November 02 2011, Donnie Peters

The World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods concluded on Tuesday after an eight-hour, 200-hand final table. At the end of the night, Daniel Santoro took down Christian Harder heads-up to claim the $449,910 first-place prize.

Coming into the official WPT final table, Steven Brackesy held the chip lead. The shortest stack was former WPT champion and Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger. Falling in sixth place, though, was the second shortest stack entering the day, Eli Berg. He was eliminated on the third hand of the day.

According to the WPT Live Update Team, Berg raised under the gun to 36,000 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000. Harder made the call from the button and Frankenberger called from the big blind. The flop came down and Frankenberger checked. Berg fired a continuation bet of 73,000 and Harder called. Frankenberger folded.

The turn brought the and Berg checked. Harder bet 104,000 and Berg made a check-raise for all of his chips. Harder called and showed . Berg held . The river was the and Harder’s aces won the pot to knock out Berg in sixth place for $83,580.

Frankenberger fell in fifth place, on the 13th hand of the final table, and took home $99,585. Start-of-the-day chip leader Brackesy raised from under the gun to 37,000. Santoro called from the cutoff seat, Harder three-bet to 127,000 from the button, and then Frankenberger reraised all-in from the big blind. After Brackesy and Santoro folded, Harder snap-called with . Frankenberger tabled . The flop, turn and river ran out and Harder won the pot.

Ten hands later, Brackesy hit the rail in fourth place. It was still the same level and he was eliminated by Santoro. Brackesy was all-in preflop with after six-bet shoving into Santoro.

Brackesy made it 43,000 to go from the small blind, Santoro reraised to 110,000 out of the big blind, Brackesy four-bet to 243,000 and then Santoro five-bet to 440,000. Brackesy moved all-in and Santoro called holding . No help came for Brackesy as the board ran out . He was eliminated and earned $129,816 for his finish.

Falling in third place was Bob Carbone and he took home $166,271. The blinds were up to 15,000/30,000/5,000 and Santoro min-raised to 60,000 from the button. Carbone moved all-in from the big blind, but got snap-called by Santoro who held . Carbone held . A rather uneventful board followed and Carbone was eliminated.

With the tournament now down to two players, Santoro was pitted against Harder for the title. Santoro held the chip lead going into heads-up play with 4.49 million in chips to Harder’s 1.23 million.

Around 28 hands into the match, Harder lost a big pot to Santoro and was knocked down to just nine big blinds. He was able to double up on the very next hand, but still only had 780,000 in chips to Santoro’s 4.94 million. After getting ground down a bit more over the next couple of hands, Harder found another double to 1.21 million on Hand No. 130.

Several hands later, Harder lost another big pot to Santoro and was back under one million. Much like before, he doubled on the very next hand and got back to 1.71 million in chips. Shortly after that, he won a big pot worth 1.8 million in chips to get nearly even with Santoro. On Hand No. 153, Harder took a slight lead for the first time in the match.

Although Harder made a very strong comeback from the short stack, Santoro stuck to his guns and ground Harder right back down. Then, on Hand No. 185, Harder doubled to take the lead of 3.99 million to 1.68 million. He didn’t hold onto the lead for too long, though. On Hand No. 189, Santoro doubled back and took the lead again with 3.18 million to 2.49 million. The chips stayed right around the same before the final hand came up on Hand No. 200.

The blinds were up to 40,000/80,000/10,000 and Harder min-raised from the button to 160,000. Santoro reraised to 425,000 and then Harder reraised all-in for right around 2.5 million. Santoro instantly called with . He was in a flip with .

The flop was and Harder’s tens stayed in front. The turn didn’t change anything and left Santoro needing an ace or a king on the river to knock out Harder and win the title. On the river, Santoro got just what he wanted when the hit the felt and gave him the win. For his runner-up finish, Harder took home $248,962.

Final Table Results

For his win, Santoro took home $449,910 along with a $25,500 WPT Championship seat.

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*Photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters

October 31 2011, Brett Collson

Day 4 of the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods saw a field of 27 trimmed down to just eight players, leaving what should be a short Day 5 when the official six-handed final table is reached. Christian Harder enters Monday with a slim chip lead over Daniel Santoro, but a handful of well-known pros are still in contention for the top prize of $450,000.

Reigning WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger led the way when Day 4 began, but Jack Schanbacher, Harder, and two-time WPT champion Jonathan Little were close on his heels. Among the first to exit on Sunday were Allen Kessler (25th), Cornel Cimpan (23rd), and Josh Bergman (19th), all of whom received $19,916 for their efforts. Played slowed significantly with two tables remaining, but players like Bernard Lee (16th) and Matt Stout (14th) and Matt Glantz (12th) were sent to the rail just shy of the final table. Glantz has become very familiar with 12th place lately; he took 12th in most recent WPT event at Borgata, and two weeks prior to that, he finished 12th in the Epic Poker Tour Series 2 Main Event.

Two former champs of the event tangled on the “unofficial” final table bubble and one was sent packing in 10th place. Jonathan Little (Season VII champ) eliminated his good friend Hoyt Corkins (Season I champ) after Corkins moved his short stack in preflop with ace-king. Little had and came from behind as the board ran out , and Corkins was sent home just short of the final table for the second straight year (he was 12th last year).

After Chris Klodnicki sent Andy Rossi packing in ninth place, Harder claimed the chip lead by winning a sizable pot from Santoro. According to the WPT Live Reporting Team, Santoro raised to 25,000 preflop (blinds 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante) and Harder and Little called. The flop brought and Little checked. Santoro bet 45,000, Harder called, and Little got out of the way. The prompted a bet of 90,000 from Santoto, and Harder called, bringing the on the river. Both players decided to check, and Santoro flipped up for a combo draw that whiffed. Harder showed for top pair, and he scooped a pot worth more than 350,000.

Harder has his eyes on his first WPT title, but Little is looking to add his name to the record books. Only Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen have won three titles since the WPT was formed in 2002, and Little could tie them with a victory in this event. In addition to his win at the World Poker Finals in 2008, Little also took down the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown for more than $1 million in 2007. His chance at history adds a fun dynamic to Monday’s penultimate day at Foxwoods.

Play will resume at 1200 EDT (1600 GMT) on Monday and continue until a final table of six is in place. Here’s a look at the seating assignment when play begins on Day 5:

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

Follow Brett Collson on Twitter – @brettcollson