David Williams Takes Down WPT World Championship and the EPT Monte Carlo Gets Under Way

Published on April 25th, 2010 5:21 pm EST

-- The King is updating on the latest news from the World Poker Tour and the European Poker Tour - WPT and EPT logos --1. David Williams Wins WPT World Championship.

David Williams took down his largest cash since 2004 last night when he managed to win the WPT World Championship.

The final table featured some very good poker players, including David Benyamine, Eric Baldwin and Billy Baxter.

Williams, who entered the final table basically tied for the chip lead, managed to accumulate a monster stack throughout the course of the day. When Williams and Eric Baldwin reached heads up play, Williams possessed a massive 15.1 million to 4.4 million chip lead that he never relinquished.

The final hand of the tournament came when Baldwin moved all-in over the top of a pre-flop raise from Williams. Williams, after a bit of thought, called the additional 4.26 million and turned over pocket Twos, while Baldwin showed Ah-5h.

The flop was a great one for Baldwin, coming Ad-7c-6s.

The turn, however, sealed the deal for Williams, as he managed to spike the 2h. The river brought the irrelevant 4c, and Williams was the winner of the WPT World Championship.

Shawn Buchanan, who ended up finishing the tournament in third place, is probably wondering about what might have been had he managed to win a key hand against David Williams during three-handed play.

At the time, Buchanan had about 6.9 million in chips, while Williams had about 8 million chips in his stack.

After Williams raised to 500k from the button (100k-200k, 20k ante), Buchanan re-raised to 2.2 million from the small blind. Williams, after a bit of thought, decided to move all-in, and Buchanan quickly made the call. The two players turned up:

Buchanan - Qc-Qs
Williams - 9d-9s

If Buchanan's pocket Queens held up, then he would have a massive chip lead, while Williams would be reduced to about five big blinds.

However, the flop brought the 9h, giving Williams a set of Nines and the lead in the hand. Buchanan wasn't able to spike one of the two remaining Queens in the deck and was sent to the rail in third place. A great result, but he still has to be disappointed about the way that he went out.

Here is how the final table finished out on Saturday:

1. David Williams, $1,530,537
2. Eric Baldwin, $1,034,715
3. Shawn Buchanan, $587,906
4. David Benyamine, $329,228
5. Billy Baxter, $246,921
6. John O'Shea, $199,888

As mentioned, this was the largest cash for Williams since 2004, when he finished in second place in the World Series of Poker main event for $3.5 million. David Williams now has just under $8 million in total lifetime tournament cashes.

All in all, a great result for David Williams and a disappointing result for the World Poker Tour, which saw just 195 players take part in its championship event.

2. The EPT Monte Carlo Gets Under Way.

The crown jewel of the European Poker Tour got under way earlier today, as Day 1a of the EPT Monte Carlo kicked off at Le Sporting Club in Monaco.

The EPT Monte Carlo main event, which has a buy-in of over 10,000 EUR, will likely end up with a total prize pool of around 10 million EUR, making it one of the most prestigious (and richest) events on the circuit.

The large prize pool and beautiful location attracts some of the very best poker players in the world. Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey will all likely be participating in the main event.

Day 1A got started earlier today and is currently on a dinner break. 351 people decided to try their luck on Day 1A, with an even larger group expected for Day 1B.

198 of the original 351 Day 1A entrants are still alive in the event, with Dustin Dirksen (170k chips) holding the chip lead heading into the first dinner break of the tournament.

We'll have much more on the EPT Monte Carlo main event as the tournament progresses throughout the week..


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Filed Under: Tournament Results

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