Tournament Details

In this day and age, it's almost impossible to believe people aren't playing poker everywhere. But until Poker Stars and the World Poker Tour stormed the beaches of the Bahamas' Paradise Island, no one there had ever played a live game of legal poker.

Over the course of the week-long tournament, more than 460 players battled to stay out of the Caribbean sun and at the tables competing for a $3.6 million prize pool. When the final day arrived, only six men were left without suntans.

Seat 1: John Gale (Bushy, England) 1,330,000
Seat 2: Patrick Hocking (Medford, OR) 527,000
Seat 3: Nenad Medic, (Niagara Falls, Canada) 142,000
Seat 4: Mikael Westerlund, (Gothenburg, Sweden) 1,072,000
Seat 5: Miami John Cernuto, (Las Vegas, NV) 291,000
Seat 6: Alex Balandin, (New City, NY) 1,261,000

When final table play began, college basketball player Nenad Medic sat on a desperately short stack. He was fortunate enough to draw the button and pushed all-in with JT. Neither of the blinds could find a hand with which to call and Medic was able to pick up the blinds and antes.

One orbit later, Medic would be forced to fold on his button when Englander John Gale and hospital administrator Patrick Hocking went to battle. Gale, who would spend the day picking up premium hands, found AA and raised the 16,000 big blind to 45,000. Hocking sat behind dark sunglasses and stared down at a pair of nines and after a minute of thought, re-raised to 165,000. Gale considered his play, trying to decide how to best play the hand. Finally, he decided his best course of action would be to move all-in. Hocking, faced with the reality of having to play for all his chips, laid down his pair of nines and sat back to wait for a better opportunity.

Hocking would not have to wait long for his chance. One orbit later, he found AK offsuit in the cutoff and raised the bet to 55,000. In a move that would later be the subject of much conversation, Swede Mikael Westerlund re-raised to 175,000 with 64 offsuit. Hocking had enough chips to cover the bet, but to simply call would commit him to the rest of the hand. With that in mind, Hocking moved all in. Westerlund, sufficiently caught in his steal, spent some time calculating his pot odds and decided to call. It didn't work out for him. The final board, AKJ58, did nothing to improve the lowly 64 and Hocking doubled through.

Pro poker player Miami John Cernuto needed to make a move soon and decided to take a stab with K9 suited in clubs. With the blinds at 12,000/24,000/3,000, Cernuto raised it to 80,000. Play folded around to Gale who had picked up a pair of kings. Gale doubled the bet to 160,000. It was just enough to force Cernuto to lay down his hand.

Medic had been getting blinded down for some time. When the blinds finally came back around to him, he had little choice but to call all-in against Gale's raise to 60,000. Medic showed T8s. Gale had J4o. The board didn't improve Medic's hand and he departed in sixth place for $112,000.

Perhaps taking a cue from Medic's departure, Cernuto finally decided to make his move with K4. Cernuto moved in under the gun but ran into Gale's pair of jacks. Gale called and the board didn't improve Cernuto's hand. He left in fifth place and took home $155,800.

Westerlund had established an aggressive and sometimes unbeatable image at the table. His chip stack proved it. However, it would soon come time for the tables to turn. The table folded around to Westerlund in the small blind. Westerlund laid out a raise to 75,000 with 74 offsuit. Professional gambler Alex Balandin thought for just a moment before calling with KT offsuit. The flop came out A76 with two spades. Westerlund had paired his seven and fired out a 75,000 bet. Perhaps sensing weakness, Balandin, with nary a pair, raised to $225,000. Westerlund eyed Balandin's chip stack and called the bet. The turn was an eight of spades. This time, Westerlund checked and Balandin bet out 350,000 with a snarl on his face. Finally, Westerlund folded and handed a big pot to Balandin.

With the blinds at 20,000/40,000/5,000, it came time for the big stacks to do battle. In the cutoff, Balandin went for a steal, raising to 100,000 with T4 of diamonds. Gale, holding A9s, called. Westerlund called in the big blind with 34 offsuit. The flop hit everybody, coming down 596 with two diamonds. Gale had hit top pair, Westerlund had an open-ended straight draw, and Balandin had a flush draw. Westerlund checked and Balandin bet out 175,000. Gale thought for a moment before raising the bet to 400,000. Westerlund looked for a moment like he might put his chips in the middle, but folded. Balandin then announced he was all in. Gale studied Balandin for some time but ultimately folded. Though the Bahamas crowd didn't know it at the time, the WPT rabbit cam showed Gale would've made two-pair and Balandin would not have made his flush. Regardless, the result made Balandin the chip-leader.

Perhaps a bit frustrated, Gale then tried to steal the blinds with J9s and called Hocking's all-in bet. Hocking held A8 and doubled through. A few hands later, Westerlund put in a raise to 200,000 under the gun. Gale came over the top all-in. After some thought, Westerlund called. Gale showed A8. With a wince, Westerlund showed A7. While the board offered a good chance of a chopped pot, Gale ended up winning and doubling up.

Having held on for so long, Hocking decided to make a move from the button with A7 offsuit. His move turned out to be ill-timed. Balandin held AJ offsuit and called the bet. Hocking's hand never improved and he left in fourth place winning $207,000.

The action soon heated up. Gale raised from the small blind and Westerlund came over the top all in with KT offsuit. Gale immediately called with ATs. The board gave Gale the flush and Westerlund was reduced to just a few chips. Westerlund moved all-in shortly thereafter with Q3s. Balandin called with 95o, paired his five on the flop, and sent Westerlund back to Sweden in third place with $307,000.

Going into heads-up play, Gale and Balandin had almost equal chip stacks. After just a few hands of sparring, the hand of the tournament arrived. Gale raised to 240,000 from the small blind with KQo. Balandin, looking at A7s, asked for a count of Gale's chips, then raised to a cool million. Gale moved all in and Balandin called. For a moment it looked as if Balandin might cripple Gale, but the flop showed a queen and Balandin never caught an ace.

With merely 335,000 left in his stack, Balandin pushed all in on the next hand with 78o. Gale called with a pair of jacks. Five cards later, it was over. Balandin took second place and won $484,000. Gale, a man with very little live tournament experience, raked in $865,000.

With that, the players were free to enjoy the sun. Of course, with all that money in their pocket, the poker room had to be awfully tempting.