Day 1A

A Small Field Arrives on the First Day of Play

The story during Day 1A of the WPT World Championship at Bellagio had more to do with who was not here than who was, as the cards got into the air shortly after noon in the Fontana Lounge. A small field of 210 players registered for Day 1A when things were all said and done, and although a much larger number is expected tomorrow, it does not appear that the size of the field produced at last year's WPT World Championship (639) will be matched in 2008.

What this field lacked in quantity, it more than made up for with quality players. There were too many to list here, but a lot of them were seated at two stacked tables when play began:

Table 55:

Seat 1: Jonathan Little
Seat 2: Jonathan Westra
Seat 3: Brandon Cantu
Seat 6: Michael Gracz
Seat 8: Andy Black
Seat 9: Joe Sebok
Seat 10: Scott Clements

Table 62:

Seat 1: Tony "Bagels" Cavezza
Seat 2: Hoyt Corkins
Seat 3: Mike Sexton
Seat 4: Wei Kei Chang
Seat 6: Phil Hellmuth (arrived late)
Seat 7: Adam "Roothlus" Levy
Seat 8: Lee Markholt
Seat 9: Bruno Fitoussi
Seat 10: Barry Greenstein

The pro-heavy field, long levels (90 minutes), and deep starting stacks (50,000) ensured that there was a lot more play not only pre-flop, but subsequently on every street. The usual all-in move that most players lean on was replaced with smaller bets and raises that were made with the intention of extracting information from opponents to store for larger battles. As a result only a small portion of the field was sent home on day 1A, and an even smaller portion of that group was professional players. When eliminations did come down, they were usually the result of a cooler. As evidenced by some of the earliest knockouts:

On a board of [AsQh4h7c] Roy Winston bet 2,350 in late position and Daniel Alaei went into the tank in the big blind, before firing out 5,000. Winston called and the [3h] fell on the river. Alaei bet 6,250 and Winston raised all in, putting Alaei to a decision for his tournament life. Alaei went into the tank with about 5 and a half minutes left in the first level and remained there as the rest of the field went on break. He finally made the call and Winston turned up [AcQc]. Alaei mucked and he was eliminated from the tournament early. Winston was pretty sure that Alaei held A-K when spoke with the tournament coverage team on the break. This pot shot Winston up to 100,000 and he took the early chip lead.

Steve Billirakis jumped up above Winston when he won a huge pot a few minutes later against Guy Laliberte worth 125,000. Billirakis was all in and held a full house to Laliberte's straight, which left Laliberte crippled with just 8,500 (which he lost a few hands later to be eliminated).

Scott Clements experienced a similar fate when he was busted by Brandon Cantu just before the third break. Cantu flopped a straight on a flop of 6-5-4, holding 8-7 to Clements' 5-3 and the two players got all of their chips into the middle after the turn brought a jack. The river was an inconsequential rag and Clements was eliminated from the tournament.

Joining the three professionals mentioned above on the proverbial rail were Lyle Berman, David Williams, Eric Froehlich, Ted Lawson, Hasan Habib, and Jonathan Little. A tough field still remained at the end of the day (141 players total), and they will join the remaining players from Day 1B the day after tomorrow.

Here is the schedule for the rest of the tournament:

Day 1B: Five, 90-minute levels (Sunday, April 20).
Day 2: Five, 90-minute levels (Monday, April 21).
Day 3: Five, 90-minute levels (Tuesday, April 22).
Day 4: Play down to 27 players. (Wednesday, April 23).
Day 5: Play down to six players. (Thursday, April 24).
Friday, April 23: Off Day (Production day for WPT Ladies Championship Final Table).
Final Table: Play down to a champion (Saturday, April 25) Begins at 5 p.m. PDT.

