Day 1A

With all of the tournaments currently running around the world, day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s annual World Poker Open attracted 117 players. Facing competition from the Aussie Millions, Borgata preliminaries and even the World Series of Poker circuit event across the street, the Gold Strike decided to split its starting day in two to give all the players who may be traveling time to make the trip to Tunica, Mississippi.

Despite the low turnout, the rail was packed from start to finish with locals trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite pros and perhaps an autograph or two. While players like David “The Dragon” Pham, Dutch Boyd, Freddy Deeb, David “The Devilfish” Ulliot, Humberto Brenes, Jamie Gold, Nam Le, and J.C. Tran got their fair share of attention, the majority of the crowd clamored to watch Daniel Negreanu try to make his annual visit to the final table.

Negreanu has historically done very well in Tunica. In 2005, he finished third in this event when it was held at the Horseshoe. He followed that up in 2006 with a win in the WSOP circuit event at the Grand Casino. Last year, he took second in this event here at the Gold Strike. As a result of his success, he was definitely the fan-favorite - not only with the spectators but with many of the local players as well.

Negreanu took a few hits early on, but later he more than doubled up in a three-way all-in pot, where his A-K out-flopped Q-10 and pocket fours. Things just didn’t go his way after that though, and with about 45 minutes left in the day’s action, he was eliminated.

He wasn’t the only big name to hit the rail, however, as Mark Seif, Ted Lawson, Gavin Griffin, Gold, Tran, and Devilfish all failed to survive.

Questionable play could be found everywhere and time after time moves out of the ordinary left many players scratching their heads. Early on in level one, Pham raised to 300 on the cutoff and Wei Kai Chang called on the button. The big blind looked over and then decided to move all in for over 20,000. Pham and Chang looked at each other and started laughing as they mucked their hands. The big blind then explained that he didn’t want them to catch two pair on his pocket aces.

In the end 64 players hung on and they will join tomorrow’s remaining field on Tuesday to play down to the money. Day 1B is projected to attract a larger field than today, putting the total field size close to 300.

Day 1B

Day 1B of the 2007 WPT World Poker Open saw an influx of professional players who had either busted out of the World Series of Poker circuit event next door, or flown into the United States after the conclusion of the Aussie Millions. One hundred and forty-two players were registered for play when the day began, but not all were accounted for when play got underway.

Two players who did not spend too much time in the tournament were Andy Black (who was the first big-name professional eliminated) and the 2007 WSOP main event champion, Jerry Yang. These two players busted out early, while some players had still yet to make an appearance on the tournament floor. Among the stragglers were Danny Wong, Darrell Dicken, and Phil Ivey. All three of them also made quick exits. Not one of these reknown players was in their tournament seat for even one level of play.

The early stages of the day were unkind to these professionals mentioned above, but many of them pushed forward. An interesting situation developed early in the day when Gavin Smith, T.J. Cloutier, John Racener, Todd Brunson, and David Williams all found themselves seated together at table 66. In one of the thinnest fields on the WPT tour, these five pros had managed to find themselves a very tough table. They put the brakes on during the time they were seated together, which wasn’t very long, because their table was the first to break as contenders were shown to the rail.

It seemed like many professionals were physically on the move during day 1B of the tournament, engaging in the poker world’s version of musical chairs. Brunson and Williams were moved from table 66 to Barry Greenstein’s table. Then Greenstein was moved away from these two, to a table with Erick Lindgren and Vanessa Rousso. Gavin Smith was also later moved to this table and…you get the picture. Another peculiarity that took place during this melee of moving was the pairing of two brothers, Michael and Robert Mizrachi, a couple of levels into play. The situation came to a quick end, however, when older brother Robert was eliminated a short while later.

Up-and-coming internet player, Eric “VegasKing” Stiglets, easily made the best hand of the day, and most likely the tournament, when he hit a royal flush during level four. He held [Ad10d] in the hole and made the huge hand on the river. He unfortunately received no action when he bet this monster hand though.

One player who did receive action on a monster hand was Mike Postle. In a hand late in the day Postle found himself heads-up with aces against an all-in opponent on a board of 7-3-x. With all of his money in the pot, his opponent in seat 7 turned over 7-3 for two pair. An ace on the turn gave Postle top set and the lead, while a 3 on the river gave both players a full house. Postle of course had the better end of it and raked in the pot. Postle, who made a habit during the day of eliminating opponents, grabbed an overwhelming chip lead with 125,000 after the hand. This was at a time where his next closest competitor (Erick Lindgren) held 62,800. Postle was later joined at the top and surpassed by Chad Brown, who became the second player in the tournament to break the 100,000 mark. Brown rode a late surge to the top of the leader board, and he remained on top when play ended for the night.

