Day 1A

David Pham Falls on Day 1A and Leaves the Door Open for J.C. Tran and Jonathan Little in the Card Player POY Race

Action began today at the $15,000 buy-in WPT Doyle Brunson Classic, which is the championship event of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Jack McClelland stepped onto the tournament floor and, as is the usual custom, he announced the tournament rules; he then made this announcement before the entire room observed a moment of silence in the memory of Chip Reese:

"This week we lost one of our great poker players, Chip Reese. In honor of Chip I'd like to have a moment of silence, if everyone would be quiet for a moment." Thirty seconds of silence enveloped the room and then Jack said, "Chip, we'll miss you." He paused quickly once more and continued, "OK everybody, good luck. Fifty and one-hundred blind - shuffle up and deal." Soon after that the familiar sounds of table talk and chips endlessly riffling crept back into the air. Day 1A had drawn 277 players, and many of them were the top players in the game. Many of them also started their day at table 48:

Seat 2: Johnny Chan
Seat 4: Kyle "kwob20" Bowker
Seat 5: Dan Harrington
Seat 6: Raymond Davis
Seat 7: Doug Lee
Seat 8: Tuan Le
Seat 9: Peter "Apathy" Jetten

Tuan Le doubled up very early in the day when his pocket aces defeated the pocket queens of one of the few unknown opponents at this table. Tuan got involved in the lion’s share of the action at this table, but his luck caught up with him and he was eliminated before the fourth level of the day began. The talent at the table was quickly reloaded though, when Jonathan Little and Chris Bjorin arrived on the scene. Once Little sat down, Raymond Davis sarcastically said, "This table just keeps getting easier." To prove his point, he pulls out the current issue of Card Player Magazine, with Little on the cover. "They bring me the guy who's on the cover of Card Player! And this guy (indicating Dan Harrington) was just on a cover, and Johnny Chan has been on twenty!"

Davis was no stranger to the action at the table and he got into the thick of things repeatedly. After an ace-high flop with two hearts, Davis turned a flush with [KhQh] in the hole against his opponent's [Ad9d]. All the money went in on the river and Davis's flush was strong enough to bust his opponent, moving Davis well over 65,000 in chips. On the very next hand, Davis tangled with Bjorin on a board of J-J-8-3-10. Davis called a bet on the river, only to learn that his pocket aces were crushed by Bjorin's set of eights. The loss dropped Davis back down to about 59,000, while Bjorin rose up to about 33,000.

As the day wore on a second featured table developed, at lucky table number seven:

Seat 1: Alan Goehring
Seat 2: Lamar Wilkinson
Seat 3: Ralph Perry
Seat 4: Daniel Alaei
Seat 5: David Levi
Seat 6: Erik Seidel
Seat 7: Chad Brown
Seat 8: Peter Feldman
Seat 9: Joe Tehan

Seidel played well throughout the day at this table and he was one of the first players in the field to pass the 100,000 chip-mark on day 1A. Seidel looked at ease in these treacherous waters and he ended the day with 108,475.

As stacked tables continued to fight throughout the day, all eyes turned to the Card Player Player of the Year race implications that always coincide with this tournament, the last major tournament of the year. David "The Dragon" Pham leads the race with 6,562, while J.C. Tran (5,748), Little (5,272), Scott Clements (5,138), and Bill Edler (4,777) still had a chance to overtake him at the start of the day. Clements is already out of contention because he will not be playing in the championship event. In a sign of true commitment to his wife, Clements has not decided to play in order to spend time with her during her birthday. Tran is expected to play tomorrow, and he now has a chance to win the title after winning a $5,000 preliminary event here at the Bellagio this week to jump into second place. Pham, Edler, and Little were all in contention today.

Edler was the first of these three to be eliminated and end his run at the POY title He finished the year with seven final tables and $2,757,042 in tournament winnings. This gave Edler 4,777 POY points, which puts him in fifth place. It was a great year for Edler, which included his first WPT win and his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet. The leader of the POY-pack followed Edler to the rail when Pham was eliminated later in the day. Pham’s impressive year saw him make 11 final tables and cash for $1,814,087. Pham made two WPT final tables, one WSOP final table, and he also won the head's up championship event at the Mirage Poker Showdown. Pham accumulated an impressive 6,562 POY points and still sits in first place. The ball is now in the court's of Tran and Little (who finished the day with 61,675), who can still both overtake Pham with a second-place finish or a win here at the Bellagio.