Here are the top ten chip counts from the end of play:

  1. Billy Baxter - 167,150
  2. Darrell Dicken - 163,675
  3. Steve Billirakis - 156,800
  4. Scott Epstein - 147,800
  5. Brandon Cantu - 145,125
  6. John Hillman - 124,550
  7. Abe Mosseri - 123,400
  8. John Celii - 121,075
  9. Dario Minieri - 118,650
  10. Jim Bechtel - 115,000

Day 1B

After Day 1A's bleak turnout of 210, it seemed as though this year's WPT World Championship was destined for failure. But a Sunday's field of 335 rebounded in a strong way to not only salvage what could have been deemed a disappointment, but create a prize pool large enough to guarantee that at least two players will walk away poker made millionaires.

After registration had closed, a total field size of 535 players meant that $13,216,250 would be awarded to the 100 players skilled, or lucky enough to make the money. First place will walk away with $3,389,140 and second place will have to settle for a consolation prize of $1,714,800.

With such a large starting stack and a long, drawn out blind structure, the tournament itself took a back seat to prop bets and other malarkey surrounding the Fontana Lounge.

Tom “durrrr” Dwan, played well throughout the day, taking out Beth Shak and Justin Bonomo to take an early chip lead. Dwan accomplished all of this while wearing what can only be described as a Chiquita banana hat. Dwan had a prop bet in the works with friend Alan “The Usher” Sass, that he could arrive on time for a tournament. Of course, Dwan slept in and will now be forced to play the entirety of the tournament with the awkwardly flamboyant hat. Sass was able to avoid his side of the bet, which was to play the tournament wearing only one shoe.

Will “The Thrill” Failla was involved in another prop bet, this one concerning the heavyweights of the poker world. Failla and others such as Victor Ramdin, Tom Dobrilovic, Steve Diano and Grant Lang will be shedding the pounds for cash and charity as they hit the gym between now and the Bellagio Cup IV in July. Part of the cash collected will go to charity, and there will be monetary penalties for each pound that they gain after the weigh in.

While the action on the felt labored along, two other notables took some time out to watch themselves on television. A couple of the plasma screens here in the Fontana Lounge were tuned in to some of the NBC Heads-Up coverage, and an early match between Michael Mizrachi and Daniel Negreanu caught the attention of none other than...Michael Mizrachi and Daniel Negreanu.

The most talked about hand of the day involved an all-in confrontation between Jordan Morgan and Joe Hachem. Morgan raised to 700 and was called by three players including Hachem on the button. The flop came A-7-4 and everyone checked. The turn brought a 6, and Morgan bet out 2,000. It was folded to Hachem who raised to 7,000 and Morgan quickly reraised to 12,000. Hachem put in yet another reraise to 22,000 and Morgan moved all in for an additional 27,000. Hachem's stack was sitting at roughly 27,000 as well, and he agonized over his decision for quite some time before asking, “You got 8-5 kid?” Eventually, he folded 5-3 face up, much to the surprise of the table and the crowd that had formed behind him. Morgan tabled pocket aces and many of the professionals who witnessed it were claiming that Hachem may have made one of the worst folds they had seen in quite some time.

The day took on a much slower pace than Day 1A, and the list of busted professionals was not nearly as long as it was yesterday. Those who did succumb to the stacked field included Phil Laak, Allen Cunningham, Lee Watkinson, Andy Bloch, Gavin Griffin, Barry Shulman, and WPT champions Brett Faustman and Mike Vela.

The tournament will resume tomorrow at noon P.S.T. when the two fields will combine and play five more levels. The elimination rate should increase with the blinds, but it will still be quite some time before the entire field can play inside the Fontana Lounge at once.

Day 2

Robert Mizrachi Rises to the Top of an Impressive Field on Day 2

With all due respect to the $50,000 World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. Championship, Day 2 of the 2008 WPT World Championship featured the most impressive field, pound-for-pound, that an open buy-in no-limit hold'em poker tournament has ever seen. Professional players were stacked six deep at every table in the room, and at times professional players accounted for over two-thirds of the field. There wasn't a lot of dead money in the room from start to finish, and anyone who survived the day from the original 421 had to feel happy to weather the treacherous waters.

