Matt Keikoan Wins Gold Bracelet in Event #7 at 2008 WSOP

2008 World Series of Poker
Event #7 Final Report
$2,000 No Limit Holdem

Matt Keikoan Takes Down the Gold
Bracelet of Event # 7 at the 2008
World Series of Poker

Tournament Notes:

The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship attracted 1,592 entrants.
This was an increase over last year's tournament size, which had 1,531
entries. The total prize pool amounted to $2,897,440. The top 153 finishers
collected prize money.

The tournament was played over three days. On Day Three, the final table
was dealt out on the ESPN stage, also known as the 'feature table.' The so-
called 'secondary' final table, located adjacent to the main stage area,
featured the conclusion of Event #8 in a scheduling overlap. This year, most
days at the WSOP will include two final tables.

This was the first WSOP event of the year to be featured by Bluff Media on
the ESPN360 website. Viewers around the world can log on at www.espn360.
com and watch final tables live. Bluff will feature 23 more WSOP events to be
held over the next month. The broadcasts begin daily at 2 pm PST. Note: On
some days, events will begin later due to unforeseen tournament length
times on the previous day.

This was only the fifth WSOP event in history ever to be carried in a live
broadcast format. The last three Main Events were featured on Pay-Per-View.
Last year's Pot-Limit Omaha championship was shown at the official WSOP
website, www.worldseriesofpoker.com. Bluff Media's ambitions are
considerably greater this year. All shows are free.

The World Series of Poker consistently draws the most diverse fields in the
game, attracting players from all over the world. This event included players
who cashed from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, England, Romania, Norway,
Scotland, Holland, and Russia, and the United States. Furthermore, players
cashed from 34 different U.S. states.

Five different nations were represented at the final table – including Canada,
England, Indonesia, Romania, and the United States.

When the final table began, Theo Tran was the chip leader. In fact, he
possessed nearly twice as many chips as the player in second place. Despite
this, Tran ended up as the fourth-place finisher. Tran has developed a well-
deserved reputation as a fearless No-Limit player. He dominated play during
much of the tournament. However, Tran steamed off his entire stack late at
the final table when he went to the felt in less than a dozen hands after
having nearly 60 percent of the total chips in play.

The $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em champion is Matt Keikoan. He is a 40-
year-old professional poker player from San Rafael, CA. Keikoan worked as a
'poker prop' for about eight years before phasing gradually into the life of a
working poker pro. Keikoan started out playing at Casino San Pablo in the
San Francisco Bay area.

While working as a poker prop, some of Keikoan's regular co-workers
included Bill Edler, Erick Lindgren, Bill Gazes, Matt Lefkowitz, and others. The
poor tourists in that joint must have gotten skinned alive.

Matt Keikoan is the brother of poker pro Todd Keikoan, who lives in Las
Vegas.

Keikoan attended San Francisco State University, but did not graduate. His
father was interviewed following his son's victory and commented: 'We were
thoroughly pissed off because he left college and wanted to become a
professional poker player. But, it turned out well.'

Keikoan collected $550,529 for first place. He also earned his first WSOP gold
bracelet. To date, Keikoan now has seven World Series cashes. This was his
first WSOP final table appearance. However, he has finished high in several
other major events.

Keikoan finished 63rd in the 2007 Main Event. That cash was worth $154,194.

Keikoan was cheered on by several poker pros, including Gavin Smith and
Erick Lindgren. While Keikoan was celebrating victory, Lindgren remarked that
he has been playing golf with the new champ for several years. 'When we
used to play golf, we would play for all the money in our pockets until the sun
went down. Sometimes, we would be hitting golf balls when it was dark,'
Lindgren said. 'Now, we can play a little higher.'

Bad Beat Story of the Year: This one is worth telling (and listening to). Down
to three tables and 24 players on Day Two, Theo Tran was heads-up in a pot
with Scott Montgomery. Tran was dealt A-A against Montgomery's 5-5.
Incredibly, Montgomery flopped quad-fives, yet still ended up losing the hand.
The flop came 5-5-4 with two spades. The turn brought the deuce of spades.
The river delivered the three-of-spades, giving Tran a straight flush (A-2-3-4-
5) with the ace-of-spades in his hand. Perhaps most incredible of all –
Montgomery did not go broke on the hand. Tran bet the river for a modest
number of chips, and Montgomery could only make the call (instead of
raising), despite having four-of-a-kind.

After multiple final tables which lasted past midnight, this finale concluded in
a lightning-fast 6 hours and 20 minutes. This was the shortest final table of
year, thus far.

The second-place finisher was Shannon Shorr, from Las Vegas. He was fourth
in the 2006 WSOP 'Player of the Year' race.

A 26-year-old student, Mihai Manole from Bucharest, Romania took sixth
place. This marked the highest WSOP finish in history for a Romanian national.

Swedish-born Chris Bjorin, who now lives in London, finished in fifth place.
This marked Bjorin's 39th career WSOP in-the-money finish.

Tournament pro J.C. Tran finished seventh. Tran, from Sacramento, CA has a
number of major poker titles to his credit. However, he has yet to win a
WSOP gold bracelet. Tran rightly deserves a place on the 'Best to Not Win' list.

Three former WSOP gold bracelet winners cashed in this event including
Dustin 'Neverwin' Woolf (15th place). This was Woolf's second cash this year.
Others were 'Minneapolis Jim' Meehan (81st) and Thomas 'Thunder' Keller
(83rd).

The 2008 World Series of Poker championship gold bracelets are designed
and manufactured by Corum USA. For more information and specifications,
contact Knych Keller: kkeller@corumusa.com
_________________________________

World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack

Director of Sponsorship and Licensing -- Ty Stewart

Director of Broadcasting and New Media – Craig Abrahams

Director of Communications – Seth Palansky

Regional Vice President of Specialty Gaming -- Howard Greenbaum

Tournament Director – Jack Effel

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Photo Provided By: IMPDI for the 2008 WSOP