WPT Championship - Season 2 - Apr 23, 2004
In the crown jewel of World Poker Tour Events, season two
concluded at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in the $25,000 Championship
event. 343 players competed for the largest first place prize
ever to be offered in a poker tournament, over $2.7 million
dollars; a fitting end for the sophomore season of the WPT.
Professional sports better Martin “The Knife”
deKnijff came into the day as a dominating favorite, in both
chips and expertise. He had played a great tournament and
this event seemed to play towards his strengths, as he finished
15th in this same event during season one. Joining deKnijff
were Hasan Habib, Matt Matros, Steve Brecher, Russell Rosenblum
and Richard Grijalva.
Martin deKnijff continued his strong play, eliminating Brecher
on the second hand of the final table and making excellent
reads on both Habib and Grijalva early on. Rosenblum busted
in 5th place and shortly after deKnijff caught a club flush
on the river against Grijalva eliminating him in 4th. With
the pot deKnijff climbed over T10,000,000 in chips while Matros
and Habib hovered around T3,000,000.
In three handed play Matros, who won a $100 satillite to
pay his entry fee, bluffed deKnijff at the wrong time with
ace high and made his exit it 3rd place, collecting over $700,000.
This left deKnijff and Habib to battle for the massive first
prize heads-up. Both were already guaranteed a million dollar
payday, but the true prize was the WPT Championship title.
Although a talented competitor, Habib couldn’t seem
to get anything going and finally decided to commit all his
chips when he picked up Ace-5. deKnijff called with pocket
tens, and when the flop failed to improve Habib’s hand.
The Knife was crowned the champion of season two, taking home
the lions share of the richest prize pool in poker tournament
history.
