Tournament Trail has been Kind, Unkind to 2005 Main-Event Final-Table Players

It's been a long and not-so-strange year for the players at last year's World Series of Poker main-event final table as far as the tournament trail is concerned. The champion proved he belonged, and most of the others had a year of marginal success.

Here's a look at how the final nine players standing in the 2005 WSOP championship event have fared on the tournament trail since last year.

Joe Hachem became one of the most recognizable faces in poker thanks to the win, but also thanks to the commercials he starred in for PokerStars. He immediately fit into the poker community, and it seems like the former chiropractor enjoys his role as an ambassador of the game. He also says that the cash games have been great for him since he became the world champ.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Since winning $7.5 million, Hachem has shown that the victory wasn't a fluke. In September 2005, he finished fifth in a WSOP Tournament Circuit event with 134 players, winning $88,172. He also cashed at the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure in January of 2006 for $12,000.

Although he hasn't won another bracelet at the 2006 WSOP, at the time of this writing, he's having what most poker players would deem a successful Series. He's cashed three times for $356,946, before the main event. Most of that ($256,800) came by finishing second in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em shorthanded event that had 824 players. He also finished fourth in the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em event, winning $90,482.

Hachem is showing the world how to navigate through large fields, and should be considered one of the best tournament poker players around.

Steve Dannenmann didn't quit his day job as an accountant and mortgage banker after finishing second to Hachem and winning $4.25 million, of which half immediately went to his friend Jerry Ditzell, who put up half the buy-in. As everyone who watched the ESPN broadcast knows, he was there only to have a good time.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Despite his great WSOP run in 2005, Dannenmann remains a hobbyist, playing in an occasional tournament. Last November, he won one of the $1,000 buy-in tournaments that are held every week at Bellagio, for $27,635, and two days later, he finished fifth in the WSOP Tournament of Champions for $100,000, which had a field of 114 of the most successful tournament players of 2005. He also finished eighth in the $1,500 buy-in event at the 2006 Borgata Winter Open, winning $10,980. He hasn't cashed at the 2006 WSOP, at the time of this writing.

John "Tex" Barch's lifetime tournament poker winnings sit at $2,541,873. For finishing third in last year's main event, he won $2.5 million. Like Dannenmann, Barch is a poker player who has his own business, Big Johnson's Beer Garden Bar in Richardson, Texas.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Barch has five cashes since finishing third last year, but none for more than $15,000 (he finished 30th at the Borgata Poker Open last September and won $14,980). Before his run at last year's WSOP, he had cashed three times in tournaments, but none for more than $8,000.

Aaron Kanter must have felt right at home at a final table full of guys with day jobs, but he quit his mortgage broker job after he won $2 million for his fourth-place finish. The main event was only Kanter's fifth live tournament.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Kanter has cashed in three tournaments since his WSOP dream run, but none for more than $10,000 (his best showing was 19th at the L.A. Poker Classic for $8,360). A month after winning the $2 million, he finished first in a $130 buy-in tournament at the Speedway of Poker VII. He won $7,264.

Andrew Black came to the final table second in poker experience only to Mike Matusow. He cashed in a major poker tournament for the first time in the 1997 WSOP main event, where he was knocked out by Stu Ungar, who ended up winning the championship bracelet.

After that, he took a break from poker, and made a comeback during the 2005 WSOP, where he had a fantastic run, cashing three times, including his fifth-place finish in the championship event. He won $1.75 million. At the 2005 WSOP, he finished 10th in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em shorthanded event ($25,210) and 28th in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em shorthand event ($8,490) in addition to his main-event final-table appearance.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Black went on a bit of a roll after last year's WSOP, cashing in eight events, including a $100,000 win for finishing fifth at this year's Tournament of Champions. He also cashed in this year's WSOP $5,000 Omaha eight-or-better event ($7,473), and nearly made the final table in the $3,000 Omaha eight-or-better event, where he finished 11th and took home another $11,658.

Scott Lazar won $1.5 million for finishing sixth last year. He is a tournament veteran with many cashes to his name, but they came mostly in events with buy-ins of $1,500 or less in and around Los Angeles. Lazar was in the movie industry before his performance, and his finish enabled him to get involved as a producer in the Burt Reynolds poker movie Deal, which is due out this fall.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: The first two events Lazar cashed in after his big payday cost $300 to enter, but one, at the L.A. Poke Classic, was good for $8,618. He's had a decent WSOP this year, at the time of this writing, cashing in two events and winning almost $6,000.

Daniel Bergsdorf cashed in exactly zero major tournaments before finishing seventh in last year's main event, earning $1.3 million.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: The main event was Bergsdorf's only cash of 2005, but Vegas and the new year have been marginally good to him so far. He took home $25,000 for finishing ninth in this year's Tournament of Champions, and finished 10th in a $1,000 no-limit hold'em buy-in event at Bellagio, with 196 players, while in Las Vegas this summer. It was good for $2,280.

Brad Kondracki was the youngest player at last year's final table at the age of 26. An online player, Kondracki finished eighth and won $1.15 million. He's a University of Pennsylvania law student. In March of 2005, he finished second in a $1,000 buy-in tournament at Bellagio, winning $13,386.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: The online guru hasn't had much luck in live tournaments this past year, and his cash at last year's WSOP was his first and last since then.

Mike "the Mouth" Matusow was the first player knocked out at the final table last year, but his showing in the main event captured the attention of poker fans everywhere (not that he needs help attracting attention). His battles with Sean Sheikhan made for some great entertainment, and his performance in the tournament as a professional player was spectacular. Despite being the first one out at the final table, he still won $1 million.

Tournament Life Since the Final Table: Matusow has been on fire since last year's WSOP. In September, he won another $1 million in the WSOP Tournament of Champions, took another $250,000 from the next Tournament of Champions in June of 2006 (which Mike Sexton won), and cashed twice in this year's WSOP. He won $89,010 for finishing seventh in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em event this year. Unfortunately, Matusow's attempt to match Dan Harrington's feat of reaching the championship event final table in consecutive years ended within hours of his first day.