In what became a record breaking field (2776 players made it the second largest live tournament in history), a young 25-year old American won a massive $757,839 for his braclet winning performance in the WSOP's $1,500 No Limit Hold'Em Freezout.
Brandon Cantu, from Las Vegas, Nevada, picked up the Series' second bracelet when he swept aside a final table which included veteran Ron Stanley and previous Main Event winner Carlos Mortensen.
It wasn't all plain sailing however, as Brandon was relatively low at one point. On Day 2, his fortunes changed when he eliminated Greg Raymer, somehow making a runner runner flush to outdraw the 2004 winner.
From then on, he took the comp by the scruff of the neck and headed into the final day, and the final table for that matter, with a 773,000 chip lead.
Hot on his heels was Lee Padilla with 753k, whilst the table's biggest name, Mortensen, was third lowest with a less impressive, but still highly playable 337k.
However, it was indeed the Spaniard who bit the dust first, when his pocket fours were outdrawn by Mark Ly, who spiked a queen to remove the table's biggest threat.
Next to go was Mark Swartz, closely followed by fellow low-stacker Ron Stanley. And with Don Zewin, Brent Roberts, Lee Padilla, and Drew Rubin taking 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd respectively, we were left with our final two, and a rather brief heads up battle.
The final hand derived from a board of A-J-6-7 where both players had made a pair. Mark Ly's all-in move with J-4 was briskly called by Cantu's Big Slick. No Jack or Four arrived, and Cantu rose as champion.
Oddly enough, this was Cantu's biggest scoop to date, and, although he has recently become a professional player, he has yet to make anything close to the amount he won in this 2nd WSOP Event.
There were plenty of other pro's for him to worry about too. Erik Seidel, Paul Darden, Phil Hellmuth (right), Blair Rodman, Phil Gordon, and Sharam Sheikhan all made the money, not to mention bubble to the bubble Jennifer Harman and Brits Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott and London's Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing.
However, Cantu surpassed all these stars to take 1st prize and the lion's share of the $3,789,240.
Next stop? - the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'Em Event.
Bring it on!
[Ed note: To see the final result of this comp, please click here]