Another highlight of the day came when the prize pool was announced by tournament director Johnny Grooms. The total number of entrants drawn by the 2007 WPO stands at 259, which brings the first-place prize to $892,413. As play winded down a handful of other familiar faces busted out of the tournament, they included: Chau Giang, Lee Markholt, Todd Brunson, Robert Mizrachi, and Josh Arieh. Many top players survived day 1B as well, and many of them were near the top of the leader board at the end of play. Here is a look at the top ten chip counts coming out of day 1B:

Chad Brown – 112,325
Brett Faustman – 107,700
Michael Postle – 84,600
Jae Chang – 78,275
Micah Raskin – 71,325
Lyle Vincent – 70,100
John Racener – 64,600
Gabe Costner – 64,075
Sean Burstein – 62,525
Jim Rumpitz – 62,100

The two remaining fields will combine for the first time tomorrow at noon, and the 143 players will shrink to a final 27 tomorrow. Check out all the action in live updates, chip counts, tournament photos and videos on WorldPokerTour.com.

Day 2

It was payday in Tunica, as the remaining 143 players combined to play down to the money. Faced with the task of reaching the final 27, players and tournament staff alike braced themselves for a much longer than usual day.

Some players found themselves out of contention quickly, sparing themselves from a brutally long day, but they also deprived themselves of at least $12,060. Hitting the rail, and possibly scoring an early flight home were Steve Billirakis, Humberto Brenes, David Williams, Allen Kessler, Vanessa Rousso, Alex Jacob, David Pham and Nam Le.

Coming into the day’s action with just over 37,000, John “The Razor” Phan quickly became the center of attention as he loudly played pot after pot, and drank beer after beer. While on his second beer of the day, Phan got a laugh from the table when Rousso moved all in on his big blind.

He asked Rousso, "Vanessa, do you want some chips?" When Rousso responded that she did, Phan offered her some of his Fritos. Then Phan started chatting up the dealer saying, "I can get drunk at my job. I really should fire myself. Of course, I think I play better with alcohol." Just as the word "alcohol" left his mouth it created some confusion as Rousso heard the words "I call." Luckily, she didn’t expose her hand and Phan mucked without much more thought.

Phan, or “The Razor”, soon began playing every pot, and his chip stack reflected his wild and brash decisions. Phan’s stack would rise dramatically, peaking near the chip lead, and then be near the felt just minutes later.

Usually the aggressor, he would agonize over each decision he made, usually while ordering another Corona, much to the dismay of his opponents. At one point, he ordered a few bottles of Dom Perignon for Kathy Liebert and himself, and proceeded to chug a glass before calling an all in.

Despite his obvious inebriation, Phan routinely got opponents to gift him their stacks, as they often shoved on his bets with little to no outs. Phan ended the day with 169,000 and will quite possibly start tomorrow with a hangover.

Liebert was not quite so lucky, as she finished just outside of the money. Unfortunately for Liebert, Barry Greenstein’s in the money finish means that she will be $20,000 lighter, as the two booked a last longer bet on day 1. Her elimination did bring about a round of applause, however, from the roughly 50 or so onlookers who enjoyed watching her play.

As the bubble approached and players slowly dropped out of contention, a group of professionals managed to get a hold of a lot chips in a relatively short time span. It started with Dutch Boyd breaking the 400,000 mark. Boyd held set over set against another big stack and managed to avoid the one-outer to pick up the massive stack.

Both Men “The Master” Nguyen and Hoyt Corkins bullied their way to the top of the leader board with big preflop raises and some timely flops. Greenstein and Erick Lindgren, both played a lot of small-ball poker throughout the day to chip up and keep themselves out of danger.

Freddy Deeb rode a short stack all day long, but he was still able to take out both Chad Brown and another player when his pocket queens outlasted pocket eights and A-K. Deeb worked well with his newfound chips, building his stack up by taking most of the small denomination chips at his table.

Just before 2 a.m. local time, WeiKai Chang burst the bubble when he moved all in preflop with 9-6 and was called by a dominating K-9. The board brought two pair for his opponent and Chang was the official bubble boy.

The remaining 27 players are now all in the money and will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. to battle down to the final six who will make up the TV final table.

Here are the top 10 chip counts.

