The North American Poker Championship was a mega event that saw 504 poker hopefuls pay $10,000 each to enter the championship. The event was held at FallsView Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada from October 26, 2007 to November 2, 2007. A total pool prize was C$5,133,335, equivalent to US$5,303,060, was a crowd puller, and the championship lasted 8 days with 45 payouts being made.

The final game saw a motley crew of 2 former WPT champions, Barry Greenstein and Jonathan Little, and 2 young, 19 year old internet professionals, Kofi Farkye and Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza. David Cloutier was the amateur at the table. The seating arrangements at the final game were:

• Kofi Farkye in Seat 1
• Jonathan Little in Seat 2
• Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza in Seat 3
• David Cloutier in Seat 4
• Barry Greenstein in Seat 5
• Scott “BigRiskky” Clements in Seat 6

The chips were unevenly distributed at the start of the final table with Little having the lion’s share of 2,616,000 chips. He was followed by Clements with 2,483,000 chips. Amateur Cloutier started with 1,614,000 chips. The internet professionals Farkye and Garza each had 1,504,000 chips and 1,320,000 chips respectively. Greenstein had less than 500k with 447,000 chips.

At the final table, the two internet professionals were the first to be eliminated. Garza walked away with C$178,727 (US$184,706) and Farkye hit the rails with C$229,791 (US$237,478). Greenstein ended his run at the final table with prize winnings of C$306,388 (US$316,638). Cloutier, who surprised the crowd with his tenacity and skill, finished third with a cash prize of C$372,772 (US$385,242).

Heads up play between Little and Clements lasted just 14 hands. Clements had the chip lead of 6,400,000 chips to Little’s 3,685,000 chips. With the crowd tensed to see a thrilling finish, Clements won the WPT title with his winning hand of Q diamonds and 5 diamonds to Little’s King clubs and 4 hearts. “BigRiskky” Clements netted C$1,456,585 (US$1,505,312) in prize money while Little rounded off the championship with C$714,905 (US$738,821).

Scott Clements, a professional poker player in his late twenties, hails from Mount Vernon, Washington. He only entered the tournament circuit in 2005 and already holds 2 WSOP bracelets. He began as a mortgage broker and gradually learned poker through hosting his brother’s local poker tour in his garage. His ambition is to win as many WSOP bracelets, final tables and cashes as he can travelling the poker circuit with his wife. Clements’ total live tournament winnings exceed US$3.1million as at end 2008.

-- Reinu C.