Nenad Medic wins 2008 WSOP Bracelet in Event 12008 World Series of Poker Event #1 is now in the books. This was a $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Texas Hold’em event which attracted 352 entrants. In the end it was Nenad Medic who earned himself $794,112 and the first WSOP bracelet of 2008 by defeating Andy Bloch who earned himself $488,048 for his runner up finish.

This event had itself one of the more star studded final tables we’ve seen at a WSOP Texas Hold’em event in some time. Heading into the day the chip counts where:

Andy Bloch 2,115,000
Nenad Medic 1,200,000
Mike Sexton 1,130,000
Mike Sowers 675,000
Amit Makhija 525,000
Chris Bell 455,000
Phil Laak 425,000
Kathy Liebert 285,000
Patrik Antonius 230,000

Phil Laak Eliminated in 9th place ($74,448) | JJ finds Aces

Phil “the Unabomber” Laak was the final tables first casualty. Laak was first noticed on the tournament poker circuit in 2004 when he won the 2004 WPT Invitational. His wild table antics quickly lead him to become a fan favorite (or non-favorite, either way he was well noticed). This is his second WSOP final table appearance, in 2005 he finished runner up in the event which Johnny Chan won his tenth bracelet. He survived just 5 hands of this final table, and was eliminated with pocket-jacks when he collided with Medic’s pocket-aces. Laak received $74,448 for his 9th place finish.

Mike Sowers Eliminated in 8th place ($99.264) | Refuses exist interview

Mike Sowers was the next player eliminated. Those who follow internet poker will better know Sowers under his online handle SowersUNCC. He’s a 21 year old poker pro whose victories include a $1050 buy-in Limit Hold’em WCOOP event, a $109-rebuy $250K guaranteed PokerStars tournament and the $1K buy-in Full Tilt Monday tournament. His biggest win in live poker was when he defeated Tom “durrrr” Dwan to win the 2008 Borgata Winter Open.

The hand which sent Sowers home was a bit strange. Mike Sexton opened the pot for 110,000 and Sowers raised it up to 390,000 to which Mike immediately moved all in. Pot committed at this point, Sowers called. Mike Sowers turned over 9h 4s, obviously having been on a pure bluff and was in horrible shape to Mike Sexton’s pocket queens. The board ran Ks 8c 3c Ac (Sowers is dead on the turn) Js. Sowers received $99.264 for his eight place finish.

Mike Sowers shook hands with everyone at the final table as he left, showing sportsmanship, but then stormed off refusing to take part in ESPNs closing interviews. This was quite strange as it’s the first we’ve heard of someone declining a WSOP exit interview.

Patrik Antonius Eliminated in 7th place ($124,080) | Team Full Tilt collides

Hand #19 of the final table saw two Team Full Tilt members collide in Patrik Antonius and Andy Bloch. If you’re not familiar with Patrik Antonius he is one of todays most talked about poker stars and is the newest member of Team Full Tilt (read more about him here). On this hand Antonius raised to 120K from the small blind, Bloch reraised to 360K and Antonius moved all in. Antonius showed Kh10h and Bloch Ac4c. The board ran nine high and Antonius was eliminated in 7th place receiving $124,080 for his performance.

Chris Bell is eliminated in 6th place ($157,168) | Lucky Turn, two outer river

Chris Bell was the next player eliminated. Bell is no stranger to tough final tables. In last years WSOP he final tabled a $2500 Omaha and Stud Hi/Lo event which had Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, David Benyamine and Tom Schneider at it. In this hand Bell was short stacked and decided to make a move with A 3 off suit only to find a call from Medic who held pocket jacks. The board ran Q 6 5 leaving Bell with little hope. Bell took the lead in this hand when an Ace hit on the turn but was the victim of a two other on the river when the miracle jack of spades fell. Bell received $157,168 for his sixth place finish.

Amit Makhija eliminated in 5th place ($198,528) | Ax versus Ax

Amit Makhija was perhaps the least known player heading into this events final table. His only live tournament success was a 20th finish in the EPT Monte Carlo. He is however known well to those who follow online poker, but they’ll know him better by his PokerStars user name ‘amak316’ where he specialized in heads-up SNGs and has won Multiple PokerStars $100+$9 rebuy events.

On hand 52 of the final table Amit Makhija ran his Ac 3d against Andy Bloch’s As 7d. No help came from Makhija and he was sent home in 5th place, receiving $198,528 for his performance.

Four players left, Andy Bloch has commanding lead:

As play reached four players, Andy Bloch found himself with a considerable chip lead. Here were the chip counts after 59 hands of play.

Andy Bloch 4,930,000
Mike Sexton 895,000
Nenad Medic 810,000
Kathy Liebert 570,000

Andy Bloch doubles all 3 of his remaining opponents:

On hand 61 of the tournament Bloch had and excellent opportunity to eliminate the eventual champion Nenad Medic. This hand saw both players all in with Bloch holding pocket kings and Medic Big-Slick suited (AsKs). Medic caught himself a miracle all spades flop giving him the winning nut flush.

Mike Sexton found himself a much needed double up on hand #71 when he got his money all in preflop with Ah Jd versus Andy Blochs As6d. The flop ran King Jack Seven and the turn was a harmless Four giving Mike Sexton the double up.

Kathy Liebert was the next player to double up though Andy Bloch when she successfully ran her Ah 10c against Bloch’s Qs 3c on hand #74 of the final table.