1.  Erick Lindgren – 498,000
2.  Dutch Boyd – 440,000
3.  Gabe Costner – 402,000
4.  Freddy Deeb – 324,000
5.  Men Nguyen – 323,000
6.  Barry Greenstein – 280,000
7.  William McMahon – 265,000
8.  Michael Baas – 247,000
9.  John Spadavecchia – 223,000
10.  Jimmy Tran – 204,000

Day 3

Freddy Deeb, Hoyt Corkins, and Men "The Master" Nguyen Storm the Final Table Tomorrow in Tunica

The field was still stacked with big-name pros at the start of Day 3 at the 2007 World Poker Open: Freddy Deeb, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, T.J. Cloutier, Hoyt Corkins, and John “The Razor” Phan still remained in the tournament and a crowd of local fans had come to support their favorites. This popular stop on the World Poker Tour had also attracted several local news outlets and Mike Sexton quickly became a favorite target for television interviews. Amongst the exciting atmosphere play began and the early afternoon saw a flurry of quick eliminations:

27: Brandon Steven
26: David Tran
25: Jonathan Tare

Erick Lindgren had started the day with the chip lead, but all of that changed on a flop of [Qh4h3d]; Lindgren bet 55,000 from the big blind, and Men Nguyen raised to 135,000 on the cutoff. Boyd got out of the way in the small blind and Lindgren went into the tank. He eventually moved all in and Nguyen made the call. Lindgren flipped over [Ah10h] and Nguyen turned up pocket queens. The turn and river brought the [10s] and [Js], which gave Nguyen the pot. Nguyen erupted from the table and celebrated profusely, screaming, "Yes!" After a minute of this Lindgren said to Nguyen, "Act like you've been there before." To which, Freddy Deeb followed with, "We're not on TV yet." Lindgren had taken a huge hit and he now held only 80,000. He got that amount all in soon after against none other than Nguyen. In this second encounter Lindgren held A-7 to Nguyen’s A-9, and when the board hit the table [Ks9c3hAh10c], Lindgren’s day was over, he had been eliminated in 24th place.

Brian Taylor followed Lindgren in 23rd place and then John “The Razor” Phan became the next big name to fall when his A-K lost to the pocket kings of Brian Faustman. Phan held only 4,000 after the hand and he folded three hands after that, which shrank his stack to 1,000. He moved that final chip all in against John Spadavecchia. Spadavecchia prevailed with a jack-high flush and Phan was sent home in 22nd place. Phan was promptly followed to the rail by another familiar face when T.J. Cloutier was eliminated in 21st place. Cloutier got his final 36,000 in with some hope, in the form of K-Q, but Faustman one upped him with an ace-high that held. Two more players needed to fall before the final two tables were reached, and they were:

20: Gary Gibbs
19: Gary Flur

The tournament was now down to the final two tables, and Men the Master had been busy during the first part of the day. He emerged as the chip leader, riding the momentum from his victory over Lindgren, and now held 987,000. Once the players took their new seats at the final two tables, Barry Greenstein joined the handful of professionals who continued to have a rough day 3. It was pro vs. pro when Greenstein and Deeb got involved in a pot that had Greenstein’s tournament life on the line. Greenstein showed down pocket queens, but he winced when Deeb showed pocket kings. The board came [10s9c5hJc2c] and Deeb took the pot to increase his stack to about 765,000. Deeb shaked Greenstein's hand and said, "I finally got your book. I couldn't afford to buy it." And on cue, Greenstein began signing over a copy of, "Ace on the River," to Deeb as a bounty for busting him out in 18th place. Two more players quickly followed the Bear to the rail after this hand, they were:

17: Neal Hensarling
16: James Rumptz

It looked like Dutch Boyd might have been the next to fall in 15th place, but he managed to double up with A-K against A-Q and survive. So, that fate befell another professional when Jimmy Tran was knocked out of the tournament by Hoyt Corkins. Corkins made a pair of nines on the river against Tran’s ace-high. Tran made his exit in the 15th place and then the next four eliminations came in a rush to get down to the final table:

14: Greg Boe
13: Ken Christopher
12: Johnny Price
11: William McMahon

There was a break in the action and the players took their seats together at the final table. Here is how things looked at the start of play:

Seat 1: Freddy Deeb – 560,000
Seat 2: Brett Faustman – 885,000
Seat 3: Sean Burstein – 429,000
Seat 4: Men "The Master" Nguyen – 1,200,000
Seat 5: Gabe Costner – 530,000
Seat 6: Hoyt Corkins – 737,000
Seat 7: Dutch Boyd – 232,000
Seat 8: Jose Rosenkrantz – 142,000
Seat 9: Michael Baas – 370,000
Seat 10: John Spadavecchia – 265,000

Eleven hands in to this final countdown, Jose Rosenkrantz moved all in under the gun for 108,000, and Faustman moved all in over the top from middle position. Everyone else folded, and the two showed down their cards. Rosenkrantz held [Jd2d], but he was dominated by Faustman's pocket kings. The board came [Qh10c5h6d10h] and Faustman's kings held. Rosenkrantz was eliminated in 10th place, earning $24,119.

