In 2003, at the end of season one on the World Poker Tour, many observers were skeptical that enough players would enter a $25,000 no-limit hold'em event, which would become the tour's championship event. Fortunately, Jack McClelland was not one of them. McClelland, the tournament director at the beautiful Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, anticipated the way in which poker was expanding, and set up a tournament that would produce a champion of champions. That first WPT Championship, won by Alan Goehring, attracted 111 players. This year's event attracted a field in excess of 600 players, creating a prize pool approaching $15 million. The 2006 champion would turn out to be 26-year-old Joe Bartholdi from Las Vegas, Nevada.
The event was designed specifically as a test of skill rather than endurance, as players started with $50,000 chip stacks and play was restricted to five hour-and-a-half levels each day. The event organisation and facilities were simply first-class. The tournament was held in the hotel's Fontana Lounge, which overlooks the man-made lake in front of the magnificent building; the lake features regular amazing fountain displays that were largely ignored by those inside chasing poker immortality. For those who don't know, Bellagio is a vast emporium of entertainment, restaurants, and shops, in addition to being one of the finest hotels in the world.
Most of the world's top poker stars were taking part in the event. With so many players to accommodate, the initial stages were played over two days, and there was a strong contingent of Europeans present. Tony Bloom and Ram Vaswani were prominent on day one, but neither player would manage to go deep in the event. Among the Europeans to exit on day one were Gus Hansen and honorary Europhile Brian Wilson. Early exits from flight two included Dave Ulliott, beaten in huge pot by Johnny Chan, and Barny Boatman, who was unlucky to run into set over set. Day three saw Patrick Antonius end the day as the chip leader, and he would remain an influential figure in the tournament into the penultimate day, and this was also the day in which Londoner Roland de Wolfe, soon to be a millionaire, emerged amongst the chip leaders. Prominent Europeans at the end of day three were Antonius, Johan Storakers, and Norwegian Espen Saltnes. Among those I approached to comment on their exits was Andy Black,. "I f---ed it up" were his philosophical words as he failed to bluff Canadian beauty Evelyn Ng. Alexander Stevic, who got up to $85,000 on day one, failed to make it to the end of his second day. Chris Bjorin, the London-based Swede who won $174,000 and an entry into the event by winning the seniors event on the day preceding the championship, made it to day three, but exited there. Recent European Poker Classic winner John Kabbaj "never really got going," and went out at the end of day two.
Day four began with 204 players, with 100 eventually making the money. Of those 100, 18 were Europeans. The ever consistent Kirill Gerasimov, second in the inaugural final of this event, was out in 88th position ($43,995), ahead of satellite qualifier Thomas Wahlroos from Finland (99th) and Swiss player Oliver Humbel (96th). Juha Helppi finished in 78th position, his tournament ended by Freddy Deeb. Johan Storakers was 61st, with fellow Swede Ingemar Backman 70th. Ingemar earlier had the distinction of eliminating Barry Greenstein, who in time-honoured fashion rewarded Ingemar with a signed copy of his latest book! London stockbroker Gavin Simms was doing exceptionally well until two bad beats ended his tournament in 59th place, one ahead of Irishman Donnacha O'Dea. One great story to emerge was that of Nadeem Ahmed from Swindon. Nadeem was playing in his first live tournament after winning entry from an online $8 satellite. Having played for less than a year, he was overjoyed to sit alongside the likes of Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, and Kathy Liebert. His reward for his 28th-place finish was $87,785. Scandinavians Rehne Pedersen and Michael Thuritz won the same amount for their 27th- and 26th-place finishes, respectively. Ross Boatman battled superbly to finish in 20th place (worth just over $102,000). Ross "never had any cards" and was never really up with the chip leaders, but edged himself along well, and was delighted with his performance and was philosophical when his tournament ended just before the conclusion of day five.