The rising blinds and antes did their due diligence and helped to knock players out of the field, a number of notable eliminations occurred elsewhere. Paul Wasicka, Sorel Mizzi, Justin Bonomo, Kevin Saul, J.J. Liu, Doug Lee, Shane Schleger, Joe Tehan, David Singer, John Juanda, David Williams, Shawn Sheikhan, Lee Watkinson and David Chiu all ended their tournament before the end of day 1A.

As the day winded down one player rose above all the rest to end the day as the king of the mountain. John Hennigan grew his stack to 100,000 and never looked back. He ended the day with 188,700, the most of any player on day 1A. Here is a look at the top ten:

John Hennigan: 188,700
John Gale: 126,100
Hoyt Corkins: 114,000
Erik Seidel: 108,475
Ralph Perry: 102,000
Greg Mueller: 98,625
Amir Vahedi: 89,625
Scott Seiver: 85,850
Anthony Newman: 84,450
Kyle Bowker: 82,250

When the dust settled, 190 players remained and the stage was set for Day 1B, which will begin tomorrow at noon. The rest of the field will begin play and J.C. Tran will start his quest to win the POY title.

Day 2

Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu Dominate on Day 2

On day 2 of the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic there were 440 survivors that began the day. The field was split between the casino floor and the poker room at the beginning of play and as is the case when two remaining fields combine, there were some tough tables to start the day:

Table 59:

Seat 2 – Scott Fischman
Seat 3 – David "Devilfish" Ulliot
Seat 4 – Ted Forrest
Seat 7 – Shannon Shorr
Seat 8 – Mark Gregorich
Seat 10 – John Murphy

Table 30:

Seat 3 – T.J. Cloutier
Seat 5 – Jonathan "fatalerror" Aguiar
Seat 6 – Bernard Lee
Seat 7 – John Hennigan
Seat 8 – Erik Seidel

Table 16:

Seat 4 – Brian "snagglepuss" Powell
Seat 5 – Abe Mosseri
Seat 6 – Phil Ivey
Seat 7 – James Van Alstyne
Seat 8 – Antonio Esfandiari

This championship event has attracted one of the most impressive tournament fields in the last couple of months, and even when the stars of the poker world weren’t in action on the tournament floor, they quickly found a second home in Bobby’s room. During the first break of the day a game of high-stakes Chinese poker broke out between Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, John Hanson, and Patrik Antonius. Even after the break Antonius and Hanson kept the game of high-stakes Chinese poker going, and they were quickly joined by Phil Hellmuth, who had busted out of the tournament early in the second level.

Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen

While one Phil suffered, another one prospered throughout day 2 action. Phil Ivey started the day as the chip leader with 223,000. Ivey played his large stack well and finished the day as he began, with the chip lead. Ivey was the first player to flirt with the 400,000 mark on this hand:

Ivey raised to 3,600 and Liz Lieu called from the cutoff. David Redlin reraised to 14,000 from the button and Ivey made it 31,000 to go. Lieu thought for a bit before folding and Redlin pushed all in for a few thousand more. Ivey called and showed down pocket cowboys and Redlin was behind with two ladies in the hole. The board missed both players and Ivey moved up to 386,000.

During the fourth level of play, with 239 players remaining, the final table broke in the Bellagio poker room. For the first time in this large tournament, all of the players were on the same tournament floor. Up to this point all tables had been ten-handed, but now the tables converted to nine-handed action as players busted.

Daniel Negreanu

As action for the day began to wind down, Ivey was met at the top of the leader board by another huge presence in the world of poker. Daniel Negreanu played strong and he unwaveringly built his small stack into a monster. Kid Poker approached the 300,000 mark on this hand:

On a flop of KQ9, Negreanu had his opponent covered all-in while he held K3. His opponent showed down AA, but the turn brought the J to give Negreanu a flush. No heart fell on the river and Negreanu ran his stack up to 290,000. Negreanu continued to terrorize table 55, so it was a joyous moment for its inhabitants when Negreanu was forced to redraw for an empty seat at table 61. Negreanu racked up his chips and moved to his new surroundings. Waiting for him at table 61 were Nam Le, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Joseph Capello, and Alex Kravchenko. One player at table 55 jokingly offered to tip the floorman in celebration of Negreanu leaving.

Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth

Not all the players were building chip-stack mountains consisting of hundreds of thousands of chips. There were many high-profile eliminations during day 2 action, but none more so than the man the tournament is named to honor. Doyle Brunson busted out of play early in the day, but his presence continued to hover in the room every time the Doyle Brunson Classic was mentioned.

Other eliminations: Hasan Habib, Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harman, Adam Levy, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Chad Brown, T.J. Cloutier, Darrell Dicken, Mark Newhouse, Mark Seif, Ted Forrest, Phil Laak, Nick Schulman, 2007 World Champion Jerry Yang, Dewey Tomko, Sean McCabe, and Josh Arieh.

When play ended for the night, the remaining 152 players bagged up their chips and the final totals were tallied. Ivey and Negreanu are at the top of pack with 460,700 and 265,700 respectively. Jonathan Little also survived the day (191,300), and kept his hopes of overtaking David “The Dragon” Pham for the 2007 Card Player Player of the Year title alive. Here is a look at the top ten chip stacks at the end of the day:

Phil Ivey – 460,700
Lee Markholt – 442,500
Paul Kraus – 393,500
James Mordue – 348,000
Nenad Medic – 330,500
Erick Lindgren – 304,600
Mikael Thuritz – 302,800
David "Bakes" Baker – 301,400
Peter Jetten – 295,000
Larry Elliot – 276,000

Day 3 will begin tomorrow at noon and the remaining players will all vie to make the money. The money bubble will pop when the 101st player is eliminated and the excitement will increase as that mark approaches.

Day 3

WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic - Day 3 Recap, Day 4 Preview

Day 3 did not go as expected, with chipleader and crowd favorite Phil Ivey losing nearly half his stack in the first hour, and then bleeding chips the rest of the day until he busted out unceremoniously a few spots shy of the money.

The fact that he missed the money keeps an interesting streak alive for Phil Ivey -- he has seven cashes on the World Poker Tour, and seven final tables. If he goes deep, he goes really deep. Unfortunately, to this point, he has yet to win a WPT title. Better luck next time, Ivey.

Another unexpected twist on Day 3 was the speed with which the field busted blasted through the money bubble. Ivey departed shortly before a break in 103rd place, closely followed by "Miami" John Cernuto. Before hand-for-hand play could begin, the break was upon us. But when everyone returned, they learned that another player went out on the last hand -- the money bubble had busted before most people realized it had arrived. The top 100 players had clinched at least $28,905.

There were two interesting milestones reached by making the money. Lee Markholt has played in 14 out of 20 World Poker Tour events in 2007 -- and he has cashed an amazing nine times. He also cashed in the last event of 2006, giving him 10 cashes in his last 15 WPT events -- an unbelievable cash rate of 67%. And remember, these are all championship events against the best players in the world. Markholt would eventually be eliminated in 79th place, but the mark he left on 2007 is undeniable.

But wait, there's more.

Making the money in WPT events is quickly becoming a family affair for the Shiff brothers, Danny and Zvi. They both finished in the money at the last stop on the tour (WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals), and they've done it again here at Bellagio. Danny and Zvi Shiff have cashed in back-to-back WPT events. As far as we can tell, that is an unprecedented achievement. (Interestingly, both brothers have also come close to televised WPT final tables, with each having an eighth place finish). While Zvi busted out in 69th place, Danny Shiff is still alive on Day 4 with a just-below-average chip stack.

Day 3 proceeded at a quick pace, and after the scheduled five levels there were just 44 players remaining. Two of the biggest names in the field (and former WPT title winners) made late surges in the last level to move to the top of the leaderboard. Gus Hansen doubled up multiple times to finish the day in third place, while Negreanu went on a hot streak to finish in sixth.

