1. Farzad ‘Freddy’ Bonyadi Laguna Hills, CA $594,960 2. Lars Bonding Aarhas, Denmark $317,625 3. Glynn Beebe Austin, TX $194,305 4. Robert Doyle N. Palm Beach, FL $170,015 5. Mayen Grigorian Northridge, CA $145,730 6. Joe Zappia Woodbridge, ON (Canada) $121,440 7. Jason Tate Brentwood, TN $97,150 8. K.J. Jordan Myrtle Beach, SC $72,865 9. Larry Watson Las Vegas, NV $48,575 10. Marvin Duarte South Florida, FL $26,715 11. Ryan Hughes Phoenix, AZ $26,715 12. Carl Sciandri Napa, CA $26,715 13. Jason Palazzolo Henderson, NV $21,860 14. Gary Rabin New York, NY $21,860 15. John Carney III Cape Coral, FL $21,860 16. Ryan Dacayanan Seattle, WA $17,000 17. Ram Vaswani London, England $17,000 18. Phongthep Thiptinnakow Downey, CA $17,000 19. Owen Crowe Dartmouth, NS $12,145 20. Dustin Sitar Las Vegas, NV $12,145 21. Bundhit Intachai Waipahu, HI $12,145 22. Richard Ashby Watford, England $12,145 23. Rafael Perry Las Vegas, NV $12,145 24. Paul Foster Vista, CA $12,145 25. Huckleberry Seed Las Vegas, NV $12,145 26. John Juanda Marina Del Rey, CA $12,145 27. Hutson Richarde Charlotte, NC $12,145 28. Ken Fitzgerald Roseville, CA $8,500 29. Ian Kalman San Francisco, CA $8,500 30. Gabrial Nassif Paris, France $8,500 31. Mel Starkman Woodland Hills $8,500 32. Vinod Vangimalla Silver Springs, MD $8,500 33. JohnReiss Omaha, NE $8,500 34. Michael Wernick Birmingham, England $8,500 35. Daniel Hulsey Orange, TX $8,500 36. Ralph Levine Las Vegas, NV $8,500 37. Jonathan Friedberg Las Vegas, NV $7,045 38. Harry Thomas, Jr. Hamilton, OH $7,045 39. Ryan Larson Spokane, WA $7,045 40. Chris Bjorn London, England $7,045 41. Adam Naglich Las Vegas, NV $7,045 42. Sean Wameister Brentwood, CA $7,045 43. Richard Besserman Wantagh, NY $7,045 44. Shannon Medlock Philadelphia, PA $7,045 45. Eliahu Balas Henderson, NV $7,045 46. Daniel Adelson Sherman Oaks, CA $5,710 47. Peter Zakhary Montverde, FL $5,710 48. Oliver Nejad Los Angeles, CA $5,710 49. Brian Mogelefsky Huntington, NY $5,710 50. Ken Robbins Las Vegas, NV $5,710 51. Roger Evans Johnson City, TN $5,710 52. Robert Pizzo Columbia, SC $5,710 53. Michael Abecassis Paris, France $5,710 54. Ted Leva Sugarland, TX $5,710 55. Bill Ferrand Las Vegas, NV $4,860 56. Jonathan Shecter Las Vegas, NV $4,860 57. Archibald Van Horn ADA, OR $4,860 58. Ylon Schwartz Brooklyn, NY $4,860 59. Brandon Wong Clovis, CA $4,860 60. Allie Prescott Memphis, TN $4,860 61. James McClintic Albuquerque, NM $4,860 62. Nenad Meic Niagara Falls, ON $4,860 63. Rob Pieklo Flanders, NJ $4,860 64. Robert Binelli Levenworth, UK $4,250 65. Jim Schmdt Spokane, WA $4,250 66. MJ Partin Cave Creek, AZ $4,250 67. Marco Traniello Las Vegas, NV $4,250 68. Joel Ramin New York, NY $4,250 69. Q Knopow Las Vegas, NV $4,250 70. Jason Lester Aventura, FL $4,250 71. C T Law England $4,250 72. Erik Dickinson Longhorn, PA $4,250 73. Wesley Huff Berkeley, CA $3,645 74. Gary Dolenga Northville, MI $3,645 75. Stuart Fox Birmingham, England $3,645 76. Yevgeny Kafelnikov Russia $3,645 77. David Pham Cerritos, CA $3,645 78. Travis Skaggs Sand Springs, OK $3,645 79. Len Demchak Steetsboro, OH $3,645 80. Stanley Chao Rancho Palos Verges, CA $3,645 81. Aleksander Cooper Bergen, Norway $3,645 82. Simon Trumper Gilford, United Kingdom $3,035 83. Marty Healy Chicago, IL $3,035 84. Milt Meyers Las Vegas, NV $3,035 85. Randy Lorensen Austin, TX $3,035 86. Tony Hartmann Richfield, MN $3,035 87. Jordan Smith Tool, TX $3,035 88. William Wilding Evansville, IN $3,035 89. V Eyzerovich Staten Island, NY $3,035 90. Josef Monro Beverly Hills, MI $3,035 91. Travis Green Irvine, CA $2,670 92. Jason Newburger Vernon Hills, IL $2,670 93. Richard Cohen Cincinnati, OH $2,670 94. Lance Allred Pasadena, CA $2,670 95. Howard Crash Weston, CT $2,670 96. John Falconer United Kingdom $2,670 97. Scott Weisblum New York, NY $2,670 98. David Pock Fullerton, CA $2,670 99. Trang My Phan Long Beach, CA $2,670 100. Clifford Flachsenhar Belgrade, MT $2,670

Bonyadi’s Third Strike:
Poker pro Farzad Bonyadi wins third gold bracelet and $595,960 in Pot-Limit Hold’em championship

Farzad Bonyadi topped a huge field of 1,056 players in the $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event, held at the Rio in Las Vegas. Bonyadi, an Iranian-born poker player who now lives in Laguna Beach, CA, reigned supreme at the final table, consisting almost entirely of newcomers to the World Series of Poker. The finale was taped for later broadcast by ESPN.

