Flipchip and I returned to the historical Fontana Room at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas where the final table of the latest World Poker Tour event took place and was taped for the upcoming season of the World Poker Tour. The buy-in for the final table of the Five Diamond Poker Classic main event was $15,000 and 555 players began on Monday. Five days later, we're down to six players including the legendary Doyle Brunson, the always entertaining Phil Laak, Joanne "J.J." Liu, the best player in Europe in Patrik Antonius, internet player Darrell Dicken, and Rehne Pedersen of Denmark.

Tickets were in such high demand that rumors circulated that people were scalping seats for over $1K because everyone wanted to see the Unabomber take on Doyle Brunson at the final table. Plus Joanne Liu was chasing history in an attempt to become the first female to ever win a WPT event. There are plenty of big time pros in the audience including Billy Baxter, Marcel Luske, Chau Giang, Todd Brunson, Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, Gus Hansen, Jen Harman, Tom McEvoy, The Grinder, and Marco Traniello.

Here were the payouts for the final TV table:

1. $2,078,185
2. $1,046,470
3. $563,485
4. $362,140
5. $241,495
6. $160,995

Here's the final table seating including chip counts courtesy of Poker Wire:

Seat 1: Darrell Dicken $3.510M
Seat 2: Patrick Antonius $1.755M
Seat 3: Rehne Pedersen $3.225M
Seat 4: Joanne "J.J." Liu $3.63M=chipleader
Seat 5: Phil "The Unabomber" Laak $2.505M
Seat 6: Doyle Brunson $2.025M

During the first orbit Joanne Liu moves all in over the top of Phil Laak. He quickly folded and offered Liu $4 to see her hand. Liu told him that he needed to wait to see it on TV. By the end of the first hour of play, Doyle Brunson was the short stack with $1M and Joanne remained the chipleader with over $4M. But the biggest mover was Patrik Antonius, who took down two big pots. One was over 900K and the other was over $1.5M.

Phil Laak was the first player busted. He ran into Patrik Antonius' A-A. Patrik raised and Laak moved all in with K-3o. Patrik quickly called and his hand held up despite Laak flopping a pair and turning a gutshot straight draw. Phil Laak finished in 6th place and won $160,995. Antonius took over the chip lead with $6M.

Doyle Brunson doubled up at the right time when he moved all in with A-K and Darrell Dicken called with A-J. Brunson's Big Slick held up. Brunson then had over $3M in chips and was int he middle of the pack after he crippled Dicken.

Darrell Dicken came from behind and doubled up against Rehne Pedersen. Dicken had J-10 and Pederson had A-Q. Dicken flopped a ten and his hand held up. Pedersen slipped to the short stack with just $1.1M. Pedersen got his revenge a few hands later when he doubled through Darrell Dicken's Q-J versus his A-J when he flopped an ace. Dicken would be eliminated when his 4-4 lost a race to Patrik Antonius' A-J when Antonius flopped a Jack. Dicken won $241,495 for 5th place. Antonius' stack hovered around $8M.

Rehne Pedersen doubled up against Joanne Liu. He had been playing tight all night long when he moved all in with K-K. Liu called with 4-4 and her hand did not improve. On a flop of 8-4-2, Brunson moved all in. Antonius called with 9-9. Brunson paired his kicker on the turn, but that gave Antonius a flush draw. The river didn't help Antonius and Brunson's two pair held up. He doubled up and had almost $5M in chips.

Joanne Liu moved all in with A-3. She was up against Patrik Antonius' A-10s. Her hand did not improve and she was eliminated in 4th place. She won $362,140 and missed her shot at becoming the first female to ever win a WPT event.

Doyle Brunson took over the chip lead after his 3-3 held up against Patrik Antonius' A-2. He rivered a full house to cripple the young Antonius. With three players remaining, Brunson had a 2 to 1 chip advantage over Patrik Antonius $4.3M and Pedersen's $3.5M. He had more chips than both his opponents combined. His lead would dwindle after he doubled up Rehne Pedersen. Brunson's A-7 lost to Pedersen's 2-2. Brunson lost some more chips when he moved all in with A-6 and Patrik Antonius called with A-9. They both flopped and Ace but Antonius' hand held up. The young man from Finland doubled up against Texas Dolly. With a shortstack, Brunson moved all in with K-J and Rehne Pedersen quickly called with K-K. On the turn, Doyle picked up an open ended straight draw but he didn't improve on the river. Doyle Brunson was eliminated in 3rd place. He won $563,485.

When play reached heads up, Rehne Pedersen had $9.39M to Patrik Antonius $8.27M. It was the battle of Northern Europe with Pedersen representing Denmark and Antonius representing Finland. During the money presentation one of the Bellagio girls dropped some of the cash off her tray and landed right in front of Flipchip and me. They had to do a second take. Gus Hansen made a rare appearance in the Fontana Room and gave some encouraging words to his fellow countryman Rehne Pedersen and to Patrik Antonius who he battled it out with at the final table in Barcelona a few months ago.

Rehne Pedersen moved into the chiplead 10M to 7M when he took down a pot on the flop. Antonius even out things but lost the biggest hand of the tournament when he was a huge favorite. Both players were all in pre-flop. Patrik Antonius had As-Ks and Rehne Pedersen showed Ad-4d. The flop was 5-6-7 and Pedersen caught an amazing board. The turn was a 3s and he turned a straight, but that gave Antonius a flush draw. It didn't hit and Antonius was crippled. With just $150K left, on the very next hand Antonius was all-in with Ks-7s. Pedersen had 8-8 and his hand held up. Pedersen won $2,078,185 and a $25K seat in the WPT Championships in April. Antonius won $1,046,470 for second place.

When Mike Sexton asked Pedersen how he felt after his massive come from behind win, the quiet Dane said, "I don't know what to say except I just won $2 million." Not too bad for someone who won a $100 satellite.

Congrats to Rehne Pedersen and to Patrik Antonius for playing excellent poker all week long. Also special congrats goes out to Texas Dolly himself who took on two young guns who were almost 1/3 his age. This marks the final tournament that both Flipchip and I will cover in 2005. Have a great holidays and we'll see you in 2006!

Tao of Pauly...http://mcgrupp.blogspot.com
Truckin'...http://mcgtruckin.blogspot.com
Tao of Poker...http://taopoker.blogspot.com

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."-Hunter S. Thompson