What better venue to kick off Season 6 of the World Poker Tour than the spectacular Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, California. The WPT World Championship was held from April 19, 2008 to April 26, 2008, spanning 7 heart stopping days. With 100 payouts, entry cost to the tournament was $25,000 + $500. The championship attracted 545 players who were keen on having a shot at the total pool prize of $13,216,250.

Game began at 5pm PST on April 26, 2008 and 6 skilful players faced off for the final showdown:

• Seat 1: John Roveto
• Seat 2: Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen
• Seat 3: David Chiu
• Seat 4: Tommy Le
• Seat 5: Cory Carroll
• Seat 6: Jeff King

The chip leader at the start of the final table was Gus Hansen.

Roveto - 2,720,000
Hansen - 8,570,000
Chiu - 6,050,000
Le - 1,950,000
Carroll - 6,670,000
King - 1,305,000.

Hansen cleared everyone at the table expeditiously with a polished game strategy that saw King exit early with winnings of $263,815. The rest of the players were picked off one by one by the Great Dane from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the respective prizes were:

• John Roveto - $923, 355
• Cory Carroll - $593,645
• Tommy Le - $395,725

When Hansen and Chiu faced off for the final round, blinds were 100,000 to 200,000 and antes at 20,000. Hansen had a 5:1 lead over Chiu at the beginning of heads up play.

After pecking away at Hansen's chip lead, David Chiu found himself calling the Dane's all-in bet of $8.675 million on an Ac Tc 8s board. Hansen held Ts 8h for two pair, while Chui held As 9s for top pair. The river brought an Ace of hearts, giving Chiu three Aces, and the title.

Chiu, who now holds 4 World Series of Poker bracelets, has amassed more than $5.9 million in total live tournament winnings as of the end of 2008.

Aged 48, Chiu was born on August 23, 1960 in China and his home town is Rowland Heights, California. He graduated from Oregon State University with a major in computer science. Chiu started his career by opening a Chinese restaurant in Denver, Colorado before selling off the business in 1996 to play poker professionally.

He attributes much of his wins to the fact that he’s partially deaf in both ears from a childhood swimming accident that lost him 35% of his hearing. He can read players acutely and has high concentration as his other senses heightened to compensate for his lack of hearing.

-- Reinu C.