Rob Hollink Wins WSOP $10,000 buy-in
Limit Hold'em championship

"With a Dutch player winning this event, six different
nations have now been represented amongst WSOP winners."

LAS VEGAS, NV – The $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em World Championship attracted a highly-competitive field of 218 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $2,049,200. The top 27 finishers collected prize money.

The winner was Rob Hollink, from Groningen, Holland. He is a 46-year-old professional poker player. He is divorced and has three children.

Groningen is in the northernmost part of Holland. It is very near the German border.

Hollink collected $496,931 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Hollink becomes the first WSOP gold bracelet ever from the nation of Holland. Many great Dutch players have come close to winning. But Hollink goes down in history as the first to achieve a WSOP triumph.

Hollink stated that he has been coming to the WSOP every year since 2001. He estimated that he has played 80-85 events, without much success:

While all 55 WSOP tournaments on the 2008 schedule are categorized as “gold bracelet” events, this is also known as a “world championship” event. This means the winner of this event is the Limit Hold’em world champion. Beginning this year, all $10,000+ buy-in tournaments are designated as official world championships. Ten WSOP tournaments qualify under these guidelines -- a list which includes eight gold bracelet tournaments with $10,000 buy-ins, the $50,000 buy-in HORSE event, and the Main Event.

This is the highest buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament in history. Previously, the highest buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament had been $5,000. Last year, the highest buy-in Limit Hold’em event was $3,000.

Limit Hold’em was the most popular varient of tournament poker for a 15-year period between 1988 and 2003. Limit Hold’em was also the dominant form of poker played in public cardrooms from the mid-1980s (when California law changed to allow flop games) until a few years ago. In fact, during much of the 1980s and 90s finding a No-Limit Hold’em game was next to impossible. For many years at the World Series of Poker, Limit Hold’em events attracted more total entries than No-Limit Hold’em events.

Limit Hold’em tournaments are now spread less frequently. For instance, there are only three Limit Hold’em events on the 2008 WSOP schedule, versus 25 No-Limit Hold’em events. This was the second of three such events.

The tournament was played over three consecutive days. The final table was played on the ESPN main stage and was broadcast by Bluff Media on ESPN360. NFL play-by-play announcer Howard David was joined by poker pro and author Barry Tanenbaum on the live coverage.

This finale took place at the same time as the conclusion of the $3,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #29), which took place at the secondary final table.

The second-place finisher was Jerrod Ankenman, from Avon, CT. Ankenman finished as the runner-up on one previous occasion. He was second in the $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event in 2006. Ankenman co-authored a book with two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Bill Chen called “The Mathematics of Poker.”

Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Aaron Katz took fourth place.

Poker pro Andy Bloch finished in seventh place. This was Bloch’s second final table appearance. He was the runner up in the Pot-Limit Hold’em World Championship (Event #1) and now stands as the only player to make it to two official “world championship” events so far this year.

Bloch also set a dubious record of accomplishment in this event. He became the all-time leader in “most final table appearances” with no WSOP wins. This was his eighth such achievement. Bill Gazes and Don Barton have seven appearances/no wins each. Mark Gregorich has six.

South Africa picked up its first entry on the cash list at this year’s World Series as Cy Jassinowsky, from Johnannesburg finished in eighth place.

Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Eric Froehlich finished in 12th place. This marked his eighth WSOP cash in three years.

John “Tex” Barch, who won $2.5 million for his third-place finish in the 2005 Main Event, finished 17th.

Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Dewey Tomko ended up as the 23rd place finisher. This marked Tomko’s 43rd career WSOP cash, which now ties him for 11th place on the all-time list. Tomko was also the runner-up in the 1982 and 2001 WSOP Main Events.

Other former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included Todd Witteles (19th), Hoyt Corkins (21st), and Alex Kravchenko (27th).

Through the conclusion of Event #30, the player with the highest percentage of cashes (minimum of six events played) is Kathy Liebert at 62.5 percent. Liebert has entered a total of eight events and cashed in five.

Through the conclusion of Event #30, only one player has cashed six times – Nikolay Evdakov, from Moscow, Russia. He is best positioned 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 four cashes. However, Daniel Negreanu is now close in points, along with Vanessa Selbst and Jacobo Fernandez.

Through the conclusion of Event #30 at this year’s World Series of Poker, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows:

8 – Nevada
5 – California
4 – New York
2 – Canada
2 – Missouri
1 – Germany
1 – Holland
1 – Italy
1 – Maryland
1 – Michigan
1 – Pennsylvania
1 – Russia
1 – South Carolina
1 – Wisconsin

The Event #30 winner Rob Hollink is to be classified as a professional. Accordingly, through the conclusion of Event #30 at this year’s World Series of Poker, the “Professionals versus Amateurs” gold bracelet scoreboard reads:

Professionals – 23 wins
Amateurs – 4 wins
Semi-Pros – 2 wins