The Hinkle Brothers became the first siblings in
history to win WSOP gold bracelets within a single year.
“There is no rivalry between us,” Hinkle
said. “I was ecstatic when he won his bracelet and I know
he’s the same way. It’s just amazing that we could
both win in the same year.”
Twelve days earlier, Hinkle’s mother sat in
the audience and watched her son Grant win his first WSOP victory.
She returned to the main stage again and watched her other son,
Blair earn his victory. Hinkle’s mother joked afterward
that she is looking forward to getting her own bracelet. While
she has no aspirations of entering a WSOP tournament, Hinkle’s
mother did suggest that she was a sort of good luck charm for
the family.
Blair Hinkle collected $507,613 for first place.
This was his first WSOP gold bracelet. This marked his second
time to cash. Hinkle finished in 520nd place in the 2007 WSOP
Main Event (6,358 entrants). He also finished 6th at the recent
Caesars Las Vegas WSOP Circuit event, a few months ago.
Hinkle also wanted to point out that his grandmother taught him
how to play poker (along with his brother Grant). He said hello
to his grandmother in a post-tournament interview carried live
on ESPN360.
Through the conclusion of Event #23 at this year’s World
Series of Poker, the Professionals versus Amateurs gold bracelet
scoreboard reads:
Professionals ~ 17 wins
Amateurs ~ 4 wins
Semi-Pros ~ 2 wins
The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship attracted
1,344 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $2,446,080.
The top 99 finishers collected prize money.
This is the second of three $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em
tournaments on this year’s schedule. Each of the last
two years has included three NLHE event with this same buy-in.
The tournament was played over three consecutive days. On Day
Three, the final table action took place on the ESPN main stage.
The final table was covered by Bluff Media for live broadcast
at the ESPN360 website.
The second-place finisher was Mark Brockington, from Edmonton,
Alberta (Canada). Amazingly, Brockington started with $100 in
his poker bankroll and has never been in the red since then.
Brockington, who earned a PhD, has his work cited by Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson in his own PhD thesis.
Dustin Dirksen is a law school graduate who also runs three
small businesses. He also plays poker full time. Dirksen was
the runner-up in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event last
year. He took fifth place this time.
Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin, from London,
England was the sixth-place finisher. This marked the 41st career
WSOP cash for Bjorin, placing him 13th on the all-time list.
Thor Hansen, who is ranked right behind Bjorin for career in-the-money
finishes commented that Bjorin is truly one of the best poker
players in the world. He went on to state the Bjorin would have
many more cashes if he played in more events.
The final table included players from Canada, France, England,
Holland, Australia, and the United States.
Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Barry Greenstein cashed,
finishing in 46th place.
Players from 12 different nations finished in the money. Countries
represented included – Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,
England, France, the Faroe Islands, Holland, Italy, Japan, Norway,
and the United States.
Hjalti Jacobson became the first player in history from the
Faroe Islands to cash at the WSOP. The Faroe Islands are located
in the Norwegian Sea and are an autonomous province of Denmark.
Ben Ponzio won this event last year. He did not enter the tournament
this year. This brings the current streak to 23 straight non-cashes
for defending champions in their respective events.
Through the conclusion of Event #23, only one player has cashed
five times to date – Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia.
Evdakov is in serious contention to challenge the record set
for “Most WSOP Cashes in a Single Year,” shared
by four players -- Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007),
Phil Hellmuth, Jr. (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006), with
eight in-the-money strikes.
The current Milwaukee’s Best Light “Player of the
Year” standings shows Erick Lindgren on top of the points
list with one gold bracelet win and three cashes.
LAS VEGAS, NV – The winner of the
$2000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event (#23) was Blair Hinkle,
from Kansas City, MO. Hinkle is a 22-year-old poker pro, who has
also attended college. 
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