May 21 2012, Chad Holloway

On Sunday, the World Poker Tour Season X on Fox Sports Network continued with Part II of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The $10,000 Main Event, which originally took place at the Bellagio from Dec. 6 through 11, 2011, attracted 413 players and created a prize pool of $4,006,100, with $821,612 reserved for first place.

In Part I, the early stages of the tournament were highlighted as well as the first two eliminations from the stacked final table. The first to go was actually last year’s champion, Antonio Esfandiari. On Hand #10 of the final table, action folded to James Dempsey on the button and he put in a big raise. Esfandiari called off from the small blind and was in great shape to double.

Showdown

Unfortunately for him, the board would run out to give Dempsey a pair of fours and the win. With that, Esfandiari’s title defense came to an end in sixth place for $119,418.

Just two hands later, Soi Nguyen opened for 120,000 with and Vitor Coelho committed his last 260,000 with . Vanessa Selbst then came along with and both active players checked down every street as the board ran out . Coelho, who had made the final table of the WPT stop before the Five Diamond, finished in fifth place for $159,224.

Here’s how things stacked up at the top of the broadcast:

WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Final Table

Nguyen Gets Value on Nut Flush: Nguyen was under the gun and opened for 120,000 with , and Selbst opted to defend from the big blind with the . The flop gave Selbst a pair of queens, but she checked to Nguyen, who bet 175,000 with the nut-flush draw. Selbst made the call and then checked the turn. Nguyen set the trap by checking the , leading to the river. Selbst checked her straight and Nguyen came to life with a bet of 325,000. Selbst thought about it, glanced at her opponent, and then made the call. With that, Nguyen collected the 1,310,000 pot while Selbst released a long sigh.

Nguyen-ing: “We all learned together as kids, myself, Nam Le and Nam’s brothers,” Nguyen explained in a feature after the hand on how he learned to play the game. “We actually had to buy a book in the beginning because none of us knew the exact rules to it, and then I went on got married and had a kid, and decided to take the career path, and Nam just went down the poker road and blew up in 2006. I always thought to myself, ‘Wow, I’ve played with him before and taken a couple pots down from him. So hopefully someday, when the time is right financially, that I’m gonna take my stab at it.’ Lo and behold I made the final table.”

Five Questions: In the latest edition of Five Questions, Kimberly Lansing sat down with Daniel Negreanu and talked about a variety of topics including tournaments and his favorite WPT moment. In regards to the latter, Negreanu stated his favorite moment was when he won the Borgata “because it was such a tough field. Very compeititve, and because [he] thought everyone wanted it so bad.” It was also his first $1-million win.

When asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t playing poker, Negreanu responded: “If I quit playing poker, I would probably do some writing, because I’ve always enjoyed it. Do some Bikram yoga, and on the weekends be drinking at the club. You know, not much different than I’m doing right now. I’m kind of living the life I wanted for the most part.”

One for Lucky Chewy: With the blinds at 30,000/60,000 and a 10,000 ante, Nguyen opened for 120,000 with and was met with a three-bet to 400,000 by Andrew Lichtenberger, who held in the big blind. Nguyen made the call and it was heads up to the flop. Lichtenberger was first to act and led out for 525,000, which was enough to win as Nguyen released his hand.

Interestingly, Lichtenberger had taken eighth in the Five Diamond the year before for $67,570.

Double for Selbst: Action folded to Dempsey on the button and he opened for 125,000 with . Lichtenberger was in the small blind and three-bet to 425,000 with , prompting Selbst to move all-in for her last 1,135,000 from the big with . Lichtenberger unenthusiastically made the call and it was off to the races.

As the cards laid, Selbst had a 48 percent chance of winning the hand, but that fell to 40 percent on the flop. “An eight would work as well,” Selbst pointed out. While that was true, it was the on the turn that made her a 78 percent favorite. Lichtenberger was looking for either a three or club on the river to eliminate his tough competitor, but it was not meant to be as the peeled off.

Andrew Lichtenberger Eliminated in Fourth Place: After squeezing out on the button, Nguyen came in with a raise to 160,000 and was immediately met with a three-bet to 450,000 by Dempsey, who held , in the small blind. Lichtenberger was next to act in the big and proceeded to move all-in for 2.75 million with .

Nguyen shot back in his chair and seemed frustrated by the predicament; nonetheless, he made the call while Dempsey quickly got out of the way. Nguyen, who was an 89 percent favorite to win the hand, went to his rail for a celebratory high five while Lichtenberger and Dempsey discussed the situation as well as Russel Brand’s biography. “What can I do,” Lichtenberger said. “Might as well lighten the mood.”

It did seem like a quiet and laid-back atmosphere as the board ran out . Lichtenberger gave Selbst a hug, shook Nguyen’s hand and then made his exit in fourth place for $218,933.

“It’s definitely a learning experience, always,” Lichtenberger told sideline reported Matt Savage in his post-elimination interview when asked about making the transition from online play to live. “There’s so many things different about it like, you know, sitting across from someone and being able to look them in the eye. It’s just a whole different game really. Yeah, I feel I adapted pretty well to it.”

Tune in Next Week: Part III of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is set to air on Sunday, May 27, on FSN, so be sure to check your local listings. If by chance you miss it, check back next week for the latest recap of all the action right here on PokerNews.

Past Foxwoods World Poker Finals Champions

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May 14 2012, Chad Holloway

The Five Diamond World Poker Classic is one of the most popular stops on the World Poker Tour each and every year. On Sunday, Season X of the WPT continued on the Fox Sports Network with the latest Five Diamond World Poker Classic from the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada. The $10,000 Main Event, which originally took place from Dec. 6 through 11, 2011, attracted 413 players and created a prize pool of $4,006,100, with $821,612 reserved for first place.

