The Internet Whiz Kid, the Amateur, and Two Former Champions

In 2005, Nick Schulman won the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort and Casino. In 2006, Nenad Medic won the event. In 2007, they both found themselves at the final table, and both of them had a chance to make history. No player has ever won the same event twice in the history of the World Poker Tour, and now two players had that chance. Furthermore, not since Johnny Chan won the World Series of Poker main event in 1987 and 1988 has a player won a $10,000 buy-in open-field tournament in back-to-back years. Medic had the chance to grab that distinction, as well. A lot of poker history has been made at Foxwoods on the WPT, and it appeared that a lot more was about to be made at this final table. There was also a first-place prize of $1,704,986 on the line. Here is how the final table looked when things got started:



These six players had survived five days of poker to emerge from a field of 575 players. This included many top professionals in the game, as well as two poker legends who were major factors right up until the end, T.J. Cloutier (12th place) and Freddy Deeb (ninth place). The two former champions, Schulman and Medic, had taken vastly different paths to make it this far. Schulman had been riding high on a large stack for most of the tournament, and he came to the final table second in chips. Medic had painstakingly blazed his trail on a short stack, was all in multiple times, and came to the final table as the low man on the totem pole. He was going to have to chip up fast if he hoped to make a run at history.

As play began, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan had the largest stack of chips on the table. This Internet whiz kid has made a name for himself online, playing at some of the highest stakes found on the Web. He also made a name for himself during the course of this tournament by dominating his opponents (see the sidebar), giving him a large stack and a lot of momentum heading to the final table. However, in poker it takes only one hand for that momentum to gind to a halt. Dwan lost a pot worth 2 million in chips to Mike Vela, who showed down pocket nines to win the very first hand. Then, things only got worse. Medic was aggressive early, and he moved all in on the second hand of play with K-Q. Dwan held pocket queens and was poised to send Medic to the rail in sixth place - that is, until a king came on the river to double up Medic to 1.54 million in chips and knock Dwan down even further. Dwan had lost more than 1.5 million in just two hands.

Medic's hopes for a stretch run at the title were now alive and well, and he got involved in his second large pot at the final table with Mark Weitzman on the fourth hand. Medic and Weitzman got it all in preflop with Medic holding the A 5 against Weitzman's A 3. Medic sealed the win when he made a flush on the river, and Weitzman was eliminated in sixth place, taking home $189,142. Medic now held more than 2 million in chips, a far cry from the 555,000 he had held four hands prior.

The volatile times of the early stages at the table continued to flatten the field on the seventh hand of play. In that hand, White minimum-raised from the button to 120,000, and Schulman and Dwan called from the blinds. The 4 4 2 flop was checked by Schulman and Dwan, and White bet 440,000. Schulman called, the turn brought the 4, and both players checked. Schulman checked the Q on the river, and White bet 900,000. Schulman called him down, and White's K Q scooped a pot worth more than 3 million in chips.

After White claimed the chip lead, the players tangled in small pots until Medic doubled up once again on hand 30 with a set of queens. It seemed like fate was on his side to make history, but everything changed two hands later: Dwan raised from the cutoff to 165,000, Mike Vela called from the small blind, and White called from the big blind. The flop rolled out the Q 8 5, and Vela bet 410,000. White raised to 1 million, Dwan folded, and Vela made the call. There was more than 2.5 million in the pot when the turn brought the A. Vela checked, White bet 1.2 million, and Vela tanked for several minutes before he made the call. He then checked in the dark before the river. The river card was the 9, and White checked, as well. Vela showed the Q and took down the pot with a pair of queens when White mucked his hand. This huge pot was worth 7.4 million in chips, and Vela was now the 7 million-pound gorilla in the room.

At the start of this final table, no one in the room was talking about Vela. He did enter the day third in chips, but next to the Internet whiz kid (Dwan) and the two former champions (Medic and Schulman), his story faded into the background. However, Vela is by no means an amateur player; he has made it to the final two tables of WPT events twice before this tournament (finishing 13th in this event last year and 18th at the WPT Borgata Poker Open two months ago). Vela is also by no means a seasoned professional (he won a $1,100 satellite to get into this event); he is the senior vice president of an investment company, and a committed family man with two children (he even called his daughter during the final table to help her with a math problem and wish her good night). But no matter where Vela ranked in the professional-amateur poker-skill continuum, he was now calling the shots at this final table with a monolithic stack. He wasted little time putting that large stack to good use on hand 37. He called down an all-in bet from White with the K 10, and White could muster only the 7 6. The board made a pair of tens for Vela, and White was eliminated in fifth place, earning $243,184.

The action was now down to the final four. Dwan then lost a pot worth 4.25 million in chips to Schulman. In that hand, Schulman raised from the small blind to 240,000 and Dwan called from the big blind. Schulman bet 425,000 on a J 9 4 flop, and Dwan called. The turn was the J, Schulman bet 600,000, and Dwan called. The river brought the 6. Schulman bet 840,000, and Dwan called after going in the tank for more than three minutes. Schulman showed the K 9 for two pair, jacks and nines, and scooped a huge pot.

Dwan was unable to recover after this hand, although he should have. He got all of his chips into the middle against Vela on hand 55. Vela showed down the K J, but Dwan had him dominated with the A K. The board ran out the 10 7♣ 3 10 J, and Vela made jacks up on the river to win the pot. Dwan was eliminated in fourth place, earning $324,244, and Vela was living large with a stack of more than 10 million in chips. With three players left, the two former champions were still alive and kicking, but neither of them had even half of what Vela held, so their work was cut out for them.

The difficult task of catching Vela became next to impossible after hand 71. This time, it was Medic who found himself all in against Vela. Vela held the A J against Medic's A 7, and the board hit the table with the K 9 8 J J. Vela took down the pot with trip jacks, and the defending champion, Medic, was eliminated in third place, earning $486,367. This left the stacks of the final two players a little more than unbalanced. In fact, Vela held a better than 3-to-1 chip lead over Schulman:

Mike Vela - 13,015,000
Nick Schulman - 4,255,000

Schulman had the chips stacked against him, and the heads-up match came to an end quickly. Just seven hands into it, Schulman got all of his chips into the middle: Schulman had the button and raised to 350,000. Vela reraised to 1.7 million, and Schulman moved all in. Vela immediately called with the A Q, and Schulman showed down pocket fives. The board came A Q J 7 8, and Vela won the pot with two pair, aces and queens. Schulman was eliminated in second place, winning $864,652, and Vela was the champion. He took home $1,704,986 and a $25,500 seat in the season-five WPT World Championship in April 2008. "My life is not going to change at all. I work with a great company, I've got great people I work with and I'm going to go to work tomorrow, and I'm going to go home and see the kids tomorrow; it's not going to change me at all," said Vela after the win.