World Poker Tour World Championship (Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV) - April 24th, 2005

Jon Eaton

April 26th, 2005

The final stop of the third season of the World Poker Tour was set at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The event was the WPT World Championship, held at the end of the Five-Star World Poker Classic. Annually the largest buy-in event on the tour at a whopping $25,000, the World Championship event attracted 472 players that competed for seven days for the $2.8 million first prize. A total of 100 players were paid.

Coming into the final few days, the tournament had been led most of the way by such players as LA Poker Classic champ Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Scotty Nguyen, and WSOP World Champion Greg Raymer. After six days of competition, only six players remained to fight for the silver platter the winner receives. The seating for the final table was as follows (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1: Paul Maxfield (2,885,000)
Seat 2: Hasan Habib (7,795,000)
Seat 3: Phil Ivey (3,365,000)
Seat 4: Tuan Le (2,680,000)
Seat 5: John Phan (1,405,000)
Seat 6: Rob Hallink (4,430,000)

The final table was obviously one of the toughest tables assembled for a TV audience. The aggressive Phan, in his first WPT final table, was the shortest stack and consequently couldn’t hold his aggressive image as well. Ivey was in a similar situation, especially with the chip leader on his immediate right. Le as well was not able to run the table over as he normally would.

Habib, the chip leader, had played a calm and cool game the whole tournament. He had collected a lot of chips in a large pot he was in with Mizrachi the day before, when his queens held up over Mizrachi’s pocket sixes. Maxfield was a relative unknown to the American audience, although he is a top-level pro from England. He goes by Bamboo100 on PokerStars.com.

Not much was known about Hollink, who was in second chip position. Hollink held his own throughout the tough field, and managed to be sitting with the aggressive players, Phan and Le, to his right—a big advantage even though they had few chips to play with.

The blinds started at 40,000-80,000 with a 10,000 ante. Early on the major action was contested by Ivey. On hand eight, he came in for 230,000. Phan came over the top for the last of his chips. Ivey called with the Ah-Qh, Phan showed K-J offsuit. A king on the flop and a jack on the turn did it for Phan, making top two pairs and doubling up in the process.

Just a few hands later, Ivey would challenge Habib’s chip position. Habib came in for 260,000 on the button. Ivey made it another 750,000 to go, and after deliberation, Habib surrendered.

For the next few hours, not many flops were taken. It was bet and fold poker. Generally a raise pre-flop won the pot, and when that didn’t, a bet on the flop would be enough. Few showdowns were seen.

Finally, we saw some action on hand 50. Le came in for 375,000 (60,000-120,000 blinds and a 15,000 ante), and Hollink, who had been frustrated and hadn’t won many pots, came over the top for all of his chips. Le called all-in and showed Ac-Kd, which was ahead of Hollink’s Qd-Ts. The ace on the turn did it for Le as he doubled up and crippled Hollink in the process.

Hollink would put another dent in Ivey’s armor as he moved all-in on hand 53. Ivey re-raised all-in and everyone folded. Hollink turned over a pair of queens and Ivey showed A-J. The ladies held up and Hollink doubled up.

Ivey would go bust making the all-in move again with A-J, this time over the top of Habib’s 400,000 bet. Habib called with none other than pocket queens yet again. The ladies held yet again, and Phil Ivey’s first WPT title bid came to an end yet again. He still collected a nice $264,195 for sixth place.

On the very next hand, Hollink would ride Ivey’s wave out the door with his K-J offsuit, which ran into Phan’s pocket jacks. The flop came Qh-9h-5d, giving Hollink a gut-shot draw and an overcard. The three and ace that came off the deck didn’t help, and Hollink was eliminated in fifth place. For his efforts he was rewarded $377,420.

The players went on break as the blinds increased to 100,000-200,000 with a 20,000 ante. The chip counts were as follows:

Habib – 11.26 million
Phan – 4.95 million
Maxfield – 3.28 million
Le – 3.06 million

On hand 67, Phan came in for 800,000, and Maxfield went all-in for 2.41 million. Phan called the raise with K-Q offsuit, and Maxfield showed A-K offsuit. The flop was Qc-Tc-6d, turning the tables rather quickly. The ten on the turn left Maxfield drawing to an ace or jack for his tournament life… and the jack kept him alive, doubling through Phan with the nut straight.

Down to under two million, Phan pushed all-in from the small blind on hand 75. Maxfield made a fairly tough call with A-5 offsuit, but he was ahead of Phan’s bluff with 8-3 offsuit. The flop brought Phan no help and gave Maxfield the dominant two pairs. No runner-runner draw came, and Phan took fourth place and $518,920.

As slow as the action started, three players had been suddenly eliminated in the span of under sixty minutes. Three handed, the chip counts were as follows:

Habib – 11 million
Le – 7 million
Maxfield – 4.5 million

With nearly half of the chips in play, Habib clearly held the advantage. Last year, Habib led a tournament very much like this one, but was second in chips most of the day. His day ended just one shy of the title, taking second to Martin de Knijff. He was obviously hoping to improve on that finish this time around, and was the favorite at this point.

