2007 WSOP Event #43 – Saifuddin Ahmad Wins $2,000 Limit Hold’em

It seems like the young internet generation is winning all the bracelets nowadays.  Well, you can chalk one up for the 50+ crowd.  Saifuddin (Saif) Ahmad, old enough to have two children through college, won his first World Series of Poker bracelet, as he took down the $2,000 limit hold’em title. 

Ahmad was second in chips as the final table commenced and, despite not making much headway for a while, employed one of the more aggressive styles at the table.  It wasn’t until there were five players remaining that he really began adding chips onto his stack.  First, he crippled Justin Pechie and then knocked out Tommy Rounds in 5^th place.  He gave a bunch back when he lost a large pot to William Jensen, but going into three-handed play, Ahmad’s stack was up to 500,000 from 322,000, good for second, although Jensen had about double his chips. 

He and Jensen went back and forth during three-handed before Jensen finally eliminated Michael Graffeo in 3^rd place to take a 1 million to 875,000 lead into heads-up play. 

Heads-up was completely dominated by Ahmad, as he took pot after pot after pot.  He needed a little luck on the last hand, though.  Jensen raised pre-flop, leaving him pot committed.  The flop came out J-K-2 and, as expected, Jensen pushed.  His J-K put him in tremendous shape against Ahmad’s meager Q-4.  The 10 on the turn gave Ahmad hope with an open-ended straight draw, and then the Ace on the river completed that straight, eliminating Jensen in heartbreaking fashion and shipping the bracelet over to Ahmad.

Final Table Standings 

1. Saifuddin Ahmad -- $217,329
2. William Jensen -- $133,151
3. Michael Graffeo -- $88,481
4. Justin Pechie -- $59,274
5. Tommy Rounds -- $43,811
6. Hal Havlisch -- $34,362
7. Robert Pacleb -- $25,771
8. Joseph Mandia -- $18,899
9. Gerald Kane -- $13,745