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.