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1998 World Series of Poker

Overview

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

1998 was the only year to have a main event final table contested by just 5 players after Scotty Nguyen eliminated both "Gentleman" Ben Roberts and Jan "The Walrus" Lundberg" in the same hand.
At one point during the final heads-up play, runner-up Kevin McBride went to the bathroom after going all-in and before Scotty Nguyen had made his decision; a very unorthodox "play".

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Preliminary events

Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
$2,000 Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing... Hold'em	Farzad Bonyadi Farzad Bonyadi Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi is an Iranian professional poker player based in Aliso Viejo, California, who has won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets....	$429,940	Paul Scarim
$1,500 Razz Razz (poker) Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low . The object of Razz is to make the lowest five-card possible hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against you for low, and the ace always plays low. The best possible Razz...	Doyle Brunson Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several highly influential books on poker.Brunson is...	$93,000	Ray Dehkharghani
$1,500 Limit Omaha	Michael Shadkin	$109,800	Jan Lundberg
$1,500 Seven Card Stud	Kirk Morrison Kirk Morrison (poker player) Kirk Morrison is a professional poker player originally from Wichita, Kansas, United States, but who has lived in New Zealand for a part of his life between 1999 and 2006....	$148,185	Max Stern Max Stern (poker player) Dr. Max Stern is a professional poker player, pediatrician and author.He is the coauthor of Championship Stud together with Tom McEvoy and Linda Johnson. Stern contributed to the sections on Seven-card stud and Seven Card Stud tournament and ring game play.Stern is considered to be a Texas hold...
$1,500 Pot Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing... Omaha w/Rebuys	Donnacha O'Dea Donnacha O'Dea Donnacha "The Don" O'Dea is an Irish professional poker player. Previously he was a keen swimmer, and represented Ireland in the 1968 Olympics. He was also the first Irish swimmer to swim 100m in less than 1 minute...	$154,800	Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (poker player) Johnny Chan , born in Guangzhou , China in 1957, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a professional poker player.-Early life:...
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Split	Tommy Hufnagle	$139,305	Don Holt Don Holt (poker player) Don Holt is an American poker player. He has won a World Series of Poker bracelet and has cashed in various events at the WSOP including the Main Event....
$2,000 No Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing... Hold'em	Jeff Ross	$259,000	Layne Flack Layne Flack Layne Flack is an American professional poker player, residing in Montana and Nevada.Flack started playing cards with his grandparents, but became engrossed in the game whilst working at a casino. He would regularly go to another casino after work to play poker...
$2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split	Chau Giang Chau Giang Chau Tu Giang is an American professional poker player of Chinese descent, who is a three time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and a three time final tablist of the World Poker Tour with over $3 million in live tournament winnings alone.- Biography :Giang fled Vietnam in a small boat in the...	$150,960	Carl Bailey
$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu Daniel Negreanu is a Romanian-Canadian professional poker player with four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles, and who won the poker Player of the Year award for 2004 .-Early life:...	$169,460	Dominic Bourke
$2,500 Seven Card Stud	Artie Cobb Artie Cobb Artie Cobb is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.Cobb has won 4 bracelets at the World Series of Poker , three of them in seven-card stud...	$152,000	Helmut Koch
$2,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys	T. J. Cloutier T. J. Cloutier Thomas James Cloutier is a professional poker player from Albany, California. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.-Early years:...	$136,000	Doyle Brunson Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several highly influential books on poker.Brunson is...
$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split	Bill Gempel	$120,000	Hershey Entin
$3,000 Limit Hold'em	David Chiu David Chiu (poker player) David Chiu is a Chinese American professional poker player, based in Rowland Heights, California, who has won four World Series of Poker bracelets. He is also the winner of the 2008 World Poker Tour's WPT World Championship, and the first winner of the Tournament of Champions of Poker.Chiu was a...	$205,200	Mickey Seagle
$3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split	Paul Rowe	$133,200	James Van Alstyne James Van Alstyne James Gibson Van Alstyne is an American professional poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada.Van Alstyne grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Ben Franklin High School...
$3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Steve Rydel	$206,400	Dave Ulliott Dave Ulliott David A. Ulliott , known by the nickname Devilfish, is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Kingston upon Hull underworld, but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker...
$5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Draw (poker) A poker player is drawing if he has a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. The hand itself is called a draw or drawing hand. For example, in seven-card stud, if four of a player's first five cards are all spades, but the hand is otherwise weak, he is drawing to a flush... w/Rebuys	Erik Seidel Erik Seidel Erik Seidel is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada with eight World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title....	$132,750	Lamar Wilkinson
$3,000 No Limit Hold'em	Ken Buntjer	$268,620	Gorden Hall
$5,000 Seven Card Stud	Jan Chen	$208,000	Don Barton
$5,000 Limit Hold'em	Patrick Bruel Patrick Bruel Patrick Bruel is a French singer, actor, and professional poker player of Algeria descent.-Biography:...	$224,000	Robert Redman
$1,000 Ladies' Seven Card Stud	Mendy Commanda Mendy Commanda Mandy Commanda was a World Series of Poker champion in the 1998 $1,000 Ladies - Limit 7 Card Stud.As of 2008, her total WSOP tournament winnings exceed $40,000.-World Series of Poker bracelets:...	$40,000	Jerri Thomas

