World Series of Poker Event #24, Half Pot-Limit Omaha / Half Pot-Limit Hold’em, 12-14 June 2008

Entrants: 457
Buy in: $2,500
Prize pool: $1,051,100

Final results:
1. Max Pescatori, $246,509
2. Kyle Kloeckner, $152,409
3. Greg Hurst, $94,599
4. Allen Cunningham, $76,204
5. Kyle Hegeman, $62,014
6. Jonathan Depa, $48,876
7. Lennart Holtkamp, $38,365
8. Minh Ly, $30,481
9. John-Paul Kelly, $22,598

It's been a good couple of days for the Europeans at the World Series of Poker, as Max Pescatori has won a second bracelet for the Europeans, following on from Jens Voertmann's triumph in Event #22.

The winner of Event #24 was Max Pescatori, from Milan, Italy. Pescatori, who actually spends more time in Las Vegas than his home in Europe, tours regularly on the American poker tournament circuit. He is 37-years-old.

Pescatori collected $246,509 for first place. He also earned his second WSOP gold bracelet. Pescatori won his first gold bracelet in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2006. This was his 17th WSOP career cash.

When Pescatori won his first WSOP victory on July 7, 2006, it occurred on the same day that Italy won the World Cup This is the first time this event has ever been included on the WSOP schedule.

While many “mixed game” tournaments have taken place in the 39-year history of the WSOP, these two games had not been combined together exclusively until this tournament. A similar event last year proved successful, as a Half-Pot-Limit Omaha / Half-Omaha High-Low Split tournament was scheduled.

The $2,500 buy-in Half-Pot-Limit Omaha / Half-Pot-Limit Hold’em championship attracted 457 entries. The total prize pool amounted to $1,051,100. The top 45 finishers collected prize money.

“The joy (of this win) can never be the same as winning my first one when Italy won the World Cup,” Pescatori said in a post-tournament interview. “The first bracelet is always the best one. But this second win is also important because it is the confirmation of skill. This serves to affirm to myself and gives me confidence that I am pretty good.”

The second-place finisher was Kyle Kloeckner, from St. Louis, MO. Prior to turning to poker as his career, he was a college student who majored in philosophy.

Five-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Allen Cunningham took fourth place, with high-stakes cash game player Minh Ly nicking eighth.

All WSOP images are supplied by "IMPDI for the 2008 WSOP"