Tournament Details

For those who thought they'd seen just about everything on the WPT, the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Casino & Resort in Connecticut might make you think again. The world's largest casino again hosts this popular event, boasting a ballroom-busting field of 674 entrants plunking down ten grand apiece, playing for an equally staggering purse of $6,765,000, making it the largest event in the history of the WPT. Here's how it shook out on the final felt at the start of play:

In Seat 1, Bradley Berman, 33 year old V.P. of Gaming for Lakes Entertainment (the WPT's parent company), the chip leader with $1,1705,000 in chips. In Seat 2, Charlottesville, VA accountant, and sole amateur, Temperance "Temp" Hutter, with $974,000. In Seat 3, at his 3rd WPT final table, dangerous David "the Dragon" Pham, the short-stack with just $323,000. In Seat 4, fan-favorite, the ebullient Costa Rican pro also at his 3rd WPT final table, Humberto Brenes, with $1,159,000. In Seat 5, 27 year old journeyman pro from Sacramento, CA, who qualified via a one-table satellite, J.C. Tran, with $1,205,000. In Seat 6, 26 year old poker tyro, the unpredictable and aggressive Los Angeles, CA, Tuan Le, with $1,376,000. Antes and blinds started at $3,000, $12,000, and $24,000.

The first question one might ask about this final table is ‘what is Temperance doing at a poker table in the first place?' In this case, Temperance was the apparently mild-mannered CPA from Virginia, Temp Hutter, but he quickly proved that he belonged when he re-raised the ever dangerous David Pham after his under-the-gun raise, forcing the short-stacked Dragon to muck his A-5 offsuit. Pham next found a better kicker with Ah-9c, and came over the top of Tuan Le's $24,000 raise, making it $90,000 to go. Le answered right back, pushing all-in, and Pham, pot-logged, called. When Le flipped over a dominated As-4s, Pham was elated. But a flop of Tc-7c-4d gave Le bottom pair, and deflated Pham's brief glimmer of hope, and a turn and river of 7h, 6c sent him to the rail in 6th place, at least he had a healthy $277,014 to add to his bankroll.

J.C. Tran next tangled with the new chip leader, Le, and although he smartly mucked an Ad-5d loser after Le made a flush on the turn, he now found himself on the short stack. So, finding 3h-3d, he tried to limp to see a flop, but again ran into Le, who re-raised him $120,000. Tran considered, then pushed the rest of his stack in. Le called the extra $455,000, and was overjoyed to see that his own pocket pair, 6s-6h, was a dominating favorite over Tran's treys. The board ran out an uneventful Kd-Qh-9h, 2d, 8h, and so did Tran's time on the final table, sending him home with confidence unshaken, in 5th place, with biggest payout of his young career, $353,000.

Bradley Berman, sitting stoic and quiet, found his first verifiable hand, Kc-Kd, after Tuan Le opened with a stiff $170,000 raise. With antes and blinds having gone up to $5,000, 20,000, and 40,000, this wasn't a particularly large raise for the action-loving Le, and Berman, 2nd in chips to Le, countered with a raise of his own – to the tune of $400,000 more. Le barely batted an eye before pushing in nearly 1.5 million more, putting Berman all-in. The bearded Berman called, and Le looked sick when he flipped over Ad-Kh. With $3,000,000 in the pot, the winner would have a sizable advantage over the rest of the table. The flop came Tc-Td-2s, putting Le on fumes, and 8s on the turn ran him down to just 3 outs. But in what can easily be described as one of the most colossal suck-outs in WPT history, Le spiked the Ac on the river to knock Berman out in 4th place. You wouldn't have known it from Berman's quiet, contemplative gaze though. A classy gentleman all the way, he tipped his hat to the poker gods and headed to join his hall-of-fame father in the bleachers, taking $470,452 along to ease the pain.

Now a true force to be reckoned with, dominating the other two players by a nearly 5 to 1 margin, Le proceeded to get dinged up on a series of hands, trying to push Brenes and Hutter around. Fairly quickly, the two shorter stacks had narrowed the gap, both Brenes and Hutter running successful semi-bluffs on the shell-shocked Le. Having burned through nearly 2 million since play went to 3 handed, Le, (still leading with $3,125,000), was happy to see Brenes (short-stacked with $1,440,000) and Hutter (2nd with $2,165,000) go against each other for a change. Hutter, finding Ac-7c, brought it in for $150,000. Humberto, looking a bit like your favorite crazy uncle with his baseball cap and bifocals over his sunglasses, smilingly waved his chips all-in, and turned for a chat with his fans in the stands. Temp Hutter, looking like a semi had just parked on his big toe, anguished over the play, having spotted the 7s burned on the bottom of the deck, reducing one of his potential outs. But he finally gulped, and called the extra $1,430,000, thinking he had the best hand. He looked pale when Humberto flipped up 5h-5c, but he quickly got a little color back when the flop came 9d-6c-2c, giving him the nut flush draw. Humberto sweet-talked the dealer, and she obliged with 2d on the turn. But Jc on the river gave Hutter the nut flush, and Humberto, ever-gracious, patted the dealer on the head and strolled off smiling, in 3rd place, with a nice parting gift of $636,930.

Tuan Le, having smacked his hands together in delight when Humberto was eliminated, clearly was happy to go up against the mild-mannered tax accountant from Virginia. But Hutter, now the chip leader himself, quickly established that his appearance at this final table was no fluke, practically running a bluffing clinic on the super-aggressive Le. Even though he gave up the lead on a Queen-high stone bluff that Le sniffed out, Temp made it clear to the young gun that he was no rocky chip-squeezer. Hutter proceeded to bluff Le off the best hand with a 6 high, then went over the top with 2nd pair, Kings, with an Ace on the board, again forcing Le to muck. Le, looking punch-drunk and truly bewildered at Hutter's clearly superior play, next found himself on the ropes with 2nd pair of 8's to Hutter's top pair of 9's, his all-in bet called, and only two cards to come. But as he did time and again on this night, Le got lucky, hitting a 7 to make a straight on the turn, and turning the tables on Hutter. Hutter never wilted, though, and kept the heat on, raising a third of his remaining stack, $460,000, on Ad-5c. Le, with 7c-6d, called, perhaps setting up a steal or hoping to catch a flop, and he partially did when it came 9h-8d-3d, giving him the up and down straight draw. Le quickly pushed all-in, and Hutter, after a moment's consideration, gambled on his ace, and made a great call, trusting that his Ace was good. But yet again, Le got bailed out, making his straight with a Ts on the river, mercifully – for him – cutting short the poker lesson he never figured on getting from this impressive, unassuming Virginia CPA. Temp Hutter, playing a virtually mistake-free, all-heart heads-up contest, went out 2nd, with $973,256 to augment his income, and a reputation born. Tuan Le unapologetically accepted his lion's share of $1,549,588, and the guaranteed $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship. As Le said on the eve of the final, "you really don't need cards to win. You know, its just about knowing your opponent." Or maybe, as evidenced by this final table, sometimes it's just plain old dumb luck...