Action was still split into two rooms to accommodate the massive amount of players and two of the poker worlds most infamous settings were the setting for the affair. The Fontana Lounge with Bellagio's famous fountains erupting just outside the door, and the Bellagio poker room, with Bobby's Room in the background hovered over a day of solid poker featuring the best players in the world. In the end 200 survived, and they will return at noon PDT tomorrow to play another five levels of deep stack poker.

A large percentage of pros in the field also meant that a large percentage of pros were among the players to hit the rail on Day 2. The first of these was Ted Forrest, and he was soon joined by Florian Langman, who he tangled in an early pot with Paul Wasicka (who also hit the rail late in the day):

Wasicka raised to 2,400 under the gun and Marcel Luske made the call on the button. Florian Langmann also made the call in the big blind and the flop came [Kc10s5c]. Langmann checked and Wasicka bet 4,600. Luske mucked and Langmann check-raised to 15,000. Wasicka moved all in and Langmann thought it over for about a minute, before he pushed his last 25,000 into the middle. Wasicka showed pocket aces and Langmann turned up [Qc9c] for a straight and flush draw. The turn and river fell [2s3s] and Langmann missed his outs to hit the rail.

Other notable players to hit the rail were: Nenad Medic, Allen Kessler, Layne Flack, Haralabos Voulgaris, Shannon Shorr, Erick Lindgren, Michael Binger, Freddy Deeb, former Card Player Player of the Year winners, David “The Dragon” Pham and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, former WPT champions, Tuan Le and Alan Goehring, former WSOP main event champions, Joe Hachem and Jerry Yang, Sam Farha, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, Erica Scheonberg, and none other than the Poker Brat and former WSOP main event champion, Phil Hellmuth.

A hilarious moment developed later in the day when one of the few unknown players in the field took a seat at Table 12 and found himself facing a pretty tough lineup. Victor Ramdin, seated next to him, made the introductions, and named everyone at the table along with some of their poker accomplishments.

Seat 1 - Joe Awada
Seat 2 - Victor Ramdin
Seat 3 - New Guy
Seat 4 - Isabelle Mercier
Seat 5 - Chau Giang
Seat 6 - Kristy Gazes
Seat 7 - Bruno Fitoussi
Seat 8 - Nick Schulman
Seat 9 - Unknown player
Seat 10 - Grant Lang

The player looked at the table in a shocked state of awe, and then quickly realized the bad beat he was dealt on the redraw.

The later part of the day also saw a number of players set themselves up for deep runs in the tournament by amassing huge stacks by the twilight level of play. Cory Carroll (346,000) accomplished this by doubling up through Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, and Andrew Robl (267,000) jumped into the top ten by doubling up through Dario Minieri. Even with these large stacks in their possession, the two players mentioned above where chasing a chip leader that had them both covered, Robert Mizrachi (383,000), who rode consistent play, with a little good timing for good measure all the way to the top.

At the end of play the leader board read like a who's who of the poker world, and most notably hovering near the top is Carlos Mortensen (320,000). Mortensen won over $3.9 million when he took home the WPT Championship title last year, and a repeat victory this year would rank among the most impressive feats in poker history. We will see how Mortensen and the rest of the field fair tomorrow at noon PDT. Until then, every former champion in the history of the WPT will be awarded a bracelet tonight in the “O” Theater at Bellagio.

Day 3

It was payday down at the Bellagio, as 100 players would find out. The remaining 188 players descended upon the Fontana Lounge, able to fit nine-handed for the first time all tournament. The close proximity of the tables may have been uncomfortable for some, but as many found out, there would be room soon enough.

The big story of the day was tournament director Jack McClelland and his rule “show one, show both.” The rule to prevent against needling has been a hot topic in the poker world, and none have been more vocal in protest than Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu stood with McClelland at the top of the stage as a vote was announced to determine the rule’s future. The end result was an overwhelming vote to discontinue the rule, and just like that, McClelland changed his policy. There were a few that were upset by the rule change, including Kenny Tran, who didn’t understand why the masses would be against such a rule. After a brief applause, the tournament resumed.

Despite the large stacks in play, and despite the slow moving blind structure, players busted out at a rate seldom seen in this level of competition. By the end of the day’s third level, we were already down to the money bubble.

