Tao of Poker

WSOP Event #4 Limit Hold'em

The final table for the World Series of Poker Limit Hold'em event began around 8:30pm PCT. 1,049 players started the tournament on Sunday. Action resumed on Monday with 33 players remaining. First place paid out $361,910 to Eric "Efro" Froehlich won his first WSOP bracelet. History was made when he became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP event.

Here are the players who made the final table with their chip counts:

Final Table - Event #4 Limit Hold'em:

Seat 1: Wing Wong $54,000... Wing Wong has made eight final tables at the WSOP. He started the final table as the short stack.

Seat 2: Eric "Efro" Froehlich $192,000... Originally from Virginia, "Efro" currently lives in Los Angeles, CA. The 21 year old is good friends with David Williams. Efro once predicted that when he turned 21, he would win a WSOP bracelet. This is his first WSOP event.

Seat 3: Jason Steinhorn $207,000... This is the first final table for the California native. He started the final table third in chips.

Seat 4: Christian Van Hees $171,000... The 1995 WSOP Limit Hold'em champion from Seattle is looking for his second bracelet.

Seat 5: Brian Mogelefsky $61,000... Brian placed 6th at the WSOP Circuit event in Atlantic City.

Seat 6: Todd Witteles $134,000... Todd is a professional player from Las Vegas.

Seat 7: Peter Costa $153,000... The gentleman from Liverpool, England won the 2003 No Limit Australian Poker Championship.

Seat 8: Zelong "Freeman" Dong $166,000... Born in China, "Freeman" currently lives in Alabama.

Seat 9: Devin Armstrong $209,000... He's a TV camera operator from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and took 5th in the Canadian Poker Championships.

Seat 10: Adam Hersh $248,000... Adam is a 22 year old UNLV student. He has the biggest cheering section at the final table.

I'm sitting at the media section about twenty feet from the final table. ESPN is taping this event for TV. David Williams sat down in front of me and asked if I was on Wi-Fi internet access.

8:30pm PCT... In the first hand at the final table, Eric "Efro" Froehlich flopped a full house with AJ. He took down a huge pot over 175k and won a decent size chunk of Freeman Dong's stack.

8:38pm PCT... With Ad-5d, Todd Witteles rivered the nut flush. He took another huge pot from Freeman Dong who flopped a set with the Hilton Sisters.

8:41pm PCT... Freeman Dong was knocked out by Peter Costa. He took home $15,925 for 10th place.

9:46pm PCT... Brian Mogelefsky finished in 9th place after he was knocked out by Jason. Brian's KK lost to Jason's TT when a ten spiked on the turn. Brian won $23,950.

10:03pm PCT... At the break, Eric "Efro" Froehlich was the chip leader with 350K in chips. Todd Witteles was in second place with 306K. Wing Wong still had the short stack.

10:13pm PCT... Wing Wong bet his entire short stack preflop with J9. Adam Hersh called with 10c-3c and flopped two pair. Wing was knocked out in 8th place and won $43,430 for his valiant effort.

10:18pm PCT... Peter Costa moved all in preflop with 98o. Todd Witteles called with KJ. The flop: 9-6-K. Peter's hand did not improve and he finished in 7th place and won $57,905. Todd was the chipleader with 341K. Christian Van Hees was second in chips with 300k. Devin Armstrong was the short stack with 132K.

10:44pm PCT... Devin Armstrong was knocked out in 6th place by Eric "Efro" Froehlich. With pocket twos, Devin ran into Efro's pocket aces in a pot that was capped preflop. Devin won $72,380. Efro jumped into the chiplead with over 440K. Jason Steinhorn was the short stack.

11:41pm PCT... Christian Van Ness went all in preflop with J9. Todd Witteles called with A6 and flopped and ace. Christian finished in 5th place. He won $86,855.

12:26am PCT... When the players returned from their break, Efro held the chiplead with 625K. Jason Steinhorn was in second place with 440K and Todd Witteles was in third with 340K. Adam Hersh was the short stack with 17.5K.

12:29am PCT... Efro knocked out Adam Hersh when he flopped top pair with J9. Adam ended up getting all his chips in the pot by the turn with pocket fives. His hand failed to improve. Adam Hersh was bounced in 4th place. Adam won $101,335 in prize money. Efro's big stack topped almost 900K.

12:51am PCT... Efro accumulated more than $1M in chips and added to his massive chiplead.

1:12am PCT... With three players remaining, the play slowed down to a turtle's crawl. Man, limit tournaments are boring and can drive you insane.

1:17am PCT... The flop: Q-9-K. Todd got all his chips in with A9. Efro called with AK and knocked out Todd in third place. He won $115,810 in prize money. Efro had well over $1 million in chips with almost a 2 to 1 chip lead over Jason Steinhorn.

1:58am PCT... After a slow heads up battle, David Williams caught Efro's attention and sarcastically said, "Loosen up, bro."

2:08am PCT... Jason stormed back and picked up several pots to pull even with Efro.

2:29am PCT... I nodded off for a few seconds as the heads up play between Efro and Jason. Did I mention how boring limit tournaments are?

2:49am PCT... Efro recaptured the 2 to 1 chip lead and I grabbed some much needed coffee with Flip Chip. He joked that this heads up match could last months.

3:07am PCT... Efro lost the chip lead. Jason flopped a set with pocket tens. He almost had $1 million in chips.

3:22am PCT... The heads up match reached over two hours in length. Jen over at Poker Wire mentioned, "Go get your sleeping bag... looks like we'll be here for the night."

3:33am PCT... Jason built up his largest chip lead of the marathon heads up battle.

3:41pm PCT... Efro recaptured the chip lead in the tournament that wouldn't end.

4:02pm PCT... Efro rivered a flush with K4s and won his first WSOP bracelet and $361,910. Jason took second place and won $182,040.

"This win basically justifies my whole life," Efro said in his interview with Norman Chad.

That's it for now from the floor of the Rio. This was a marathon heads up battle and both guys hung in there especially when they found themselves outchipped. Congrats to Eric "Efro" Froehlich. He said he was going to win a bracelet when he turned 21 and he certainly did making WSOP history in the process.

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For complete results visit the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament Results page. Make sure you visit the World Series of Poker Photo Gallery. For recaps and other tidits, check out 2005 World Series of Poker News.