Day 1

Raj Patel Begins his Title Defense Strong as the Day 1 Chip Leader

Action began on Day 1 of the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic at noon, and at the start of the day 338 players were registered to play, but quite a few of them were not in their seats. A large contingent of the field arrived late (it was not uncommon for some tables to start play five-handed), but by the end of the first level everyone had arrived and a field of 346 players was present and accounted for in their seats. This made the first-place prize $967,300, along with a $25,500 seat at the WPT World Championship later this month.

The professionals present were spread out evenly amongst the field. No stacked tables emerged on the first day of this perennial stop on the WPT schedule, which gave the professionals time to stretch their wings against green opponents. The 30,000 starting stacks also ensured that a lot of post-flop poker would rule the day. More than half the field survived day 1, and 218 players will return for another five levels of poker tomorrow.

Reigning Card Player Player of the Year, David "The Dragon" Pham, was the first professional player to bust out of the tournament with just 20 minutes remaining in the first level. According to Michael Binger, Pham sat down and played nearly every hand, losing all but one. His final hand saw him short stacked with 2,500, and he moved it all in with A-10 against his opponent's A-J. The board didn't help him and he was out the door. Other early eliminations included Amnon Filippi, Noah Schwartz (who was coolered with pocket kings against pocket aces), Hasan Habib, Isaac Haxton, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, Bernard Lee, Justin Bonomo, Lee Markholt (who is fresh off of his first WPT title victory at the World Poker Challenge), Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, and T.J. Cloutier.

Nam Le took a much different path than the Dragon early in the day when he nearly doubled up during level one. Le limped under the gun for 200, and a few other players called before Steve Fiorentini raised from the button to 1,100. Le made the call and everyone else mucked. The flop came 10-high with two rags and Le checked. Fiorentini bet 2,000 and Le made the call. The turn card was another rag, Le checked, Fiorentini bet 5,000, and Le check-raised to 12,500. Fiorentini moved all in with pocket aces and Le immediately called with pocket tens for top set. The river card was a blank, and Le eliminated Fiorentini to jump to the top of the leader board. Le took advantage of this early victory and he was among the chip leaders all day. He finished the day with 87,600.

Le was joined at the top early by Brock Parker, who built a ridiculous stack of 165,000, when the average stack was just 33,376. Other big names rose to the top in the early going: Men "The Master" Nguyen built his stack up to 92,000, and Barry Greenstein built his stack to 105,000. Paul Snead (168,500) closed in on the chip lead as well late in the day, and he gained most of his chips in a monster hand:

The betting amounts were unknown on a board of [10s8c7dKc], but Ryan "toetagu" Fair was all in and Jimmy Kohl made the call. Snead moved all in over the top and Kohl thought for a bit before deciding that he couldn't get away from the hand. All three players then anxiously turned over their hands:

Fair: [9c7c]
Kohl: [8s7s]
Snead: [Ks10c]

The river was the [3h] and Snead, who had both players covered, sent two opponents to the rail and grabbed a ton of chips.

The end of the night carried a business-as-usual tone into the final bell, which rang at 8:30 p.m. During the last part of the day, two big developments took place. One was quite loud; as Steve Buckner let out a flurry of celebration when he hit a heart flush on the river against an opponent's set of queens. Buckner started shouting, "Let me suck out one time! Let me suck out one time!" He then paraded past other tables, getting louder and louder, pumping his arms and kicking his legs to punctuate the cheer. The tournament came to a stop to watch his display, which lasted for a minute, and by the time it came to a close there was a mix of cheers and jeers from the other players in the room.

The second notable event of the evening involved the start of what could be a strong title defense by last year's winner. During the last half hour of the day, the 2007 Foxwoods Poker Classic champion, Raj Patel, chipped up in a major way and took the lead. He held 194,000 as time expired, and ended the day with 192,050. A few other professional were lost before the end of the night, but the majority of the field still remained. Among the fallen late in the day were Nick Schulman, David Williams, Sully Erna, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, John "The Razor" Phan, Alex Jacob, and Tuan Le.

