The winner of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout at the 2007 World Series of Poker presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light was Don Baruch. He is 42-years-old and lives in Tampa, Florida. Baruch is the owner of an investment and management services company.

Baruch is married and has two girls. He holds an M.B.A. from Emory University.

Baruch learned to play poker from his father. He has been playing since childhood, but started to take the game more seriously about three years ago. His regular poker game is at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, Florida.

This was Baruch’s first time to cash in any major tournament anywhere. Incredibly, it came on poker’s grandest stage. First place paid $264,107.

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Poker superstar Daniel Negreanu went out in third place. He was shooting for his fourth gold bracelet. His last WOSP win was back in 2004.

The tournament attracted 900 entries, a 50 percent increase over last year’s figure of 600. It is the largest Shootout tournament in history. On Day One, the tournament started about 30 minutes late because of a crush of last-minute entrants. This created the Shootout’s first million-dollar prize pool ever.

The Shootout format requires that a champion win what amounts to just three consecutive single-table (9-handed) satellites. The initial 900 players played down to 90 winners. Then, those 90 winners played down to nine players – with a winner coming from each table. Then, the winner had to top the final table full of nine players.

The final table was carried over the Internet at the official WSOP website – www.worldseriesofpoker.com

An interesting side note was Steven Levitt’s entry into this tournament. The economist-turned-author penned the smash-seller called “Freakonomics.” He won his first table, but busted-out in the second round. His wife also played in the Ladies Championship held on the previous day.