WPT Championship - Recap of Day 5 & 6

As day 5 of the World Poker Tour Championship began, there were still 27 players in contention. At the end of the day, however, the field would be reduced down to the final six players.

Phil Hellmuth, unfortunately, would not make it to the final table and continue his quest to be the first player to win both the WSOP Championship and WPT Championship (although Carlos Mortensen still had a chance to accomplish this). He went all in with pocket jacks against Thomas Wahlroos, but it just so happened that Wahlroos had pocket aces. Phil was sent packing in 18th place.

Roland de Wolfe finished 4th last year, and he was no doubt hoping to improve on that. But he moved all in with A-J against Jimmy Tran’s A-K. The end result was De Wolfe finishing in 26th place.

Jim “KrazyKanuck” Worth finished in 16th place, while Sorel “imper1um” Mizzi finished in 15th. David Levi came in 13th, and Can Kim Hua was eliminated in the 12th spot. When Grant Lang was knocked out in 11th place, the remaining 10 players were moved to the final table. At this point, the standings were:

1. Paul Lee - 8,994,000
2. Thomas Wahlroos - 7,186,000
3. Guy Laliberte - 3,410,000
4. Carlos Mortensen - 3,394,000
5. Tim Phan - 2,356,000
6. Kirk Morrison - 1,783,000
7. Mike Wattel - 1,434,000
8. Jimmy Tran - 1,327,000
9. Scott Fischman - 1,265,000
10. Tommy Vu - 1,083,000

While it took 5 ½ hours to go from 27 players to 10, it took another 5 ½ hours to go from 10 players down to the final 6. That’s an elimination of one player every hour and 20 minutes. But in the end, only 6 remained to go into Day 6. Let’s take a look.

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP FINALISTS

Seat 1 - Kirk Morrison - 4,194,000
Seat 2 - Guy Laliberte - 4,690,000
Seat 3 - Carlos Mortensen - 6,501,000
Seat 4 - Mike Wattel - 2,887,000
Seat 5 - Paul Lee - 11,828,000
Seat 6 - Tim Phan - 2,162,000

Play then stopped for the day and resumed on Day 6 to crown a new WPT champion. The first elimination occurred on Hand #21 when Mike Wattel busted out against Kirk Morrison’s K-J. Tim Phan was the next to go. He went all in on the button with pocket nines and was called by Kirk Morrison and his pocket aces.

On Hand #73, Guy Laliberte called Kirk Morrison’s all in with the over card and a flush draw. Morrison had pocket deuces, and those held up to put Laliberte out of the tournament. At this stage, Morrison had twice as many chips as Mortensen and Paul Lee combined.

On Hand #87, Paul Lee moved all in from the big blind and Morrison called. Morrison had A-10 while Lee had A-9. Lee didn’t get any help on the flop, though, and a later 10 card sealed his fate.

Heads-up play started at this point, and Morrison led Mortensen by 19.45 million to 12.8 million. Morrison had the advantage in the early stages and continued to add to his chip lead. Mortensen seemed to be on the ropes several times, but Morrison could just never quite put the cagey Spaniard away.

At one point, the blinds had increased to the point that 3 million was in the pot before the cards were even dealt. On the 95th hand of heads-up play, Mortensen raised to almost 5 million. Morrison moved all in and Mortensen called with a K-J. Morrison had an A-4. The flop came up 7-4-3, giving Morrison the lead with a pair of fours. The turn card was a jack, and Mortensen shot into the lead. A 3 came on the river and Carlos Mortensen took the win and became the first player to ever win the WSOP Main Event and the WPT Championship. The final payouts looked like this:

1. Carlos Mortensen $3,970,415
2. Kirk Morrison $2,011,135
3. Paul Lee $1,082,920
4.Guy Laliberte $696,220
5. Tim Phan $464,110
6. Mike Wattel $309,405

We here at DaretoGamble want to send out our congratulations to Carlos Mortensen and his history-making victory. This cinches that he will go down as one of the greatest tournament players of all time.

WPT Championship - Recap of Day 5 & 6