2007 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic

Event #12 -- Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic
Day 1A
About 570 players have entered the WPT tournament with the field being split into two groups, Day 1A being the first to play in the Fontana Lounge. This field is filled with star studded players like Todd Brunson, Max Pescatori, Tex Barch, Jennifer Harman, T.J. Cloutier, David Grey, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Lee Watkinson, David Williams, Sammy Farha, Michael Mizrachi, Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen, Tuan Le, Patrik Antonius and of course Doyle Brunson. Blinds began at $50/$100 and everyone started at noon PST with $30,000 in chips.

Some eliminations came quickly as David Williams was among the first to go after his opponent Carl Olson pulled a straight flush to send him packing. Chad Brown left when his pocket 9's were shut out by another player's pocket A's. Others who went include Gabe Thaler, Chris Bigler, Alan Goehring, Eric Froehlich, Joe Sebok, Nam Le, Phil Ivey, Hoyt Corkins, David Singer and Shannon Shorr. By around 9:00 p.m. PST play ended for the day. Day 1B with the other half of the field will start at noon on December 15th. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Clonie Gowen -- 180,725 chips
2. Freddy Deeb -- 179,675 chips
3. Edward Jordan -- 177,925 chips
4. Carl Olson -- 137,575 chips
5. Mark Newhouse -- 134,375 chips
6. Michael Mizrachi -- 127,125 chips

Event #12 -- Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic
Day 1B
The official player count is 583 with the second half of the field playing today for their share of a $8,482,650 prize pool. Payout schedule goes to the top 100 with the winner netting a whopping $2,182,075 for the win! Here are the payouts for the final table:

1. $2,182,075
2. $1,099,430
3. $592,000
4. $380,630
5. $253,715
6. $169,145

1. Tony Ma -- 151,000 chips
2. Erik Cajelais -- 125,000 chips
3. David Benyamine -- 115,000 chips
4. Jody Trainer -- 95,000 chips
5. Scott Lazar -- 94,000 chips
6. Cyndy Violette -- 92,000 chips

Event #12 -- Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic
Day 2
For Day 2 we had the remaining players begin with blinds at $400/$800 with a $100 ante for round 6 of the tournament. Tom Franklin went to the sidelines early when he went all-in with a 5 4 2 on the board at the turn. Franklin had pocket fives but his opponent had Ah 3h for a straight. Others who were busted include Doyle Brunson, Kathy Liebert, Young Phan, J.C. Tran, Allen Cunningham, Gavin Smith, James Van Alstyne, Burt Boutin, T.J. Cloutier, Harry Demetriou, Dutch Boyd and Jennifer Tilly. Victor Ramdin also was busted when his A K which made two pair, was outdone by an opponent's pocket J's which allowed him to get a straight for the hand. Mimi Tran went all in with pocket K's but was sent packing when Shane Schleger produced pocket A's and the board did not improve the hand of either player. Play for the day ended at 9:00 p.m. PST. Here are the top players with chip counts:

1. Keith Lehr -- 425,800 chips
2. Mads Andersen -- 360,800 chips
3. Clonie Gowen -- 346,100 chips
4. Devin Porter -- 345,000 chips
5. Michael Mizrachi -- 343,700 chips
6. Rolgues Rodriguez -- 342,000 chips

Event #12 -- Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic
Day 3
136 players will sit down today to see who will go to the next round. Action began at noon with the first top pro David "Devilfish" Ulliott being busted by David Oppenheim in less than 15 min into play. Blinds began at $1,500/$3,000 with a $400 ante. Jean-Robert Bellande was busted by John Hoang and was followed by David Benyamine, Shane Schleger, Thomas Wahlroos, Dan Harrington, Fabrice Soulier, David Grey, David Sklansky and Evelyn Ng.

But a number of players have had a very good day such as Joe Hachem who ended up the day with 915,000 chips earned with solid play. Others who did well would be Cyndy Violette with 457,000, Scott Fischman with 751,000, Haralabos Voulgaris with 798,000 who was really on a roller coaster ride today and Lee Markholt ending the day with 1,481,000. They are part of the 33 player field that will go on to the next round which will decide the final table players. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Lee Markholt -- 1,481,000
2. Mads Andersen -- 1,033,000
3. Justin Bonomo -- 987,000
4. Joseph Hachem -- 915,000
5. Michael Binger -- 827,000
6. Michael Linden -- 819,000

Event #12 -- Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic
Day 4
Action began with the blinds at $6,000/$12,000 with an $2,000 ante for the 33 remaining players at noon. The first elimination came when David Oppenheim went all in with a pair of 2's only to be called by Daniel Negreanu holding pocket K's. The board gave Daniel all the remaining cards for a straight and David left in 33rd place. John Hoang was busted in 32nd by Jesse Jones, and with his elimination it was announced that Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi won the Card Player of the Year award. Which was excellent timing as Michael Mizrachi was busted out of the tournament by Jim Hanna a few hands later. Other players who went out include Chip Reese, Cliff Josephy, Ray Faltinsky, Laura Fink, Michael Binger, Lee Markholt, Mats Rahmn, Scott Fischman sent home by Haralabos Voulgaris, Cyndy Violette and Haralabos Voulgaris who was responsible for taking out a number of players today.

But for those who made the final table, things were incredible. Joseph Hachem 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion built his stack of chips by the truck load, winning big pots with solid play. Daniel Negreanu was devastating picking up big pots, with a notable winning hand against Ed Jordan which put him over the 3,000,000 level, but ended up with over 4 1/2 million in chips to lead players into the final table. Come back as we will tell you who the winner is at this WPT championship! Here are the final table players and their chip counts:

1. Daniel Negreanu -- 4,670,000 chips
2. Mads Andersen -- 4,310,000 chips
3. Joseph Hachem -- 2,345,000 chips
4. Edward Jordan -- 2,320,000 chips
5. David Redlin -- 2,040,000 chips
6. Jim Hanna -- 1,820,000 chips

Table play began at 5:00 p.m. with blinds at $30,000/$60,000 with a $10,000 ante. On the 13th hand, Ed Jordan lost a hand to Daniel Negreanu to leave in 6th place. A few hands later Joe Hachem continues his hot streak by taking out David Redlin who placed 5th. Mads Andersen left the table courtesy of Daniel Negreanu in 4th after Daniel got all the cards he needed for the nut flush. But then Daniel ended up the next to leave the tournament in 3rd place after losing a hand to Joe Hachem.

Now it is time for the heads up which only went on for about 9 hands. The last hand of the tournament went as follows, Jim Hanna started with a raise preflop and Hachem went all in of which Hanna called. Hanna showed Qc Jc, Hachem produced As 6c and the board showed Ac Qd 3d 8c 2d which gave Hachem a pair of Aces, beating Hanna's pair of Queens for the championship win. Joe earned over $2,000,000, a gold bracelet and a freeroll seat to the WPT championships to be held next April. Joe Hachem became the fourth player in history to win a WSOP and WPT title. Here is how the final table ended up:

1. Joseph Hachem -- $2,182,070
2. Jim Hanna -- $1,099,430
3. Daniel Negreanu -- $592,000
4. Mads Andersen -- $380,630
5. David Redlin -- $253,715
6. Edward Jordan -- $169,145