WPT Spanish Championship
WPT Season 6
October 11 to October 16, 2007

Day 1A
This first half of Day 1 started with 97 players in the field. Top players will sometimes size up the field to see if there may be less competition on one of them to make it easier on themselves. Day 1A was not that easy as names like Steve Zolotow, Alexander Kravchenko, Barry Greenstein, Ted Lawson, Erik Seidel, Barney Boatman, Patrik Antonius, Alan Smurfit, Fabrice Soulier and Max Pescatori were at the tables. Reportedly, Doyle Brunson was there signing copies of his book, but will not be playing due to the late schedule of the tournament.

Some of the busts today include Ram Vaswani of the Hendon Mob and Pam Brunson daughter of Doyle Brunson. Follwing them were Ted Lawson, Patrick Bruel and Vanessa Rousso. After 6 levels of play around 1:30 a.m. in Spain, there were 55 players left that will get a day of rest to continue on in Day 2. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Maurizio Carra -- 59,975 chips
2. Carl Hostrup-Pedersen -- 55,750 chips
3. Piagro Angela -- 50,650 chips
4. Marciano Marc -- 46,300 chips
5. Fabrice Soulier -- 45,750 chips
6. Max Pescatori -- 44,400 chips

Day 1B
There were 129 players who hit the tables on Day 1B which brings the total number to 229. Prize pool hit 1,695,000 Euros, ($2,406,730.50 USD as of the Euro conversion rate on 10/15/2007 11:49 a.m. PST) and will go to the top 27 finishers. Now with the total number of players known, here is the payout schedule for the final table.

1. 537,000 Euros (762,540.00 USD)
2. 295,200 Euros (419,243.04 USD)
3. 151,000 Euros (214,435.10 USD)
4. 117,400 Euros (166,708.00 USD)
5. 100,600 Euros (142,841.94 USD)
6. 83,900 Euros (119,129.61 USD)

1. Guillaume De La Gorce -- 50,450 chips
2. Juan Carlos Alvarado -- 42,075 chips
3. Fred Bonyadi -- 34,300 chips
4. Patrick Bruel -- 34,200 chips
5. Steve Sung -- 32,300 chips
6. Gus Hansen -- 30,500 chips

Day 2
In total there were 151 players that came together from Day 1A and 1B for another round of play. Goal for the day was to play 6 levels 75 minutes long until 27 players were left. Blinds started at $200/$400 with a $50 ante. Busts began immediately with names like 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Annete Obrestad, Isabelle Mercier, Bill Elder, Barry Greenstein, J.C. Alvarado and Allen Cunningham being sent to the rail. As the day carried on, other top names went out of the tournament like Max Pescatori when his pocket 10's lost out to Mikarov Mikail's pocket Q's. Steve Zolotow was gone after his J 9 suited backed the last of his chips which lost to another players pocket K's. Alexander Kravchenko was eliminated when his A Q lost to Gus Hansen who made an Ace high straight.

By 3:00 am in Spain, the decision to shorten the time in the levels to 60 minutes came into play because rules in Spain are that all casinos must close by 5:00 a.m. and there were 53 players left. So by 4:00 a.m., there were 39 players left who bagged up their chips. Tomorrow, play will continue down to the final table participants. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Steve Sung -- 259,200 chips
2. Christer Johansson -- 214,000 chips
3. Juha Helppi -- 173,400 chips
4. Jean Baptiste Tomi -- 167,800 chips
5. Pascal Perrault -- 159,200 chips
6. Raul Mestre -- 151,500 chips

Day 3
After a good night's sleep, the 39 players came back to the tables to play down to the 6 for the final table. Action began with the blinds at $1200/$1400 and a $300 ante. Within the first 10 minutes, the 2007 LA Poker Classic champion Eric Hershler was busted out of the tournament, with Ted Lawson following close behind courtesy of the quad 10's of Eric Seidel. Other names of the fallen include Erik Friberg, Guillermo Garcia, French movie star Patrick Bruel after meeting the pocket K's of Lauren Essex, Santiago Torres, Andrey Zaichenko, Pascal Perrault, Barney Boatman, Melissa Hayden, Steve Billirakis and Juha Helppi. Erik Seidel also was taken out of the tourney by Gus Hansen's quad 9's.

Gus Hansen was a steamroller, taking out many players in the process of becoming the chip leader at the final table. Although Gus was in the right place at the right time, he did talk to himself quite frequently during the hands. (This might be his new style, seeing that too many picked up on his old one.) In one particular hand, a player told him if he kept talking he would go up three spots, so in that hand Gus decided to call winning a huge pot of 353,000 chips. After the 6 for the final table were decided, everyone packed up and will take a holiday on Monday as the WPT crew moves the set to Casino Peralada which is inside of a fantastic 17th century castle. The final table will be played on Tuesday. Here are the final table players with chip counts:

1. Gus Hansen -- 950,000 chips
2. Christer Johansson -- 840,000 chips
3. Ludovic Lacay -- 415,000 chips
4. Steve Sung -- 395,000 chips
5. Markus Lehmann -- 190,000 chips
6. Vladimir Poleshehuk -- 150,000 chips

Day 4 Final Table
Action got underway quickly after the introductions with big raises and hot cards. Vladimir Poleshehuk was the first out in 6th place when his K 9 lost to the two pair (A's and 2's) of Steve Sung. Next was Gus Hansen in 5th when his As 10s lost out to Johansson's pocket A's. On a bad hand for Steve Sung, he left in 4th place losing with pocket A's after Lacay who also had pocket A's picked up the other 4 cards he needed for a heart flush, sending Sung to the sidelines. Third place went to Christer Johansson when his Q 10 lost out to the paired K's of Markus Lehmann.

So the heads up between Lacay and Lehmann began and lasted just 22 hands. The hand of victory came when after a flop of 8h 5s 3h, Lacay went all-in and was called by Lehmann. Lacay held As 5c and Lehmann had Kh 8d, giving Lehmann a pair of 8's beating Lacay's paired 5's at this point. Turn card was a 3c and the river 4h making the two pair of 8's and 3's the winning hand for Lehmann. Besides the big money for becoming champion, he will receive a freeroll entry into the WPT championships held at the Bellagio next year.

1. Markus Lehmann -- 537,000 Euros (762,540.00 USD)
2. Ludovic Lacay -- 295,200 Euros (419,243.04 USD)
3. Christer Johansson -- 151,000 Euros (214,435.10 USD)
4. Steve Sung -- 117,400 Euros (166,708.00 USD)
5. Gus Hansen -- 100,600 Euros (142,841.94 USD)
6. Vladimir Poleshehuk -- 83,900 Euros (119,129.61 USD)