Action began shortly after 3 p.m. PT on Oct. 24, 2007, at the final table of the Caesars Palace Classic, and excitement was in the air. A star-studded final table was the order of the day, and an enthusiastic crowd was present at the start of competition. Here is a quick look at the chip stacks and seating chart when things began:
Seat No. 1 - Alex Bolotin - $222,000
Seat No. 2 - David Singer - $304,000
Seat No. 3 - Justin Bonomo - $702,000
Seat No. 4 - Jose Valdes - $182,000
Seat No. 5 - Vivek "Psyduck" Rajkumar - $248,000
Seat No. 6 - George Unich - $168,000
Seat No. 7 - Scott Fischman - $733,000
Seat No. 8 - Tony Cousineau - $816,000
Seat No. 9 - Kido Pham - $913,000
The large blinds and antes moved things along quite quickly in the early going, and four players busted in the first 20 hands. Here is the action from the felt:
Hand No. 11 - Vivek Rajkumar Eliminated in Ninth Place ($54,564)
Bolotin limped in and Rajkumar moved all in from the hijack. Cousineau made the call from the small blind and Bolotin mucked. Rajkumar showed down J 10 and Cousineau showed pocket sevens. The board came Q 9 9 9 2 and Rajkumar was the first to make his exit from the final table.
Hand No. 14 - George Unich Eliminated in Eighth Place ($81,847)
Unich raised to $40,000 from under the gun and Fischman made the call behind him. Bonomo also called from the small blind and Valdes folded from the big blind. The flop came A 10 6, and Unich opened the action for $50,000. Fischman raised to $175,000 total and Unich made the call. The turn brought the 7 and Fischman moved all in. Unich made the call and showed down pocket queens. Fischman turned up A-10 for two pair and the lead. The river brought the J and Unich was eliminated on the hand. Unich was the last Caesars Palace freeroll winner (the poker room here at Caesars gave out tournament seats as a high-hand jackpot promotion) to bust out of the event, and he received a large round of applause from the crowd for being the last jackpot-winner standing.
Hand No. 16 - Jose Valdes Eliminated in Seventh Place ($109,129)
Valdes raised to $40,000 and Fischman made the call from the small blind. Cousineau reraised and Valdes announced all in. Fischman folded and Cousineau made the call for an additional $133,000. Cousineau showed down A 7 and Valdes had him dominated with A Q. The board hit the table 9 6 2 5 8 and Cousineau made a straight to eliminate Valdes in seventh place.
Hand No. 20 - Alex Bolotin Eliminated in Sixth Place ($136,411)
Bolotin raised to $50,000 and Bonomo moved all in. Bolotin called, showing A Q against the pocket jacks of Bonomo. The board rolled out 10 6 2 3 4 and Bolotin was the sixth-place finisher.
Things continued on quietly in terms of eliminations after the bustout of Bolotin until the first break came at the 41-hand mark. Singer was busy during this stretch, though, as he grew his stack from just under $200,000 to more than $1.2 million in that time. He doubled up numerous times and then used his abundance of chips to grab even more. One of the players that he was able to double up through was Bonomo, and "ZeeJustin" never fully recovered from the affair.
Hand No. 43 - Justin Bonomo Eliminated in Fifth Place ($163,693)
Bonomo moved all in from the cutoff and Fischman called from the button. Bonomo showed down pocket threes, but they were behind Fischman's pocket jacks. The boardcards came A 7 5 5 K and Bonomo was eliminated in fifth place.
After the elimination of Bonomo, play tightened up a bit as four players of high poker pedigree began to test each other out in the hopes of making it to a heads-up finale. It took some time, but the first step toward that heads-up match was taken when Cousineau hit the rail.
Hand No. 79 - Tony Cousineau Eliminated in Fourth Place ($190,976)
Cousineau limped from the small blind and Pham raised $60,000 more from the big blind. Cousineau raised $120,000 more and Pham moved all in. Cousineau called and turned over pocket kings. Pham was behind with pocket queens, but the board came Q 9 7 10 2 to eliminate Cousineau in fourth place.
After this hand, the stacks were about even among the final three, and play got serious. The three players traded off pots and chips back and forth until Fischman got all of his chip into the middle.
Hand No. 99 - Scott Fischman Eliminated in Third Place ($245,540)
Singer raised to $60,000 from the small blind, and Fischman called. The flop came K 6 5, and Singer bet $80,000. Fischman called, and the turn was the A. Singer bet $220,000, and Fischman called. The river was the 5, and Singer bet $400,000. Fischman moved all in, and Singer called. Singer turned over A 6, and Fischman showed A 8. Fischman was eliminated in third place and Singer took a monster chip leader into the heads-up match.
Singer - $3,250,000
Pham - $1,050,000
Caesar himself appeared at the final table with a Roman guard to present the $1 million cash prize, a beautiful Breitling watch, and the Caesars Palace Classic trophy before the start of heads-up play.
Shortly after that, play began, and things slowed down - way down. Kido took a large chunk out of Singer's stack a few hands into the heads-up match to even up the stacks and put himself back into contention. This changed the climate of the match into a standoff; an entire level of poker was played with no significant action. To call the poker that was played from this point forward small-ball would be an understatement, and the length of the heads-up match exceeded the length of the prior portion of the final table.
On the 203rd hand of the final table (the 104th of the heads-up match) the final hand of the night came down.
Hand No. 203 - David Singer Wins the Caesar's Palace Classic ($1,000,000)
Kido limped and Singer raised $110,000. Kido tanked, and then reraised $300,000 more. Singer moved all in and Kido insta-called. Kido flipped up pocket kings and Singer showed A 9. The board came 10 8 5 7 6 and Singer hit a straight on the river to end the tournament. Singer won the first place-prize of $1,000,000 and Kido finished in second place, earning $480,167.