2007 WSOP Event 19 - No Limit Holdem $2,500

  Because of the History Channel and a very high profile film, most of us are familiar with the ancient encounter at Thermopylae pass where 300 Spartans crammed themselves into a rather small piece of real estate and taught a Persian army of over 500,000 soldiers the true meaning of stubbornness. These 300 Spartans eventually were killed but not before answering those pesky questions about the afterlife for almost 100,000 members of the Persian infantry. Francois Safieddine may not have been holding a sword but he was facing roughly the same odds as the guys who stood with King Leonidas during one of history's most storied battles.  Francois squared off against 1,013 players other players. In most cases this means that his chances of tournament survival were roughly equal to that of a chicken owned by Colonel Sanders' company.  Safieddine spent much of the NL Holdem tournament flying under the radar and letting some of the other players grab the spotlight and make themselves a focus of media and opponent attention. After methodically playing his way to the final table, it came down to him and John Phan (who played some rather interesting poker during this tournament.)  On the final hand Phan was dealt a pair of Aces, while Safieddine was confronting this titanic pair with only a couple of fours. Phan was in complete control of this hand until the river card gave Francois a three-of-a-kind. Francois Safieddine fundamentally bat beat his way to his very first World Series of Poker Championship Bracelet.  Victory was sweet for Safieddine who took home the jewelry as well as $521,785. For John Phan this had to be the bitterest experiences in his poker career. He had the hand won, and was within sniffing distance of one of the most prestigious prizes in the poker world, and a lucky river card took it away. True, he has a bracelet already in his collection, but WSOP jewelry is like potato chips: you can't have just one... or two... or eleven.PlacePlayerPrize1Francois Safieddine$521,7852John (Razor) Phan$330,8463Marcus Obser$212,0214Devin Porter$139,7945Shawn Hattem$97,8566Lars Bonding$74,5577Humberto Brenes$55,9188Alex Bolotin$40,7739Grospellier Bertrand$29,124