Rami Boukai wins 2009 WSOP Event 10

The first mixed event of the WSOP is now in the books. This was 2009 WSOP Event #10, $2,500 Pot-Limit Holdem and Omaha and the winner is 26-year-old professional poker player Rami Boukai who picked up his first career WSOP bracelet.

According to his pokerpages.com profile, Boukai was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. He is believed to be the only Saudi Arabian-born WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. It should be noted that although Boukai was born abroad, he came to the United States at the age of one. Boukai’s father was Lebanese. His mother is a native-born American. Boukai has never visited Saudi Arabia. His father worked there in the 1980s on construction projects

2009 WSOP Event 10 Day 3 Coverage

This event proved to be a tough field to beat as day one and two both ran to 3AM PST. Day two was originally scheduled to be played down to a final table, but with 18 players left play was cut at 3AM moving day three’s start time to 1PM per WSOP rules.

In the final 18 players there was one big star left in Hevad Khan, however; after he was eliminated in eleventh place the final table was made up of lesser know players with the most recognizable name being Cornel Cimpan who won the LA Poker Classic a few months ago and has numerous other (smaller) cashes under his belt.

Even though the players were at “a” final table after Khan was eliminated, they needed to lose one more before the “official” final table (as far as WSOP stats are concerned) was determined. It was Gary Do who needed to settle as the final tables official bubble boy when his pocket kings were cracked by Cornel Cimpan’s A7 suited.

The first final table player to go was one of the remaining fields more accomplished players, Austrian poker veteran Sigi Stockinger who would be left settling for a $25,151 cash for his ninth place finish. This came in an Omaha hand where on a flop of Ah 7s 5d, Sigi led with a pot-sized bet and Daniel Makowsky made the call. The turn was Qd and Stockinger fired again, this time putting in 80K of his final 100K chips, Makowsky made the small raise to put him all in and Sigi stuck his final chips in the pot. The hands were Stockinger As Kc Kh 8c for a pair of aces, and Makowsky Ac Qc Th 4c for aces up. When the 7h fell on the river, Stockinger was eliminated.

Next to go was John Kabbaj who finished in eight place worth $28,006 when on an Omaha hand with a flop of 5s 8s 3h, Kabbaj bet pot, Cimpan raised and Kabbaj called for his remaining chips. Kabbaj showed Ac Jc 7s 4s and Cimpan As Ah Kh Qs. When a 9s fell on the turn, Kabbaj was drawing to just a single out for the straight flush. The Jd sealed it and we were down to just seven players.

A few more hands were played with no eliminations before the hour dinner break began.

After dinner break Pawel Andrzejewski had his three aces beat by two pair and finished in 7th Place worth $32,653. On this hand Rami Boukai limped from UTG, Pawel Andrzejewski raised pot to 70K in late position, Boukai asked how much he had behind and made the call. The flop came 4h Tc 3c, Andrzejewski announced all in and Boukai paused for just a moment before calling. Andrzejewski showed AAA8 and Boukai T876. The turn was a 7 giving Boukai two pair and a meaningless 2 fell on the river sending Pawel Andrzejewski to the rail.

Shortly later a Holdem hand saw Paul Parker open to 84K, Rami Boukai min raise and parker call his final chips. Parker showed A6 and Boukai AK. The board ran 87T47 and Parker was out in sixth place collecting $39,904.

Five handed play lasted for quite some time before Danile Makowsky finally broke the period of no eliminations when his AJ failed to outrace Bennani pocket eights. Makowsky collect $51,313 for his fifth place finish.

Next out was Cornel Cimpan. On this hand he opened for 150K and Bennani called. When the flop came 5s Jc 7d, Bennani moved in and Cimpan called all in. He showed AA73 and Bennani 8664. The turn was a harmless 2, but the river was a 4 sending Cimpan to the rail to collect $69,546 for his forth place finish.

Aces were not fairing well during Omaha rounds at this final table. Ben Grundy was the next to prove that when preflop he got all his money in with Ac As Ad 7s against Bennani’s 4s Qs Jd Kd and the board ran out 7c 5h Tc Jc Kh and Grundy was to the rail in third place to collect $99,574.

The heads up battle began at 1:30AM with the chip counts being close to even. Boukai won the first pot of the match and never looked back from there, holding a 3 to 1 chip lead after just 20 minutes of heads up play. The final hand of the night was a Holdem hand where Bennani opened with a pot sized raise, Boukai reraised the pot, and Bennani quickly called with QJ and Boukai tabled pocket nines. The flop came Ac Kh Qs (great for Bennani) but the turn was a 9d and after a river Ace Bennani was the runner up finished collecting $151,355.

While coming in Rami Boukai’s name was likely not familiar to most players, he came into this event with $315K in cashes which included three cashes in last years WSOP, and two in both 2007 and 2006. He also had a EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final 25th place finish for €42,100. Today he picked up his first career WSOP bracelet and the first-place prize of $244,862.