After 77 hands had been played all players where over the 1 million chip mark:

Andy Bloch 3,605,000
Nenad Medic 1,475,000
Mike Sexton 1,375,000
Kathy Liebert 1,025,000

It would be 56 more hands before another player would be eliminated. During this time Medic was slowly chipping up while both Liebert and Sexton where winning enough pots to maintain their stack sizes.

Mike Sexton Eliminated in 4th Place ($248,160)

Mike Sexton was the player many of us old school poker enthusiast were really pulling for. Most know him best for his roll as commentator for the World Poker Tour as well as the consulting work he did with PartyPoker during online poker’s early days. The new generation of poker enthusiasts might not realize how great a poker legend Mike Sexton actually is. He was playing high stakes cash games with the best of them long before poker became mainstream and has quite the WSOP resume with 43 cashes, 19 final tables and one bracelet,

Mike Sexton’s hopes for a second WSOP bracelet came to an end on hand #133 of the final table. On this hand Sexton raised to 280,000 on the button and Liebert called him from the big blind. The flop came As Jd 8c, Liebert check called an all in bet made by Mike Sexton.

The cards are turned up:

Liebert: Ad 8h
Sexton: Ac 6c

The turn is a four and Sextons only hope is for a Jack on the river which would give him a split pot. The river comes the 6 of diamonds and Sexton is sent home with $248,160 for his fourth place finish.

New Chip Leader:

On the next hand (#134) Nenad Medic wins a small pot and the chip counts are:

Nenad Medic 2,530,000
Andy Bloch 2,510,000
Kathy Liebert 2,000,000

Kathy Liebert Finishes in 3rd Place : ($306,064)

Kathy Liebert signed a one night deal to represent PokerStars at this event. Liebert her start as a poker player in the mid 1990’s when she was a prop player at a live card room in Colorado. In 2002 she won the inaugural Party Millions event becoming the first female player to ever cash for a million dollars in a live poker tournament. She has had numerous other successes and has 4.4 millon dollars in career tournament winnings making her the winningest female player in poker tournament history. Libert, like Mike Sexton, found herself close but not close enough to winning a second WSOP bracelet. On hand #152 of the final table she founder herself in a 3 way all in situation holding Pocket sixes.

This was by far the most exciting hand of the tournament yet.

The action saw Nenad Medic raise to 300K from the button, Kathy Liebert move all in for 850,000, Andy Bloch rasing the pot limit to 2,800,000, and Medic moving all in. When the cards are turned over we see:

Bloch 9s 9h

Medic Qc Qh

Liebert: 6s 6d

The board ran Ah Qs 2c 4c 5c:

Kathy Liebrert is eliminated in 3rd place receiving $306,064, and Nenad Medic scoops the massive pot.

Heads up Play Begins | Chip Counts, Player Bios and Final Hand.

The two finalists are both sponsored by Full Tilt Poker. Andy Bloch is a full pledged member of Team Full Tilt, while Nenad Medic is one of their red named sponsored pros.

Andy Bloch started heads-up play with 2,100,000 chips and while he probably doesn’t need much of an introduction here’s a quick bio. Bloch is accomplished poker professional who has more than $3.2 million dollars in career tournament winnings and is a famous member of the MIT blackjack team. Just one week ago he was a semi finalist in the $25,000 buy-in heads up tournament on Full Tilt Poker (details). He’s playing now for a shot at his first WSOP bracelet all though he’s no stranger to having the opportunity to do so; he was the runner-up to Chip Reese in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event.

Nenad Medic had 4,940,000 chips heading into heads-up competition. He is a 6 foot 5 inch former college basketball star from Canada. He got stated playing online poker with a $75 deposit and managed to parlay it into $100,000 in winnings. In 2005 he first appeared on television poker for his 5th place finish in the PokerStars WPT event. In November 2006 he won the WPT Foxwoods event taking home $1.7 million dollars; in 2007 he finished 3rd in that same Foxwoods event for another $483,000. This is was his first WSOP final table.

Heads up play lasted just 24 hands. During the first 20 of these hands Medic used his big stack to apply pressure to Bloch whose chip stack dwindled down to 620,000 chips. Around this time the clock stroke midnight in Nevada and it was announced to the crowd of observers that it was Andy Bloch’s birthday, to which the crowd broke out into Happy Birthday chants and even sang a bit when Bloch managed to double up to 1.24 million chips on hand #172.

On the final hand Nenad Medic called Andy Bloch’s preflop raise of $300K. The flop came down 8h 5s 4h. Bloch bet $500K and Medic raised the pot putting Bloch all in. When the cards where turned over Bloch showed 9h 9d for an over pair and Medic showed 5h 7h for a lower pair with a flush draw. Medic took a commanding lead when the turn came the jack of hearts, but Bloch still had outs, drawing to a higher flush. The river card was the 5 of clubs, an obvious brick for Andy Bloch which gave him gave Nenad the championship and $794,112 first place prize money. Andy Bloch earned $488,048 for his runner up finish.

2008 WSOP Event #1 Final Table Standing

1st – Nenad Medic – $794,112
2nd – Andy Bloch – $488,048
3rd – Kathy Liebert – $306,064
4th – Mike Sexton – $248,160
5th – Amit Makhija – $198,528
6th – Chris Bell – $157,168
7th – Patrik Antonius – $124,080
8th – Mike Sowers – $99.264
9th – Phil Laak – $74,448