Lee Markholt(credit: World Poker Tour)
When the final table of the World Poker Challenge got underway at the Grand Sierra in Reno, David “The Dragon” Pham was the big story. Pham, making his 6th WPT final table appearance and his second in this event in the same number of years – he finished third in last year’s World Poker Challenge – had 406k in chips and seemed poised to do very well here. Jason Potter, who recently finished 12th at the Aussie Millions NLHE championship, had a narrow chip lead at the table with 1,156,000. Breathing down his neck was pro player and Professional Poker Tour winner, Lee Markholt. Markholt, who cashed in the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, held 1,137,000 chips.
Jeff DeWitt was on the short stack and didn’t waste much time in getting eliminated from the event. He put all his chips in with a flush draw that never materialized. Markholt, who had pocket queens, capitalized on DeWitt’s sixth-place finish. A few hands later, Markholt, now the chip leader, took a chunk of The Dragon’s chips. Later on, Markholt would strike the final nail in The Dragon’s tournament coffin with a higher kicker.
Ouch!
A few hands later, Jason Potter and Bryan Devonshire raced for a sizeable pot. Devonshire won and Potter was eliminated shortly thereafter by Zach Hyman, the 2007 Wynn Classic champ. Hyman would take some hard knocks from Markholt but was kicked out of the competition in third position by Devonshire and his pocket nines. Devonshire would go all-in with just a pair of fours against the two pair of Markholt. With Markholt carrying more chips than his opponent, Devonshire would need a miracle to survive.
Unfortunately, none came and Markholt walked away from the table with $4963,815 and the World Poker Challenge title.
Here are the final results:
1st - Lee Markholt - $493,815
2nd - Bryan Devonshire - $271,625
3rd - Zach Hyman - $149,862
4th - Jason Potter - $103,030
5th - David Pham - $93,664
6th - Jeff Dewitt - $84,297
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