Nick Schulman wins Foxwoods!

The final table of the WPT World Poker Finals was held Friday at Foxwoods, the largest casino in the world, which is nestled in the hills of Western Connecticut. That was the site where history was made when Nick "Takeover" Schulman became the youngest player to ever win a WPT title. He outlasted a field of 783 players and beat out a final table that featured some top pros such as BIll Gazes, Allen Cunningham, and WPT founder Lyle Berman.

Here are some quick stats:
Entrants: 783
Buy-in: $10,000
Chipleader: Nick Schulman $3.5M
Average Stack: $1.3M

Chip Counts:
1. Nick Schulman (New York City) $3.502M
2. Anthony "Tony" Licastro (Long Valley, New Jersey) $1.412M
3. Allen Cunningham (Las Vegas, NV) $795K
4. Lenny Cortellino (Lewiston, Maine) $773K
5. Bill Gazes (Old Westbury, NY) $693K
6. Lyle Berman (Las Vegas, NV) $659K

Payouts:
1st $2,142,000 + $25K Seat in the WPT Championships at the Bellagio
2nd $1,035,000
3rd $759,000
4th $483,000
5th $345,000
6th $276,000

Lyle Berman with Mike Sexton

When the final table began, Nick Schulman had more than a 2 to 1 chiplead over second place Tony Licastro. He is just 21 and had a huge run late in Day 4 to take over the chip lead. Both Bill Gazes and Allen Cunningham have been at WPT final tables. Lenny Cortellino won a $5K event last week and won the World Poker Finals Player of the Year. Tony Licastro cashed in a WSOP event this year and also finished 11th at the WSOP Circuit in San Diego.

Cards are in the air at 4:25pm. In less than three and a half hours, Nick Schulman would go onto to win his first WPT event. Early on Allen Cunningham made a run picking up a few small pots uncontested and reached the million dollar mark. On the 14th hand, we had our first elimination when Tony Licastro moved all in preflop with 10-10 and Lenny Cortellino called with 8-8. They both flopped sets! Alas stack grew to over $2.1M in chips.

Behind the scenes at Foxwoods

Bill Gazes eventually doubled up against Tony Licastro when his K-K held up against Q-Q. Bill moved up to around a million in chips, but he still trailed the chipleader, Nick who sat on $3.6M. Nick would add some more chips when he busted Lyle Berman in 5th place. Nick had A-K against Berman's A-J. Lyle Berman's hand did not improve and he was eliminated. He won $345K for 5th place. At that point, Nick Schulman had over a 4 to 1 advantage over second place. And he still had $1M chips more than the other three remaining players combined.

With a shortstack, Allen Cunningham moved all in preflop for $970K with J-10 against Nick Schulman's K-K. Cunningham's hand did not improve and he finished in 4th place winning $483K. With three players remain and Nick has well over $5 million in chips. In less than 40 hands, three players were eliminated.

Bill Gazes was the shortstack but doubled up when his 3-3 held up against Tony Liscastro's Ah-Jh. Tony turned a nut flush draw, but it didn't hit. Bill moved up to $945K. Tony slipped to $850K. And Nick ha all the remainder of the chips. A few orbits later, Bill Gazes moved all in with A-A and Tony Licastro called with K-10. Tony flopped a miracle straight when 9-Q-J fell. Bill's aces got cracked and he doubled up Tony. Bill 's stack dropped to $1.1 million and Tony had about the same.

In one of the biggest pot of the day, Nick Schulman raised and Tony Licastro moved all in for over the top of Nick for $1M with A-9. Nick called with A-5s. Tony's hand held up and he doubled up against Nick. Tony has $2.1 to Nick's $4.3M. That was the first big hand that Nick lost at the final table. He had stayed out of trouble and avoided playing big pots and won several small ones until he doubled up Tony.

Nick Schulman eventually busted Bill Gazes in 3rd place. Bill had K-8 and Nick flipped over A-Q. Nick flopped an ace and his hand held up. Bill Gazes won $759K for third place.

Here are some pictures of the money presentation:

Nick had about a 2 to 1 chip lead over Tony Licastro the two began heads up play. On hand #89 and on the fourth hand of heads up play Nick Schulman beat Tony Licastro and picked up his first WPT victory. Nick turned a flush against Tony Licastro's two pair to knock him out in second place. Tony won $1,035,000 for second place and Nick took home $2,142,000 and a $25K Seat in the WPT Championships at the Bellagio next April. Congrats to Nick!

Nick "Takeover" Schulman: 2005 Foxwoods World Poker Finals Champion

See ya in mid-December for the WPT Five DIamond Classic at the Bellagio.