This is not to say Boyadi didn’t face serious challenges along the way. In fact, he arrived fourth in the chip count. The initial chip leader was Danish player, Lars Bonding, who enjoyed a decisive 5-2 lead over everyone else when play began on Day Three. After Jan Sorensen’s win in the previous event, the relatively small nation of Denmark was going for its second straight win here at the World Series. Chip counts were as follows:

THE FINAL TABLE:

SEAT 1: Joe Zappia $247,000
SEAT 2: Larry Watson $59,000
SEAT 3: Glynn Beebe $242,000
SEAT 4: Mayen Grigorian $112,000
SEAT 5: K J Jordan $368,000
SEAT 6: Lars Bonding $818,000
SEAT 7: Jason Tate $391,000
SEAT 8: Farzad Bonyadi $315,000
SEAT 9: Robert Doyle $87,000

Players were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place – Short-stacked Larry Watson didn’t have much time to wait for a hand. When he found 8-8 that was good enough to move ‘all in.’ Joe Zappia, with five times as many chips, covered the raise with A-10 and caught a ten on the flop. That put Watson out quickly. The Oklahoma-born retiree now living in Las Vegas collected $48,575 as a consolation.

8th Place – Chip-leader Lars Bonding continued to dominate play at the final table. He played most aggressively, which caused K J. Jordan to decide he’d seen enough. That turned out to be a mistake, as Jordan was dealt K-Q suited versus Bonding’s 5-5. Jordan re-raised to 300,000 before the flop and Bonding didn’t hesitate calling with the small pocket pair. Jordan failed to catch a pair, and Bonding raced up to over a million in chips. Meanwhile, K.J. Jordan – a real estate investor from Myrtle Beach, SC – took a commission of $72,865 for 8th place.

7th Place – Another odd turn of events took place when the second-largest stack coming into Day Three busted out. Jason Tate decided to move his last 200,000 into the pot with A-K and Robert Doyle called with J-J. Doyle didn’t need to improve but when a jack fell on the river, the trips blew Tate away as the 7th-place finisher. Tate, an independent contractor from Tennessee, earned $97,150 in prize money.

6th Place – Joe Zappia, who goes by the name ‘The Hammer’ went out next. The Hammer got nailed when he tried to make a move with J-10 and lost his last 130,000 in chips. Robert Doyle’s ace-high played as the winning hand. Zappia received $121,440 for 6th place.

5th Place – If Chris Grigorian is ‘the Armenian Express,’ then his cousin Mayan is most certainly the bullet train. Unfortunately, Mayan Grigorian (a.k.a. “MG”) ran out of steam about midway through the finale. He went out on a bizarre hand. Short-stacked, MG moved in trying to steal with 7-6 and was called by Glynn Beebe with 7-5 (a great situation for MG). The board came with four diamonds and Beebe had the only diamond. Grigorian, a stockbroker from southern California, was derailed in 5th place – good for $145,730.

4th Place – Robert Emmett Doyle, Jr. was the next player to exit. The self-employed poker player from N. Palm Beach, FL was eliminated when he was low on chips and ended up losing to Farzad Bonyadi’s pair of kings. Doyle collected $170,015.

3rd Place – Glynn Beebe made a nice run but ended up going out in 3rd place. The business owner from Austin, TX was down to his last 200,000 in chips and faced two opponents with over 1,000,000 in chips each. Both big stacks seemed content to let Beebe go out before going to war. Beebe went out with J-9 after the flop came 5-6-7. With a straight draw and two overcards, Beebe missed. Lars Bonding had pocket 10s and that was all for Beebe. Third place paid $194,305.

2nd Place – The kamikaze at this final table was Lars Bonding. He completely dominated play firing the first half of the seven-hour finale. But as players were slowly eliminated, Bonding would inevitably have to face the most talented and experienced of opponents in a showdown. Bonding was not able to push around Bonyadi, and it showed on the final hand of the tournament. After about an hour of heads-up play, Bonding was down 3 to 1 in chips and hoped to steal the pot with Q-10. He moved ‘all in’ after the flop came K-3-2. Bonyadi called the stone-cold bluff with top pair (K-6). The pair of kings held up and Bonding was eliminated as the runner up. Second place paid $317,625.

1st Place – Farzad ‘Freddy’ Bonyadi played a masterful tournament. He allowed Bonding to establish a dominant table presence and watched as other players were gradually eliminated. Coveting a heads-up confrontation, Bonyadi got what he wanted, then gave Bonding just enough freedom to choke himself on the final hand.

Bonyadi, age 46, now has three gold bracelets (lifetime) at the WSOP. He won the Deuce-to-Seven championship in 2004. He captured his first title in 1998 in the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event. This was his largest payday ever -- $594,960 was the payout for first-place.

With the victory, Farzad Bonyadi moves into at least two elite categories. He became the 49th player in WSOP history to win at least three bracelets. Bonyadi also moved into the WSOP ‘Millionaires Club.’ He now has earned over one-million dollars in lifetime earnings at the world’s longest-running and most prestigious tournament.

Official Report by Nolan Dalla – World Series of Poker Media Director

World Series of Poker Circuit Director of Operations – Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director – John Grooms
Rio Poker Room Manager – Michael Matts
Rio Poker Tournament Director – Robert Daily

2005 World Series of Poker