Tournament Details

This week the World Poker Tour took you back to the roots of Hold'Em for the Goldstrike World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi. With a raging $3,200,000 prize pool, this tourney once again called forth the game's greatest players to the banks of Big Muddy.

This season's contenders join a select group of WPT Tunica champions that include David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Barry "Charity" Greenstein, and last year's victor, 23 year-old tyro, John Stoltzman. The result, fittingly, was another WPT landmark: the first time ever that two players have made the same final table in consecutive years. Those two powerhouse pros, fan favorite and former World Champion Scotty Nguyen, and last year's L.A. Poker Classic champion, young gun Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, had their hands full with a final table of dangerous and deceptive opponents. Here's how it looked at the start of six-handed final play:

In Seat 1, tough Vegas journeyman An "the Boss" Tran, in 4th chip position with 845,000. In Seat 2, the wild-card amateur, electrical engineer Bau "the Tiger" Le, on the short stack with 645,000. In Seat 3, little-known 28 year-old Spanish pro Raul Paez, in 3rd chip position, with just a handful more than Tran, with 862,000. In Seat 4, another recent WPT Champion, Mirage Poker Showdown winner Gavin Smith, in 5th chip position with 774,000. In Seat 5, the former World Champ, Scotty Nguyen, the dominating chip leader with 2,144,000. In Seat 6, the 25 year-old resident of Hollywood, Florida, Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, in 2nd with 1,271,000. Antes and blinds started at 3,000, 12,000, and 24,000.

On the eve of his fifth WPT final, Scotty Nguyen quipped: "Today, I'm going to play to win, baby." It certainly didn't look like it, though, as the superstar was extremely fortunate to escape a couple of early and uncharacteristic blunders relatively unscathed. In one of the first hands of the final, Scotty limped from the small blind with pocket 4's, and after a flop of Ks, Ts, 7d didn't help him, he still decided to call Mizrachi's $35,000 exploratory raise. 4c on the turn was bingo for Scotty, making him trips, but he got cute and checked, giving the Grinder a free card, which he gladly accepted, looking to hit his open-ended straight draw. 3h on the river was double bingo for the Grinder, who made the stone nuts. Looking for value, he put out a slightly-larger-than-the-pot bet of $170,000, and it appeared that fireworks were about to ensue. Scotty announced a raise, while putting in chips to call. Linda Johnson, the usually rock-solid and reliable table-side ringmaster, announced to the crowd: "Scotty calls." Apparently disregarding Scotty's pronouncement, the Grinder inexplicably flipped up his hole cards, eliciting an understandably dumbstruck look on the former World Champ's now ashen face. Amazingly, although every tournament poker player has it drilled into his cranium that "verbal declarations are binding," Scotty was allowed to merely call. To say he got away cheaply was the understatement of the day, and it would prove prophetic.

Bau Le tried to make some early noise with 9c-5s, but Raul, with Ac-Qs, snapped off the ill-timed $82,000 move by the amateur, leaving him in deep trouble. The next hand, finding Th-Td, Le remarked, "I'll try again," and pushed in a reasonable $104,000 raise. Again though, Raul found a fairly nice starting hand, Ah-Jh, and pushed over the top for $300,000 more. The Tiger decided to stake his tourney life on his tens, and to the delight of the crowd, pushed right back, going over the top all-in for $595,000. Raul quickly called, and felt pretty good about being just about a coin-flip to take out his opponent. The flop came with Jh right in the window to give Raul a dominating lead, but it was followed by 8h, 3h, giving Bau a bushel of fresh outs with his four-flush. The Barcelona-based pro was blessed, though, and he dodged the flush when the board ran out 4h, 7c, sending Bau Le to the rail, in 6th place, with a healthy $88,099 payout.

With antes and blinds up to $5,000, $20,000, and $40,000, another critical hand took place between Scotty and the Grinder. Mizrachi, with 3d-2d, called Scotty's Qc-7h pre-flop $60,000 raise. He called $70,000 more when the flop came Td-7h-3h, giving him bottom pair to Scotty's middle pair, and then made miracle trip 3's when the turn came 3s! He smooth-called Scotty's $140,000 wager, then after a 5s on the river elicited a check by Scotty, Grinder got paid off on his $400,000 value bet. And now the young gun took over the chip lead by a half-million. This had Scotty shaken again, repeating for a good couple of hands, to no one in particular: "deuce-three of diamonds, baby." Fortunately for the happy-go-lucky veteran, An Tran suddenly found himself in the hot-seat.

Mizrachi, playing just about everything he saw, called in middle position with 8-7 offsuit. Tran, having not seen many decent cards and with precious few chips remaining, found Kc-Tc in late position. He came over the top all-in for $150,000. Raul woke up again with a great hand, Ah-Qc, and quickly called, as did Mizrachi, both clearly looking to tag-team the short-stack and escort him, quietly and gently, to the rail. Their plan went off without a hitch, both players checking down a board of Js-8s-5d, 3c, 3d, giving Mizrachi the pot with a pair of 8's, and sending the Boss on vacation with $125,856 in spending money.