Here are the top five chipleaders headed to Day 4, including a few of the notables:

1.  Jordan Rich  -  1,238,000
2.  Matthew Casterella  -  1,184,000
3.  Gus Hansen (3 WPT titles)  -  1,128,000
4.  Bill Kontaratos  -  1,119,000
5.  Raymond Davis  -  1,014,000

6.  Daniel Negreanu (2 WPT titles)  -  844,000
13.  Eric Hershler (1 WPT title)  -  514,000
14.  Erick Lindgren (2 WPT titles)  -  497,000
16.  Hoyt Corkins (1 WPT title)  -  453,000
AVERAGE  -  452,000
20.  Todd Brunson  -  393,000
26.  Roy Winston (1 WPT title)  -  333,000
29.  Marcel Luske  -  275,000
30.  Ryan Daut (1 WPT title)  -  271,000
32.  David "Devilfish" Ulliott (1 WPT title) -  240,000
33.  Andreas Walnum (1 WPT title)  -  231,000
38.  Jose Rosenkrantz (1 WPT title)  -  148,000
40.  Huckleberry Seed  -  127,000

Notably missing from that list (in addition to Phil Ivey) is Jonathan Little, the points leader in the WPT Player of the Year race (which runs through April), and the last person with a chance to overtake David "The Dragon" Pham for Card Player's 2007 Player of the Year title. Little was eliminated in 53rd place, falling short of his goal and effectively clinching the award for David Pham.

Take a second look at those names on the leaderboard above -- 10 of the 44 remaining players (22.7%) are former WPT title winners. This field is still extremely deep with talent and experience, and we're expecting an impressive final table lineup.

One of the biggest storylines going forward is Todd Brunson, son of the man whose name adorns this tournament. While the younger Brunson has a long list of poker accomplishments, he has never made a WPT final table. It would be fitting if his first came at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Day 4 starts at 12:00 noon, and play should continue until the field reaches the final two or three tables (18 or 27 players). Stay tuned to WorldPokerTour.com throughout the day for complete live coverage, with chip counts, hand updates, photos, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.

Day 4

Many Former WPT Champions Enter on Day 4 and Few Remain at the End of the Day

The 44 players that began day 4 of the Doyle Brunson Classic owned 14 World Poker Tour titles between them. These titles were spread between 10 players in the field as follows:

Gus Hansen - (3 WPT titles)
Daniel Negreanu - (2 WPT titles)
Erick Lindgren - (2 WPT titles)
Eric Hershler - (1 WPT title)
Hoyt Corkins - (1 WPT title)
Roy Winston - (1 WPT title)
Ryan Daut - (1 WPT title)
David "Devilfish" Ulliott - (1 WPT title)
Andreas Walnum - (1 WPT title)
Jose Rosenkrantz - (1 WPT title)

Throw in one former world champion (Huck Seed), a few of the most respected high-stakes cash-game players in the world (Todd Brunson and Daniel Alaei), and an array of talented hopefuls and you find one tough crowd to play poker against.

The day started with a couple of the big names falling out of contention in quick succession. Winston was the first player to fall in 44th place, and he was quickly followed to the rail by Alaei, Rosenkrantz, and Marcel “The Flying Dutchman” Luske. The eliminations continued steadily, and after the first break only 37 players remained.

Walnum quietly exited following the break, and he was quickly followed to the rail by Corkins. The first two levels were undoubtedly rough on the former WPT champions - only half of the original 10 remained. That trend was finally put to rest when Negreanu scored a huge pot:

Negreanu raised to 40,000 from early position and David "Bakes" Baker reraised to 140,000 out of the small blind. Negreanu called and the two saw a flop of [10c8h4c]. Baker immediately announced he was all in and Negreanu quickly called. Baker asked "You got a set?" and Negreanu nodded his head in reply. Baker showed down [AsKd] and Negreanu turned up pocket eights. The turn was the [Js], and the river was the [2d], which doubled up Negreanu to 1,155,000.

While Negreanu had no trouble increasing his stack, others were busting at a rapid pace. Baker was eliminated shortly after doubling up Neagreanu, followed by Quinn Do, Max Pescatori, Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, and Seed.

