2002 World Series of Poker explained

Competition:2002 World Series of Poker
Location:Binion's Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada
Dates:April 19 – May 25
Champion: Robert Varkonyi
Prev:2001
Next:2003

The 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe.

The 2002 WSOP was historically notable for two reasons. The series was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters (on tape delay) to show the players' hole cards, although only for the Main Event (today, the cameras are used at most WSOP events), and it was also the last WSOP before the 2003 Main Event victory of amateur Chris Moneymaker helped launch the 2000s poker boom.

Preliminary events

EventWinnerPrizeRunner-up
$500 Casino Employees Limit Hold'emDavid Warga$47,300Leon Wheeler
$2,000 Limit Hold'emMike Majerus$407,120David Chiu
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo SplitPerry Friedman$176,860Greg Mascio
$2,000 No Limit Hold'emLayne Flack$303,880Tom Jacobs
$1,500 Seven Card StudPhil Ivey$132,000Toto Leonidas
$1,500 Limit OmahaJohn Cernuto$73,320Randy Holland
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo SplitPaul Clark$125,200Andrew Prock
$1,500 Pot Limit OmahaJack Duncan$192,560Lindy Chambers
$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Gold Bracelet Match PlayJohnny Chan$34,000Phil Hellmuth Jr.
$2,000 H.O.R.S.E.John Hennigan$117,320Ben Tang
$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'emJay Sipelstein$150,240Barny Boatman
$2,500 Seven Card StudDan Torla$115,600Bill Gibbs
$3,000 Limit Hold'emJohn Hom$174,840Benny Wan
$1,500 RazzBilly Baxter$64,860Chico Flynn
$2,500 Pot Limit OmahaJan Vang Sørensen$185,000Brent Carter
$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-LoPhil Ivey$118,440Sirous Baghchehsaraie
$3,000 Pot Limit Hold'emFred Berger$197,400Chris Ferguson
$1,500 Ace to Five LowballThor Hansen$62,600Brian Nadell
$1,500 No Limit Hold'emLayne Flack$268,020Johnny Chan
$2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo SplitEddie Fishman$135,360Doug Saab
$1,500 Pot Limit Hold'emJohn McIntosh$177,380Mel Weiner
$5,000 Seven Card StudQushqar Morad$172,960Steven Banks
$2,000 S.H.O.E.Phil Ivey$107,540Diego Cordovez
$5,000 Limit Hold'emJennifer Harman$221,440Brian Green
$1,500 Limit Hold'em ShootoutJoel Chaseman$96,400Gene Timberlake
$1,000 Ladies' ChampionshipCatherine Brown$39,880Marie Sohn
$5,000 Pot Limit OmahaRobert Williamson III$201,160Patrick Bruel
$1,500 Limit Hold'emMeng La$190,920Steve Kaufman
$5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo SplitMike Matusow$148,520Daniel Negreanu
$3,000 No Limit Hold'emRandal Heeb$367,240Sherman Burry
$2,000 1/2 Hold'em, 1/2 StudDan Heimiller$108,300Ram Vaswani
$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw No LimitAllen Cunningham$160,200O'Neil Longson
$1,000 Seniors' No Limit ChampionshipBill Swan$134,000Mike Sexton
$1,500 Triple Draw Lowball Ace to FiveJohn Juanda$49,620Paul Phillips

Main Event

There were 631 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter, with the top 45 players finishing in the money. It was the largest poker tournament (by prize pool) ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time.

Final table

NameNumber of chips
(percentage of total)
WSOP
Bracelets*
WSOP
Cashes*
WSOP
Earnings*
John Shipley2,033,000 (32.2%)05$37,270
Russell Rosenblum927,000 (14.7%)000
Ralph Perry766,000 (12.1%)06$43,780
Robert Varkonyi640,000 (10.1%)000
Minh Ly614,000 (9.7%)02$62,155
Scott Gray545,000 (8.6%)01$12,200
Julian Gardner394,000 (6.2%)000
Tony Duong231,000 (3.7%)05$224,000
Harley Hall161,000 (2.6%)02$25,260

Final table results

PlaceNamePrize
1stRobert Varkonyi$2,000,000
2ndJulian Gardner$1,100,000
3rdRalph Perry$550,000
4thScott Gray$281,480
5thHarley Hall$195,000
6thRussell Rosenblum$150,000
7thJohn Shipley$125,000
8thTony Duong$100,000
9thMinh Ly$85,000

Note: Phil Hellmuth, as part of ESPN's broadcast team, during the first hour of their final table coverage said he would shave his head if Robert Varkonyi won the tournament. At the conclusion of the tournament, Hellmuth is seen having his head shaved.

In The Money Finishes

NB: This list is restricted to In The Money finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

PlaceNamePrize
13thMartin de Knijff$60,000
14thYoshio Nakano$60,000
23rdPhil Ivey$40,000
24thMinh Nguyen$40,000
34thRoss Boatman$30,000
35thRandy Holland$30,000
36thTom Schneider$30,000
42ndDavid Sklansky$20,000
43rdDan Heimiller$20,000

In pop culture

In "Casino Night", the 22nd episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, it is revealed that Kevin Malone, a character on the show, won a World Series of Poker bracelet for No-Limit Deuce-Seven Draw in 2002.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Office's Brian Baumgartner Talks Kevin Malone. Holloway. Chad. 2 May 2017.