There were numerous short stacks in play, so the bubble was expected to burst relatively quickly. But nobody expected it to burst so quickly, as Jordan Rich took a bad beat, much to the delight of 100 other players. Rich got it all in with pocket aces against the pocket eights of Amir Vahedi, but an eight on the flop sent Rich home empty handed.

Once a payday was secured, the players wasted no time getting their chips in the middle. In the span of just two levels, over 40 players were sent home with $39,570, the most notable of which was Negreanu.

After a flop of [10h9d4h] Brian Rast bet 65,000 from the big blind. Negreanu moved all in for 189,000. Then Dino French moved all in for 195,000 and Saifuddin Ahmad moved all in behind him for 290,000. Rast had everyone covered, and called with [8h7d] for an open-ended straight draw. Negreanu had pocket jacks, French showed a set of tens, and Ahmad had top two pair. The turn was the [Qc], giving Negreanu his own straight draw and the river was the [Jh] giving him a set too little, too late.

Other notable eliminations included Joe Cassidy, Quinn Do, Anna Wroblewski, Padraig Parkinson, Burt Boutin, Eugene Todd, Kristy Gazes, and Mark Seif.

Cory Carroll made a surge up the leader board late in the day when he took out two players with pocket queens. Mikael Thuritz and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond were both holding A-K and a queen on the flop put Carroll well over 1 million mark.

Out of nowhere, just a few hands before the day concluded, Gus Hansen surged up the leader board when he made a monster call against Tim Phan with A-K on a A-4-3 flop. Phan showed A-Q and the turn and river came 8-J. Phan ended the day crippled, and Hansen took in the over 2.4 million pot.

The remaining 55 players will return tomorrow at noon to play down to the final 27.

Day 4

A Strong Field Whittles Down to 17 Quickly (Until the End) at Bellagio

On the fourth day of the 2008 WPT World Championship, 55 players remained, and the plan was to play five levels, or down to the final 18. The five levels were not needed as a steady pace of play busted many of the best players in the game. There was no weak table to hide at and action was accordingly aggressive. Despite a two-and-a-half hour hiccup on the end-of-day money bubble, everything went according to plan.

On the first hand of the day, Zvi Shiff got things moving quickly when he busted in 55th place, and the players redrew for seats at the final six tables. Mats Rahmn was the next name to fall in 53rd place, when his A-Q ran into the pocket kings of Mark Newhouse. The rundown to the next redraw at 45 saw the exits of Tom Schneider (50th), Tim Phan (49th), Joe Sebok (48th), and J.C. Tran (46th) in succession. Jayde Tran (45th) was the first player to leave the final four tables, and she was joined a few hands later by the last female remaining in the field, Isabelle Mercier, who fell in 41st place.

Men “The Master” Nguyen caused the biggest ruckus of the day when he had all of his chips committed on a flop of [10s6h3h] with [Qh10h] in the hole. Tom McCormick held [Ah2h] and the turn brought the [Ac] and McCormick took the lead with a pair of aces. The river card was the [Qc], which caused Nguyen to yell, "Queen, baby!" And he followed that up with this golden nugget, "Suck and re-suck, baby!"

Former WPT World Champion (Season II), Martin de Knijff, then went on a fantastic voyage to the rail when David Tran doubled up through him, which left him crippled with 10,000, he did manage to triple up on the very next hand, but the short stack ultimately led to his elimination in 39th place. Another former WPT World Champion (actually the defending champion) Carlos Mortensen, was the next player to fall in 38th place. His elimination came at the hands of Jeff “Happy” Shulman when The Matador’s pocket jacks ran into Happy’s pocket aces. Two off the younger players in the field tangled next when Noah Schwartz got all of his chips into the middle with K-Q against Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s pocket sevens. The pocket pair held and Schwartz was out in 37th place.

