David Chiu Wins WPT Championship

This is the time of year when it's easy to get excited about poker. The $25,000 2008 World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio just wrapped up, and Vegas is abuzz with World Series of Poker preparation. More and more tournaments are being finalized for the influx of poker players like you who will invade Las Vegas later this summer, when there will be millions of dollars up for grabs.

But, before we even get to this summer, let's jump back to the WPT Championship. David Chiu, one of the true unsung superstars in poker, emerged victorious in this huge event after beating out a star-studded field of 544 other players. In the end, he went heads up against Card Player columnist Gus Hansen for the title. Hansen was in a commanding position with more than 80 percent of the chips in play, but Chiu proved why he is one of the game's best, as he was able to overcome the long odds against him and win the title and the $3,389,140 first prize.

Chiu has won four World Series bracelets and has more than 30 final-table appearances. It all started for him when he went to Vegas on vacation back in 1996, did well in the cash games, bought into a $2,000 World Series of Poker limit hold'em event, and emerged victorious. His interesting life story is presented in this issue.

As an added bonus, Hansen's next few columns will break down the WPT Championship. His first afterthoughts column appears in this issue, and his blog on CardPlayer.com contains frequent updates from the WPT Championship and other strategic insights.

Card Player will be at the WSOP, and we hope that you also get a chance to go. In fact, through SpadeClub, which is Card Player's subscription-based online poker site, we are giving away four seats in June to the main event. So, if you think $19.99 is worth the price of admission to the richest poker tournament of the year, check out Spade Club News to learn more about this exciting promotion.