The final six players in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Championship showed up at the Bellagio Friday to battle it out for the $1.5 million first-place prize. After a marathon heads-up match, November Nine member Chino Rheem was the last man standing.
Players began the day with fairly deep stacks, so it's no surprise that it took a while to lose one.
Former WPT champ and two-time runner-up Hoyt Corkins soon found himself short and shoved for 1.54 million (all but a couple of his chips) from UTG. Justin Young makes the call. The flop comes KQ6 and Hoyt check-calls for his last 10K. Young turns over AK for top pair to Corkins' mid-pair (AQ). The turn brings another K, meaning Hoyt was drawing dead.
Play would continue five-handed for some time, then we had a three-way all in. When the cards were turned, it's Amnon Filippi with 99 and Steve Sung with KK, but they both trail the AA of Justin Young. The board comes 7443J and Young built his stack up to 13 million as they entered three-handed play. Rheem and McNiff each had about 4.5 million to their name.
It didn't take long to get heads-up. In one of the earlier three-handed confrontations, Young opened with a raise, then Evan McNiff reraised from 260 to 820. Chino wasted little time moving all in for 2.87 and McNiff would call. The cards were turned and Chino's A9 was dominated by the AJ of McNiff. After the A77 flop, Chino said:
"The 9 would be great, but I'll take the Q for the chop." He got the 9. The crowd erupted as Chino made a better two pair to double through. McNiff was left with about 750K, which he would ship to Chino a little later after getting it in with rags.
Young entered heads-up play with nearly a 2-1 chip lead. Over the next 5 + hours, the two would trade that lead. An all in semi-bluff by Chino would leave Young short. Not long after, Chino would raise it to 720K and Young would call. Q83 on the flop and Young checks. Chino bets 1.2 million and Young moves all in. Chino made the snap call with KK, leading the Q5 of Young. The turn 9 and river 2 meant that Chino's kings were good and he was $1.5 million richer.
Final table results:1. Chino Rheem - $1,538,730
2. Justin Young - $936,760
3. Evan McNiff - $540,440
4. Steve Sung - $396,205
5. Amnon Filippi - $288,235
6. Hoyt Corkins - $216,175