2002 World Series of Poker
LocationBinion's Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada
DatesApril 19 – May 25
Champion
United States Robert Varkonyi
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The 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe.

The 2002 WSOP was historically notable for two reasons. The series was the first WSOP in which pocket cams were installed to allow broadcasters (on tape delay) to show the players' hole cards, although only for the Main Event (today, the cameras are used at most WSOP events), and it was also the last WSOP before the 2003 Main Event victory of amateur Chris Moneymaker helped launch the 2000s poker boom.

Preliminary events

Event Winner Prize Runner-up
$500 Casino Employees Limit Hold'em David Warga $47,300 Leon Wheeler
$2,000 Limit Hold'em Mike Majerus $407,120 David Chiu
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Perry Friedman $176,860 Greg Mascio
$2,000 No Limit Hold'em Layne Flack $303,880 Tom Jacobs
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Phil Ivey $132,000 Toto Leonidas
$1,500 Limit Omaha John Cernuto $73,320 Randy Holland
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split Paul Clark $125,200 Andrew Prock
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Jack Duncan $192,560 Lindy Chambers
$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Gold Bracelet Match Play Johnny Chan $34,000 Phil Hellmuth Jr.
$2,000 H.O.R.S.E. John Hennigan $117,320 Ben Tang
$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em Jay Sipelstein $150,240 Barny Boatman
$2,500 Seven Card Stud Dan Torla $115,600 Bill Gibbs
$3,000 Limit Hold'em John Hom $174,840 Benny Wan
$1,500 Razz Billy Baxter $64,860 Chico Flynn
$2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Jan Vang Sørensen $185,000 Brent Carter
$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Phil Ivey $118,440 Sirous Baghchehsaraie
$3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em Fred Berger $197,400 Chris Ferguson
$1,500 Ace to Five Lowball Thor Hansen $62,600 Brian Nadell
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Layne Flack $268,020 Johnny Chan
$2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eddie Fishman $135,360 Doug Saab
$1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em John McIntosh $177,380 Mel Weiner
$5,000 Seven Card Stud Qushqar Morad $172,960 Steven Banks
$2,000 S.H.O.E. Phil Ivey $107,540 Diego Cordovez
$5,000 Limit Hold'em Jennifer Harman $221,440 Brian Green
$1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout Joel Chaseman $96,400 Gene Timberlake
$1,000 Ladies' Championship Catherine Brown $39,880 Marie Sohn
$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Robert Williamson III $201,160 Patrick Bruel
$1,500 Limit Hold'em Meng La $190,920 Steve Kaufman
$5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Mike Matusow $148,520 Daniel Negreanu
$3,000 No Limit Hold'em Randal Heeb $367,240 Sherman Burry
$2,000 1/2 Hold'em, 1/2 Stud Dan Heimiller $108,300 Ram Vaswani
$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw No Limit Allen Cunningham $160,200 O'Neil Longson
$1,000 Seniors' No Limit Championship Bill Swan $134,000 Mike Sexton
$1,500 Triple Draw Lowball Ace to Five John Juanda $49,620 Paul Phillips

Main Event

There were 631 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament (by prize pool) ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time.

Final table

Name Number of chips
(percentage of total) 		WSOP
Bracelets* 		WSOP
Cashes* 		WSOP
Earnings*
United Kingdom John Shipley 2,033,000 (32.2%) 0 5 $37,270
United States Russell Rosenblum 927,000 (14.7%) 0 0 0
United States Ralph Perry 766,000 (12.1%) 0 6 $43,780
United States Robert Varkonyi 640,000 (10.1%) 0 0 0
United States Minh Ly 614,000 (9.7%) 0 2 $62,155
Republic of Ireland Scott Gray 545,000 (8.6%) 0 1 $12,200
United Kingdom Julian Gardner 394,000 (6.2%) 0 0 0
United States Tony Duong 231,000 (3.7%) 0 5 $224,000
United States Harley Hall 161,000 (2.6%) 0 2 $25,260

*Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2002 Main Event.

Final table results

Place Name Prize
1st Robert Varkonyi $2,000,000
2nd Julian Gardner $1,100,000
3rd Ralph Perry $550,000
4th Scott Gray $281,480
5th Harley Hall $195,000
6th Russell Rosenblum $150,000
7th John Shipley $125,000
8th Tony Duong $100,000
9th Minh Ly $85,000

Note: Phil Hellmuth, as part of ESPN's broadcast team, during the first hour of their final table coverage said he would shave his head if Robert Varkonyi won the tournament. At the conclusion of the tournament, Hellmuth is seen having his head shaved.

Other high finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

Place Name Prize
13th Martin de Knijff $60,000
14th Yoshio Nakano $60,000
23rd Phil Ivey $40,000
24th Minh Nguyen $40,000

In pop culture

In "Casino Night", the 22nd episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, it is revealed that Kevin Malone, a character on the show, won a World Series of Poker bracelet for No-Limit Deuce-Seven Draw in 2002.[1]

References

  1. ^ Holloway, Chad. "The Office's Brian Baumgartner Talks Kevin Malone". Retrieved 2 May 2017.
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