Rants from the Rio -- The Summer of Lisandro

Jeffrey Lisandro was born in Perth, Australia. He currently lists his home as Salerno, Italy. He also owns a home in Santa Barbara, California and spends a fair amount of time in the United States to play poker. Lisandro could really choose any one of three national anthems each time he wins a bracelet if he wanted. Lisandro has had to make that decision three times now this summer…definitely not a bad problem to have.

Lisandro has achieved that rare position in sport where the only person he is competing with is himself. After winning his third bracelet of the summer in event No. 44 ($2,500 seven-card razz) Lisandro has a realistic shot at winning four bracelets in one summer, a feat that no other poker player has ever accomplished. As of today, nine bracelet events remain and Lisandro is currently seated in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship. Barring a deep-run in the H.O.R.S.E. event, Lisandro will have his best shot at a fourth bracelet in event No. 53 ($1,500 seven-card stud eight-or-better).

The fact that he would achieve a measure of poker immortality if he accomplishes the goal of four is not lost on Lisandro, who said, “That would be nice – to be remembered one-hundred years from now,” in an interview with WSOP Media Director, Nolan Dalla. Another fact that is not lost on Lisandro is that he still does not have a sponsorship deal. How does this happen? If he still doesn’t have a sponsor after the summer somebody has really dropped the ball. He is a respected tournament professional (that plays to the Full Tilt angle) and he is an Australian, who lives in Italy (that plays to the international appeal that PokerStars covets in their professionals).

But let’s not dwell on that; let’s focus on what he has accomplished. With the third win Lisandro completed a seven-card stud trifecta for the summer — the stud triple crown has a nice ring to it. His victories in event No. 16 ($1,500 seven-card stud), event No. 37 ($10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better world championship), and the seven-card razz event give him a bracelet in each stud discipline for the summer. Lisandro now holds four bracelets for his career; his first came in a $2,000 seven-card stud event in 2007. Hellmuth may be the king of hold’em, but Lisandro has got to be the best seven-card stud player on the planet.

Lisandro is now tied for 19th (with players such as Daniel Negreanu, Amarillo Slim Preston, Huck Seed, and Bobby Baldwin) on the all-time bracelet list with four total, and he joined the poker equivalent of the 3,000 hit-club with the three-peat in one summer. Here are the five players that have won three bracelets in one summer (it’s a pretty exclusive club):

Puggy Pearson: 1973
Ted Forrest: 1993
Phil Hellmuth: 1993
Phil Ivey: 2002
Jeffrey Lisandro: 2009

Each of the players on the above list had the following amount of events left to try and win a fourth bracelet at the time of their third victory:

Pearson: 2 events
Forrest: 8 events
Hellmuth: 12 events
Ivey: 12 events
Lisandro: 13 events

Hellmuth came the closest, scoring three bracelets by April 28, 1993 and then finishing in second-place in a $5,000 deuce-to-seven lowball event on May 9, 1993 (second-to-last event of that WSOP). It will be fun to watch Lisandro chase down bracelet No. 4 during the final week of preliminary events heading into the main event.

It is a race where other opponents will be trying to get in his way, but he is really out there just trying to outrun himself at this point.

WSOP Week 4: By the Bracelets

Event No. 35: Richard Austin (Austin wins a bracelet with the summer’s only double-elimination hand to end a tournament)
Event No. 36: Jordan Smith (Another 20-something professional takes home a bracelet)
Event No. 37: Jeffrey Lisandro (Bracelet No. 2 of summer – see above)
Event No. 38: Marcus Naalden (Make a deep run at the EPT Grand Final [10th place] and then win a bracelet)
Event No. 39: Ray Foley (Chrysler worker wins bracelet for hard-luck Michigan)
Event No. 40: Matt Graham (Graham becomes latest pro to win 2nd career bracelet)
Event No. 41: Peter Traply (Make the final table at the EPT Grand Final [8th place] and then win a bracelet, also 1st bracelet for Hungary)
Event No. 42: Jerrod Ankenman (Pro wins 1st bracelet in 3rd WSOP heads-up final)
Event No. 43: Michael Davis (Another win for Justin Shronk, as Davis wears lucky shirt he received from Shronk during the win)
Event No. 44: Jeffrey Lisandro (Bracelet No. 3 of summer – see above)
Event No. 45: John Kabbaj (London poker pro wins 3rd bracelet of 2009 for the U.K.)
Event No. 46: Derek Raymond (Semi-pro from Maine wins one of the summer’s longest final tables)

WSOP Week 4: By the Numbers (Through event No. 46)

Total number of WSOP entrants: 44,328

Total prize money: $89,612,582

WSOP World Tracker:

U.S. – 32 bracelets
U.K. – 3 bracelets
Canada – 2 bracelets
Australia – 2 bracelets
Russia – 1 bracelet
Finland – 1 bracelet
Sweden – 1 bracelet
Mexico – 1 bracelet
Italy – 1 bracelet
Holland – 1 bracelet
Hungary – 1 bracelet

U.S. Tracker:

Nevada – 8 bracelets
California – 6 bracelets
New York – 2 bracelets
Maryland – 2 bracelets
Texas – 2 bracelets
FL, MI, PN, NC, VA, KY, OH, HI, MI, CT, IA, ME – Tied with 1 bracelet

Pros vs. Amateurs:

Pros – 33 bracelets
Semi-Pros – 6 bracelets
Amateurs – 7 bracelets

One Number for the Road:

2009 $50,000 HORSE Field (One of the few disappointing numbers of the summer): 95