World Series of Poker Event #25, Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em World Championship, 13-15 June 2008

Entrants: 256
Buy in: $10,000
Prize pool: $2,406,400

Final results:
1. Kenny Tran, $539,056
2. Alec Torelli, $336,896
3. Vanessa Selbst, $108,288
4. Jonathan Jaffe, $108,288
5. Lyle Berman, $54,144
6. Gavin Griffin, $54,144
7. Brandon Adams, $54,144
8. Robert Mizrachi, $54,144
9. David Williams, $36,096

The 2008 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em World Champion is Kenny Tran, from Arcadia, CA. He is a professional poker player, who has specialized in high-limit cash games most of his career.

Tran collected $539,056 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet. This was his 12th WSOP career cash.

Tran has an amazing story. He was born in Vietnam and once worked at McDonalds. When he turned 21, he worked as a poker dealer. Then, he played recreational poker, mostly in low-limit games, before gradually moved up through the ranks to the point where he now routinely plays for six-figure sums amongst the toughest competition in the world.

Tran has a number of impressive tournament finishes over the past year. He finished 16th place in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. He finished 5th in the 2007 $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship. He took 16th place in the inaugural WSOP Europe championship held last year.

“It means a lot to me to win, especially on Fathers Day,” Tran said afterward. “The first time you win this is really great and it’s just a great, great feeling. I have never really had this kind of feeling before.”

“I definitely have a strategy,” Tran stated after his final heads-up win. “I grind them all out. I like to grind people out and make them feel bored. I just torture them and let them finally make a mistake.”

The $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em World Championship attracted 256 entries. The event was closed off at 256 players due to the heads-up single-elimination format. The total prize pool amounted to $2,406,400. The top 64 finishers (which meant all winners of at least two heads-up matches) collected prize money.

This is only the second time this event has been included on the WSOP schedule. Last year in the inaugural, more entries were accepted (392). However, some players randomly drew a “bye” and did not have to compete in the first round. This was ultimately viewed as giving too much of an advantage to those players.

Hence, the adoption of the single-elimination format with no byes this year meant that only specific multiples of entrants would be workable. Hence, the tournament was forced to accept a limited number of entries – with 128, 256, or 512 being the most likely targets. It was decided that the tournament would be capped at 256 players.

Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event included Lyle Berman, Robert Mizrachi, and Gavin Griffin (final eight), David Williams and Erick Lindgren (final 16), Michael Banducci and Sammy Farha (final 32), Justin Bonomo, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Antonio Esfandiari, Ryan Young, and Carlos Mortensen (final 64).

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