While many in the poker world may be paying attention to the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event being played in the Penn and Teller Theater in Las Vegas, many top professional players and amateurs alike will be sidetracked by stepping up to the tables at the World Poker Tour’s World Poker Finals in Connecticut on Wednesday.
One of only six tournaments that has been a part of each season of the WPT, the annual trip by poker players to the Foxwoods Resort Casino has traditionally brought out some of the most notable names in the game. A quick look at the history of the World Poker Finals reveals its stature.
In what was only the sixth event for the burgeoning WPT in 2002, Howard Lederer was able to outlast not only his future Full Tilt Poker partners Andy Bloch and Phil Ivey, but also Layne Flack, claiming the first of his two WPT titles. The next year, the field exploded in size to 313 over the previous year’s miniscule field of 89. This was the event in which “The Alabama Cowboy,” Hoyt Corkins, tortured former World Series of Poker Main Event champion and Ultimate Bet personality Phil Hellmuth with his consistent all-in moves to capture the title.
2004 brought another stacked final table, as Tuan Le, who would go on to capture the WPT Championship event later that season, battled his way through players such as Costa Rica’s Humberto Brenes (in his pre-shark days), J.C. Tran, and David “The Dragon” Pham to pick up the victory. In 2005, it was time for the online players to emerge, as internet prodigy Nick “The Takeover” Schulman defeated Allen Cunningham, Bill Gazes, and WPT co-founder Lyle Berman to become the champion.
2006 featured the first ever non-ladies WPT final table to have two of the top women players reach the final six. Both Kathy Liebert and Mimi Tran had a shot at becoming the first woman ever to take an open WPT title, but they were thwarted by the play of WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic. Medic would prove to be a valiant defender of his title, as he returned to the final table in 2007 along with 2006 champion Schulman. They would come in third and second, respectively, as top grinder Mike Vela would take the title from both of them.
Vela is expected to make a return trip to defend his championship in 2008, but there will be plenty of top professionals in the casino to ruin his chances. Along with some of the names above, there have been plenty of players that have been participating in the preliminary events at Foxwoods this year and seem to have their games in prime shape.
Poker News Daily’s own contributor Bernard Lee became the first player to win an event in three consecutive years at the World Poker Finals. Vanessa Selbst, who won a WSOP bracelet this year in Pot Limit Omaha, has captured an open event. WSOP bracelet holder and WSOP Circuit Event champion Chris Reslock has two final tables to his credit. Other top names that should be a part of the action at Foxwoods include former WPT champion Paul Darden, online poker player and PokerXFactor owner Eric “Sheets” Haber, Davidson Matthew, and Allen Kessler.
Expect the field to total around 500 players, as some attention will be drawn away by the festivities in Las Vegas surrounding the WSOP Main Event final table at the Rio. What shouldn’t change, however, is the quality of play that the World Poker Finals will bring to poker fans. Poker News Daily will keep you up to date on the action as a new WPT champion is crowned on November 11th.