Bellagio Five Diamond Preliminary Wrap UpDavid "The Dragon" Pham Jumps into Second Place in the POY Race |
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The final six preliminary events at the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic were packed full of excitement. Many professional players won events, including Dutch Boyd ($2,000 no-limit hold'em), James Mackey ($3,000 no-limit hold'em), Matt Graham ($5,000 no-limit hold'em), and Humberto Brenes ($1,500 seniors no-limit hold'em). Hafiz Khan set a model of consistency that was envied by all by making three consecutive final tables in a row at open buy-in events. First, he finished in ninth place in Event No. 9, he followed that up by finishing in fourth place in Event No. 10 , and for the third part of his trilogy he finished in sixth place in Event No. 12. His three appearances at $5,000 no-limit hold'em preliminary final tables netted him a gain of $113,950.The most exciting event of the last half of preliminaries at Bellagio was the the final one before the start of the $15,000 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic Championship. Event No. 12 was the last of three $5,000 no-limit hold'em tournaments, and the professionals turned out in force. The final table featured an impressive collection of players, including two Card Player Player of the Year contenders David "The Dragon" Pham and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Grospellier fell in ninth place, taking home 100 points, which brought his 2008 total up to 5,510. Pham almost went the distance but he eventually fell in third place. He was awarded 800 points, which was good enough to leap frog Grospellier to move into second place on the leader board. Pham now holds 6,022 points total, and he sits just 682 points behind current leader John Phan. If Pham is able to run deep in the WPT championship event next week he would become the first player to ever repeat as POY champion.
Event No. 7 -- $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 234
Prize Pool: $453,960
Event No. 8 -- $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 204
Prize Pool: $593,640
Card Player Live Coverage Event -- Event No. 9 -- $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 143
Prize Pool: $693,550
Live Updates for Event No. 9
Card Player Live Coverage Event -- Event No. 10 -- $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 154
Prize Pool: $746,900
Live Updates for Event No. 10
Event No. 11 -- $1,500 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 168
Prize Pool: $244,440
Card Player Live Coverage Event -- Event No. 12 -- $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 247