Veteran poker pro Humberto “El Wacko” Brenes has become just the seventh player in the history of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to finish in the money in 50 WSOP events in a career.

He finished in 14th place in Event #21 of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas and won $34,357 for his landmark career WSOP cash.

According to WSOP statistics, the only other players to cash out in at least 50 WSOP events in a lifetime are Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr., Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Men “The Master” Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier, Berry Johnston and Erik Seidel.

Brenes, 57, a colorful and outspoken native of San Jose, Costa Rica, who now lives in San Jose, California, USA, won almost $200,000 via a third-place finish in a pot-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament at last year’s WSOP, and won almost $330,000 via a 36th-place finish at the Main Event of the 2006 WSOP.

Those were his two biggest WSOP cash-outs.

According to records, he has won about $5 million lifetime from tournament play, which includes WSOP and other tourneys. He also once won $300,000 in a craps tournament in the Bahamas.

As for 2008 WSOP Event #21, a $5,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney with 731 participants, 72 payouts and a total prize pool of about $3.4 million, it was won by Scott Seiver, an unknown poker pro from Cold Springs Harbor, New York, USA.

For the victory, Seiver received $755,856.

It was his first victory ever in a WSOP event.

Finishing in second in the tournament was David Seidman of Chicago, Illinois, USA, who gets to put $482,372 in a side pocket.

Third was Ben Sprengers of Plantation, Florida, USA, who collected $292,035.

Fourth was Jacobo Fernandez of Hollywood, Florida, USA, who picked up $238,781.

Fifth was Raj Vohra of Lake Worth, Florida, USA, who snared $195,835.

Sixth was Chuck Sklar of Los Angeles, California, USA, who was chucked $154,607.

Seventh was Anders Henriksson of Stockholm, Sweden, who bagged $120,250.

Eighth was Rich Geyer of Austin, Texas, USA, who took home $94,482 and is now a rich guy.

Ninth was Scott Freeman of Oak Park, California, USA, who scoffed a free $69,714.

Tenth was Jorge Arias of Caracas, Venezuela, who won $42,946.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)