The 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions: The One We've All Been Waiting For

Poker's "Man in Black" Hoyt Corkins (left) faces off against Mike Matusow in the final showdown.

This is the one we've been waiting for since poker exploded on TV.



Ever since 2003, when the World Poker Tour debuted on the Travel Channel and Chris Moneymaker became the unlikely World Series of Poker champion on ESPN, this is what poker fans wanted to see. And this Christmas Eve, they'll get their wish.



The 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions had everything: big names, big personalities, championship-level poker, a multimilliondollar prize pool, and even a little controversy. Mix it all together with a little gift giving and some trash talk, and you have must-see poker TV.



To qualify for this freeroll, you had to be among the top finishers at one of the stops on the newly formed WSOP Circuit, or reach the final table of the WSOP main event. That group included top players like Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Allen Cunningham, as well as relative newcomers like Corey Bierria, Brad Kondracki, Glyn Banks, and Steve Dannenmann.



But then there was a last-minute controversy. Pepsi signed on as a corporate sponsor, and wanted to include three players who will be featured in their upcoming marketing efforts: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth. Some players were upset by this late change in the rules, including Daniel Negreanu, who took his complaints to the public through his popular poker blog. They claimed it was unfair to those who properly qualified to arbitrarily add three players to share in the equity of the $2 million prize pool. And these three weren't random players – they were the winningest players in World Series history.

Doyle Brunson and Mike Matusow prepare to take their seats at the final 10-handed table.

The First Two Days: Finding Their Way to the Final Table

Regardless of how they got there, the event started with 114 players, and it was one of the toughest small fields you'd ever find. Even the unknown players had proven themselves in a big event to qualify, and there were no easy table draws.



Day one was all about two players – Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow. Hellmuth arrived late, but took command early, rising to the top of the chip counts by the dinner break. He would finish the day in first place with $110,900 in chips. On the other hand, Matusow was on a roller coaster, incurring some big swings during the day, relying on luck early before refocusing himself and playing skillfully late. Matusow finished strong with $107,600, putting him in a close second place behind Hellmuth. Nobody else in the field was within even $40,000 of them as they headed to day two.



Day two was the push for the final table, because only the top nine places would be paid. Hellmuth started the day with the chip lead and never let it go, as he continued to dominate the field. Matusow stayed on his heels, never falling beyond fourth in the standings on his way to finish the day second behind Hellmuth once again.



In addition to Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan received sponsor exemptions into this event, and all three proved their worth with strong showings. Chan started day two in seventh place, but could never get much going, and he busted out in 13th place. Brunson took a critical hit to his chip stack early, but uncharacteristically drew out a few times to stay alive, and reached the final 10-handed table. But he was severely short-stacked, and it was just a few hands before he was eliminated by Brandon Adams' pocket jacks.



After two days of playing in one of the toughest fields ever assembled, here were the surviving nine players and their chip counts:

A Final Table for the Ages
Even with living legend Doyle Brunson busting out in 10th place, this was an exciting final table, featuring a few famous top pros mixed with some seasoned veterans and a few fresh faces. The big draw was Hellmuth versus Matusow – two of the biggest personalities in poker. Not only are they world-class players, but they're both infamous for their self-inflicted meltdowns.



The first four hands never saw a flop, but there was plenty of interaction as Matusow introduced new novelty sunglasses (featuring a holographic middle finger), and a few gifts were exchanged between the players: Dannenmann gave Matusow a small globe, similar to the one he uses as a card protector, and he and Matusow gave Hellmuth a small stuffed donkey. It felt more like a reality TV show than a poker tournament. But it was compelling television, nonetheless.



The opening moments quickly gave way to some actual poker, as the players remembered there was a million dollars at stake for the winner. The talk between players never died down, but after those first few hands, the poker took precedence, as it should.



The first big hands appeared in hand No. 11, when Corkins and Adams quickly reraised each other until they were both all in – with pocket queens for Corkins and pocket aces for Adams. The 7-high flop helped neither player, and Corkins was two cards away from an early elimination. But, the lovely Q fell on the turn to save him. Corkins doubled up to about $230,000 as Matusow reminded everyone that poker is "all skill."



Adams moved in again in hand No. 20, this time with the Q J, and he was called by Matusow with pocket eights (8 8). The flop came A A 4, but the 3 on the turn gave Adams a diamond-flush draw and several outs. But it wasn't to be for him; he was out in ninth place when the 7 fell on the river.



The next hand (hand No. 21), Sexton moved all in with pocket tens (10 10) after a flop of 9 6 2, but Corkins dominated him with pocket queens (Q Q). When the 10 fell on the turn, Sexton hit a set to take a big lead in the hand. This would be the second time in the first hour of play that someone hit a set on the turn to survive against an overpair … but not so fast. The river card was the Q.



Corkins proved to be the luckier of the two, pulling the rare reverse-drawout by hitting a higher set on the river, and Sexton was eliminated in eighth place. Pocket queens had been very, very good to Corkins in the early action, and Matusow jokingly asked him how much he paid to attend the "Phil Hellmuth Fantasy Camp." Corkins had taken the chip lead, knocking Hellmuth off the perch he had held since the middle of day one.