Here is a list of all of the players who hold at least 100,000 heading into day 2:

1.  Raj Patel: 192,000
2.  Paul Snead: 182,775
3.  Brock Parker: 180,475
4.  Barry Greenstein: 156,200
5.  Kevin Mason: 144,050
6.  Erick Lindgren: 131,800
7.  Kenny Chanthamala: 125,778
8.  Robert T. Richardson: 107,425
9.  Eugene Katchalov: 105,525
10.  Ken Adams: 103,775
11.  Emil Patel: 102,100
12.  Dick Carson: 100,625

The remaining field of 218 will return tomorrow at noon, and then play another five levels to get one day closer to crowning a 2008 champion. We will see if Patel can further his run at back-to-back titles tomorrow. Check back here for all the action in live updates, chips counts, photos and videos.

Day 2

Two days of action have shrank the tournament field close to the money bubble here at the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic. This World Poker Tour event was scheduled for six days, but the small number of entrants have made for a much shorter affair. Only 75 players remain, leaving us just a few levels away from payday for the top 40 players.

The day started out the way day 1 ended, with a flurry of bustouts as the 218 remaining players quickly whittled themselves down to 170 players by the end of the first level. Among the notables to hit the rail were Phil Ivey, Joe Brooks, Bill Gazes, Chris Reslock and Beth Shak.

The next level was more of the same as the players continued to drop at an alarming rate considering the relatively low blinds and the 30,000 starting stacks. Defending champion Raj Patel continued were he left off the night before, taking chips off of one of the more stacked tables in the room. Patel raised from late position to 4,000 and Paul Spitzberg called on the button. Elmer Lynn reraised to 15,500 from the small blind and only Patel made the call. The flop came [Jd10h3c] and Lynn bet 30,000. Patel announced all in having Lynn remaining 100,000 easily covered and Lynn called almost immediately with pocket aces. Patel turned over [Jc10c] for two pair and the boards bricked out for Lynn giving Patel nearly 400,000 after the massive pot was counted down. Patel ended the day with 393,700, enough for second place in the chip counts.

The top players continued to bust as Men Nguyen, Joe Sebok, Bill Edler, JC Tran, Hevad Khan and Victor Ramdin were all sent home prematurely in the chaos that surrounded the second and third levels of the day.

While Patel was busy adding to his stack, another familiar face from last year's final table took quick strides to catch up. Tony “bagels” Cavezza, who finished third in last year's contest, spent the early part of the day chipping up and terrorizing his table to amass a stack of over 250,000. Unfortunately, Cavezza faltered down the stretch and was eliminated when his opponent rivered jacks full against his unseen hand.

Ted Forrest was much more fortunate when he got his stack all in against Shane Schleger and another unknown at the table. Schleger showed pocket eights, the unknown showed pocket jacks and Forrest turned over pocket aces. The flop gave Forrest a set of aces and the massive pot was shipped his way, having both players covered. Forrest ended the day with 339,100, good for fourth place.

Other notables to survive the day included Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Hoyt Corkins, John Juanda, Nam Le, Erik Seidel and Paul Darden. The top 10 chip counts are listed below:

1. Paul Snead - 472,700
2. Raj Patel - 393,700
3. Eddie Ting - 388,200
4. Ted Forrest - 339,100
5. Dave Stefanski - 337,000
6. Michael Ferris - 317,300
7. Daniel Woolsen - 293,900
8. Joe Tehan - 287,300
9. Mike Santoro - 273,300
10. Jim Silva - 259,500

Day 3

Allen Bari Jumps into the Chip Lead during a Day Dominated by the Money Bubble

The first two days of play at the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic were devastating for the original field of 346 players, and at the start of day 3, only 75 players remained. The plan was to play five full levels of poker or until the field was sliced down to the final 18 players, whichever came first. The money bubble would burst when the 41st player was eliminated, and play was lethargic all the way to the bubble. Hand-for-hand play was reached shortly after 6 p.m. EDT, and it took a full 25 minutes for the bubble to burst. The unfortunate bubble girl was Svetlana Gromenkova.

Lost en route to the money bubble were most of the familiar faces in the field, including: John Juanda, Paul Spitzberg, Kathy Liebert, Will "The Thrill" Failla, Young Phan, Vincent Procopio, Erick Lindgren, Name Le, Alan Goehring, Barry Greenstein, and Paul Matteo (who was the runner-up at last year's event).

