The 100th tournament in the World Poker Tour’s history couldn’t be at a more luxurious stop than the Bellagio in Las Vegas. And with a field of 639 making the prize pool $15,495,750, which meant the first prize was $3,970,415.
With blinds starting at 60,000/120,000 and a 15,000 ante, the players and chip counts at the final table were as follows:
Seat 1: Kirk Morrison Chips: 4,194,000
Seat 2: Guy Laliberte Chips: 4,690,000
Seat 3: Carlos Mortensen Chips: 6,501,000
Seat 4: Mike Wattel Chips: 2,587,000
Seat 5: Paul Lee Chips: 11,828,000
Seat 6: Tim Phan Chips: 2,162,000
Kirk Morrison held Kc Js and raisied to 425,000, and Wattel decided to move All-In for his 857,000 with Jd 9d. The board showed 10d 4h 3h 8c Ah, and Mike Wattel was eliminated in 6th place for $309,405.
The very next hand saw Paul Lee limp in with his 2d 2c, then Phan raised All-In for his 1,720,000 with 9s 9c, but Morrison looked down at As Ac and came over the top All-In. Lee folded, and Phan’s tournament life was on the line. The board came Js 8d 4s Jh 7s, and Tim Phan was sent to the rail in 5th place with $464,110.
In other action, Laliberte wasn’t going to be left out, so he came into the pot with AdJc for a one million raise. Morrison called with 2d2c. The flop showed Qc6c3c, Laliberte bet two million, Morrison raised All-In, and Laliberte called. The turn and river were 3s and 8s, and Guy Laliberte was sent home from the show in 4th place with pocket change in the form of $696,220.
Morrison raised to 1.2 million with Ah10s, and Lee reraised All-In with As9c. Morrison called. The cards came Qh 7s 2h 10h 2s, and Lee was eliminated in 3rd place for a cool $1,082,920.
Heads-up play then began with chip counts as follows:
Kirk Morrison 19,700,000
Carlos Mortensen 12,550,000
Mortensen took his Kh Jh in for a five million raise, and Morrison reraised All-In for 13.1 million. Mortensen called. The flop was 7c 4h 3c Jc 3d, and Kirk Morrison ended his tournament as the runner-up in 2nd place for $2,011,135.
Carlos Mortensen won the title of WPT World Champion and the biggest first place prize ever awarded on the WPT of $3,970,415. He also became the first player ever to win the World Series of Poker main event and the World Poker Tour championship event.
--Steven Eddleston
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