Rouhani claims his first bracelet at WSOP
June 8, 2008
It took barely four hours at the final table for Farzad “Freddy” Rouhani to claim the first bracelet of his career by winning the WSOP $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Low championship in Vegas.
The 42 year old from Germantown had come close to picking up a bracelet a couple of years back when he finished second in a No-Limit Hold’em event, but he took confidence in the fact that he started the final table as the clear chip leader and went one better this time around. In fact, he never lost the chip lead on his way to picking up the winner’s cheque for $232,911.
388 players had entered what was the tenth event of this year’s World Series of Poker and once the dust had settled it was the pros who once again dominated the event. Former gold bracelet winners such as Hoyt Corkins, Allen Cunnigham and Berry Johnston all cashed, whereas Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and “Miami” John Cernuto both provided Rouhani with stern opposition at the final table.
In fact it was Mizrachi who crashed out first, closely followed by Michigan native Daniel Mowczan who found himself short stacked. John Racener soon followed when he went all in against Rouhani who tabled a nut flush. Racener’s could only show two pair and he ended up going to the rail in sixth place with a cheque for $37,781.
Greg Pappas ($48,190) soon followed him when Tom Chambers bested him in a heads up duel by tabling a flush.
Poker pro Yequi Zhu had sat down at the final table as the short stack, and will take some consolation that he managed to work his way up to fourth place ($63,807), but he too eventually fell to Rouhani who was starting to steam roller the field by this point.
His next victim was the last pro at the table, “Miami” John Cernuto who was looking to add a fourth WSOP bracelet to his collection. Instead he had to be content with third place and a cheque for $86,117 when Ks on the river made Broadway for Rouhani, giving him a huge chip lead going into the heads-up play.
With such a difference between the two players’ stacks, it was always going to be difficult for Tom Chambers. Despite his best efforts the heads up play only lasted 15 minutes before Rouhani’s quads crushed Chambers’ low draw.
“I must admit that I really do need the money,” Rouhani said after his victory.
“Everyone needs the money. But this gold bracelet to me means a whole lot more. It is the thing that everyone in poker dreams of.”
Tom Chambers received $142,784 for finishing as the runner up.
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