Event #43
Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $2,000
Number of Entries: 472
Total Prize Money: $859,040
Date of Tournament: June 26-28, 2007
The winner of the $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship was Saifuddin Ahmad, a 59-year-old business owner from Newport Beach, CA. He is married and has two children. This was his first victory at the World Series of Poker.
Ahmad is originally from the nation of Bangladesh. He came to the United States to attend college in his late teens and earned a Masters Degree in chemical engineering from Cal-Tech. Ahmad now owns several Tony Roma’s restaurants in the Los Angeles area.
Ahmad first learned to play bridge and competed in several tournaments. He gravitated to poker playing in recent years. This is his third consecutive year to play at the WSOP.
The tournament began with 472 entries and was played over three days. The final 15 minutes of the tournament was a dream come true for Ahmad. He was roughly even in chips with his opponent. Then in a flash, Ahmad won several key hands, including spiking a key river card to make a straight on the final hand of the night to achieve his victory. First place paid $217,329.
Ahmad is proud of his first WSOP gold bracelet. But he is even more proud of his two children. His son graduated from Harvard. His daughter graduated from Cal-Berkeley. When it comes to personal success, Ahmad certainly holds a full house.