This left just a handful of professionals in the field once the tournament was in the money, but they faired well for the rest of the day. Paul Darden, Ted Forrest, and Joe Simmons spent the day working their way to the top of the leader board. Darden experienced the largest reversal of fortune, at one point he was almost all in for his tournament life. But, he built his stack to 304,000 when he had his opponent covered by 20,000 and showed down a set of jacks over a set of tens. This hand kick started a run for him that grew his stack to 469,000 around the time when many were folding their way to a cash.

Defending champion Raj Patel continued to play well, and remained in the top five (670,000) as he continues his attempt to make back-to-back final tables here at Foxwoods. While all of these players did well, Paul Snead did them one better, and took the chip lead heading into the money bubble with a stack of 740,000, - he also ended the day in the top five (595,000).

The most outrageous hand of the day took place at table 2 shortly after the money bubble:

After a flop of [7d4s2h], Mike Santoro checked, Joe Tehan bet 20,000, Santoro raised to 55,000, and Tehan made the call. The turn brought the [10h], Santoro moved all in, and Tehan called with [10c9s] for a pair of tens, nine kicker. Santoro showed down [10d8d] for a pair of tens, eight kicker. The river card was the [As], and Tehan took down the pot with his nine kicker. Everyone gathered in the crowd was shocked that Tehan flat-called Santoro's bet on the flop with nothing but ten high, and several players commented that it was the sickest hand of the tournament. A few went so far as to claim it was the sickest hand they had ever seen. After the hand, Santoro shaked his head and said to Tehan, "Dude, you're out of your F-ing gourd! Seriously!" Despite his double up, Tehan got all of his chips in just a few hands later, and busted to give Allen Bari one of the biggest stacks in the room, which he further built up to 814,500 for the chip lead by the end of the day.

After Gromenkova's elimination, a little more than a level was left in the day and the field continued its march to the final table. Only seven players fell on day 3 after the bubble burst – and they included:
 
40. Mike Crawley: $22,610
39. Kevin Mason: $22,610
38. Joe Tehan: $22,610
37. Jason Suh: $22,610
36. David Stefanski: $22,610
35. Scott Blackman: $22,610
34. Ken Adams: $22,610

The remaining 33 players will return at noon EDT tomorrow and play down to either the final 18, or the final 10. Here is a look at the top of the leader board:

1. Allen Bari: 814,500
2. Eddie Ting: 672,500
3. Raj Patel: 670,000
4. Paul Snead: 595,000
5. Joe Simmons: 485,500
5. Robert Richardson: 485,500
7. Benjamin Zamani: 460,000
8. Michael Farris: 447,500
9. Paul Darden: 440,000
10. Erik Seidel: 417,500

Day 4

Calling the slow grind that was Day 4 of the Foxwoods Poker Classic anything other than excruciating wouldn't be doing it justice. After the field motored through the first two days of the tournament, it didn't look like anything could stop what was predicted to be a premature conclusion to one of the premier stops on the World Poker Tour. Instead, the remaining 33 players spent hours trading chips back and forth until the inevitable rising blinds forced the action.

The first elimination of the day didn't come until nearly half of a level had ticked off the clock, but it jump started a run by Ted Forrest to the top, putting him in position to win his second WPT title. Forrest got nearly all of his chips in with pocket tens against Daniel Woolson's pocket kings, but he spiked a 10 on the flop to spark his run up the leader board.

While Forrest was busy chipping up, Paul Snead was busy trying to salvage a poor start to the day. Snead had been in the top five for nearly the entire tournament, but a clash with music producer Joe Simmons left him scrambling for his tournament life. Snead, Simmons, and Robert Richardson all saw a [JdJc5d] flop in a raised pot when the fireworks started. After Snead bet 200,000, Simmons check raised all in. Snead went into the tank, asking if Simmons held a jack. Simmons replied by saying, “If I tell you I don't have a jack, would that help you?” Snead then called the floor over to rule on the statement, which was interpreted by Simmons as an angle shot. The floor ruled in Simmons' favor, but it did not stop him from getting visibly upset by Snead. Snead eventually folded, and half of his stack was shipped over to Simmons.

