Chris Moore Wins the 2008 Wynn Classic

The second final table in the history of the $10,000 buy-in Wynn Classic began today a little after noon. The final table had only one well-known professional star to speak of (Eugene Todd), but it also included a World Series of Poker bracelet winner (Ryan Young), a qualifier from the host casino (Alemu Tesema), and one player who was at this final table last year (Chris Moore), so there were numerous compelling storylines at play when the cards got into the air. Here is a look at the table when things got started:

Seat 1: Ardavan Yazdi — 405,000
Seat 2: Eugene Todd — 236,000
Seat 3: Alemu Tesema — 230,000
Seat 4: Larry Wright — 572,500
Seat 5: Ricky Chow — 507,000
Seat 6: Blake Cahail — 299,500
Seat 7: Jace Markgraf — 167,500
Seat 8: Ryan Young — 714,000
Seat 9: Chris Moore — 536,000

The action began slowly and set the tone for the early part of the final table. Moore quickly used this to his advantage and grabbed the early chip lead. He traded this lead with Young during the first hour, but ultimately secured it by becoming the first millionaire in the tournament.

A little over an hour into the day, the most recognizable face got all of his chips into the middle when Todd raised to 23,000, and Jace Markgraf reraised to 55,000. Todd then moved all in, and Markgraf made the call. Todd turned up pocket tens, and Markgraf revealed he was ahead when he exposed pocket queens. The board came A A 8 J Q to improve Markgraf to a full house. Todd was out in ninth place, and he earned $31,952 for his efforts.

The next three hours of the tournament crawled by slowly, as Ardavan Yazdi, Young, Markgraf, and Blake Cahail all managed to double up in that order. This was probably the last thing that the short-stacks at the table, Larry Wright and Alemu Tesema, wanted to see. Larry Wright shed some light on his plight when he said, “I folded 375,000 in chips away; that strategy has not worked.” The final table shared a laugh before Wright checked his cards and then folded once again, saying, “But I'm not going to change that strategy.” The two were blinded down during this stretch to fewer than 10 big blinds each. This sealed both of their fates in the end, but Tesema met his doom first when he had to push all in for his last 55,000 with J-9 against the 10-3 suited of Cahail. The board ran out K 10 5 10 2, and Tesema was eliminated in eighth place. He took home $35,502 in prize money.

Young managed to double up again after that, this time at the expense of Markgraf. Young then moved all in again a few hands later, which put Ricky Chow on a decision to risk his tournament life. He decided to call, and flipped over pocket jacks. Young flipped over pocket tens, but he spiked a 10 on the flop to send Chow home in seventh place with $44,738 in prize money. There was less than an hour left until the dinner break at this point of play, and that is when gears at the final table shifted. Three players were eliminated in the course of 20 minutes.

The first of the three was Wright, who was still clinging to his short stack. He got all of his chips into the middle with a good chance to double up, holding K-Q against the pocket eights of Cahail. But the board missed Wright on every street, and he was eliminated in sixth place, good for $53,253. Markgraf got his chips into the middle in much worse shape a few hands later with Q-8 against the K-Q of Young. This time, the board missed both players, but Young's king high was enough to send Markgraf home in fifth place ($71,004). Yazdi then followed these two to the payout line when his pocket threes ran into the pocket queens of Cahail. The queens held, and Yazdi left to collect the $95,855 entitled to him for fourth place.

It was a three-horse race at that point, but just a few hands into threehanded action, the tournament stopped for dinner. Here were the chip counts the three players held at that time:

It looked like a marathon battle was in store for the championship title, but the quick action that had taken over the evening continued to invisibly drive the tournament to its conclusion. The players were still settling back into their seats after dinner when Cahail decided to move all of his chips in preflop, and he was called down by Young. They exposed their hands, and Young had the lead with pocket jacks against the Q10 of Cahail. The board hit the table A 7 5 3 8, and Cahail was on his way out of the Wynn with $177,510 in prize money for finishing in third place.

Action paused again for a second after this elimination, and once again the chip stacks were relatively close:

It again looked like the stage was set for a drawn out battle, but a cooler (with a draw-out on the side) a few hands into the heads-up match had other ideas. On the fateful hand, Young raised on the button to 50,000, and Moore made the call. The flop came J 8 5, and Young bet 100,000. Moore check-raised to 400,000, and Young moved all in. Moore instantly called and turned over J 5, while Young turned up A J. The turn and river came 9 and 4 to give Moore a flush and the 3.2 million pot.

Young was left with just 400,000 at that point, and he looked at only one card (an ace) before tossing the last of his chips into the middle to make a call against Moore, who had also only peered at one card (a king). Young and Moore learned the value of their other holecards when they turned up A 5 and K K, respectively. The board was dealt K 10 7 6 2 to give Moore a set of kings to win the 2008 Wynn Classic, along with $692,286 and a championship trophy. More importantly, Moore improved upon his third-place finish last year and clinched his first major tournament title at what has to be his favorite cardroom on The Strip. Young was awarded $355,020 for finishing as the runner-up, and that gives him over $1 million in career earnings.

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