Day six started with 19 players, and would continue until they had reached the final six, who would make up the televised final table. Surinder Sunar, whose tournament fortunes echoed those of Ross, started the day short-stacked and was the first to depart. His consolation for finishing 19th was $117,165. Play continued on two tables until 10 players remained. The 10 included three Europeans: Espen Saltnes, Roland de Wolfe, and Dane Claus Nielson.
One player who had looked set to make it there was the previously mentioned Patrick Antonius. Patrick's aggressive style helped him to end days three and four as the chip leader, but two major losses saw his chip lead tumble and the tournament mood change. With 22 players remaining (blinds at $10,000-$20,000), Antonius made a standard raise that James Van Alstyne called. The flop came 10 high with two hearts. James check-raised Patrick to $600,000. Patrick moved all in and James called. Patrick had pocket queens, and Van Alstyne showed the K
10. The turn paired the king, with the river a blank. Van Alstyne doubled up to $2.8 million in chips. An additional blow to the Finn came when he went all-in again against Vanessa Rousso with the A
K. Vanessa called with tens, which held up. This left Patrik with just $235,000, after having close to $5 million not long before. Despite a brief recovery, his tournament ended soon thereafter in 17th position ($117,165) when he lost another monster pot with pocket aces, to Vanessa again, whose top pair of tens on the flop became trips.
The three aforementioned Europeans all looked confident. Copenhagen-born Claus works for Martin de Knijff at MartinsPoker. His main duty is to manage the players on Martin's team. It was somewhat ironic that the 10 representatives of the team were upstaged by the popular Dane, who has lived in the U.S. for the last 15 years. Espen hails from Bergen, Norway. He cashed in the main event at last year's World Series of Poker, and he travelled to the U.S. specifically for this event. Roland de Wolfe was a previous WPT champion this season, having won the Rendezvous de Paris in July of last year. With eight players remaining, Roland made a call that would define his tournament. Canadian David Matthew made an under-the-gun raise of $225,000 (the blinds were $80,000-$160,000 with a $5,000 ante), and Espen reraised to $800,000. Roland went into thought mode. With only a million in chips himself, he was the short stack at the table. As he deliberated, the clock was called on him with his face wrought with concentration.
Men "The Master" Nguyen broke the hush by asking Roland, "You on the Internet, man?"
Roland smartly replied, "I might be in 10 minutes," as the gallery smiled.
Roland, facing a count from Tournament Director Jack McClelland, announced, "I'm all-in".
Matthew passed, showing pocket eights faceup. Espen, who had Roland covered, turned over two black sevens. Roland pumped up, clapped his hands, and displayed pocket jacks. Three kings hit the board, but no 7, and Roland doubled up, much to the delight of his followers on the rail. Espen departed soon thereafter, his eighth-place finish worth $234,330.
The unlucky player to depart in the fateful seventh position was Miami-based Vanessa Rousso. She had shown signs of tension and had folded to reraises after making some hefty bets. Soon after showing a winning bluff with 7-5 offsuit on a jack-high board, she reraised James Van Alstyne to go all in. After deliberating, James called, showing A-J. Vanessa looked in command with A-K, but to gasps from the gallery, a jack fell on the turn and the final six who would compete for the first prize of more than $3.7 million was decided.
The final was held in the hotel's wonderful Tower Ballroom. Before the players entered, Linda Johnson, the master of ceremonies, wound up the capacity audience of some 800 or so.
The blinds reverted to $60,000-$120,000, with a $15,000 ante. The chip positions were as follows:
James Van Alstyne - $8,070,000
Joe Bartholdi - $7,135,000
Claus Nielson - $5,875,000
David Matthew - $5,765,000
Roland de Wolfe - $1,860,000
Men Nguyen - $1,490,000
The whole persona of the tournament was in complete contrast to the previous six days. Without necessarily being detrimental to the poker to be played, this was now a TV show first and foremost. Several enforced unofficial breaks due to television production problems would disrupt the flow of the tournament, but it appeared not to affect the concentration of the players in any way.