The field then went on a break and it felt like things might slow down after the players returned. But, the tournament continued to power through to the final two tables. Two young guns tangled again when Mat Giannetti moved all in on a board of [10h9s4c3c]. Newhouse made the call and flipped up [10c9c]. Giannetti winced before flipping up [AcQc]. The river brought the [8s], and Newhouse won the pot to build his stack up over a million. Giannetti hit the rail in 35th place, and he was followed by another lineup of top flight professionals, who were sent to the rail next, as John Hoang (33rd), Tom McCormick (32nd), Steve Wong (31st), and Danny Wong (30th). With the elimination of Wong, Jonathan Little clinched WPT Player of the Year honors for Season VI.

Men The Master ended his deep tournament run in 26th place. Nguyen was followed to the rail by the youngest bracelet winner in World Series of Poker history Steve Billirakis, who took his leave in 23rd place. On his final hand, Billirakis moved all of his chips into the middle with A-9, against David Tran’s pocket tens. No help came on the board for Billirakis, and he was sent to the rail. David Grey followed Billirakis out of contention, although it took a cooler to eliminate him in 22nd place. Grey was strong preflop with aces against the pocket nines of Dwan, but a third 9 hit on the flop and Grey’s hopes for survival were crushed.

Up to this point, the day rattled off 35 eliminations like clock work. The final player to leave the field was the most stubborn player of the day. The only slowdown of the day took place at the final-two-table bubble. During this “bubble” play, Amir Vahedi won a huge pot off of Robert Mizrachi, while Gus Hansen doubled up Jeff King. These two opposing forces brought Vahedi and Hansen just about even for the chip lead at 3.3 million.

This long final stretch came to an end with a flurry of action, which had been proceeded by small stacks doubling up numerous times. The final player to double up on day 5 was Michael Gracz. On a board of [8s7c6s5h9s], Gracz had moved all in and Hansen made the call. Gracz turned up [Jh10s], and he won the pot to survive. At roughly the same time, both Newhouse, and Scott Epstein got all of their chips into the middle. Newhouse needed an ace, but it never came, while Epstein ran into a pair of aces that sent him to the rail. In the end Newhouse was eliminated in 19th place, and Epstein finished in 18th place to produce a double bubble.

The final 17 players will return at noon PDT tomorrow, and they will play down to the final WPT television table of six. Here is a look at the final chip counts, and seating chart for tomorrow:

TABLE 53

1. Kenny Tran - 1,442,000
2. Amir Vahedi - 3,907,000
3. Bryan Devonshire - 984,000
4. Jeff King - 1,903,000
5. Tommy Le - 1,950,000
6. Cory Carroll - 1,346,000
7. John Roveto - 556,000
8. Jeff Shulman - 473,000
9.

TABLE 54

1. Karga Holt - 1,500,000
2. David Chiu - 1,742,000
3. Tom "Durrrr" Dwan - 2,874,000
4. Andrew Black - 411,000
5. Gus Hansen - 2,929,000
6. David Tran - 2,543,000
7. Nick Binger - 701,000
8. Robert Mizrachi - 1,079,000
9. Michael Gracz - 1,674,000

Day 5

Final Table Set

The 17 remaining players came into the final two tables of the WPT World Championship with one goal in mind, the TV final table. First place walks away with $3,389,140, but everyone still contention was guaranteed to take home at least $105,525, not too bad of a payday.

The action started on the very first hand of play when Jeff Shulman tried to take advantage of Amir Vahedi being absent in the big blind. Shulman moved all in from the button, but was looked up by Kenny Tran in the small blind. Shulman showed A-6, but he was behind to Tran’s A-7. The board paired Tran and Shulman was sent home in 17th place.

Andy Black was the next to hit the rail, this time by a bad beat at the hands of Robert Mizrachi. Black was all in with [AdAh] against Mizrachi’s [Jc9c], but the board came [10s10h6h7h8d] to send Black to the rail in a particularly brutal fashion.

The players then traded chips back and forth for over a level before the action picked back up again. During the lull, Tom Dwan put on his new flamingo hat and got into a few intense hands with Vahedi before a lunch from Noodles restaurant quieted the fire.

After the players got back from break, Gus Hansen took over, first taking out Nick Binger when he rivered a flush, and then taking out David Tran with pocket aces. His stack had ballooned to over 5 million, but there was still more to come.