Snead would inevitably give the rest away as well, when he got into another confrontation with Richardson. Snead raised preflop and was called by both Richardson and Farris in the blinds. The flop came [8s4h3c] and Richardson check raised Snead's flop bet all in. Snead went into the tank for over 10 minutes before deciding to call with [As2h]. Richardson predictably turned over a set of fours and the board bricked out for Snead, sending him home in 30th place.

Snead’s bustout opened the flood gates as more and more players joined him on the rail. For the first time all day, the action picked up and a steady stream of eliminations took players such as Adam “AKat11” Katz and Allen Bari up the leader board. Here are the eliminations:

33. Daniel Woolson
32. Phil Bodey
31. Chris McCormack
30. Paul Snead
29. Jim Petrillo
28. Alex “AJKHoosiers1” Kamberis
27. Jim Silva
26. Eddie Gravalese
25. Eddie Ting
24. Paul Darden
23. Jim Martin
22. Kenny Chanthamala
21. Brock “tsoprano” Parker
20. Eddie Sabat
19. Rich Meli

The players then redrew for the final two tables allowing Erik Seidel to take over. Seidel steadily dominated his table, first doubling up through Simmons with pocket jacks and then busted Matt Brady and John Spadevecchia to take his stack over 1.5 million. Forrest maintained his million-plus stack by taking out Ben Zamani and he and Seidel took turns raising at their table to increase their leads over the rest of the field.

One table over, Mike Santoro was eliminated, causing Andrew Barta to move over for a table balance. Barta quickly became the third player to cross the million dollar mark when his pocket queens held up against Simmons' A-K. Simmons was sent home and Barta took some time stacking his 1.4 million in chips.

It seemed like table 1 was doing all the work, having eliminated five of the six during the final two tables. The trend continued when Seidel's pocket aces held up against Dombrowski's pocket queens. Seidel's stack ballooned to 2.3 million to put even more distance between himself and the field. Of course, Forrest did his best to catch up when his pocket aces took out the K-Q of Randy Spain.

With all of the executioners busy at table 1, Adam Katz was able to chip up at table 2, breaking the $1 million chip mark with relative ease. His biggest hand of the night also ended it, when he took out both defending champion Raj Patel and Steve “Thorladen” Weinstein. Katz raised in the cutoff and Patel moved all in from the small blind. Weinstein shoved behind him in the big blind and Katz made the call with pocket aces. Weinstein showed A-K, Patel turned over K-J and neither player was able to hit any miracle cards to stay alive. Katz collected the pot and takes nearly 2.2 million into the final table.

Here are the eliminations from 18 down:

18. Michael Santoro
17. Matt Brady
16. Ben Zamani
15. John Spadavecchia
14. Joe Simmons
13. Chris Dombrowski
12. Randy Spain
11. Raj Patel
10. Steve “Thorladen” Weinstein

The remaining 9 players will return tomorrow to play down to the six-handed WPT final table. The action starts at noon EDT as the remaining players fight for the nearly $1 million dollar first-place prize. With only 3 eliminations scheduled for tomorrow it should be a short day, but anything can happen when players are battling for not only more money, but a spot on television.

Here are the chip counts heading into day 5:

Seat 1: Erik Seidel - 2,472,000
Seat 2: Frank Cieri - 577,000
Seat 3: Robert Richardson - 719,000
Seat 4: Michael Farris - 312,000
Seat 5: Natale Kuey - 525,000
Seat 6: Ted Forrest - 1,682,000
Seat 7: Andrew Barta - 1,433,000
Seat 8: Adam Katz - 2,190,000
Seat 9: Allen Bari - 530,000

Day 5

Three Players Lost During the Warm Up for the Final Table

Day 5 at the Foxwoods Poker Classic featured just nine players who returned at noon EDT to play down to the final television table of six. Erik Seidel came in as the chip leader, and he was joined in the 2 million chip club by up-and-coming internet professional Adam Katz. Ted Forrest rounded out a strong top three that was looking to chip up during this warm up for the final battle tomorrow, while four stacks sat at under a million and hoped to survive. Here is a look the chip counts when they sat down:

