Mike Vela Wins the 2007 WPT World Poker FinalsVela Spoils Poker History by Beating Two Former Champions |
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Six players took their seats shortly after 5 p.m. ET at Foxwoods Resort and Casino for the final table of the 2007 World Poker Tour World Poker Finals. While all six of them had the $1,704,986 first-place prize on their minds, two of them had a little WPT history on their minds, as well. Nick Schulman won this event in 2005 and Nenad Medic took down the title in 2006. If either of them prevailed in 2007, it would mark the first time ever that a player has won the same WPT event twice. If Medic were to defend his title and repeat as champion, it would mark the first time in history that a player has won back-to-back WPT titles. It would also be the first time since Johnny Chan won the World Series of Poker main event in 1987 and 1988 that a player has won back-to-back titles in a $10,000 buy-in open-field poker tournament. Here is how things looked at the start of play:
Seat 1: Nenad Medic -- 555,000
Seat 2: Mike Vela -- 4,155,000
Seat 3: Mark Weitzman -- 855,000
Seat 4: Mike White -- 2,455,000
Seat 5: Nick Schulman -- 4,395,000
Seat 6: Tom "Durrr" Dwan -- 4,875,000
5. Weitzman showed down A
3, and the board came 9 7
2 J 2, which gave Medic a flush on the river. Weitzman was eliminated in sixth place, and he took home $189,142. This hand took Medic above the 2-million mark and reinstated him as a factor at the final table.
n from the big blind for 1,715,000. White moved all in over the top of Medic, and Schulman mucked. Medic turned up pocket tens and White held A K. The board brought 10 6
3 J K and Medic won the pot with a set of tens to double up to 3.7 million.
Mike Vela slowly and silently took the chip lead during this stretch of play, and he very loudly jumped way out into the lead on hand 30: Dwan raised from the cutoff to 165,000, Vela called from the small blind, and White called from the big blind. The flop rolled out Q 8 5 and Vela bet 410,000. White raised to 1,000,000, 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 he took down the pot with a pair of queens when White mucked his hand. The huge pot was worth 7.4 million, and Vela was now the 7 million-pound-gorilla in the room.
The gorilla in the audience made its retreat from the room after the events of hand 37 transpired: Vela raised from the cutoff to 175,000, and White moved all in for 515,000 from the cutoff. Vela called with K 10, and White showed down 7 6. The board came J 4 3 10 2 and Vela won the pot with a pair of tens. The local favorite, White, was eliminated in fifth place, earning $243,184. His cheering section of 50 quickly followed him out of
the room after the hand.
Dwan lost a pot worth 4.25 million to Schulman a few hands later (hand 45) and he was never able to recover. The end came for the young Internet star 10 hands later: Schulman raised to 225,000 from under the gun, Dwan moved all in from the button for 1,290,000, and Vela went into the tank for several minutes from the big blind. Vela eventually made the call and Schulman quickly got out of the way. Vela showed down K J, but Dwan had him dominated with A K. The board ran out 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 over 10 million. With three players left, the two former champions were still alive and kicking, but neither of them had even half of Vela's stack, so their work was cut out for them.
The difficult task of catching Vela became next to impossible after hand 71: Vela raised to 450,000 on the button and Medic thought for a moment before he moved all in for 2,930,000. Vela immediately called with A J and Medic flipped up A 7. The board hit the table K 9 8 J J and Vela took down the pot with trip jacks. The defending champion Medic was eliminated in third place, earning $486,367. This left the stacks between the final two a little more than unbalanced. In fact, Vela held a better than three-to-one chip lead on 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 the match, Schulman got all of his chips into the middle: Schulman had the button and he raised to 350,000. Vela reraised to 1.7 million and Schulman moved all in. Vela immediately called with A Q and Schulman showed down pocket fives. The board rolled out A Q J 7 8 and Vela won the pot with two pair, aces and queens. Schulman was eliminated in second place, earning $864,652, and Vela won the title. He took home $1,704,986, and a $25,500 seat into the Season VI WPT World Championship in April, 2008.
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