Tournament Details

The Hollywood screenwriters have to be kicking themselves. The perfect poker story happened in real life before they got a chance to create it. At the Legends of Poker Tournament, the biggest name in the game, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, battled through a field of 667 players to make the final table and defend his legendary status against a field of young guns.

Here's how the field looked as play began:

Seat One: Doyle Brunson--1,631,000
Seat Two: Lee Watkinson--2,446,000
Set Three: Pete Lawson--1,056,000
Seat Four: Tom Lee--272,000
Seat Five: Joe Awada--1,064,000
Seat Six: Grant Helling--215,000

Usually, an escalating blind structure forces the final table players' hands and moves play along at a gradual pace. But something happened at this final table, this would not be a twelve-round heavyweight bout. The players stepped to the table, throwing haymakers and looking for knockout punch from the first bell.

It took a few hands for the six players to get warmed up. Eventually, though, some gamesmanship took over. On the button with a pair of tens, Pete Lawson raised the bet to 55,000. Businessman Joe Awada had almost an equal stack, but only had 8-2 offsuit in the big blind. Still, he fired out a re-raise, making the bet 155,000. Young gun Lawson, 24 years old, stood firm and re-raised again, making it 225,000 more to go. Awada mused about the obvious. "Maybe I made a little mistake here," he said. "I think I did." After a performance fit for Hollywood, seeming to struggle with an obvious decision, Awada folded his hand.

Awada got a few chips back after flopping top pair with his K-Q against Tom Lee's A-T, then fully replenished his stack after finding a pair of jacks against Tom Lee's pair of nines. Lee pushed all in on a flop of K-8-7 and Awada called without much thought. Lee never improved and left in sixth place and $99,150.

If a writer had pitched the next hand as an idea for the beginning of a movie, the studio would've laughed him off the lot to jeers of, "That would NEVER happen!"

Under the gun, Watkinson raised the bet to 60,000 with a pair of nines. On the button, Awada called with a pair of twos. Brunson found Q-T suited in diamonds and called, too. Watkinson flopped a set, when 9-8-7 came on the board. Still, all three players checked the flop and saw the turn: a seven. Though Watkinson had made his full house, he joined Brunson and Awada in checking the bet. And then it happened: a two fell on the river, giving Awada full house, but a canoe in comparison to Watkinson's pontoon boat. Watkinson bet into Awada this time for 150,000 and Awada...moved all in. Without a second thought, Watkinson called and pushed Awada into fifth place. Awada cashed out for $132,000 and a story of how his canoe got run over by a pontoon.

The win left Watkinson sitting with more than four million in chips and the ability to push around anyone he wanted. In fact, for the next few hands Watkinson out-muscled anyone who dared enter a pot with him. Within a few hands, his chip lead allowed him to call Grant Helling's small all-in bet with 8-9 offsuit. Helling held a suited A-3, but Watkinson caught his nine on the turn and just like that Helling was out in fourth place, taking home $170,175.

It appeared as if Watkinson was going to be the end of Lawson as well. Watkinson raised to 60 from the small blind holding A-K. In the big blind, Lawson found A-7 offsuit and announced he was all-in. Watkinson immediately called. It looked as if the youngest player at the table was finished. Instead, he spiked his seven on the flop and doubled up.

Still, Watkinson sat with more chips in his stack than his opponents combined and felt more than comfortable scrapping with the smaller stacks. In one case, with a two-way straight draw and a flush draw, Watkinson bet out 100,000. Holding no better than ace high, Lawson raised to 300,000. Though Watkinson still hadn't made his hand, he re-raised to 700,000. Finally, Lawson blinked first and folded his hand. He wouldn't last much longer.

Watkinson called from the small blind with Q-6. Lawson made a minimum raise from the big blind with J-6 suited and Watkinson called. The flop came down 7-6-2 rainbow, pairing both players' sixes. Watkinson checked to Lawson who bet out 115,000. Watkinson decided to raise it up to 300,000. With nerves of steel, Lawson announced he was all-in for a total of 910,000. Watkinson fell into the tank, but ultimately called and out-kicked Lawson's jack. Lawson went home in third place, cashing out for $272,665.

Moving into heads-up play, Watkinson held more than five million chips to Brunson's 1.6 million. Watkinson's lead would not last for long.

With 5-3 offsuit, Watkinson raised pre-flop to 80,000 and Brunson called with 6-5. Sometimes the fates of poker smile on legends. Brunson flopped the nuts, 3-7-4. Brunson checked the flop and smooth-called Watkinson's 100,000 bet. On the turn, a ten of spades, Brunson checked-raised Watkinson's 200,00 bet to 600,000. With only a pair of threes, Watkinson moved all in. Brunson called and seconds later, the players were all tied up.

Finally, the blinds moved up to 15,000/30,000/3,000 and the players settled in for a quick battle of attrition, trading jabs but not taking many risks - a Legend and legend-to-be sparring in front of a live audience. Then something happened, The Legend took over.

Over the course of the next few hands, Brunson took over the lead, making a flush and forcing Watkinson to lay down top-pair. Watkinson lost about a million in chips on the next hand after laying down A-T on a 8-6-5 board to Brunson's all-in raise with 6-4 of clubs.

One the next hand, both players would've been playing the J-J-4-4-K on the board , but Brunson bet at it on the river and Watkinson folded. Then, on a subsequent hand, Watkinson thought he and Brunson were playing the A-9-9-3-3 board and called Brunson's 400,000 bet on the river. Brunson held a pair of tens and won the hand, adding to his already substantial chip lead.

Finally, it came down to kickers. With Q-3 of clubs, Watkinson raised to 120,000. Brunson called with Q-9 of hearts. Both players made top pair on a Q-J-7 flop. Brunson check-raised Watkinson all-in and after a little bit of thought, Watkinson called. The ace and eight on the turn and river were no help for Watkinson. He left in second place with $578,375 in his pocket.

The result was nothing less than fitting of a tournament dubbed the Legends of Poker, The living legend himself, Doyle Brunson, took the title, earning a sizable $1,173,260 in first-place prize money and a seat in the World Poker Tour World Championship.

This tournament is included in the World Poker Tour Best of Season Three DVD Collection. Special features include deleted hands – never-before-seen exclusive hands that didn't air on TV!