Four hands later, Sean Burstein raised under the gun to 50,000, and Deeb reraised from the small blind to 150,000. Burstein made the call and the flop came [Ac7d4s], Deeb bet 50,000, Burstein moved all in, and Deeb called instantly with pocket aces for top set. Burstein held pocket sixes, and the turn card paired the board with the [4d], clinching the hand for Deeb with a full house. The meaningless river card was the [Qc], and Burstein was eliminated in ninth place, earning $28,943.

After Burstein busted, Boyd was put in a perilous position: he raised under the gun to 40,000, and Faustman called from the cutoff. The flop came [Jh3s2s], Boyd bet 48,000, and Faustman made the call. The turn card was the [9s], Boyd bet 90,000, and Faustman went into the tank for about three minutes before he raised to 200,000. Boyd then went in to the tank for quite some time. He thought for about two or three minutes before he made the call, leaving himself just 59,000 behind. The river card was the [3h], Boyd checked, and Faustman thought for a while before he put Boyd all in. Boyd went into the tank again, this time for about four minutes, before he mucked.

Boyd held only 59,000 at this point, and sure enough he got all of those chips into the middle of the table soon after the laydown. On Boyd’s final hand, Nguyen raised from late position to 46,000, Boyd moved all in from the small blind for 34,000, and Baas moved all in over the top from the big blind for about 190,000. Nguyen mucked and Boyd showed down pocket aces, which dominated Baas's [AsQs]. But, the board ran out [KsJs10d8h3c], and Baas won the pot with a Broadway straight. Boyd was eliminated in eighth place, earning $48,239.

One more player stood in the way of the other six making the final table, but before the final elimination came down, the most entertaining hand of the tournament took place: Nguyen raised under the gun to 46,000, and Faustman called from the big blind before he immediately checked in the dark. The flop came [Jc10s3d], and Nguyen commented about how weird it was for Faustman to check in the dark. Nguyen then checked behind him. The turn card was the [2s], Faustman checked, and Nguyen asked if Faustman was trying to trap him like he trapped Dutch. Nguyen said, "I'm not Dutch," and checked. The river card was the [Qd], and this is where it gets interesting...

Faustman bet 200,000, Nguyen raised to 500,000, and Faustman moved all in. Nguyen relaxed and thought for about two minutes, while saying things like, "What do you have, king-nine?" Nguyen finally called, and Faustman flipped over [AdKs] for the nuts, an ace-high straight. Faustman's friends started celebrating, assuming that Nguyen was eliminated, and the WPT final table was set. But…Nguyen wasn't finished. He said, "You don't think I've got a hand that can beat that hand?" Nguyen turned over [AhKh], he also had the nuts! The pot was chopped up and the day continued.

After all the excitement of this hand died down it took another 20 minutes of card play to reach the final table. On the final hand Deeb raised from early position to 60,000, Nguyen called from the cutoff, and Baas also called from the big blind. The flop came [8s5s2h], and Baas moved all in for 334,000. Deeb counted out his chips, and he had about 650,000. He made the call, and Nguyen got out of the way. Deeb showed [10s9s] for a spade flush draw, and Baas showed down [9d8h] for a pair of eights. The turn and river came [Js9c], which gave Deeb the pot. Baas was eliminated in seventh place, earning $72,358.

With the elimination of Baas, day 3 came to a close, and action is scheduled to start at the final table at 4 p.m. CT tomorrow. Here is a look at the final table seating chart and chip counts:

Seat 1: Freddy Deeb – 1,345,000
Seat 2: Brett Faustman –1,282,000
Seat 3: Men "The Master" Nguyen – 729,000
Seat 4: Gabe Costner – 1,181,000
Seat 5: Hoyt Corkins – 395,000
Seat 6: John Spadavecchia – 256,000

Check back in at WorldPokerTour.com to catch all the action from the final table hand-for-hand as the final six play down to a champion.