Mizrachi then left the Fontana Lounge after his A-8 failed to catch up with Michael Gracz and his pocket jacks. Then David Chiu joined the 5 million club when his pocket queens held to beat Bryan Devonshire’s A-Q.

With 11 players remaining, the final table bubble could have gone on for a long while, but a cooler hand between Gracz and Hansen came down to send Gracz back to North Carolina and send Hansen into the final table with even more ammo. Gracz raised from middle position to 180,000 and Hansen called from the big blind. The flop came down [8c3d2c] and Hansen checked. Gracz bet 400,000, Hansen put him all in and Gracz immediately called showing [2d2s] for bottom set. Hansen turned over [Ac5c] for a gutshot straight draw and the nut flush draw. The turn and river came [Ah10c] and Gracz was eliminated by Hansen’s flush on the river.

Heading into the final table of ten, the chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: John Roveto - 850,000
Seat 2: Karga Holt - 1,725,000
Seat 3: Amir Vahedi - 3,120,000
Seat 4: Gus Hansen - 7,680,000
Seat 5: David Chiu - 5,130,000
Seat 6: Tommy Le - 1,795,000
Seat 7: Cory Carroll - 2,855,000
Seat 8: Kenny Tran - 1,335,000
Seat 9: Tom Dwan - 1,875,000
Seat 10: Jeff King - 855,000

After about an hour of jockeying for position, Kenny Tran found himself all in with [Jc8c] against the pocket sevens of Dwan. The sevens held and Tran was eliminated. Despite the disappointment of missing the TV final table, the Tran family had a very successful tournament, as Kenny’s wife Jayde also finished in the money.

Dwan’s good fortune wouldn’t last, however, as a bad beat sent him home just 15 minutes later. Dwan got it all in with pocket kings against Carroll’s A-J, and an ace on the turn sealed his fate. Sadly, for the rest of us, there will not be a crazy hat at Saturday’s final table taping.

Holt was the next to go in a classic race situation. Holt was all in with pocket jacks against the A-K of Hansen. Hansen continued to run well in coin flips, as an ace of the flop gave him the pot and sent Holt packing in eighth place.

After doubling up Tommy Le, Vahedi was forced to work with a short stack. Eventually, he got it all in with against Hansen. Unfortunately, Hansen held a better pair and Vahedi was the unfortunate bubble boy.

The final six players will take tomorrow off and return on Saturday for the TV final table taping. Here are the chip counts for the final six players.

Seat 1: John Roveto - 2,720,000
Seat 2: Gus Hansen - 8,570,000
Seat 3: David Chiu - 6,050,000
Seat 4: Tommy Le - 1,950,000
Seat 5: Cory Carroll - 6,670,000
Seat 6: Jeff King - 1,305,000

Final Table

WPT World Championship, Final Table Recap

In a twist, the big story at the final table of the WPT World Championship wasn't the winner -- it was the runner-up. Regardless of the final result, this evening belonged to the Great Dane, Gus Hansen.

First, the formalities. David Chiu, who Mike Sexton described as a "Pro's pro," won the last hand to lay claim to the title of Season VI WPT World Champion and the first prize of $3.38 million. It's a major milestone for Chiu, an accomplished player (four WSOP bracelets) with the respect of the top pros (Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, and Gavin Smith were all sweating him from the rail). This was Chiu's first WPT final table since the first season of the World Poker Tour, when he finished third in the WPT Celebrity Invitational. This victory should put David Chiu's name back in the minds of poker fans as one of the top pros.

Gus Hansen Steamrolls the First Four Players

At the start of play, all eyes were on fan favorite Gus Hansen. He was starting with the chip lead, going for his record fourth WPT title, and a victory would also give him the top spot on the WPT all-time money list. For those of us in the media, a Hansen victory would practically write itself.

In an un-Gus-like development, Hansen showed an unusual amount of patience, waiting a full four hands before entering his first pot of the night. But then he was back to his trademark loose style of playing any two cards, playing 16 out of the next 19 hands. In that span, he would eliminate four of his five opponents.