Lindgren then lost half of his stack in an influential hand: Lindgren raised to 45,000 and Bill Kontaratos made the call. The flop brought [Qs9h4d] and both players checked it down. The turn was the [3c], Lindgren bet 80,000, and Kontaratos raised to 200,000. Lindgren made the call and the river brought the [Jd]. Lindgren checked, Kontaratos bet 200,000, and Lindgren made the call. Kontaratos turned up pocket fours for a flopped set and Lindgren mucked his hand. Lindgren was down to 225,000 after the hand (Lindgren would recover and survive the day with 1,571,000), while Kontaratos sky-rocketed up to 1.97 million. Kontaratos was able to carry this momentum past the 2-million chip summit, but Negreanu quickly joined him in the exclusive club atop the leader board.

While one of the former champions challenged for the chip lead, yet another met an untimely end. Hansen got his short stack all in against Ryan Daut preflop. Hansen showed down [AsKs] and he was happy to see Daut turn over [KdJs]. The board came [KcQh7d3hJd] and Daut rivered a jack to send Hansen to the rail in 22nd place.

Action was set to end when the final 18 were reached, and now that that mark was so tantalizingly close, play amongst the field seemed to grind to a halt. It took over an hour to lose the final three, which included Mikael Thuritz (21st place), Hershler (20th place), and Daniel Donati (19th place). During this final stretch of play Negreanu used his large stack to really pull away from the field and he finished the day with 2,279,00. When the dust settled, Negreanu was joined by Lindgren, Ulliot, and Daut, as the only former WPT champions to survive the day. Here is a look at the final chip counts:

Daniel Negreanu: 2,279,000
Matthew Casterella: 1,686,000
Jordan Rich: 1,640,000
David "Devilfish" Ulliot: 1,579,000
Erick Lindgren: 1,571,000
John Monnette: 1,357,000
Bill Kontaratos: 1,285,000
Daniel Shiff: 1,280,000
Ryan Daut: 1,239,000
Kenneth Rosen: 1,112,000
Todd Brunson: 1,105,000
Raymond Davis: 1,100,000
Rodeen Talebi: 900,000
Ted Kearly: 627,000
Mark Muchnik: 348,000
Jimmy Tran: 322,000
Eugene Katchalov: 286,000
Peter Jetten: 204,000

Action will continue tomorrow when day 5 begins at noon. The final 18 players will play down to a final television table of 6, no matter how long it takes.

Day 5

Here are the official chip counts for tomorrow's WPT final table:

Seat 1  -  Ken Rosen  -  1,135,000
Seat 2  -  Ted Kearly  -  1,620,000
Seat 3  -  Jordan Rich  -  6,585,000
Seat 4  -  Eugene Katchalov  -  8,360,000
Seat 5  -  Ryan Daut  -  330,000
Seat 6  -  David "Devilfish" Ulliott  -  1,900,000

There is 12:59 left in level 23, with blinds at 40,000-80,000, with a 10,000 ante. The button will start in seat 1 with Ken Rosen.

Stay tuned this evening for video interviews from Kimberly Lansing and you can scroll down for a recap of today's action. Bios on the six final tablists will be posted in the morning.

Final Table

Katchalov Gets Off to a Fast Start and Wins the WPT Final Table with Historical Quickness

Shortly after 4 p.m. today the final-table contestants at the 2007 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic took their seats to play for a huge first-place prize. The 664 contestants created a prize pool worth $9,661,200, and a first-place prize worth $2,482,605. This is the largest prize in tournament poker history outside of the World Series of Poker main event and the WPT World Championship. With this much money on the line every player was eager to stake his claim for the prize. Here is how things looked when action started:

Seat 1: Ken Rosen - 1,135,000
Seat 2: Ted Kearly - 1,620,000
Seat 3: Jordan Rich - 6,585,000
Seat 4: Eugene Katchalov - 8,360,000
Seat 5: Ryan Daut - 330,000
Seat 6: David "Devilfish" Ulliott - 1,900,000

Daut was on an extremely short stack when action began, and he wasted no time getting all of his chips into the middle of the table. On the first hand of play, Daut moved all in from middle position for 320,000, and Kearly called from the small blind with pocket eights. Daut showed down [AdJh] and he needed to improve to stay alive. The board rolled out [8s5s2c8hQh] and Daut was eliminated in sixth place, earning $192,715.

