Six professionals to play for World Poker Tour World Championship

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, April 24, 2010 | 11:20 a.m.

On his way out of the Bellagio poker room Friday night, David Benyamine jokingly reminded David Williams that he would enter the final day of the World Poker Tour World Championship with the chip lead.

The two have battled it out at the top of the leader board all week at the $25,000 buy-in tournament, but it is Benyamine who will be in first at the six-handed final table 3:00 Saturday at Bellagio.

Just barely. Benyamine, a French pro and former WPT champion, will start with 4,705,000 chips. Williams, a Las Vegas-based pro best known for finishing second in the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event, has 4,700,000 chips.

"I think I've played the best in forever," Williams said. "I've never had this much focus in my entire life."

The tournament started with 195 players at the beginning of the week and 10 remained at the beginning of the day Friday. It took nearly 10 hours of play to narrow it down the final six.

What resulted was an elite group. Right behind Benyamine and Williams is Eric Baldwin, CardPlayer Magazine's Player of the Year in 2009, with 4.49 million chips.

Las Vegas legend and 40-year professional Billy Baxter, World Poker Tour Player of the Year candidate Shawn Buchanan and Irish up-and-comer John O'Shea round out the televised final table.

"These are some of the top poker players in the world," Baldwin said. "But signing up for a 25K event, you've got to expect some tough players. I try not to get intimidated by anybody."

The final table nearly was even more heralded, but poker pro Phil Hellmuth bowed out of the event in seventh.

Hellmuth, down to fewer than five big blinds, went all-in with King-10 and it didn't improve against Williams' Ace-Jack.

Hellmuth cashed for $152,856 after an up-and-down day full of his vintage rants and complaints.

"Phil is my hero," Williams said. "I think he plays great. I think he's a great poker player and knows how to play against people, but I think this table was a little too tough for him. He was out of his normal element."

Hellmuth could have been out much earlier if it wasn't for a dose of good luck. He called an all-in from Nikolay Evdakov after a flop of nine-eight-queen.

Evdakov showed pocket kings and Hellmuth had pocket jacks, but spiked a jack on the river to win the pot. Evdakov won $75,252 for his ninth-place finish.

It wasn't the only tough elimination of the day. Cliff Josephy, holding pocket nines, went all-in early in the day on a board of nine of clubs, eight of clubs, six of diamonds.

Williams instantly called with ten, seven of clubs for a straight and straight flush draw. Evdakov improved to a full house on the river, but the six of clubs also gave Williams a straight flush for the win.

"I have a reputation for being an overly-aggressive player and that's a draw-heavy board," Williams said. "I raised him hoping he would move in and think I had a hand like a pair and a straight draw or a flush draw thinking I would want to gamble."

Williams' plan worked to perfection. Josephy cashed for $56,439 in tenth place.

Scotty Nguyen, a Las Vegas-based pro, took eighth and $105,823. He also hit a video poker jackpot for $40,000 during one of the tournament's breaks.

That sounds like a good day by itself, but it pales in comparison to what's on the line Saturday. The winner of the event will take home $1.53 million.

None of it will come easily.

"There's always some tension in the room when you're playing for a WPT title," Baldwin said. "I've just got to stay focused on every hand because all it takes is one big mistake and you can go home kicking yourself."