Jeff King was all in with [AcQc] against Hansen's [10s9s] in Hand #12, but a ten on the river would end King's tournament in sixth place. In Hand #15, Nhan "Tommy Legend" Le flopped a set of fives, only to find Hansen flopped a set of tens - Le was out in fifth place.

The Hand of the Season

Hand #16 was the most dramatic, pivotal hand of the night, between the two big stacks at the table. Hansen raised from the cutoff to 480,000, respected online pro Cory Carroll reraised from the big blind to 1.65 million, and Hansen called. The flop came [QcJd6d], Carroll checked, and Hansen thought for about two minutes before moving all in. It was a bold move, challenging the only other player at the table that could seriously harm him.

With so much at stake and a check on the flop from Carroll, you might expect him to either quickly call or quickly fold. (Checking after a preflop reraise usually indicates the extremes -- weakness or great strength.) But Carroll studied the situation for several long minutes before coming to a decision -- and then stopped to think for a few more minutes. He had to be sure; the biggest tournament of his life was at stake in this hand.

Carroll eventually called with [AdJs] - second pair. Hansen showed [7d5d] for a diamond flush draw. Carroll made the right call, as he was a 2-to-1 favorite.

But Lady Luck can be a cruel mistress, and the right calls don't always bring the right results. The lowly [3d] fell on the river to fill Hansen's flush, and moments after making the call of his life, Carroll was eliminated in fourth place.

Gus Hansen Continues to Win With the Worst of It

Hansen had a dominating chip lead, with nearly three times as many chips as his two opponents combined.

It took only six more hands before John "Kicker" Roveto moved all in with [KhKs]. Hansen, no doubt feeling invulnerable at this point, quickly called with [Ac10c]. The flop was a good one for Hansen, falling [Jh9d8s] to give him a straight draw. Nobody was surprised when the [7s] fell on the river to crack Roveto's kings with a jack-high straight - the audience actually laughed through their applause, enjoying the "Gus Hansen Show" as Roveto finished in third place.

Where's David Chiu?

You might be wondering why I haven't mentioned David Chiu, who supposedly won this event. That's because Chiu entered this final table with a plan to avoid Gus Hansen, and so far, it was working perfectly. Well, perhaps not perfectly - these were the official chip counts with the blinds at 80,000-160,000 (15,000 ante):

Gus Hansen  -  22,905,000
David Chiu  -  4,360,000

Chiu expected Hansen to challenge anyone and everyone, so Chiu stayed out of his way. Remember when I wrote that Hansen played 16 out of 19 hands? Well, Chiu played only two hands before reaching heads-up play, and both times he raised from the button after Hansen folded in the cutoff. Chiu's first goal was to get heads-up with Hansen, and he had made it. Both players were already guaranteed at least $1.7 million, but both of them had their sights set on a victory.

The Unexpected Heads-Up Marathon

Everyone but David Chiu expected the heads-up match to end quickly. The final table had lasted just 75 minutes and 22 hands, and it seemed like a certainty that it would break WPT records for shortest final table. During the money presentation before heads-up play, one audience member said, "Those women should just present the money directly to Gus."

But Chiu is a patient player who had about 27 big blinds, and he was in no hurry. Hansen did his best to end it quickly, moving all in twice in the first five hands, but Chiu waited him out. Hansen did increase his lead to 6.6-to-1, but in Hand #33, Hansen moved all in with [2c2h], and Chiu called with [5c5h]. Contrary to the recent trend, the best hand held up, and Chiu doubled his stack, cutting Hansen's chip lead down to a more manageable 2.6-to-1.

Hansen was winning a lot of small pots, but Chiu was taking down a few larger pots, slowly chipping away at Hansen's lead. For the next 43 hands, Hansen's lead was around 2-to-1 or 2.5-to-1.

In Hand #76, they played their biggest pot yet. Hansen raised from the button, and Chiu reraised. The flop came [Js6s3s], Chiu bet, and Hansen called. The turn paired the board with the [6c], Chiu moved all in, and Hansen quickly folded. Chiu now had about 12 million in chips to Hansen's 15 million, their closest margin of the night.

