Jeff Haney on poker’s continuing popularity growth in spite of legislation outlawing online games

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006 | 9:19 a.m.

Results, with hometown and prize money, from the Festa al Lago World Poker Tour tournament at the Bellagio:

1. Andreas Walnum, Bodo, Norway, $1.09 million

2. Steve Wong, Hoofddorp , the Netherlands, $542,700

3. Joe Pelton, Newport Beach, Calif., $292,220

4. Chris Loveland, Somerville, Mass., $187,745

5. David Baker, Katy, Texas, $125,240

6. Can Kim Hua, Rosemead, Calif., $83,490

The international poker tournament circuit is hurtling toward its saturation point, and recent congressional legislation has placed a damper on the online poker party.

Yet those downers haven't been able to put a bad beat on World Poker Tour action in Las Vegas, said Doug Dalton, the director of poker operations at the Bellagio.

Dalton was upbeat about the 433-player field generated by the fifth annual Festa al Lago World Poker Tour championship event at the Bellagio.

It represented a small increase from last year's field of 420 in the event, which carries a $10,000 buy in and has become a regular stop on World Poker's lucrative, made-for-TV tour, and a big jump from the 312 that competed in 2004.

"There are so many tournaments going on all around the world right now, but we continue to exceed previous entry numbers year after year," Dalton said. "Any time you can exceed your previous tournament levels, you're meeting your goals."

Although World Poker has never offered online cash games to Americans, Internet poker in general has served as an unofficial feeder market for major live tournaments.

In fact, this edition of the Festa al Lago came down to a heads-up match between a pair of professional Internet poker players from Europe.

Andreas Walnum, a 23-year-old Norwegian, won the event's top prize of more than $1 million when he made a set (three of a kind) of deuces on the final hand Friday night and coaxed runner-up Steve Wong of the Netherlands into committing all of his chips with a pair of kings.

Wong, 33, who had Las Vegas pro Chau Giang in his corner at the final table, collected more than $542,000 from the tournament's total prize pool of about $4.2 million.

"It's unreal," said Walnum, the youngest player at the six-man final table. "I ran so good the last couple of days. On Day 3 (of the five-day event), I was short-stacked and it looked pretty bad. But I never gave up."

Although he makes a living playing on his computer against unseen foes and has far less experience in live games than many in the Festa al Lago field, Walnum had no trouble finding his groove on the Strip.

"I was nervous at first but I got used to it as it went on," he said.

Both finalists said that while Internet poker is fine for the day-to-day grind, they make it a point to travel to Las Vegas and other poker hot spots for the pageantry - and profit - offered by big live competitions.

"This is the best place to be for live action," Wong said.

The final table, which will be shown on the Travel Channel (Cox cable channel 66) next year on a date to be determined, attracted a smaller audience than usual in a well-appointed ballroom at the Bellagio - likely a result of the lack of recognizable TV poker stars, tournament director Jack McClelland said.

Third-place finisher Joe Pelton could emerge as a popular figure among fans, however. He employs an aggressive, TV-friendly style of play and came to Las Vegas fresh off a World Poker Tour championship in the Legends of Poker at Southern California's Bicycle Casino.

Pelton had the chip lead entering the final day of play at the Bellagio, but fell short in his bid to become the sixth player to win two World Poker events in the same season. Only Tuan Le, Erick Lindgren, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Howard Lederer have done so.

"Joe just won $1.5 million in that Bicycle event," Dalton said, "so I guess we can't feel too sorry for him."