Eugene Katchalov Wins 2007 Doyle Brunson Classic

The $15,000 buy-in Doyle Brunson Classic has become one of the most popular stops on the World Poker Tour. Every December, the poker world descends upon the Bellagio in Las Vegas to battle in the last major tournament of the calendar year. In 2007, the participants showed up in record numbers, and they created the largest prize pool in tournament poker history, outside of the World Series of Poker main event and the WPT World Championship. A field of 664 players pumped the prize pool up to $9,661,200, with a first-place prize worth $2,482,605.

One issue weighed very heavily on the minds of four players in the tournament when play started. J.C. Tran, Jonathan Little, and Bill Edler were still alive in the Card Player 2007 Player of the Year (POY) race when the action started, and they were all shooting to surpass leader David "The Dragon" Pham with a victory in this event. Tran, Edler, and Pham all failed to make it past their first day of play, leaving Little as the lone contestant to chase down the top prize. He made a gallant effort and cashed in 53rd place, but it was not enough, and with his elimination, Pham clinched his second POY award.

The top stars in the game were present in droves, and at many points of the tournament they took the top chip position. Phil Ivey held the chip lead after day two of the tournament (460,700), but he fell from grace during day three, and busted out of the event without even cashing. Daniel Negreanu experienced a similar fate when he held the chip lead after day four (2,279,000). He watched his chip stack dwindle as the final two tables played down to the television table on day five, and he was finally eliminated in 14th place. A number of other professionals finished deep in this event, as well, including Peter "apathy" Jetten (18th), Todd Brunson (15th), Erick Lindgren (10th), Jimmy Tran (eighth), and Raymond Davis, who was the television final-table bubble boy, finishing in seventh place. One man loomed larger than all the rest during the event, even though he busted during day 2.

The Shortest Final Table in WPT History
Five days of poker had brought six players together for a chance to win the historic first-place prize, and all were eager to prove that they were equal to the task. Here is how things looked at the start of play:



Ryan Daut has been at a WPT final table before; in fact, he won the first major tournament of 2007, when he took down the title at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. But, he was on an extremely short stack when action began, and the young player wasted no time getting all of his chips into the middle of the table. On the first hand of play, Daut moved all in from middle position for 320,000, and Kearly called from the small blind with pocket eights. Daut showed down the A J, and the board rolled out 8 5 2 8 Q. Daut was eliminated in sixth place, earning $192,715. He ended 2007 with six major cashes, good for a total of $1.77 million.

On the third hand of play, the largest stacks at the table went head-to-head. Jordan Rich had the button and he raised to 220,000. Eugene Katchalov called from the small blind, and the flop came Q-J-8 rainbow. Katchalov checked and Rich bet 320,000. Katchalov took some time before making it 840,000, and Rich reraised to 1,620,000. Katchalov went into the tank and then reraised one more time to 2,640,000. Rich shook his head and mucked his cards, losing a huge chunk of his stack and giving all of the momentum to Katchalov. "I definitely felt pretty good when playing in position against him [Rich]. I respect his game a lot, but of course anyone in position usually has an advantage … Today I had hands against him; in the beginning I flopped a set of jacks against him, and I don't really know what he had, but he just got really unlucky, whatever he had," said Katchalov after the tournament.

The results of this hand proved to be disastrous to Rich, and a mere 13 hands later, he found all of his chips at risk. On hand 16, Katchalov raised from under the gun to 300,000, and Rich reraised from the big blind to 1 million. Katchalov moved all in, and Rich made the call with pocket jacks. Katchalov flipped over pocket aces and the board came 10 9 8 10 5. Katchalov now had an overwhelming chip lead and Rich was eliminated in fifth place, earning $289,070.

The fast and furious pace continued, and three hands later, the third victim of the evening was claimed. Katchalov raised to 300,000 from the button, Kenneth Rosen moved all in from the big blind for 905,000, and Katchalov called with the 10 7. Rosen showed down the A 2, and he was in good shape to double up. The board produced the 5 5 4 9 10, however, and Katchalov rivered two pair to take the pot. Katchalov had added even more chips to his monster stack, and now held 15 million. Rosen was eliminated in fourth place, earning $433,675.

David "Devil Fish" Ulliott had been the most talkative player at the table up to this point. He and Jack McClelland had a running diatribe that entertained those in the audience, as well as those at the final table, but things were about to go silent.
On the 39th hand of play, Ulliott had the button, and he moved all in for a little more than 2 million. Katchalov called from the big blind with the A J, and was happy to see Ulliott turn over a dominated A 10. The board of the K 5 3 9 K provided no help to the Devil Fish, and he was eliminated in third place, earning $674,500.

There was a break in play for the money presentation, in which the huge first-place prize was delivered to the final table in eight cowboy hats in honor of the tournament's namesake, Doyle Brunson. A quick chip count during this break revealed a lopsided distribution of wealth:

Katchalov - 16,755,000
Kearly - 3,175,000

Katchalov further increased his advantage when he knocked out one of Kearly's legs from under him. Katchalov induced Kearly to lay down to a 420,000 bet on a flop of Q 4 2, after Kearly had invested 1.03 million preflop. After that, the end was near, and the final battle came down on the 53rd hand of the night. Kearly had the button, and he raised to 380,000.

Katchalov made the call, and the flop came 10 6 3. Katchalov checked, Kearly bet 300,000, and Katchalov raised to 800,000. Kearly then moved all in, and Katchalov called with the J 10 for a pair of tens. Kearly showed down the K J, and he was in trouble. The turn card was the J♦, and the river brought the 2. Katchalov won the hand, and the tournament, with two pair - jacks and tens. Kearly finished in second place, earning $1,252,640.

"This was a pretty amazing experience. I caught cards the whole time, and everything went exactly as I had hoped, " said Katchalov after the win. Katchalov took home $2,482,605 for his win, as well as a $25,500 seat in the 2008 WPT World Championship. He also set a record by winning the final table in just 53 hands, which is the fewest number of hands a WPT final table has ever taken to decide a winner. This eclipsed the record that Doyle Brunson set when he won the 2004 WPT Legends of Poker in 56 hands. It was a perfect blend of symmetry that the record that Doyle set was broken at the tournament bearing his name.