David Levi played his first hand of the day in hand No. 25, but it would be his last. He moved his short stack all in with A-Q, but ran into Matusow's pocket aces, and he was gone in seventh place.



The action was slow for a while as the players battled over small pots, with Matusow continuing to talk between hands with lines like, "When I go home at night, I think to myself, 'God, I wish I was Phil Hellmuth.'"



Grant Lang had been playing tight up to this point, and chose to take advantage of his table image – at the wrong time. He moved all in after Bloom checked a flop of K J 10 in hand No. 44, but Bloom quickly called with pocket aces (A A). Lang was caught bluffing with the 9 5, and he was out in sixth place.



Dannenmann moved in preflop in hand No. 79 with the A 10, but he didn't have enough chips to scare Matusow away with the K Q. A queen on the flop ended Dannenmann's day in fifth place, but he finished with a smile.



Bloom took his shot by going all in with the K 8 on hand No. 88, but Hellmuth called with the A Q. Both players flopped a pair, but Hellmuth's queens outranked Bloom's eights, and top European player Bloom was sent back to the Old World in fourth place.

Mike Matusow

The Final Three: Saving the Best for Last

Amazingly, the final three players (Hellmuth, Matusow, Corkins) were the top three chip leaders from day one; so much for the "Curse of the Day-One Chip Leader."



Matusow continued to taunt Hellmuth, but Hellmuth preferred to let his cards do the talking. In hand No. 91, those two limped in from the blinds to see a flop of the Q 10 9, and Hellmuth called a $12,000 bet. They both checked the K on the turn, and with the J on the river, there was a king-high straight on the board with no flush possibilities. Any ace would represent the nuts, while anything else would be playing the board. Matusow bet $25,000, but Hellmuth raised to $100,000. Matusow's pride got the best of him, as he called another $75,000, hoping for a chop. Hellmuth showed the A 6, and won it all with Broadway. Hellmuth was back in the chip lead.



Matusow got some revenge in hand No. 111, when Hellmuth raised to $40,000 from the button and Matusow moved all in for $285,000. Hellmuth studied Matusow for several minutes, and asked, "Is this the point where you have your infamous Matusow blowup?" Matusow shrugged, and after another long pause, Hellmuth folded. Matusow proudly showed the 8 3, and Hellmuth said he folded A-Q. If Hellmuth really had A-Q, it's clear that he didn't want to find himself in a race situation against a small pocket pair for the title. Hellmuth was willing to wait for a better situation, and Matusow was ready to take advantage of Hellmuth's tight play.



The final three players battled for 70 hands over three and a half hours, and this will probably represent a good portion of ESPN's broadcast, as the lead changed hands several times. At one point, Matusow told Corkins, "You should have been broke three times, and he [Hellmuth] shouldn't have even been here!" Matusow was clearly implying that he should have already won this tournament. Hellmuth later said, "You know I finished second in this event last year.



There's only one way to improve." To that, Matusow responded, "If you keep getting invited to tournaments, it's easy to finish second."



Hellmuth found himself short-stacked in hand No. 158, and he moved all in from the small blind. Corkins eventually called with the K 5, a slight favorite over Hellmuth's 10 8. The board of 7 7 4 4 6 improved neither player, and Hellmuth was eliminated in third place, receiving a quarter of a million dollars to compensate him for the verbal abuse he got from Matusow. In his exit interview, Hellmuth said this was some of the best poker he's ever played in a tournament; he was pleased with his play, but not the results. "Who cares about third place? I play to win. Nobody remembers third place."



Now it was down to Hoyt "Cowboy" Corkins and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow for the title, and Matusow had a 2.6-to-1 chip lead. There wasn't much chip movement until hand No. 186, when Corkins moved all in with the A 10, and Matusow quickly called with the A 8. Five cards later, Corkins was the new chip leader.



But the battle continued, and Matusow picked up nice pots in hands Nos. 203 and 205 to regain the chip lead. In hand No. 209, Matusow bet $60,000 on a flop of K J 4, Corkins moved all in, and Matusow immediately called with the K 9 (a pair of kings). Corkins showed the Q 10 for an open-end straight draw. The last two cards were 2 3, and Corkins was out in second place.



Matusow had redeemed himself with a major victory. The million dollar prize matches what he earned for his ninth-place finish in the WSOP main event, but this million was perhaps a thousand times sweeter. Matusow said he played some of the best poker of his life against one of the toughest tables he's ever faced. He added that this victory puts him in the elite group that includes names like Ivey, Negreanu – and even Hellmuth. Matusow gave Hellmuth credit for being one of the best no-limit hold'em players, and said he had to do everything possible to get Hellmuth off his A-game.



ESPN will be airing this event on Christmas Eve, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. EST. Set your VCRs and TiVos now, because this is a poker event that you won't want to miss.



Final results were as follows:

Mike Matusow shows off the million dollar first prize and the trophy. The money is nice, but the trophy and the title it represents clearly mean more to Matusow.