One of the tournament's key hands came early on. Claus, under the gun, raised to $385,000. James called from the button, as did Joe from the big blind. The flop came 4
4 3. Bartholdi bet out $600,000, Nielson folded, and Van Alstyne raised to $1.6 million, which Joe called. The turn produced the A. Joe checked and James bet out $1.4 million. Bartholdi called. The river was the 6, which each player checked. Bartholdi showed pocket eights and Van Alstyne mucked. Joe's many friends and family cheered loudly as he took down a $7.25 million pot, thus gaining the chip lead, which, apart from a brief period when heads up, he would never relinquish. I spoke with Mike Sexton afterward, and he believed this was Joe's defining moment. To call the reraise after the flop and then call after the ace on the turn took some heart, giving him great confidence and severely weakening Van Alstyne.
Soon thereafter, we saw the departure of Men The Master. Men moved all in with the 10 10, and Claus quickly called with the Q Q. No 10 arrived, and Men was out. His consolation was $292,915.
Van Alstyne lost a couple of large pots to be further reduced in chips before his demise came. Down to just over $1.7 million, he pushed all in from the button. Roland, with virtually the same chip count, called from the big blind instantaneously, turning over pocket kings. James looked to the heavens as he showed the K 6. The board did give James a small hope on the river, but it was not to be. He had just $10,000 left and clearly was shaken. He duly departed on the next hand, and after shaking each player by the hand, he made a hasty exit. Roland then moved up to more than $7 million in chips when he won an all-in coup with pocket jacks against Claus' 7-7. The favour was reciprocated soon thereafter when Claus pushed in preflop with 9-9, which held up to defeat Roland's A-10. Claus was to finish in fourth place, however, when, on a board of 9 7
2 7 Q, Bartholdi bet $2 million on the end and Claus called with the A Q, only to see Joe show a king-high flush.
Roland, cheered on by his buddy Antonius on the rail, was looking confident with three players now left. The Londoner had made two uncalled all-in bets, and following a moderate raise from Joe on the button, he again made his move. This time, Joe called, showing pocket queens. Roland was dominated with 6-6, and a queen on the flop, although superfluous in the end, brought loud cheers from the Bartholdi camp. I spoke to Roland soon thereafter, and far from being downhearted, he was delighted with his tournament performance. He thought he had made few if any mistakes during the entire seven days, and after being down to less than $25,000 on day one, $1,025,205 was a fair return for a week's work. He is now planning a recharge of the batteries before defending his Paris title in June.
We were now down to two. Second place would take home more than $1.9 million, with the magical titleholder earning more than $3.7 million. David Matthew, a 47-year-old ATM technician, had smiled his way through the entire event. He qualified online for an initial outlay of $25, and was now soon to be a millionaire. David's start in the tournament was no less remarkable. He arrived at Bellagio on Monday and booked a sightseeing tour of Vegas for Tuesday. Following his tour, realising he was drawn in flight one, he thought he would check out the locality of the poker room in preparation for the following day. Little did he know that day one was on Tuesday! He took his seat six hours into the event, after having been anted away up to that point. He recovered well, and the rest, as they say, is history. He survived a number of scary moments along the way, but he also had made some good decisions to make it this far. His opponent and soon-to-be WPT world champion was an unknown to many, but no novice. A protégé of Las Vegas stalwart Joe Cassidy, he made two cashes at last year's WSOP and won a minor event at the Plaza in Vegas in January. The heads-up battle lasted just under an hour. Dave's aggressive play earned him the chip lead at one point, as Joe waited patiently for the killer blow. The end came suddenly after a period of relative calm. Matthew called from the button. Joe checked, and a flop of A 9 8 was dealt. Joe bet, David raised to $800,000, and Bartholdi reraised $2 million more. Matthew, as he had done on several occasions previously, gestured all in. Joe pondered and called. David showed the 10 4 for flush draw, while an inspired Joe was ahead with the 9 5. The turn and river were the A and 2, and the champion, to much jubilation in the audience, was crowned.
In time-honoured WPT fashion, Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten performed the presentation ceremony to an obviously elated 26-year-old, from whom we will be hearing a lot more in the future.
