Name Prize City State/Country 1 Matt Graham $278,180 Las Vegas Nevada 2 Jean-Robert Bellande $173,564 Los Angeles California 3 Joe DeNiro $107,845 Studio City California 4 Brandon Wong $69,088 Fresno California 5 Danny Wong $33,701 Las Vegas Nevada 6 Spencer Lawrence $20,221 London England 7 John Kranyak $13,480 Bay Village Ohio 8 Andrew Prock $10,335 Oakland California 9 Michael Kachan $7,526 Edina Minnesota 10 Duane Graff $5,055 Hickory Hills Illinois 11 Mikael Norinder $5,055 Stockholm Sweden 12 Stefan Rapp $5,055 Linz Austria 13 Eric Rivkin $5,055 Redondo Beach California 14 Steve Kim $5,055 Milipitas California 15 Lorenz Guarin $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 16 Jelger Wiegersma $5,055 Eindhoven Netherlands 17 Jonathan Tamayo $5,055 Humble Texas 18 Hansu Chu $5,055 Mclean Virginia 19 Frederick Berger $5,055 Slidell Louisiana 20 David Orvis $5,055 Longmont Colorado 21 Markus Stranzinger $5,055 Klosterneuburg Austria 22 Sol Mammon $5,055 Plantation Florida 23 Tony Tan $5,055 Los Angeles California 24 Jannick Wrang $5,055 Copenhagen Denmark 25 Richard Walter $5,055 Shickley Nebraska 26 Michael Wattel $5,055 Phoenix Arizona 27 Sebastian Bauer $5,055 Bickenbach Switzerland 28 Robert Lipkin $5,055 Buffalo Grove Illinois 29 Cristiano Blanco $5,055 Roma Italy 30 Mark Klecan $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 31 Jeffrey Kimber $5,055 Tulse Hill England 32 Craig Crivello $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 33 Terry Borer $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 34 David Olson $5,055 Dallas Texas 35 David Gee $5,055 Gilbert Arizona 36 Jay Bloom $5,055 Gilbert Arizona 37 Kirby Rogers $5,055 Shakopee Minnesota 38 Imari Love $5,055 Chicago Illinois 39 William Durkee $5,055 Evanston Illinois 40 Jesse Martin $5,055 Shrewsbury Massachusetts 41 Hoyt Corkins $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 42 Davood Mehrmand $5,055 Frankfurt Germany 43 Michael Watson $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 44 Tino LeChich $5,055 Melbourne Australia 45 David Bach $5,055 Athens Georgia 46 Kenna James $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 47 Christopher Vitch $5,055 La Jolla California 48 Michelle Ankenman $5,055 Acon Connecticut 49 Michael Leah $5,055 Brooklyn New York 50 Jason Smith $5,055 Chandler Arizona 51 Primoz Adamic $5,055 Slovenia 52 Sasha Rosewood $5,055 Santa Cruz California 53 Rick Shepherd $5,055 Henderson Nevada 54 Joel Diaz $5,055 Whittier California 55 Jordan Smith $5,055 Tool Texas 56 Blair Rodman $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 57 Aliaksandr Dzianisau $5,055 Vitebsk Belarus 58 Benjamin Fineman $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 59 Gregory Giannokostos $5,055 Dunwoody Georgia 60 Greg De Bora $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 61 Claudio Rinaldi $5,055 62 Coralee Grebe $5,055 Rochester Minnesota 63 Zvi Stern $5,055 Ramat Israel 64 Van Arreca $5,055 Baldwin Park California 65 Jacob Petersen $5,055 Baton Rouge Louisiana 66 Colin Miners $5,055 New York New York 67 Simen Sagstuen $5,055 Gjovik Norway 68 Rhett Butler $5,055 Rockville Maryland 69 Benjamin Yu $5,055 Henderson Nevada 70 James Fricke $5,055 Mahomet Illinois 71 Steve Stolzmann $5,055 Sheboygan Wisconsin 72 Anthony Bloom $5,055 73 Randy Ritterbush $5,055 Colorodo Springs Colorado 74 Connie Rim $5,055 Suwanee Georgia 75 Yueqi Zhu $5,055 Rowland Heights California 76 Charles Mccormick $5,055 Oceanside California 77 Terrence Chan $5,055 Vancouver Bristish Columbia, Canada 78 John Myung $5,055 Vienna Virginia 79 Andrew Bloch $5,055 Las Vegas Nevada 80 Blakely Purvis $5,055 Montgomery Alabama 81 Jesse Correa $5,055 Yucaipa California 82 Josh Jorgensen $5,055 Gillette Wyoming 83 John Pires $5,055 San Jose California 84 Eric Wellman $5,055 West Chester Ohio 85 Eddylee Martin $5,055 Cayman Brac Cayman Island 86 Allan Le $5,055 Huntington Beach California 87 Samuel Lee $5,055 North York Ontario, Canada 88 Justin Tran $5,055 Sacramento California 89 Robert Kovar $5,055 Toronto Ontario, Canada 90 Kevin Song $5,055 Rowland Hights California

Tournament Notes:

. The $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold'em Shootout championship (Event #53) attracted 823 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $1,123,395. The top 90 finishers collected prize money.

