2005 World Series of Poker
# 2005 World Series of Poker

The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time ($7,500,000) was awarded to the winner. ESPN's broadcast began July 19th with coverage of WSOP Circuit Tournaments, and coverage of the Main Event began October 11th and ended November 15th.

All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino with the exception of the final 2 days of the Main Event which were held at Binion's Horseshoe. This marked the last time the Main Event final table was held at Binion's Horseshoe.

## Events

| Number | Event | Winner | Prize | Runner-up | Results |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em | Andy Nguyen | $83,390 | Danilo Flores | Results |
| 2 | $1,500 No Limit Hold'em | Allen Cunningham | $725,405 | Scott Fischman | Results |
| 3 | $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em | Thom Werthmann | $369,535 | Layne Flack | Results |
| 4 | $1,500 Limit Hold-em | Eric Froehlich | $361,910 | Jason Steinhorn | Results |
| 5 | $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | Pat Poels | $270,100 | John Lukas | Results |
| 6 | $2,500 Short-Handed No Limit Hold'em | Isaac Galazan | $315,125 | Harry Demetriou | Results |
| 7 | $1,000 No Limit Hold'Em | Michael Gracz | $594,460 | C. T. Law | Results |
| 8 | $1,500 Seven-Card Stud | Cliff Josephy | $192,150 | Kirill Gerasimov | Results |
| 9 | $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em | Erik Seidel | $611,795 | Cyndy Violette | Results |
| 10 | $2,000 Limit Hold'em | Reza Payvar | $303,610 | Toto Leonidas | Results |
| 11 | $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'Em | Edward Moncada | $298,070 | Steven Hudak | Results |
| 12 | $2,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Josh Arieh | $381,600 | Chris Ferguson | Results |
| 13 | $5,000 No Limit Hold'Em | T. J. Cloutier | $657,100 | Steve Zoine | Results |
| 14 | $1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split | Steve Hohn | $156,985 | Mike Wattel | Results |
| 15 | $1,500 Limit Hold' Em Shootout | Mark Seif | $181,330 | William Shaw | Results |
| 16 | $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout | Anthony Reategui | $269,100 | Paul Kroh | Results |
| 17 | $2,500 Limit Hold 'Em | Quinn Do | $265,975 | Qi Chi Chang | Results |
| 18 | $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha | Barry Greenstein | $128,505 | Paul Vinci | Results |
| 19 | $2,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split | Denis Ethier | $160,682 | Chad Brown | Results |
| 20 | $5,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em | Brian Wilson | $370,685 | John Gale | Results |
| 21 | $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | Todd Brunson | $255,945 | Allen Kessler | Results |
| 22 | $1,500 No Limit Hold'em | Mark Seif | $611,145 | Minh Nguyen | Results |
| 23 | $5,000 Seven-Card Stud | Jan Vang Sørensen | $293,275 | Keith Sexton | Results |
| 24 | $2,500 No Limit Hold'em | Farzad Bonyadi | $594,960 | Lars Bonding | Results |
| 25 | $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'Em | Johnny Chan | $303,025 | Phil Laak | Results |
| 26 | $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Phil Ivey | $635,603 | Robert Williamson III | Results |
| 27 | $1,000 Ladies' No Limit Hold'em | Jennifer Tilly | $158,335 | Anh Le | Results |
| 28 | $5,000 Limit Hold'em | Dan Schmiech | $404,585 | Gabe Kaplan | Results |
| 29 | $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em | Lawrence Gosney | $483,195 | Jarl Lindholt | Results |
| 30 | $1,500 Seven-Card Razz | O'Neil Longson | $125,690 | Bruno Fitoussi | Results |
| 31 | $5,000 Short-Handed No Limit Hold'em | Doyle Brunson | $367,800 | Minh Ly | Results |
| 32 | $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split | David Chiu | $347,410 | Russell Salzer | Results |
| 33 | $3,000 No Limit Hold'em | Andre Boyer | $682,810 | Matthew Glantz | Results |
| 34 | $1,000 Seniors' No Limit Hold'em | Paul McKinney | $202,725 | Robert Hume | Results |
| 35 | $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha | Rafi Amit | $511,835 | Vinny Vinh | Results |
| 36 | $3,000 Limit Hold'em | Todd Witteles | $347,385 | Daryl Mixan | Results |
| 37 | $1,000 No Limit Hold'em | Jon Heneghan | $611,015 | Paul Deng | Results |
| 38 | $1,000 Main Event Satellite | | | | |
| 39 | $5,000 No Limit 2 to 7 Draw Lowball | David Grey | $365,135 | John Hennigan | Results |
| 40 | $1,000 Main Event Satellite | | | | |
| 41 | Media/Celebrity Charity Event | Randy Boman | $10,000 | Jake Witcher | Results |
| 42 | $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em Main Event | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 | Steve Dannenmann | Results |
| 43 | $1,500 No Limit Hold'em | Ron Kirk | $321,520 | Adam White | Results |
| 44 | $1,000 No Limit Hold'em | John Pires | $220,935 | Eli Balas | Results |
| 45 | $1,000 No Limit Hold'em | Willie Tann | $188,335 | Matthew Smith | Results |

## Main Event

There were 5,619 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time. Many entrants won their seat in online poker tournaments. 2004 Main Event champion Greg Raymer finished in 25th place in his title defense.

### Final table

| Name | Number of chips (percentage of total) | WSOP Bracelets* | WSOP Cashes* | WSOP Earnings* |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Aaron Kanter | 10,700,000 (19.0%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tex Barch | 9,330,000 (16.6%) | 0 | 1 | $4,000 |
| Andrew Black | 8,140,000 (14.5%) | 0 | 3 | $63,380 |
| Mike Matusow | 7,410,000 (13.2%) | 2 | 14 | $953,190 |
| Steve Dannenmann | 5,460,000 (9.7%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Hachem | 5,420,000 (9.6%) | 0 | 1 | $25,850 |
| Daniel Bergsdorf | 5,270,000 (9.4%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Lazar | 3,370,000 (6.0%) | 0 | 1 | $2,100 |
| Brad Kondracki | 1,180,000 (2.1%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |

*Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2005 Main Event.

### Final table results

| Place | Name | Prize |
| - | - | - |
| 1st | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 |
| 2nd | Steve Dannenmann | $4,250,000 |
| 3rd | John "Tex" Barch | $2,500,000 |
| 4th | Aaron Kanter | $2,000,000 |
| 5th | Andy Black | $1,750,000 |
| 6th | Scott Lazar | $1,500,000 |
| 7th | Daniel Bergsdorf | $1,300,000 |
| 8th | Brad Kondracki | $1,150,000 |
| 9th | Mike Matusow | $1,000,000 |

### Other High Finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

| Place | Name | Prize |
| - | - | - |
| 11th | Shawn Sheikhan | $600,000 |
| 13th | Bernard Lee | $400,000 |
| 15th | Tiffany Williamson | $400,000 |
| 19th | Minh Ly | $304,680 |
| 20th | Phil Ivey | $304,680 |
| 22nd | Tom Vu | $304,680 |
| 25th | Greg Raymer | $304,680 |

### Fall of World Champions

* Day 1: Jim Bechtel, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Tom McEvoy, Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen, Robert Varkonyi
* Day 2: Dan Harrington, Chris Moneymaker, Huck Seed
* Day 3: (none)
* Day 4: Russ Hamilton
* Day 5: (none)
* Day 6: Greg Raymer
