By Nolan Dalla

Special to VegasInsider.com

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2005 World Series of Poker

Rio All-Suites Casino-Resort

Official Report

Event #28

Limit Hold’em

Buy-in: $5,000

Number of Entries:  269

Total Prize Money:  $1,264,300

Official Results:

The Eyes of Texas:

Dan Schmiech wins Limit Hold’em world championship and pockets $404,585

It’s been said that Texas Hold’em originated over a century ago.  It was first played on ranches and open prairies.  Cattlemen drove livestock to market.  Many spent their evenings playing poker.  Legend has it that during one fateful cattle drive, so many cowboys wanted to play poker one evening that each player in the game was dealt two down cards (instead of five) and shared the community cards flopped up in the middle.  Believe the story or not -- Texas hold’em was born.

Given the game’s history, perhaps it’s fitting that the 2005 Limit Hold’em world championship was won by a native Texan.  Dan Schmiech, who was born in Brownwood, TX and currently lives in Houston, stampeded over a large field of 269 players. 

The entry fee was $5,000 per player, meaning a total prize pool of well over $1.2 million.  The final table included an interesting mix of players:

The Final Table:

On Day Three, players were eliminated in the following order:

9^th – Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller was the first player to exit.  ‘FBT’ reportedly stands for “Full Blown Tilt.”  But it wasn’t the tilt factor that eliminated Mueller early on Day Three.  Despite moving ‘all in’ with 9-9 versus Young Phan’s 8-8, the final board showed K-7-5-5-6.  That gave Phan a straight and gave Mueller a one-way ticket off the ESPN main stage.  Mueller’s cut amounted to $25,285.

8^th – What goes around comes around.  Young Phan found this lesson out the hard way.  He lost a few pots then committed his final few chips with A-3.  Gabe Kaplan called from the blind with 10-3 and caught a ten to take out Phan.  Eighth place paid $37,930.

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7^th – Jeff Shulman is best-known in poker as being the Publisher of Card Player magazine.  He has also proven himself to be a talented poker player.  Shulman just missed making it to the final table of the main event five years ago (seventh place in 2000 – only six players made it to the finale that year).  This was his first appearance at a WSOP final table since that time.  Shulman was the low stack, and finally went out when Annie Duke made a flush.  Shulman earned $50,570 for 7^th place.

6^th – Gabe Kaplan appeared to be the next player on his way out.  But he went on a rush leaving Luke Neely as the player ready to be pushed off a cliff.  Five opponents were more than glad to give him a final push.  Neely, who was a law student before turning to poker as a profession, was expelled to a 6^th-place finish, paying out $63,215.

5^th – Annie Duke was the low stack, but then she too staged a comeback.  Meanwhile, Joe Sebok’s stay at the final table was about to be cut short.  Sebok moved in with 3-3 and Duke called with K-7.  A king flopped and Sebok was gone.  Sebok, a self-described Internet ‘geek’ from San Francisco (and an aspiring pro player) added $75,860 to his poker bankroll.

4^th – Annie Duke was the only player at this table with a gold bracelet.  She won the 2004 Omaha High-Low championship.  Duke’s bid for a second WSOP title ended when she was desperately low on chips and committed herself with Q-J suited.  Dan Schmiech had an ace, which was enough to call.  The ace-high played and Duke evaporated.  Fourth place paid $88,500. 

3^rd – Schmiech had the chip lead, and after James Kwon lost a few big pots, he was on life support.  Kwon was in a great spot to get back some chips when he was ‘all in’ with A-J versus Schmiech’s A-5.  Then, a five flopped.  Wham!  Kwon was crushed.  Third-place paid $113,785. 

2^nd Place – When heads-up play began, Schmiech enjoyed a 4 to 1 chip lead over Gabe Kaplan.  Fixed betting limits were 20,000-40,000 and Kaplan had about 240,000.  That essentially meant that losing one big pot to Schmiech would basically end the tournament.  It took 40 minutes, but that’s exactly what happened.  On his final hand, Gabe Kaplan missed a draw and Schmiech ended up with two pair.  Schmiech was declared the winner, and Kaplan ended up in second place.  Kaplan collected $222,515.

Gabe Kaplan needs no introduction to mainstream audiences or poker players.  He is popularly known for playing “Kotter,” a Brooklyn-based high school teacher in the 1970s sitcom smash, “Welcome Back Kotter.”  He has since worked as a stand-up comedian doing many skits in Las Vegas and been involved in many other film and TV projects.  Despite his popular success, Kaplan has been involved in the World Series of Poker for more than 25 years.  He first started playing poker in Las Vegas during the late 70s.  He finished in 7^th place in the main event back in 1980 (the first year Stu Ungar won a world championship).  Kaplan deserves a bracelet for his obvious love and commitment to poker.  Hopefully, he will get one someday.

1^st Place – Dan Schmiech is a 44-year-old professional poker player from Houston, TX.  Prior to playing poker, Schmiech worked in sales.  He admits that he has been working on his tournament strategy recently and plays regularly on the internet.  First place paid $404,585.

Schmiech stated that his goal when first sitting down to play was to make it into the money.  Once that objective was accomplished, he vowed to make it to the final table.  Then, his final goal was to win.  All three goals ended up coming true.

“I’m pleased with the way I played tonight,” Schmiech said afterwards.  “I think I played really well.  I also caught some cards, so it worked out both ways.”