Five Diamond World Poker Classic Gets Underway on Saturday

Published on December 12th, 2008 10:46 am EST

One of the most prestigious poker events of the year, the $15k "Doyle Brunson Classic" main event of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, gets underway on Saturday afternoon.

The event will begin at 12 pm local time on Saturday afternoon, and will eventually conclude with the televised final table on December 19th (Friday). Day 1-A will take place on Saturday, while Day 1-B will begin on Sunday. The two fields will combine on Monday, and eventually a winner will be crowned on Friday afternoon / evening.

The "Doyle Brunson Classic" typically draws one of the most talent-laden fields, and this year should be no different. Most of the biggest names in poker, including Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu and David Benyamine, are planning on taking part in the event. You'll also have a number of the biggest "online" players in the world taking part, including Tom "durrrr" Dwan and others.

The event was won last year by Eugene Katchalov, who took down almost $2.5 million dollars for his first place finish. Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott and Ryan "Daut44" Daut also made the final table. The total prizepool was $9.39 million dollars last year, with a total of 626 people taking part in the $15k event. The prizepool has grown every year since the inception of the event - can 2008 continue the tradition, even in the face of a major economic slowdown?

Previous winners of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event include: Katchalov, Joe Hachem, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Phillips and Gus Hansen.

John Phan currently maintains a 1300 point lead over Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in the 2008 Cardplayer.com Player of the Year race. David Pham, in third place, is about 1500 points behind Phan. This is the last event that will count towards the 2008 POY standings.

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Filed Under: Tournament Results