Now down to four players, the two short stacks, Smith and Paez, started to feel the heat, and responded quickly to change the course of fate. First, Smith, with Ah-Qd, pushed all in, and after a brief deliberation, was called by Mizrachi, with Kc-Ts. Wearing his friend John Phan's lucky talisman, a jade-crusted golden Buddha necklace, Smith swung it like high-mass incense for the appreciative crowd. It delivered. He was never in trouble after the flop gave him top pair, and when the board out Qh-Td-2c, 4s, 3s, he had doubled through the former chip leader.

Scotty Nguyen was now back on top, as the antes and blinds climbed to $10,000, $30,000, and $60,000, but the action still was between the brawling shorties. Gavin and Raul squared off in the battle of the bluff, going heads up with the same hand – 9-4. This round went to Gavin, who fired $60,000 into a post-flop board of J-6-3 rainbow, forcing Raul to fold. Gavin took the momentum straight into another A-J double-up on the Grinder.

But true to his name, Mizrachi just kept grinding, and picked off a stone bluff by Scotty on the next hand. Still leading Mizrachi, but now by only a slim $300,000, and only ahead of third place Smith by a little more than $600,000, Scotty found Td-4d, and decided to come right back with another bluff. He raised to $200,000 and took down the $130,000 pot uncontested. This set up the second amazing escape by Scotty Nguyen.

In the next hand, Gavin, with Qd-7h in the small blind, let Scotty limp from the big blind with 7d-5d. The flop came 7-4-2 yardsale, setting up a potential disaster for Scotty, who had flopped top pair along with Gavin, who had him counterfeited with a better kicker. Gavin put out a tantalizing bet of $80,000, which Scotty doubled to $160,000. The wily Canadian gently tossed the noose around Scotty's neck, pushing all-in over the top for his remaining $1,220,000. Without hesitation, Scotty impulsively pushed all-in, and found himself in big, big trouble when Gavin quickly called. After a 2s on the turn paired the board, Scotty slipped the noose when the river came Kc, trumping Smith's kicker, resulting in a split pot.

Scotty battened down the hatches and avoided any more big blunders, dodging Smith when he hit trips, and shutting down a big bluff by the Grinder. Then Smith found himself the short stack, with 7h-7d. He brought it in for an aggressive raise of $350,000, only to have Mizrachi wake up with pocket Q's. Mizrachi brought out the belt grinder and pushed all-in. The genial Canadian thought briefly and called for his last $950,000, once again going to the tried-and-true Buddha. But the idol slumbered this time. The board went Jh-5s-4d, 4h, 5d, and Smith went with it, smiling into the night. His 4th place finish left him disappointed, but $173,052 heavier, and with the satisfaction that he had also become the new points leader for the coveted WPT Player of the Year award.

Raul immediately found himself in the cross-hairs. Having played passively most of the day, he seemed to accept his fate at the hands of two consummate closers. With antes and blinds up to $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000, he decided to make a stand with Qc-Tc, pushing all-in for $700,000. Scotty found a surprisingly good holding, Ac-Qh, and instantly called. It was a routine knockout, the board coming 6s-2s-2d, 2d, 4h, and Raul hit the canvas with barely a thud. All in all, he was happy with his showing, which is, let's face it, not nearly as tough when you got 3rd place money of $298,908 stuffed in your pantalones.

The big boys now enjoyed the traditional WPT money presentation. After a beautiful bevy of black-clad Southern Belles delicately deposited swollen trays of over a million dollars in cash onto the table, the two top rank poker pros sat back down for what was sure to be a nice long heads-up chess match. Except for one thing – the first hand.

With Scotty holding a negligible lead of $3,350,000 to Mizrachi's $3,205,000, he looked down to find A-Q again, this time suited in spades. He had barely gotten his hand back from pushing in a raise of $300,000 before Mizrachi, with Ah-Jc, pushed all-in over the top. Pausing for a moment to laugh and shake his head, he smilingly asked his opponent "one hand, right, baby?" And with no more fanfare, he made the call. He smiled anxiously, but clearly relieved when he saw that he was nearly a 3-1 favorite. With both players now standing together tableside, the flop came Kh-9d-2s, putting Scotty within two cards of getting the "Scotty Never Win" WPT monkey off his back. But as Doyle Brunson has quipped about poker on more than one occasion, "it ain't ever easy, is it?" Sure enough, the turn came Ts, giving the Grinder any of the three remaining queens to make the straight.

Before the final card was dealt, an effusive and philosophical Scotty Nguyen grabbed the mike and addressed the TV audience to praise his competitor, Mizrachi, no matter what the river brought. "He showed the world he can play some poker," Nguyen laughed, then turned to watch as the river came a fitting capstone to a great and lucky day for him – 8s, giving him the nut flush. Scotty Nguyen, in his sixth try, happily abandoned Phil Ivey on his own island of futility, walking away with his first WPT title, and delicious $969,421 for his effort. Michael Mizrachi's $566,352 payout for his 2nd place finish was some consolation for the fierce competitor. One last thing: don't be surprised to see these two at a final table again, sometime soon.