The winner of the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud championship was Michael Keiner. He is 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 accomplishment – his first win in the U.S. Keiner has five WSOP in-the-money finishes dating back to 2000.

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).

Keiner was motivated to play more events at this year’s WSOP by his friend and rival, Eddy Scharf – the two time poker 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, 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.

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Keiner is used 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

This was one of the more educated final tables in recent memory. The eight finalists included two (former) attorneys, a medical doctor, a high-tech entrepreneur, and a Harvard M.B.A.

Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Barry Greenstein finished in fourth place.

2004 WSOP champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer finished in sixth place. It was his ninth time to cash at the WSOP and fourth final table (lifetime).

Longtime poker tournament veteran Jim Boyd made a well-deserved return to the money circle with his 13th-place showing in this event. Boyd, a jovial Martinsburg, WV man has been playing in poker tournaments since the 1970s. He was one of the more successful players of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Bill Chen took 36th place. He won two WSOP gold bracelets last year.

This (Event #14) was originally scheduled as a two-day event. Because of the large turnout, the second day was one of the longest seven-card stud finals in WSOP history. Players played approximately 16 hours on Day Two.