Normally with such a clear distinction in chip stacks, the chip leaders at a final table will do their best to avoid each other, but Rich and Katchalov had no problem mixing it up early. On the third hand of play, Rich had the button and he raised to 220,000. Katchalov called from the small blind and the flop came Q-J-8 rainbow. Katchalov checked and Rich bet 320,000. Katchalov took some time before making it 840,000 and Rich reraised to 1,620,000. Katchalov went into the tank and then reraised it one more time to 2,640,000. Rich shook his head and mucked his cards, losing a huge chunk of his stack and giving all the momentum to Katchalov. While both players cards were never shown, you can rest assured that this hand will be selected to air on television.

After the hand, both players now held 75 percent of the chips in play, and a mere 13 hands later, one of them would be eliminated. On hand 16, Katchalov raised under the gun to 300,000, and Rich reraised from the big blind to 1 million. Katchalov moved all in and Rich made the call with pocket jacks. Katchalov flipped over pocket aces, leaving Rich drawing slim. The board rolled out [10d9c8h10h5s] and Katchalov took out the biggest remaining stack to take an overwhelming chip lead. Rich was eliminated in fifth place, earning $289,070.

The fast and furious pace of the final table continued and three hands later the third victim of the evening was claimed. Nineteen hands into play, Katchalov had the button and he raised to 300,000. Rosen moved all in from the big blind and Katchalov asked for a count. It was a total bet of 905,000, and Katchalov had to call with [10d7d]. Rosen showed down [Ad2d] and he was in good shape to double up. The board hit the table [5d5c4c9c10h] however, and Katchalov rivered two pair to take the pot, adding even more chips to his monster stack (he now held 15 million). Rosen was eliminated in fourth place, earning $433,675.

It seemed as though everything was going Katchalov’s way, that until he actually lost a hand. Kearly was able to double up through the massive chip leader and bring him back down from the stratosphere. Kearly pushed with [QdJc] and Katchalov made the call with [Ah4s]. The board came [KhJs4d7cKs] and Kearly proved that the ferocious chip leader was human after all.

Ulliott had been the most talkative player at the table up to this point. He and Jack McClelland had a running diatribe that entertained those in the audience as well as those at the final table, but things were about to go silent. On the 39th hand of play Ulliott had the button and he moved all in for a little more than 2 million. Katchalov thought for a bit from the big blind before he called with [AcJd] and was happy to see Ulliott turn over a dominated [Ad10s]. The board of [Kc5s3s9dKs] provided no help and the Devilfish was eliminated in third place, earning $674,500.

With the start of heads-up play, the action paused for the money presentation. Eight ladies carrying Doyle Brunson’s signature cowboy hat filled with cash stopped by to drop off the final prize. A quick chip count during this break in the action revealed a lopsided distribution of wealth:

Katchalov: 16,755,000
Kearly: 3,175,000

Eight hands into the heads-up match things only got worse for Kearly. Katchalov knocked out one of his legs when he scored a pot that Kearly had invested over 1 million into preflop. After that the end was near and the final battle came down on the 53rd hand of the night. Kearly had the button and he raised to 380,000. Katchalov made the call and the flop came [10s6c3d]. Katchalov checked, Kearly bet 300,000, and Katchalov raised to 800,000. Kearly then moved all in and Katchalov called with [Jh10d] for a pair of tens. Kearly showed down [KcJs] and he was in deep trouble. The turn card brought the [Jd], and the river card was the [2h]. Katchalov won the hand, and the tournament, with two pair - jacks and tens. Kearly finished in second place, earning $1,252,640.

Katchalov won the 2007 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning $2,482,605, and a $25,500 seat in the 2008 WPT World Championship, which will take place here at Bellagio in April. He also set a record by winning the final table in just 53 hands. This beat the record that Doyle Brunson set when he won the 2004 WPT Legends of Poker. It is a perfect blend of symmetry that the record that Doyle set was broken at the tournament bearing his name.

Here are the final table results:

1. Eugene Katchalov - $2,482,605
2. Ted Kearly - $1,252,640
3. David Ulliott - $674,500
4. Ken Rosen - $433,675
5. Jordan Rich - $289,070
6. Ryan Daut - $192,715