$320,000 is not only the first place prize money at the Foxwood Casino's World Poker Finals, it is also, the total area in square feet of available gaming space at the casino, a figure which makes this the world's largest casino. Almost 90 players paid the $10,000 entry fee to take part in the tournament, making the total prize pool just shy of a million dollars. From the beginning it was destined to be a classic event for the WPT as the final table was loaded with 5 high profile pros, and only one amateur. It was one of the pros though, Ron Rose, who had a particularly rough day.

Early on he had a pair of wired 10's. But when Howard Lederer, with an A-K, went all in against him, the normally aggressive Rose laid down his hand. Just a few hands later Ron, with A-J, watched Andy Bloch call him pre-flop, then check after a Q 4, 4 flop. Ron felt confident enough to go All In, but knew it wasn’t his day when Bloch called the bet, turned over pocket 10's, the same hand Ron had folded earlier, then watched a pair of deuces come up on the turn and river, giving Andy the bulk of his chips.

Much of the exciting play on the day revolved around Phil Ivey and Layne Flack, respectively number one and two in chip position at the beginning of the round. The two seemed to take turns making plays, sometimes bluffing, and sometimes simply making brilliant reads.

In one such hand Phil found himself in a four handed pot with only a Q-6 off suit. After a K 10 3 flop Bloch checked. Howard came in with a relatively safe $8,000 bet and Layne folded. Ivey, sensing uncertainty in Lederer's bet, raised the bet to $25,000. Sure enough, Andy and Howard (with a K-4 suited) laid down their cards, adding to Ivey's chip lead.

But in the end this was one of the few hands that Howard played and lost. For most of the day Lederer not only made the right reads, he was getting great cards. It was this combination that eventually took him from the second lowest stack on the table at the beginning of the day, to eventual chip leader going heads up with Flack. Soon Lederer, was walking away with the World Poker Finals title, a $25,000 seat at the WPT's Championship event, and a dollar for every square foot of the enormous Foxwoods casino.

- Thomas Hardy