After finishing in 30th place at the $5000 Limit/No Limit Holdem Event which took place last week, Phillip Tom came back to win the eleventh event of the 2008 World Series of Poker, the $5000 No Limit Holdem Shootout. Phillip Tom earned his way to the final table of the event by defeating two tables full of players hoping to win the title. The final six all began play with $1,000,000 and would play until a winner was decided.
The final six players were:
Phillip Tom from Las Vegas, Nevada
Sirous Jamshidi from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Greg Mueller from Vancouver, Canada
Thomas Roupe from Houston, Texas
Timothy West from Los Angeles, California
Leo Wolpert from Fairfax, Virginia
Play began slowly with only Greg Mueller showing any signs of aggression. This aggression gave him the early chip lead, but with the other players all quite healthy it would take a while for the first elimination to occur. That elimination would take place three and a half hours after final table play began.
Thomas Roupe had been severely crippled after he pushed all-in with his pocket eights when the flop fell [7d][3h][3s], only to be dominated by pocket nines. That hand left him with less than 40,000 in chips. Roupe would soon be all-in with his [10s][7s] facing off against Leo Wolpert’s [Ah][Kh]. No help came for the embattled Roupe, who would leave in sixth place, having earned $38,070.
Timothy West would make his exit soon after. He had been struggling to gain chips all day and went all-in with pocket nines. Unfortunately for West he discovered that he would have to get lucky to overcome Wolpert’s kings. It was not to be and West was gone, taking home $63,450 for his fifth place finish.
Sirous Jamshidi would finish in fourth place after a dramatic and very unlucky turnaround. Jamshidi had been doing well but took a huge hit when Phillip Tom’s pocket kings got lucky against Jamshidi’s pocket aces. Soon after Jamshidi moved all-in before the flop with pocket Jacks only to see Tom turn over pocket aces. After the board fell [Kd][10d][5d][2h][7c] Jamshidi made his exit with the fourth place prize of $118,440.
After taking a heavy hit to his stack, Leo Wolpert moved all-in before the flop and was called by Greg Mueller. Wolpert held the advantage, his K-3 just ahead of Mueller’s K-2. The flop fell A-Q-8 and was followed by a 5 on the turn. The hand looked destined to be a split pot as Wolpert needed a 3 to win while Mueller needed a 2. However, a 2 did indeed fall on the river and Wolpert was eliminated in third place, earning $187,812.
Phillip Tom held the chip lead entering heads-up play and would make it even larger when he took a big bite out of Mueller’s stack shortly after the heads-up battle began. In the final hand Mueller limped in and both players saw a flop of [Jh][9d][3c]. Both players checked to see the [5h] fall on the turn. Tom bet out and Mueller threw in a raise. After thinking it over, Tom reraised an amount that would force Mueller to put the rest of his chips in the pot. Mueller called and flipped over [Js][8d] for a pair of jacks. Tom revealed his own hand of [Ad][Jc] for the better kicker. The river card was the [Kd], giving Phillip Tom the WSOP bracelet and the $477,900 that went with it. Greg Mueller would have to settle for the consolation prize of $298,638.