Cheung Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em; 'Poker Babe' Erica Schoenberg Places Third

LAS VEGAS -- The winner of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em championship (Event #38) was Robert Cheung, a 46-year-old businessman from Vancouver, BC (Canada). Cheung was born in Hong Kong. He holds
Erica Schoenberg had the third best showing for a woman at the WSOP 2007.  a Ph.D.

Cheung has only been playing poker seriously for about two years. He learned the game from his friends. This was his fourth time to cash at the WSOP, and third time this year. Cheung also took fourth place in the championship event last year at Harvey Lake Tahoe's World Series of Poker Circuit.

Cheung arrived at the final table second in chips to Andrew Lee. The final table lasted about six hours. First place paid $673,628.

Erica Schoenberg, from Las Vegas, finished in third place. This was the third best showing for a woman at this year's WSOP.

The fourth place finisher was John Kranyak, from New York. He is a professional bridge player.

Chris Bjorin was the only finalist who had previously won a WSOP gold bracelet. Swedish-born Bjorin (now living in London) won the Pot-Limit Omaha championship in 1997 and a No-Limit Hold'em event in 2000.

With his 6th-place finish in this event, Chris Bjorin is currently tied with Humberto Brenes for the most final tables at the 2007 WSOP. Both players have three appearances, to date. Several players have two appearances each.

Through the conclusion of this event, Burt Boutin has won more prize money at this year's World Series than any other player ($853,163). This was his third time to cash after a 21st-place showing.

Men "the Master" Nguyen finished in 41st place. This marked his 56th lifetime cash at the WSOP. Only Phil Hellmuth has more in-the-money finishes (61).

2000 world poker champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson's finished 118th. This was his fourth time to cash at this World Series. He now has 49 lifetime cashes which ranks fifth all-time.

Eclectic New York City poker writer Paul McGuire (a.k.a. "Poker Pauly") finished in 119th place.

All five $1,500 buy-in Hold'em tournaments at the 2007 WSOP have attracted mammoth fields. There were 2,778 entries registered in this event, which comes after previous fields of 2,998, 2,803, 2,628, and 2,541.