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 The
Five Diamond World Poker Classic was the World Poker Tour event I was looking forward to most in season three. The final six
players included the entertaining (and great players)
Daniel Negreanu and
Humberto Brenes. The four other players included
Jennifer Harman, Nam Le, Steve Rassi, and
Vinny Landrum. The exciting thing about this tournament was that Daniel's back was against the wall before the first cards
were ever dealt. The race for Player of the Year was going on and David "The Dragon" Pham had taken the point lead from
Daniel just days before this event. This was Daniel's last chance to take the lead back and win the award. He had to finish
in 9th place or higher to achieve it. Obviously, he made the final table, but he not only did that, he basically wiped out
the field by accumulating one of the biggest chip leads we have seen on a WPT final table. When the tournament started Daniel had
$6,865,000 of the 11,280,000 chips in play. It was definitely going to be a long hard road for any of the players to catch up to him.
The first pot where we actually got to see the hand being played out was when Steve called with the
AK of hearts. This was an unusual move for
Steve because some of the players were calling him the move-in specialist. He tended to move all of his chips into the pot when
he had a good hand. Daniel seemed to make Steve rethink his strategy on this hand because it looked like Steve was going to make
some kind of move when Daniel said something about being ready to play poker. The talking seemed to fluster Steve into playing the hand
differently than he would have originally. Humberto called on the button with JT of diamonds, Nam called in the small blind with Q8, and Jennifer
checked from the big blind with Q2. The flop was 975 of
diamonds giving Humberto the flush and Nam the open end
straight flush draw (he had the
eight of hearts). The players checked to Humberto and he bet 80,000 and Nam raised to 200,000. The other players folded back
to Humberto and he moved all-in. It took a few seconds before Nam decided to call, but he did. He didn't look happy when he
saw that he was drawing to a
one outer (the five of diamonds.
The turn was a jack and the river was a three.
Jennifer didn't seem to get many hands, but when she did all of her chips went into the pot. She was one of the short stacks
and she didn't have many options. On one hand, Daniel raised to $120,000 in first
position with K9 of clubs, Nam called on the
button with QJ of hearts and Jennifer moved all-in for $610,000 from the blind with AQ. Both players folded to her. Nam was getting
about 2-1 on the call, but if he had made the call, he would have been all-in.
Windows - Mac
 Humberto
won another large pot and it was also with a
suited
connector. Humberto raised to $140,000
with T9 of clubs and Daniel called from the big blind with AJ of spades. The flop was J63 with two clubs. Daniel checked his
top pair and Humberto checked the flush draw. The turn was the three of clubs. Daniel bet $200,000 and Humberto called. The
river was a four. Daniel bet $350,000 and Humberto just called.
Nam was the first person eliminated when he got unlucky against Vinny. Vinny raised to $210,000 with KJ and Nam moved all-in
for $420,000 with KQ. It took a minute before Vinny called, but he ended up calling the additional $210,000. Vinny flopped
the jack and Nam never caught his queen.
Steve the move-in specialist was the next person to go. The
blinds were only $30,000-60,000 when he
moved in for $740,000 with pocket Queens. Jennifer was in the blind with AQ and had fewer chips (not by much) than Steve.
Jennifer said that she thought she had the best hand and I think most players would have thought the same thing. It would be
hard to put your opponent on a big hand when he moved all-in for such a large amount. An ace fell on the flop and Steve
never caught the queen he needed (the audience was able to see that the case Queen had already been folded). Steve only had
$50,000 left and his chips went in the blind on the next hand we saw. Steve held Q5 and Daniel held AQ. Daniel caught a
queen on the turn and Steve was drawing dead. He finished in fifth place and took home $217,812 from an $800 investment (he won a
satellite).
It didn't seem like Daniel was doing much in the beginning of the show. He could just sit back and let the other players
take each other out. Although it seemed like that, on one hand we saw that Daniel is willing to get in there and use his
chips as leverage to eat away at his opponents stack. Daniel
limped on the button with A3, Vinny called the
additional $30,000 from the small blind with 98, and Humberto raised to $460,000 with pocket fives. Daniel asked how much Humberto had
left and as soon as Daniel had a rough idea of how many chips Humberto had he raised more than that amount. Daniel said, "I raise
to 4 million". After both players folded, Daniel showed Humberto one card, the three. I have seen Humberto on many occasions and
he is always so pleasant. This is one of the first occasions I have seen him look bothered by an event that happened at the table.
 Jennifer finished
in fourth place when she called an all-in raise from Vinny. Jennifer held A7 (and had less chips than Vinny) and Vinny held pocket
threes. Vinny turned the three and Jennifer was drawing dead. The same hand took out Vinny when Humberto moved all-in with pocket
threes and Vinny moved all-in as well with AQ. Humberto flopped the
set and Vinny needed
runner runner club to win the hand. The turn
was a five of clubs, but the river was a jack of diamonds. Vinny was only left with $135,000.
The next hand was amusing because two of the three players, played their hands
in the dark until the showdown. Daniel
called in the dark, Vinny called in the dark because he had $50,000 already invested in the small blind and only had $75,000 more
and Humberto checked with 93. The flop was A32 and Vinny bet out his last $25,000 in the dark. Humberto called and Daniel called
in the dark. The turn was checked and the river was checked and it was time for a showdown. Vinny turned up KJ for king high and
Humberto turned up his pair of threes. Daniel looked at his cards and said, "I have the
straight and showed 54" Vinny finished in third place.
The heads up action was a battle.
Humberto was showing a little more aggression than Daniel on the first few hands and it looked like Daniel was starting to
get worried. The hand that appeared to bother Daniel the most is when Humberto made a move against Daniel and showed the
bluff
(like Daniel did to him earlier). Humberto called with AK and Daniel checked Q4. The flop was Q22. Daniel bet $160,000 and
Humberto raised to $320,000 (it seemed he did it on accident). Daniel reraised to $660,000 and Humberto moved all-in before
Daniel had a chance to push his chips forward. Daniel asked how much more it was to him. The pot was a little more than 2
1/2 million and Daniel had to call $935,000 more. Daniel said, "I know you got me" and showed the queen. Humberto then
showed Daniel the AK.
Two hands later (at least by the edited televised edition) the tournament was over. Daniel called with K7 and Humberto
checked 87. The flop was 743. Humberto bet $400,000, Daniel
reraised to a million and Humberto moved all-in instantly.
Once again, Daniel barely had time to get his raise into the pot before Humberto made his all-in move. This time, however, Daniel called with
his top pair. The turn was a six giving Humberto an additional four outs, but the river was a three. Daniel not only won the tournament,
he clinched the Player of the Year award and took the lead as the all-time biggest money earner on the World Poker Tour.
See also Bellagio Season One and
Two
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