Three handed, Le and Habib dominated most of the action, with Maxfield biding his time apparently. The battle lasted for nearly two hours without anyone exiting.

Finally, the fall of Habib’s mountain of chips started. After taking a large pot and a big chip lead off of Le, Habib doubled Le up on hand 133. Habib put the last 1.96 million Le had all-in with the Q-6 offsuit, and Le made an easy call with pocket tens. No help appeared and Habib shipped off almost two million in chips.

Next, Maxfield would double through Habib’s stack. Maxfield limped from the small blind (200,000-400,000 blinds with a 40,000 ante), and Habib made it 1.4 million. Maxfield then re-raised all-in, with Habib calling quickly. Maxfield showed K-T offsuit, and Habib held the A-J offsuit. When no help was appearing for Maxfield, his prayers were answered with the king on the river.

Now Habib was down to just 9.73 million, and Maxfield held a little over eight million. Le had somewhat quietly stayed in the hunt with almost four million, though he remained fairly active for a stack so short.

Habib would sink even lower on hand 141, raising to an even one million on the button. Le re-raised all-in for 4.88 million total, and Habib called with pocket sevens. Le was relieved to see the sevens, tabling the As-8s. The flop was Ks-Ts-3d, giving Le even more outs. He nailed the flush on the turn, and doubled up to become the new chip leader.

Habib would complete the freefall just two hands later. He limped in from the small blind, and Le made it another half-million to go. Habib put the rest of his money in the middle, and Le called with the K-J offsuit. Habib rolled over the Qc-8c, so he wasn’t in terrible shape.

However, with no queen, eight, and only one club on board, Habib had no hand and no draw throughout. He was eliminated as Le’s king-high held up, taking third place honors and $896,375. His two-year run in the event has given him a total of $2,268,598.

Heads-up poker started with the blinds still at 200,000-400,000. Le held 14.9 million to Maxfield’s 7.7 million.

Le dominated the first handful of pots. He raised numerous times and was given walks in a few spots. It looked like Le would steamroll him until Le made a few missteps, paying off Maxfield in some spots where he was playing a little slow.

With the blinds at 300,000-600,000 and a 75,000 ante, Maxfield finally got some ammunition. Getting short-stacked, Maxfield went all-in with the K-8 offsuit, and Le called with A-4 suited. The board bricked all the way down, and Le was all set to win the title, until a king peeled off to keep Maxfield alive, and nearly evening the chip counts out.

Le picked up some pots with aggressive all-in plays, and took a slight chip lead. On hand 178, both players saw the Kc-Qc-Qx for the minimum. Le checked, Maxfield fired out 2 million, and Le made it 5 million. Maxfield moved all-in, and Le called the bet with 5c-8c. Maxfield had top pair with K-3 offsuit. No club came, and Maxfield held the chip lead with almost 18 million.

For the next few rounds, it was all-in or fold, with Le collecting most of the pots. He built back up to over six million in chips quickly. On hand 187, Le came in for two million, and Maxfield called. The flop was 6-5-3 with two diamonds, and Maxfield checked. Le fired in his last four million plus, and Maxfield beat him in with 6-5 for top two pair. Le held 8-9 offsuit for a gut-shot draw.

A deuce fell on the turn to give Le more outs to live. Finally, he caught his miracle card as the seven fell, giving him the nut straight. Le now had over 12 million to Maxfield’s ten million.

Quickly losing a few million, Maxfield pushed all-in with K-5 on hand 190. Le called with K-J suited, and the flop came J-T-3, giving Le a big lead. A queen fell on the turn, meaning any ace or nine would chop the pot. The river was yet again the seven from heaven for Le, giving him the title with top pair.

Maxfield fought ferociously and was one card away from victory when Le caught his miracle draw, but still collected $1,698,390 for his second place finish. Le takes the WPT World Championship title and the biggest WPT cash ever, $2,856,150.

Daniel Negreanu, the other season three two-time champion, took Player Of The Year honors for the WPT. He was also on hand to see Le take over the all-time money-leader on the WPT, a title Negreanu held until this tournament.

Le won the WPT Foxwood World Poker Finals late last year. His total cashes in the WPT have reached an amazing $4,417,738. Today he battled on a short-stack throughout and managed to catch some key cards to stay alive. Although he was lucky (as all winners, even World Champions must be), he played a great game of poker and managed to win the second-largest sum of money ever paid in a poker event.

Final Results:

1st – Tuan Le (Los Angeles, CA) - $2,856,150 and the $25,500 entry into the 2006 WPT World Championship
2nd – Paul Maxfield (Stroke on Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom) - $1,698,390
3rd – Hasan Habib (Downey, CA) - $896,375
4th – John Phan (Long Beach, CA) - $518,920
5th – Rob Hollink (Groningen, Netherlands) - $377,420
6th – Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) - $264,195