|
At the end of April 2006, Season Four of the World Poker Tour reached
its thrilling conclusion. The World Championship event was held at the
illustrious Bellagio in Las Vegas, which played host to a tournament involving
the most skilled, dedicated, and stylistically diverse poker players in
the world. The majority of poker professionals paid up their staggering
$25,000 buy-in to play, but there were also those other lucky players
who had played in satellite tournaments for the right to be there. In
addition, the World Poker Tour Champions from the season had already had
their buy-in’s paid for as part of their prize winnings. This year’s
event was already notable for having the highest ever prize pool so far
on the World Poker Tour!
The Final Table of the World Poker Tour was missing some very well known
professional players, including Phil Helmuth and Evelyn Ng, who had been
eliminated on the final day of play. There was also some exceptionally
notable play from a rising star of the game, Vanessa Rousso, who finished
in Seventh Place, still taking home $263,625 in prize money. Vanessa is
actually a student at law school in Florida and will no doubt be putting
that prize money towards her education in spite of a blossoming career
in poker looking likely!
So on Monday 24th April 2006 six players of exceptional talent and skill
were seated around the final table:
Seat One: Joe Bartholdi
Seat Two: Roland de Wolfe
Seat Three: Men “The Master” Nguyen
Seat Four: Claus Nielson
Seat Five: James Van Alstyne
Seat Six: Davidson Matthew
With players coming from all over the world, the action was going to
be fierce! The crowd of spectators watching the final was also not lacking
in glamour, and the big name poker professionals supporting the final
event is a marker of just how prestigious the World Poker Tour has become.
Some of those present included Scotty Nguyen, Joe Cassidy, Liz Lieu, Marcel
Luske, Martin de Kniff, Ming Ly, Gavin Smith, Mark Seif, Huck Seed, Chris
Bigler, Juha Helppi, Evelyn Ng, Patrik Antonius, and David Benyamine.
Men Nguyen had been first to leave the table, still claiming winnings
of $292,915 from the match. Next to leave was James Van Alstyne, finishing
in fifth place with $439,375. In fourth place was Claus Nielson, with
$659,120 after some great play, followed by Roland de Wolfe, with $1,025,205
in third. This left the final two players, Joe Bartholdi and Davidson
Matthew going to head to head. Joe was still the chip leader, with a total
of $21,670,000. In contrast, Davidson Matthew from Toronto had won his
way into the event through a $25 satellite poker tournament and had a
comparatively small $8,350,000.
Both players played with aggression and the action see-sawed back and
forth with ever mounting intensity. Finally, with very little action before
the flop, the board was showing 9 of clubs, 8 of hearts, and Ace of hearts.
Bartholodi raised by a large sum and prompted Matthew to go all in. Bartholdi
called, showing a 9 and a five. Matthew showed a 10 and a 4 of hearts.
But the Turn showed a 2 of Diamonds and the River an Ace of Diamonds.
Davidson Matthew had played exceptionally well, and walked away from
the tournament with the second prize of $1,903,950. But it was Joe Bartholdi
who took the championship with a pair of nines, winning $3,760,165, a
gold bracelet, and most significantly, the title of World Poker Tour Champion
2006.
|