Final table

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Scotty Nguyen Scotty Nguyen Thuan B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...	$1,000,000
2nd	Kevin McBride	$687,500
3rd	T. J. Cloutier T. J. Cloutier Thomas James Cloutier is a professional poker player from Albany, California. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.-Early years:...	$437,500
4th	Dewey Weum	$250,000
5th	Lee Salem Lee Salem Lee Salem is an American poker player from Carlsbad, California.Salem finished in 5th place in the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event. He won $190,000 for this finish, which is his largest tournament cash to date. The main event final table for that year included top professional players T.J...	$190,000

Other High Finishes

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

Place	Name	Prize
6th	Ben Roberts	$150,000
9th	Paul McKinney Paul McKinney Paul "Cigar" McKinney is an American poker player who won a World Series of Poker bracelet at the age of 80....	$57,500
10th	Susie Isaacs Susie Isaacs Susan J. Isaacs is an American professional poker player, who has been based in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1986....	$40,000
12th	Bobby Hoff Bobby Hoff Bobby "The Wizard" Hoff is an American professional poker player, based in Long Beach, California.-Early years:...	$40,000
17th	Kathy Liebert Kathy Liebert Kathleen H. Liebert is an American professional poker player. She is the first woman ever to win a tournament with a first prize of $1,000,000.- Early life :...	$30,000
20th	Vince Burgio Vince Burgio Vincent Burgio is an American professional poker player based in West Hills, California.Burgio is a graduate of the University of Missouri...	$25,000
21st	Thor Hansen Thor Hansen Thor Harald Hansen is a professional poker player. He was recruited by Larry Flynt to play poker for him after Hansen played against him in Las Vegas in the mid 1990s. He has two WSOP braclets, one from the 1988 WSOP in Seven-card stud, and then later in Deuce to Seven Lowball in the 2002 WSOP...	$25,000
22nd	Jack Keller Jack Keller Jack Keller was a professional poker player.Keller served in the United States Air Force prior to becoming a poker pro. He won the 1984 World Series of Poker main event, 3 WSOP bracelets and more than $1,580,000 in tournament play at the World Series of Poker during his career...	$25,000
23rd	Rod Peate Rod Peate Rod Peate is a poker player from Downey, CaliforniaIn the 1983 World Series of Poker, Peate finished runner-up to Tom McEvoy in the Main Event. Since then, Peate has cashed in the Main Event four times: 1987, 1990, 1997, and 1998....	$25,000
25th	Paul Clark Paul Clark (poker player) Paul "Eskimo" Clark is an American professional poker player, living in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Life and career:Before turning to poker, Paul Clark was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he worked as a medic....	$25,000
27th	Farzad Bonyadi Farzad Bonyadi Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi is an Iranian professional poker player based in Aliso Viejo, California, who has won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets....	$25,000

Trivia

1998 was the only year to have a main event final table contested by just 5 players after Scotty Nguyen eliminated both "Gentleman" Ben Roberts and Jan "The Walrus" Lundberg" in the same hand.
At one point during the final heads-up play, runner-up Kevin McBride went to the bathroom after going all-in and before Scotty Nguyen had made his decision; a very unorthodox "play". McBride won the pot after Nguyen called.
1998 was the only year to award two bracelets to Canadian entrants. Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu is a Romanian-Canadian professional poker player with four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles, and who won the poker Player of the Year award for 2004 .-Early life:...

from Toronto, Ontario won his first bracelet and went on to achieve millionaire and celebrity status.
Mandy Commanda, also born and raised in Ontario, was the first Canadian to ever win the Ladies Event. Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner.-Personal life:Tilly was born Jennifer E. Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles, California...

, a famous actress who was raised in Canada, also won the Ladies event in 2005.