Published on April 25th, 2008 10:19 pm EST
The final table of the 2008 Five-Star World Poker Classic (WPT Championship) will take place on Saturday. The original 545 players have been whittled down to 6, and Gus Hansen is currently the chip leader. Can he win his fourth World Poker Tour title? (fifth if you include his "Bad Boys of Poker" victory in 2003)
Hansen is in a great position to win. He enters the final table with 8.5 million in chips, nearly two million chips ahead of his closest competitor, Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll. David Chiu is in third with 6.05 million in chips, and then there is a large drop-off to the next closest player, John Roveto, who currently has 2.72 million. Tommy Le and Jeff King round out the final TV table with stacks of 1.95 million and 1.305 million respectively.
Hansen caught a break on Thursday as some of his stiffest competition was eliminated from the event. Amir Vahedi, chipleader after Day 4, was eliminated in seventh place. Tom "durrrr" Dwan, near the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament, was taken out in ninth place after suffering a bad beat at the hands of Cory Carroll. Kenny Tran, Robert Mizrachi, Michael Gracz and Andrew Black were also all eliminated on Day 5. Gus Hansen probably couldn't have hand-picked a better final table for himself after the end of Day 4.
If Hansen takes down this tournament and the $3.39 million dollars first place prize, then it will be his largest cash ever. The biggest cash of his career up to this point came when he took down the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event for $1.19 million dollars.
As mentioned, Hansen currently has three World Poker Tour championships under his belt, plus a victory in the 2003 "Bad Boys of Poker". Hansen took down the 2002 Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $556k, the 2003 L.A. Poker Classic for $532k, and the 2004 PCA for $455k.
Hansen currently sits atop the list of players with the most WPT victories with three wins. There are a number of players currently sitting with two wins, including: Alan Goehring, Barry Greenstein, Carlos Mortensen, Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, Michael Mizrachi and Tuan Le. If Hansen wins his fourth WPT title on Saturday, then it will be hard to imagine that anyone will catch him anytime soon.
Cory Carroll, who is currently second in chips, will be sure to give Hansen a fierce fight on Saturday. Carroll is an accomplished online player who has transitioned successfully to "live" poker. Carroll has a WSOP Circuit victory under his belt and a second place finish at the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown.
David Chiu owns four WSOP bracelets and has around $2.4 million in total tournament earnings. The remaining three players have approximately $1.1 million dollars in total combined lifetime cashes, with Jeff King leading the way with $722k. King took down the 2006 WSOP Circuit event in Atlantic City.
The final table will begin at 12 pm local time on Saturday afternoon.
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Filed Under: Tournament Results
The final table of the 2008 Five-Star World Poker Classic (WPT Championship) will take place on Saturday. The original 545 players have been whittled down to 6, and Gus Hansen is currently the chip leader. Can he win his fourth World Poker Tour title? (fifth if you include his "Bad Boys of Poker" victory in 2003)Hansen is in a great position to win. He enters the final table with 8.5 million in chips, nearly two million chips ahead of his closest competitor, Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll. David Chiu is in third with 6.05 million in chips, and then there is a large drop-off to the next closest player, John Roveto, who currently has 2.72 million. Tommy Le and Jeff King round out the final TV table with stacks of 1.95 million and 1.305 million respectively.
Hansen caught a break on Thursday as some of his stiffest competition was eliminated from the event. Amir Vahedi, chipleader after Day 4, was eliminated in seventh place. Tom "durrrr" Dwan, near the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament, was taken out in ninth place after suffering a bad beat at the hands of Cory Carroll. Kenny Tran, Robert Mizrachi, Michael Gracz and Andrew Black were also all eliminated on Day 5. Gus Hansen probably couldn't have hand-picked a better final table for himself after the end of Day 4.
If Hansen takes down this tournament and the $3.39 million dollars first place prize, then it will be his largest cash ever. The biggest cash of his career up to this point came when he took down the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event for $1.19 million dollars.
As mentioned, Hansen currently has three World Poker Tour championships under his belt, plus a victory in the 2003 "Bad Boys of Poker". Hansen took down the 2002 Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $556k, the 2003 L.A. Poker Classic for $532k, and the 2004 PCA for $455k.
Hansen currently sits atop the list of players with the most WPT victories with three wins. There are a number of players currently sitting with two wins, including: Alan Goehring, Barry Greenstein, Carlos Mortensen, Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, Michael Mizrachi and Tuan Le. If Hansen wins his fourth WPT title on Saturday, then it will be hard to imagine that anyone will catch him anytime soon.
Cory Carroll, who is currently second in chips, will be sure to give Hansen a fierce fight on Saturday. Carroll is an accomplished online player who has transitioned successfully to "live" poker. Carroll has a WSOP Circuit victory under his belt and a second place finish at the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown.
David Chiu owns four WSOP bracelets and has around $2.4 million in total tournament earnings. The remaining three players have approximately $1.1 million dollars in total combined lifetime cashes, with Jeff King leading the way with $722k. King took down the 2006 WSOP Circuit event in Atlantic City.
The final table will begin at 12 pm local time on Saturday afternoon.
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Filed Under: Tournament Results
