Can Mike Matusow Win His First WPT Title?

Published on December 18th, 2008 12:23 pm EST

There are currently 18 players left in the main event of the 2008 Five Diamond World Poker Classic, also known as the "Doyle Brunson Classic".

Day 5 of the event will begin at 12 pm local time on Thursday, where the remaining 18 players will play down to the final six. All of the players left in the tournament have their eyes fixed on the first place prize of $1.538 million dollars, as well as the WPT title.

There are a number of well-known names still left in the tournament.

Mike Matusow staged a massive comeback on Wednesday, and is currently sitting with about 1.43 million in chips. He is far behind Ben Straate, who is currently the chip leader with well over 3 million in chips, but Matusow is certainly one of the most experienced tournament players remaining in the "Doyle Brunson Classic" and will be a force to be reckoned with. Matusow has over $7 million dollars in total lifetime tournament cashes, and will be looking to wrap up a successful year.

Clonie Gowen is also still alive in the tournament. She has about 1.05 million in chips, and will be looking to continue her strong run as of late. Gowen has done very well over the past four to five months - she won a $5k preliminary event at the 2008 World Poker Open for $193k, a $5k preliminary event at the Bellagio Cup IV for $437k, and yet another "Poker After Dark" week in September for $120k. Gowen is running red-hot as of late, and shouldn't be overlooked heading into the final two days of play.

Gowen and Matusow will be sitting at different tables to start Day 5. In case you didn't know, Clonie Gowen recently launched a $40 million dollar lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker, and Mike Matusow was listed as a defendant. That should make for some interesting table conversation if the two of them make it to the final table.

There are plenty of great players left in this tournament. Ben Straate (the chipleader) and Brett Richey (second in chips) are both very strong players who will be tough to beat on Thursday.

Some of the more familiar names left in the tournament include: Amnon Filippi, Steve Sung, Robert Mizrachi, Hoyt Corkins, David "Chino" Rheem, Nick Schulman and Martin DeKnijff. There is a tremendous amount of poker talent included in these names.

A number of big names hit the rail on Day 4, including: David Benyamine, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstein and Alan Cunningham.

We'll have another update once the TV final table has been finalized on Thursday evening.


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Filed Under: Tournament Results