blonde poker

 
Back in the Spring of 2003, the Travel Channel on American cable broadcast the first season of the now iconic World Poker Tour. Fives years and millions of dollars later and the WPT is still alive and kicking, but under constant pressure from new emerging tours and the expectance to keep the idea fresh and unique.

With recent outings seeing numbers, and consequently prizepools drop to unfamiliar lows, the WPT hit back earlier this month with their first ever bounty tournament at the Bay 101 Shooting Star event in San Jose. Comprising of a credible 375 runners, the tournament also boasted bounties on the heads of fifty of poker’s elite.

One of those ‘elite’ was bracelet winner Jennifer Harman, the Full Tilt sponsored pro finishing in 3rd place for $330,000 and holding the prestigious honour of being the tournament’s final bounty. Also notable in his presence was John Phan. ‘Razor’ was the 4th place finisher in the 2005 Grand Final at the Bellagio, but could only manage 6th place on this occasion for $135,000. Newcomer Mike Baker and circuit regular Noah Jefferson also finalled in 5th and 4th respectively.

With two left, it was 2006 bracelet winner Brandon Cantu locking horns against California’s Steve Sung. Originally from Vancouver, Washington, Cantu had already collated $30,000 in bounty winnings after triumphing over the likes of Phil Ivey. Barry Greenstein, and Phil He11muth and subsequently took a monster chip lead into the final day. Sung, fourth in 2007’s Barcelona WPT, was a worthy opponent with plenty of game.

After a fearsome heads-up battle, however, it was the former who came up smelling of roses, his elimination of Sung being rewarded with a $1,000,000 payday. Sung, meanwhile, took home $585,000 for his second place finish.

1st  Brandon Cantu – Las Vegas, NV -- $1,000,000
2nd  Steve Sung – Torrance, CA -- $585,000
3rd  Jennifer Harman – Las Vegas, NV -- $330,000
4th  Noah Jefferson – Santa Monica, CA -- $265,000
5th  Mike Baker – Maracopa, AZ -- $200,000
6th  John Phan – Long Beach, CA – $135,000

A fortnight later and the Tour bus was back on the road, this time setting its sights on the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada for the 2008 World Poker Challenge. Last year won by Justin Coang Van Tran, this year’s final table saw the return of Mr Consistent himself, David Pham, the serial final tabler finishing 5th and yet again just falling short of that elusive first WPT title.

That honour, however, would fall to the 2005 PPT 5-Star World Poker Classic champion, Lee Markholt, Now with over two million in tournament winnings, Markholt fended off 260 other players to take the title and the $439,815 first prize.

Although plaudits go to Cantu and Markholt for their victories, one must also commend David Pham for his return to the final table in Reno and his incredible form of late. First cashing in 2003’s L.A. Poker Classic, David has gone on to cash a further ten times in WPT events including six final tables. A former cleaner from Vietnam, David has accrued over seven million dollars in tournament winnings and is surely one of the WPT’s true success stories.

1st  Lee Markholt -- $493,815
2nd  Bryan Devonshire – $271,625
3rd  Zachary Hyman – $149,862
4th  Jason Potter -- $103,030
5th  David Pham -- $93,664
6th  Jeff Dewitt -- $84,297