Event #40
Mixed Hold’em
Buy-In: $1,500
Number of Entries: 620
Total Prize Money: $846,300
Date of Tournament: June 24-26, 2007
The winner of the $1,500 buy-in Mixed Hold’em championship was Fred Goldberg from Hollywood, FL. He is 31-years-old and works as a general contractor. This was his first WSOP victory. However, Goldberg already has over $1 million in winnings at the World Series of Poker, largely due to his 10th-place showing in the 2006 WSOP championship event. He collected $1,154,527 in prize money for that showing.
Goldberg works primarily in building and renovating homes. He owns several real estate properties and plays poker part-time.
Goldberg specializes in playing No-Limit Hold’em. In fact, prior to this tournament, Goldberg had never played live limit poker before.
This marked his fourth time to cash at this year’s World Series.
At one point in this tournament, Goldberg had only 400 in chips. He managed to double up a few times and went on to win the tournament.
On another occasion, Goldberg took a very tough beat and managed to survive. At the final table Goldberg had his opponent all-in with A-K versus A-10. But a ten on board gave his adversary the pot. “I was able to keep my composure after the beat, and that to me was one of the keys to my winning,” Goldberg said in a post-tournament interview.
Goldberg is married with one child.
This was the first open WSOP event this year that did not feature at least one former gold bracelet winner. First place paid $204,935.
This Mixed Hold’em tournament featured half Limit Hold’em and half No-Limit Hold’em played in rotation.
Scott Bohlman finished in fourth place. This was his ninth lifetime in-the-money finish at the WSOP.
Finishing in sixth place was Joe Brandenburg, from Portland, OR. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics.
Michael Craig, from Scottsdale, AZ finished 7th. Craig is one of the world’s top poker writers. He penned the story of the famous high-stakes cash game four years ago that was immortalized in his book “The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King.” He has just released his latest book called “The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide,” which is a collection of strategy advice from many of the world’s top poker pros.
Karlo Lopez was the 9th-place finisher. He is from Puerto Rico. Lopez’ poker nickname is “the Wizard,” because he is a professional magician.
Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed included – Jeffrey Lisandro (18th) and “Miami John” Cernuto (54th).
