New Bracelet Winner at the WSOP

In unassuming yet dominating fashion, Houston’s Dan Schmiech won the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Wednesday night. Going into the final table as the second chip stack, he held steady the rest of the way, eventually pulling away from the pack to win his first WSOP bracelet and $404,585.

Schmiech played a solid game all day, selecting hands carefully and then being very aggressive when he did get involved, generally maximizing his payoffs. He finally took off after a break following Annie Duke’s elimination in 4th place.

When play resumed, Schmiech was again second in chips, with $480,000. Gabe Kaplan, of “Welcome Back, Kotter” fame, was the chip leader at $575,000, and James Kwon held $300,000 chips. The turning point came three hands after the break when Schmiech, holding A-Q, hit his broadway straight on the river, while Kaplan hit the King-high straight. When Schmiech raised Kaplan’s bet on the river, Kaplan debated on whether or not he should call, actually announcing that he believed Schmiech had A-Q, as it was the only thing he would raise with in that situation. Perhaps out of curiosity, Kaplan called and unfortunately found out he was correct.

At that point, Schmiech took the chip lead and never looked back, using his tight table image to execute a successful series of bluffs, as well as getting his opponents to pay him off when he did hit his cards.

While there will be no corny “Kotter” jokes in this article, it should be noted that there was a surprising lack of support for Kaplan from the crowd. It was not that people didn’t like him; it was just that many in the audience probably did not know who he was. At one point, he won a pot and got no applause (although little to no applause is not unusual for most players). Upon hearing the silence, Kaplan looked up at Tournament Director, Johnny Grooms, and said with a smile, “If this was the 70’s, I would’ve gotten a big cheer.”

The ESPN crew did what it could to drum up support for Kaplan. As the players were getting seated after the dinner break, someone back stage played the theme song from “Welcome Back, Kotter” through the PA system. That got a quizzical grin from the former television high school teacher and a laugh from the spectators.

Final Table Celebrity Notes:

• Doyle Brunson made a few appearances to cheer on James Kwon, who was representing his online poker room, Doyle’s Room.
• Barry Greenstein was in the stands, supporting his son, Joe Sebok, who placed 5th.

Complete Final Table Standings

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Dan Schmiech - $404,585
2. Gabe Kaplan - $222,515
3. James Kwon - $113,785
4. Annie Duke - $88,500
5. Joe Sebok - $75,860
6. Luke Neely - $63,215
7. Jeff Shulman - $50,570
8. Young Phan - $37,930
9. Greg Mueller - $25,285

Originally published June 30, 2005