and Barry Greenstein is the 2008 WSOP Razz Champion picking up his third career bracelet while adding $157,619 to his pile of career winnings. He is also the second member of Team PokerStars to pick up a 2008 WSOP bracelet.