The six-handed final table of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event lasted for 156 hands until Dan Smith defeated Gary Benson heads-up to lay hands on the massive $1,161,135 first prize, a WPT Champions Trophy and a $15,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship in April, 2014.
Smith's way to the title
Dan "KingDan" Smith brough the largest stack to yesterday's final table and remained out in front for the first 90 hands or so. Eddy Sabbat then took the comand and dominated 3-handed play for quite some time - while Smith was struggling to stay alive.
However, "KingDan" kept a cool head and waited for the right opportunities to strike. Slowly he build up his stack again before taking back the lead in hand #132 thanks to a double up through Eddy Sabat. Smith increased his already massive lead in hand #148 when he eliminated Eddy Sabat in 3rd place.
He had a 7-1 chip advatage when heads-up play against Gary Benson kicked off. Benson shoved his remaining stack with 44 in hand #157, and Smith quickly called with K10. The board ran out 109597, and Dan Smith won the pot with two pair, tens and nines. This was Dan Smith's first WPT title and the second biggest cash of his career!
Here are the final table results:
1st: Dan Smith - $1,161,135
2nd: Gary Benson - $672,685
3rd: Eddy Sabat - $436,160
4th: Shaun Suller - $303,793
5th: Barry Hutter - $219,165
6th: Joe Serock - $175,766