World Poker Finals - Season 2 - Nov 17, 2003

313 players came to the largest casino in the world in New England’s Foxwoods Resort and Casino. The $10,000 buy-in event final table was held November 17th, 2003 and featured arguably one of the most famous poker players in the world – Phil Hellmuth. Joining Phil were Chris Ackerman, Mohamed Ibrahim. Brian Haveson, Senthil Kumar and Hoyt Corkins.

Haveson and Kumar never seemed to gather any momentum at the final table and were eliminated in 6th and 5th place respectively. The young amateur, Chris Ackerman was next to go when his King-Ten failed to improve against the Ace-Queen of Hellmuth. The poker brat then lived up to his name, making sure the audience, and Hoyt Corkins knew how unlucky he felt he was. He made it all the way to a third place finish but was the third victim eliminated at the hands of Mohamed Ibrahim at the final table.

Hoyt Corkins became an all-in machine in the heads up battle. He went into the match as the overwhelming chip leader and may have become a bit over zealous with his bets. Early on he doubled up Ibrahim up after pushing all-in before the flop with 8-3. But Mohamad could not survive the relentless aggression of Corkins and fell short of the title, finishing runner-up. Behind his mirrored sun glasses and under a large black hat, Hoyt “The Alabama Cowboy” Corkins took home his first WPT title and $1,089,200.