The last major event of the year in the US is the Bellagio Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Championship. It is one of the most prestigious events of the year.Every December all the top pros turn out at the Bellagio to compete. Last year Eugene Katchalov was able to capture the title and the $2,482,605 top prize in impressive fashion at one of the quickest final tables to date. PocketFivers Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich and Ryan “Daut44” Daut were both at the televised final table but finished in 5th (Rich - $289,070) and 6th (Daut - $192,715), coming up short of their hopes for a title.
Last year’s field boasted an impressive 664 entrants and a prize pool of just under $10 million with the top 100 players making the money. Smaller numbers in the preliminary events indicate the main event will likely come up short of last year’s mark, but turnout is still expected to be relatively strong for a $15k buy-in tournament.
Other P5ers that made it to the money in the 2007 Five Diamond included Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar (26th), Alex “AJKHoosier” Kamberis (30th), David “Bakes” Baker (31st), Markus “LURPED” Gonsalves (34th), Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little (53rd), Shannon Shorr (71st), and Joe Sebok (86th).
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In preliminary events held at the Bellagio leading up to Saturday’s championship event, PocketFivers have shined. In a $2,100 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #3), Vivek Psyduck Rajkumar (pictured) placed second, cashing in for $58,470. Rajkumar nearly outlasted a field of 137 entrants in the process. He won the 2008 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open for a colossal $1.4 million payday, besting Sang Kim heads-up. World Series of Poker bracelet winners Dan Heimiller and Mark Seif were also at the six-handed WPT final table.Winning the fourth event as part of the festivities at the Bellagio was Sorel Imper1um Mizzi, who pocketed $143,050. He triumphed in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Bellagio over some of the game’s best, including Chris Bush, Brandon Cantu, Marco CrazyMarco Johnson, and PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who finished in sixth place for $16,530. Mizzi’s tournament poker resume includes a runner up finish in the £5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament during the 2008 WSOP Europe festivities for £132,000.
In Event #5, Blair blur5f6 Hinkle fell to Toto Leonidas heads-up, cashing for $103,295. Hinkle won a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 WSOP, becoming one-half of only the second pair of brothers ever to win bracelets. Grant drossxyu Hinkle won a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament in 2008 for $831,461, beating James Akenhead heads-up. Blair’s WSOP bracelet win was worth $507,563.
Hunter the_Hunt_D Frey (pictured) grabbed third in Event #6, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. His showing was good for $45,830. Frey won the PocketFives.com Triple Crown in August and took down the Full Tilt Poker $1K last month for $155,000. He claimed victory in the Full Tilt Sunday Brawl in July for $75,000 and had not one, not two, but three wins in the $100 rebuy on PokerStars in August. He’s no slouch in the live poker world either, having earned $231,000 for third place in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2007 WSOP.Dutch havoj Boyd defeated Benny Chen to take home $162,605 and the win in a $2,000 No Limit event (#7) at the Bellagio. Boyd took down his lone WSOP bracelet by muscling his way through a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event during the 2006 tournament series. Hot on his heels in that tournament and finishing in second place was 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem. Boyd’s WSOP victory was worth $475,712.
Corwin mig.com Mackey took down the title in Event #8, a $3,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event, while Amit Amak316 Makhija (pictured) took third. At the age of 21, Mackey won his first WSOP bracelet, emerging victorious from a pack of 640 entrants en route to a $730,000 payday in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2007. He finished second in the $10,000 Mixed Event in 2008 for an additional $297,000. Makhija finished as the runner up in the WPT’s Legends of Poker this year for $563,320. He also won a $5,200 No Limit Six-Max event during the most recent Full Tilt Online Poker Series for $550,000.In the $5,000 No Limit tournament at the Bellagio (Event #9), Jimmy gobboboy Fricke finished third, pocketing $83,505. Fricke took ninth in a $2,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better tournament during the 2008 WSOP for $21,135. In 2006, he won the $200,000 Guaranteed on UltimateBet. Event #9 attracted 143 players and was won by Russian player Evgeny Serebryakov.
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