Final Table

Faced with the task of taking on two former World Poker Tour champions and the World Poker Open best all-around player, Brett Faustman definitely had a lot on his plate. But the former collegiate wrestler had no problem navigating a tough final table filled with some of the poker world’s most interesting personalities. When the smoke cleared, and the chatter subsided, Faustman was the last man standing, having pinned his competition in not-so-record time.

Coming into the final table, the player’s chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1:  Freddy Deeb - 1,345,000
Seat 2:  Brett Faustman - 1,282,000
Seat 3.  Men "The Master" Nguyen - 729,000
Seat 4.  Gabe Costner - 1,181,000
Seat 5.  Hoyt Corkins - 395,000
Seat 6.  John Spadavecchia - 256,000

It didn’t take long to lose the first player. Spadavecchia came in with an extremely short stack and just five hands in; he got into a coin flip with fellow short stack Corkins. Corkins raised to 54,000 and Spadavecchia reraised his last 206,000 all in. It was folded back around to Corkins, who eventually decided to make the call, showing [QdJd]. Spadavecchia turned over pocket sixes, but the board came [Kh9c5hQc5s], giving Corkins a winning pair of queens. For his effort, the one-time World Series of Poker circuit event winner took home $96,477.

It took some time, but eventually the verbal sparring between Nguyen and Deeb took center stage in one of the biggest hands of the tournament on hand 16. Deeb raised under the gun to 60,000 and Nguyen called from the button. The flop came [10c9h5h] and Deeb bet 150,000. Nguyen announced, “All you can eat, baby!” for the second time in a row and shoved his last 641,000 into the pot. Deeb thought for about a minute before making the call, showing [Ah7h]. Nguyen turned over [QhQs] and his overpair held up to double him into the chip lead.

Deeb took a few more hits but doubled through Costner to give himself some more breathing room. Costner’s final hand came when he raised to 100,000 from the cutoff and Corkins came over the top for 200,000 more. Costner then moved all in for an additional 390,000. Corkins called, showing [AcJh], and Costner turned over [5d5s]. The board ran out [As8h6c6h7c] to eliminate Costner in fifth place and earn Corkins his second elimination of the day. Costner was awarded $123,008 for his finish.

Now four-handed, each player took turns as the chip leader. Corkins had just taken a decent lead when a confrontation developed between him and Faustman. Faustman  blinded himself down under a million in chips when he got it all in with [Ad4c] against Corkins’ [AhKc]. The board ran out [3d2c2h5c6d] and Faustman took the chip lead with a suckout.

Corkins was left as the short stack, but with the blinds escalating he made a series of all-in shoves hold up to put himself back into contention. Deeb then took a few hits at the hands of Nguyen to cripple his stack. His final hand came when he moved all with [8d7d] and was instantly called by Faustman’s [AhKh]. The board came [6h6s4d6c9c] and Deeb headed out the door as the fourth-place finisher, taking home $168,835.

The remaining three players took turns trading blinds back and forth until the next elimination hand came up.With their stacks close to even, Nguyen and Corkins got it all in preflop. Nguyen turned over [Kd10d], but Corkins held the [JsJc] for the lead. He had to sweat a board of [9s8h3s7s], but the [Qc] on the river took him into the heads-up match all square with the former dealer.

Here’s how the stacks looked going into heads-up play:

Brett Faustman – 2,715,000
Hoyt Corkins – 2,470,000

For 43 hands, the two players traded chips back and forth. Corkins took down most of the smaller pots, but Faustman had a stronghold on the big ones to maintain his lead. After a big hand where Corkins lost half of his stack without ever getting to show his cards, Faustman held a 2-1 chip lead.

The final hand came down when Corkins limped in on the button for 80,000. Faustman reraised to 250,000 and Corkins thought for nearly two minutes before calling. The flop came [9h9c3c] and Faustman bet 280,000. Corkins pushed all in and Faustman stood up before quietly announcing a call. Corkins showed pocket deuces and was way behind to Faustman’s pocket queens. The turn and river were no help and Faustman - an amateur from Michigan - took down the title, $892,413, a gold and diamond bracelet, and an entry into the WPT World Championship in April.

Corkins, who described finishing in second like “a kick in the gut,” earned $458,267 for his fourth WPT final table. Corkins has now finished third, second twice and first in his appearances.

Here are the final results:

1. Brett Faustman - $892,413
2. Hoyt Corkins - $458,267
3. Men Nguyen - $241,193
4. Freddy Deeb - $168,835
5. Gabe Costner - $123,008
6. John Spadavecchia - $96,477

Our next tournament stop will be the Borgata Poker Open at in Atlantic City. Stay tuned for all your live updates, photos and videos from the tournament floor.