The Bellagio Cup III was played at the spectacular Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The tournament lasted 6 days from July 10, 2007 to July 15, 2007. There were 535 hopefuls who each paid $10,000 + $300 to buy into the tournament. They contributed to a total pool prize of $5,189,500. There were 100 payouts over the course of the tourney.

The six players who made it to the final table included Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, a tenacious poker professional who played steadily throughout the championship. At the final table, the seating arrangements were:

• Kevin Saul in Seat 1
• Eric Panayioyou in Seat 2
• Konstantin Puchkov in Seat 3
• Mike Matusow in Seat 4
• Danny Wong in Seat 5
• Shane Schleger in Seat 6

The chip count for the players at the final table was:

• Saul – 4,210,000
• Panayioyou – 759,000
• Puchkov – 1,005,000
• Matusow – 1,872,000
• Wong – 1,022,000
• Schleger – 1,838,000

As final table got under way, Saul was ahead of the pack in chip count and was strongly supported by his mother. This aggressive internet player goes by the nickname “BeL0WaB0Ve” at online poker sites such as Bodog, Poker Stars and UltimateBet. Having made a sizeable amount playing poker online, Saul was looking for his inaugural WPT championship title.

Saul proved a formidable opponent to Matusow at heads up play. The experienced, methodical grinder faced off with the young internet star for the first prize of $1,342,320. Saul, however, had different ideas, beating Matusow with a winning hand of Q hearts and Q spades to Matusow’s 7 clubs and 8 clubs. Three diamonds on the turn and King diamonds on the river meant that Saul clinched the WPT title at Bellagio Cup III. Matusow was rewarded with $671,320 for being runner-up.

The rest of the players took home the following prize winnings:

• Wong - $361,480
• Schleger - $232,490
• Panayioyou - $154,920
• Puckhov - $103,280

Kevin Saul is aged 28 and was born on May 25, 1980 in Chicago, Illinois. He started his foray into poker at a very young age, playing poker at home games with friends before progressing to online poker. Saul distinguished himself as a skilful internet player. Although he attended a few semesters at college, Saul did not graduate. Turning his full attention to poker, he is a professional player with $1.9 million in total live tournament winnings as at end 2008.

-- Reinu C.