April 27th, 2005

(OPN) - Sunday's World Poker Tour Championship final event saw Tuan Le take home the title of WPT champion, along with a heaping $2.9 million. And it "only" took seven hours of laborious, gut-wrenching poker maneuvers for him to claim it.

Although past WPT championships have seen online qualifiers make great strides in the competition, this year's final table featured veteran land-based casino players only.

Runners up include second place winner Paul Maxfield, who took home a neat little $1.7 million, Hasan Habib in third, winning $896,375, forth place winner John Phan, with $518,920, Dutch import Rob Hollink coming in fifth, with winnings of $377,420 and Phil Ivey in sixth, nabbing $264,195.

Money was awarded to the top 100 players, with the minimum prize equaling a not-too-shabby $30,000. Marking its third year at Bellagio, the WPT championship attracted a record 450 players, up from last year's 343.

Despite the increase in attendance, the WPT's hundreds of players pales in comparison to the thousands contending for the World Series of Poker title in recent years. The WPT's $25,000 buy-in might have something to do with it. The WSOP's buy-in, in comparison, is a "mere" $10,000.

Fans who were unable to make the live tournament can still catch the televised version, which will air June 29 on the Travel Channel.