Monday 28th April 2008 Chiu Fights Back to Win WPT World Championship
Give Gus Hansen a chip lead on any WPT final table and you have to back ‘The Great Dane’ to come out on top. It certainly looked as if it would go that way at the Bellagio as the Danishman single-handedly went on a felting spree that saw him knock everyone else out to get heads-up with David Chiu, who obviously hadn’t read Gus’ script. In one of the most dramatic turn-arounds in poker history, it was Chiu who had the last laugh and claimed the title.
The starting stacks at beginning of play looked like this:
John Roveto - 2,720,000
Gus Hansen - 8,570,000
David Chiu - 6,050,000
Tommy Le - 1,950,00
Cory Carroll - 6,670,000
Jeff King - 1,305,000
Perhaps when Jeff King doubled up through Hansen on the seventh hand of the day some might have thought Hansen was due to wobble like so many chip leaders before have done on the big stage. In fact, King proved to be the one who disturbed the hornet’s nest, as Hansen went on a rampage. Five hands later, it was King who felt his wrath first, eliminated when his A-Qs couldn’t hold up against Hansen’s T-9s.
Tommy Le was eliminated in fifth after a cold deck saw him flop a set of fives, only to be dominated by Hansen’s flop set of tens. The case five didn’t come for Le, and he ended up leaving with a cheque for $395,725.
The very next hand what many thought would be the hand that clinched the WPT Championship for Hansen as he and Cory Carroll clashed. The duo might have been the two big stacks on the table, but they didn’t hold back, clashing on a Qc-Jd-6d board. Carroll in the big blind reraised Hansen’s cut-off bet, which Hansen called. Carroll checked the flop to Hansen, who then moved all in after some deliberation. Carroll eventually made a massive call with A-J and was ahead of Hansen’s flush draw, which landed on the river to send Carroll home in fouth.
John Roveto then got his money in with pocket kings against Hansen’s A-T, but when the flop came J-9-8, it was almost impossible to imagine Hansen not getting there. He did – on the river, of course – when the 7s landed making him a jack-high straight.
Four men down at a rate of one every five and a half hands. With a 22.9 million to 4.36 million chip count in his favour, Hansen looked to be just a few (well, 5.5) hands away from the WPT Championship title. The WPT editing team might have wondered if they were going to have enough footage to make an entire show, but Chiu came to their rescue to set the drama of the final on fire.
After a quick double up, Chiu managed to chip away against Hansen slowly but surely to around 11 million. After fifty hands of heads-up play, Chiu managed to wrestle the chip lead from Hansen.
The final hand came after eighty hands of play. Hansen raised the button to 750,000 which Chiu called. The flop came Ac-Tc-8s, which Chiu check called. The turn comes 5s, which Hansen moves all in on, for just under 8.7 million into a pot of 3.35 million. After a long dwell, Chiu makes the call with top pair and a flush draw. Hansen tables Ts-8h for two pair, while Chiu’s As-9s is about 35% to improve. The Ah on the river finished the tournament as Chiu’s river set had landed him the WPT World Champion title, and a $3,389,140 first place prize
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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