. This is the final event on the schedule before the WSOP Main Event.

. On this day, the WSOP set a new record. More countries have now cashed this year than any time previously at any major tournament held anywhere in the world. A total of 104 different countries have now sent players to the WSOP who have finished in-the-money. Last year, this number was 87 different nations. However, the Main Event is still yet to be played in 2008, which could add even more countries to the list. For the first time ever, many nations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have discovered the WSOP which now reflects the international flavor of the tournament series.

. The tournament was played over two consecutive days. The final table was played on the secondary stage. Due to the two-day schedule, playing times ran longer than expected. The final table began play at midnight (actually on Day Three) and ended in the morning by sunrise.

. The $1,500 buy-in Limit Shootout champion is Matt Graham. He is a 24-year-old professional poker player from Las Vegas, NV.

. Graham is originally from New Orleans, LA. . This was his fifth time to cash at the WSOP, and fourth time this year. Graham collected $278,180 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold bracelet.

. Even before this victory, Graham had been deemed by some poker media as a "rising star." He emerged on the tournament scene only a few years ago, but some top pros have commented on his play in various blogs and poker forums.

. The second-place finisher was Jean-Robert Ballande, from Los Angeles, CA. In addition to succeeding with many tournament cashes and in the money finishes in recent years, Ballande appeared on the CBS television show "Survivor."

. Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament included Mike Wattel (26th), Hoyt Corkins (41st), Blair Rodman (56th), and Kevin Song 90th).

. Nikolay Evdakov now holds the record of "Most Cashes at the WSOP in a Single Year" - with ten.

. Dave Orvis was the chip leader at the End of Day One in this event. He finished 20th. Through Event #53, the End of Day One chip leaders have gone on to cash 70 percent of the time -- 40 of 51 occasions (the chip leader was not applicable on two events). Only thirteen of these same 51 chip leaders (25 percent) made it to the final table. Only one chip leader went on to win the event. That lone wire-to-wire winner was Vanessa Selbst in Event #19.

. Jean-Robert Bellande was the chip leader at the start of this final table. He ended up in second place. Through Event #53, eighteen of 51 chip leaders at the start of the final table (34 percent) went on to win the event. Thirty of 51 chip leaders (59 percent) went on to finish in the top three spots. Two events did not have a chip leader (Heads-Up and Shootout tournaments).

. Winner Matt Graham is officially listed as being from Las Vegas, NV. Through the conclusion of Event #53, the gold bracelet count by nations and states reads as follows: 13 - Nevada 10 - California 4 - New York 3—Canada 3 - Germany 2 - Italy 2 - Missouri 1 - Arizona 1 - Belgium 1 - Brazil 1 - Denmark 1 - Florida 1 - France 1 - Georgia 1 - Holland 1—Ireland 1 - Maryland 1 - Michigan 1 - Ohio 1 - Pennsylvania 1 - Russia 1 - South Carolina 1 - Wisconsin

. Eleven different nations have produced a gold bracelet winner at this year's WSOP. This list now includes Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

. The Event #53 winner Matt Graham is to be classified as a pro player. He plays poker full-time. Accordingly, the "Pro-Am" gold bracelet scoreboard currently reads: Professionals - 38 wins Amateurs -- 12 wins Semi-Pros -- 3 wins

. Erick Lindgren now leads the "Player of the Year" race (through the end of Event #53). Barry Greenstein, Jacobo Fernandez, David Benyamine, and John Phan are close behind, For a complete updated points list, see: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/players/2008.asp?sort=poypts

. Scotty Nguyen is now the leader on the 2008 prize money list, having won the most money at the WSOP, to date. His accrued winnings total $2,039,628.

. Through the conclusion of Event #53, the total amount of prize money awarded at this year's WSOP totals $115,914,673. This is more than last year's prize pool at this same time last year.

CORRECTIONS / ADDITIONS: EVENT #51: Yesterday, it was reported that 2007 champion Jens Voertmann entered the tournament, but did not cash. This was an error. He did cash. So far, 50 of 52 defending champions at this year's WSOP have failed to cash in their respective events. Blair Rodman and Jens Voertmann were the lone exceptions.

2008 World Series of Poker