WSOP & WPT Tournament Blog

2007 World Series of Poker

Rio All-Suite Casino and Hotel

Official Results

Event #14

Seven-Card Stud

Buy-In: $1,500

Number of Entries: 385

Total Prize Money: $525,525

Date of Tournament: June 8-9, 2007

WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER

EVENT #14 – MICHAEL KEINER

Below is a photo of Event #14 winner Michael Keiner. Photos are courtesy of ImageMaster Photography.

The winner of the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud championship was Michael Keiner. He is a professional poker player from Frankfurt, Germany. He is 48-years-old.

Keiner was a medical doctor, before turning poker pro. He specialized in cosmetic surgery. Keiner won seven major poker tournaments in Europe before this feat – his first poker tournament win in the U.S. With this victory, Keiner now has five WSOP in-the-money finishes dating back to 2000. First place paid $146,987.

Keiner is the third gold bracelet winner from Germany in WSOP history. The other two players are Matthias Rohnacher (1997) and Eddy Scharf (2001, 2003). In fact, Keiner was motivated to play more events at this year’s WSOP by his friend and rival, Eddy Scharf – the two time WSOP event champ. Occasionally, when Keiner spoke to his fellow countryman inside the poker room, Scharf was known to reply in German – "Speak up Michael – I can’t hear you because my two gold bracelets are rattling in my ears and making it difficult to hear you." Steamed by this, Keiner was determined to play no less than 19 events this year – concentrating in the non-hold’em events with smaller fields. This gave him (numerically) a better chance to win his own gold bracelet. Mission accomplished.

Keiner is certainly accustomed to taking risks. He was wildly successful with his stock investments during the 1990s. However, he openly told the media he "lost millions" in the stock market. Easy come, easy go. Many of his exploits are chronicled at: www.michaelkeiner.de

For Keiner, his first WSOP victory was as impressive as it was satisfying. He pummeled a final table with at least two bona fide superstars. Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Barry Greenstein finished in fourth place. Former WSOP champion (2004) Greg "Fossilman" Raymer finished in sixth place. This was one of the more educated final tables in recent memory. The eight finalists included two (former) attorneys, a high-tech entrepreneur, a Harvard M.B.A. and a former doctor from Germany who beat them all – and became a poker champion.

-- by Nolan Dalla