Seat 1: Erik Seidel - 2,472,000
Seat 2: Frank Cieri - 577,000
Seat 3: Robert Richardson - 719,000
Seat 4: Michael Farris - 312,000
Seat 5: Natale Kuey - 525,000
Seat 6: Ted Forrest - 1,682,000
Seat 7: Andrew Barta - 1,433,000
Seat 8: Adam Katz - 2,190,000
Seat 9: Allen Bari - 530,000

The World Poker Tour camera crews hovered over the table from the beginning of play, and it definitely set a more measured, somber tone as just a hint of nerves set in for the players. Katz shed some light on this situation right after one of the WPT cameras turned on a bright light to shoot the action on the first hand. Katz joked, "Well, at least there's no pressure," and a few players shared a nervous laugh. Katz looked over at Allen Bari (who had made it 65,000 to go) and said, "Since the bright light is on me, I'm going to fold."

All eyes turned to the shortest stack on the table, held by Michael Farris, at the start of play. He prolonged his final stand ten hands in, when a runner-runner six-high straight was dealt on the board, and it gave Farris a chop during his first all in of the day. Nine hands later he was not so lucky – he moved all in from middle position for 224,000, and Robert Richardson called him down with pocket sevens. Farris showed [Ks10s], and the board came [9h6h4s9s2c]. Farris was eliminated in ninth place, earning $40,378.

After Farris took his leave action continued and the situation became dire for Allen Bari and Natale Kuey, who were each hovering around 250,000. Bari was the first of these short stacks to fall – when he picked an inopportune time to move all in for his last 357,000 against Andrew Barta, who held pocket kings. Bari flipped up [AcQd] after Barta insta-called, and the board was dealt [Ks4d4hAd2s]. Bari was eliminated in eighth place by Barta's boat, and he took home $48,450.

Kuey escaped a similar fate when he moved all in from the big blind for 144,000 a few hands later. Seidel moved all in over the top, and Frank Cieri folded his hand. Seidel showed down [Kh3d], but he's dominated by Kuey's [Ah3h]. The board came [10s7h6c7c5h], and Kuey won the pot with his ace kicker, doubling up to 386,000. This double up was able to sustain Kuey for a little bit longer and day 5 as well. During the last set of hands before the television table bubble Seidel was able to pick up one of the larger pots of the day (and the tournament) when he won 776,000 with a queen-high spade flush. A few hands after that Kuey was all in again – this time with [AsKh]. He was covered by Forrest, who held pocket sixes. The cards were dealt [Qh10s5h6c10c], to give Forrest a set on the turn, and a full house on the river to clinch the pot and end the day. Kuey was eliminated in seventh place, and he will take $71,061.

The final table will begin at 5 p.m. EDT tomorrow. Here is a look at the seating chart and chips stacks heading into tomorrow's final battle:

Seat 1: Erik Seidel - 3,820,000
Seat 2: Frank Cieri - 403,000
Seat 3: Robert Richardson - 526,000
Seat 4: Ted Forrest - 2,347,000
Seat 5: Andrew Barta - 1,522,000
Seat 6: Adam Katz - 2,311,000

Final Table

Erik Seidel entered this final table as the chipleader, and he wasn't ready to settle for anything less than first place. The final table played 229 hands and lasted more than 11 hours, with a couple of twists and turns along the way as Seidel's stack went through some ups and downs.

But at the end of it all, Erik Seidel was the last man standing.

Erik Seidel wins the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic, earning $992,890 -- the biggest cash of his storied poker career. More importantly, Seidel adds a coveted WPT title to his resume as he becomes the most recent WPT Poker-Made Millionaire.

Included with Seidel's prize is entry into the Season VI WPT World Championship that begins in about nine days (April 19) at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Here are the full results from the final table:

1st:  Erik Seidel - $992,890
2nd:  Robert Richardson - $558,792
3rd:  Andrew Barta - $281,011
4th:  Frank Cieri - $200,261
5th:  Adam Katz - $151,811
6th:  Ted Forrest - $103,360