The broadcast kicked off by highlighting the early stages of the tournament, beginning with Day 1. “Bellagio’s just got that mystique to it, you know,” said Legends of Poker champion Will “The Thrill” Failla. “All the heavies played here. If you win here, you’ve really showed up, you know what I mean? If you can win here, you can win anywhere.”

Indeed, the Five Diamond World Poker Classic has proven a great success each and every year, due in no small part to its location at the Bellagio. Given that it’s in Vegas, the field tends to be dominated by the biggest names in the game, and this year would be no different. Failla, Esfandiari, Erik Seidel, Matt Giannetti, Carlos Mortensen and Faraz Jaka were all among the 283 players who survived Day 1, though all were trailing the big stack of Vanessa Selbst, who finished with 165,800.

On Day 2, the field got even tougher as Barry Greenstein, Noah Schwartz, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Ben Lamb, Jason Mercier, John Hennigan, Freddy Deeb, Daniel Alaei and Doyle Brunson were all among the pros who took advantage of the late registration. After a long day of play, just 149 players remained with Grant Lang’s 382,000 stack leading the pack.

Needless to say, the action on Day 3 was fierce as the field was quickly cut down to size as Seidel, Hennigan and Hellmuth all hit the rail. The latter’s demise came when he ran into the of Canadian Braden Hall. The board ran out an uneventful and the “Poker Brat” was sent packing.

Leading up to the money bubble, both Brunson and Darren Elias were eliminated, leaving 101 players alive when only 100 were slated to be paid. It took some time, but the money bubble burst when Brent Sheirbon found himself all-in holding against the of John Krpan. The board provided no help and Sheirbon earned the unfortunate distinction of bubble boy.

Once players made the money, a flurry of eliminations occurred that saw Failla (93rd – $11,942), Krpan (82nd – $11,942), Jeff Vertes (78th – $11,942), Shaun Deeb (73rd – $11,942), Mortensen (71st – $11,942), Deeb (67th – $12,937), Alan Goehring (59th – $12,937), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (53rd – $12,937) all hit the rail, leaving just 49 players headed into Day 4 including chip leader Kyle Julius, who bagged up 1.457 million.

The fourth day of action began the same way the day prior had ended, with bustouts. Allen Cunningham (46th – $15,922), Allen Kessler (45th – $15,922), Dwyte Pilgrim (37th – $19,903), Scott Clements (34th – $19,903) and Matt Glantz (25th – $23,884) were among the notables to hit the rail, while the WPT’s Raw Deal host Tony Dunst found his tournament life on the line in a classic race with his trailing the of James Dempsey. The flop gave Dunst a flush draw, while the turn added a gut-shot straight draw. Unfortunately for him, the river was a blank and he was sent packing in 18th place for $31,845.

Ty Reiman (17th – $31,845), Matt Marafioti (15th – $39,806) and Blake Kelso (14th – $39,806) joined Dunst on the rail before action came to a halt with just 13 players remaining. Leading the way was former World Series of Poker November Niner Soy Nguyen, who held a monstrous stack of 3.1 million.

It didn’t take long for the first elimination to occur on Day 5. It happened when William Reynolds doubled up Vitor Coelho and was then eliminated at the hands of Hall. Reynold’s 13th-place finish for $39,806 gave him the highest finished by a Season X Ones to Watch, though it was of little consolation.

From there, Julius (12th – $39,806) and David Williams (9th – $47,767) found themselves on the rail, and before long the TV final table bubble was on. How did it burst? Nguyen moved all-in holding on board and got Larry Wells, who won his seat into the tournament in the very last satellite held at the Bellagio, to call off with the inferior .

With that, the final table was set. Once again it was a stacked final table, but the big story was Esfandiari’s title defense and the possibility of becoming the first player in WPT history to win back-to-back titles in the same event; in fact, no player had ever won the same title twice.

Here’s how things stacked up at the start of the final table:

WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Final Table

First Hand: With the blinds at 30,000/60,000 and a 10,000 ante, Dempsey was first to act and opened for 125,000 with . The field folded to Selbst in the small blind and she came over the top for 310,000 with . Nguyen folded in the big blind and Dempsey conceded the hand.

Antonio Esfandiari Eliminated in Sixth Place: On what would be Hand #10 of the final table, action folded to Dempsey on the button and he put in a big raise, enough to put both blinds all in if they chose to make the call. The defending champ did just that from the small blind while the big got out of the way.

Showdown

The flop gave Dempsey a wheel draw, but it was the that spiked on the turn to give him the lead. At that point, short-stacked Coelho shot his arms up in the air, knowing full well that Esfandiari’s elimination would earn him at least $39,806.; meanwhile, “The Magician” was on his last leg, looking for either a ten or five on the river to stay alive. The dealer burned and put out the . With that, Esfandiari’s title defense came to an end in sixth place for $119,418.

Vitor Coelho Eliminated in Fifth Place: On Hand #12, Nguyen opened for 120,000 with and Coelho committed his last 260,000 with . “Ok guys, time to double up,” the softspoken Coelho said. Selbst then came along for the ride with . Both active players proceeded to check down every street as the board ran out , and Nguyen took down the 860,000 pot.

Coelho, who had made the final table the WPT stop before the Five Diamond, finished in fifth place for $159,224. “Very happy, very happy,” Coelho told sideline reporter Matt Savage in his post-elimination interview. “I ran very good, did my best and I’m very pleased with it. I have plans to make my third final table in a row.”

Tune in Next Week: Part II of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is set to air on Sunday, May 20, on FSN, so be sure to check your local listings. If by chance you miss it, check back next week for the latest recap of all the action right here on PokerNews.

Past Foxwoods World Poker Finals Champions

If you love poker, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for all the latest updates on the World Poker Tour.

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