Five Diamond
World Poker Classic - Season 1 - Jun 01, 2002
This inaugural World Poker Tour event introduced many players
to the game we know and love today – No Limit Texas
Hold’em Poker. The event was held at the Bellagio in
late May 2002 with the final table taking place June 1st.
The $10,000 buy-in event attracted 146 entrants, creating
a prize pool of over $1,4 million dollars. The winner would
walk away with over $500,000 – not too shabby for the
World Poker Tour’s first title.
The six participants would help cement tournament poker and
its budding popularity by creating a memorable final table.
The players included former World Champion Scotty Nguyen,
long term pro John Junada, Kassem “Freddy” Deeb,
John “Johnny World” Hennigan, Chris Bigler, and
the then unknown Gus Hanson.
This memorable event was marked by the unrelenting aggression
of Gus Hanson and his ability to take down pots with any two
cards. This aggressive style earned him the first WPT title
ever rewarded, as well as the $556,000 first prize.