Two hands later, Hansen made a mistake that could ironically be blamed on patience. Both players checked to the river on a board of [5h5d4dAs9c], and that's when Hansen bluffed at it with a small bet. Chiu called with 9-7, rivering a pair to win the pot, and taking the chip lead for the first time in the tournament. If Hansen had only bluffed at the ace on the turn, Chiu would almost certainly have folded his nine-high.

But the damage was done. Chiu had the chip lead, and Hansen, who seemed unbeatable earlier in the evening, was exposed as a mere mortal.

The Final Hand

Two hands after losing the chip lead (Hand #80), Hansen raised preflop and Chiu called. The flop was [Ac10c8s], and Chiu check-called a bet from Hansen. The turn was the [5s], Chiu bet, and Hansen moved all in with [10s8h] for two pair. Chiu had a strong hand with [As9s] (pair of aces, flush draw), but he still took two minutes to carefully assess the situation before calling.

(Later, Chiu said he wanted to count down his stack to see what he would be left with if he lost that hand -- 4.175 million, more or less where he started the heads-up match. Could he come back from that? He felt that he could, so he called.)

Hansen actually had the best of it this time; his two pair were a 64-to-36 favorite. With one card to come, Chiu needed an ace, a nine, a five, or any spade to win the tournament; anything else, and Hansen would be back on top with a huge chip lead.

The river card was the [Ah].

Chiu rivered trip aces to create the most unlikely finish anyone could have imagined a few hours earlier. Gus Hansen dominated play throughout the final table, and when he dropped his guard for a moment, Chiu took the chip lead, and two hands later, the tournament.

Like Pavlov's dog, the crowd cheered the suckout on the river before the true meaning sunk in -- the tournament was over. Gus Hansen had lost. The crowd stood in a stunned silence, as if waiting for another hand to be dealt. If the audience was dazed, Hansen was in actual shock with a blank look on his face. He wandered over to congratulate David Chiu, but his body was going through the end-of-tournament motions while his mind was still asking, "What just happened?"

Wrapping Up Season VI

In the final victory toast, Mike Sexton introduced runner-up Gus Hansen, who said, "You're kind of catching me at a bad time. I just lost a big hand." The crowd laughed, but Hansen was still coming to terms with that reality. Sexton added, "Now you know how those other guys felt." Hansen certainly won't receive any sympathy from Cory Carroll.

For his part, Chiu couldn't stop smiling, basking in a moment that he'll never forget. Chiu called this "the toughest tournament I ever played," from start to finish, and praised tournament director Jack McClelland, his Bellagio staff, and his tournament structure as the best in the world.

Here were the final table payouts:

1st  -  David Chiu  -  $3,389,140
2nd  -  Gus Hansen  -  $1,714,800
3rd  -  John Roveto  -  $923,355
4th  -  Cory Carroll  -  $593,645
5th  -  Tommy Le  -  $395,725
6th  -  Jeff King  -  $263,815

Combined with his second-place finish at the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown at the start of this season, Cory Carroll crosses the $1 million mark in career WPT earnings, becoming the 89th WPT Poker-Made Millionaire; David Chiu becomes the 90th.

The WPT Season VI Player of the Year is Jonathan Little, who finished with four cashes (totaling more than $1.89 million), two final tables, one TV bubble (7th place), and one victory. Little led the Player of the Year race all season long, winning the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown to start the season.

We'd also like to acknowledge long-time poker ambassadors Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, who have been with the World Poker Tour for all six seasons. They're both retiring from the WPT before Season VII, but look for them at the poker tables.

The World Poker Tour airs Monday nights at 9 pm ET/8 pm CT on the GSN network. This episode (WPT World Championship) will be broadcast on Monday, August 25th, but new episodes will be airing weekly (every Monday night) until then.

Season VII starts with the Bellagio Cup IV here in Las Vegas on July 11th. We hope to see you there, and if you can't make it in person, be sure to follow the action with our live updates here at WorldPokerTour.com.