Phil Ivey - 2008 LAPC Champion!

Here are the final table money results for this event:

* Includes $25,500 for the seat at the WPT Season 6 Championship.

	Quinn Do - 2nd place

On the second hand of heads-up play, Quinn completed the small and Phil raised 400k from the big. Quinn called to see the flop of A 8 6 . Phil lead for 700k and Quinn made the call. Turn was the A and Phil announced all-in. Quinn went into the tank for several minutes. If he folded, he would only have about 1 million left. He seemed to agonize over the decision, but finally called, showing 9 8 for Aces-up. Phil rolled over A 8 for Aces-FULL and it is OVER! Quinn was drawing dead. Phil Ivey has finally earned a WPT title!

Phil Ivey finished in 1st place, earning $1,596,100, of which $25,500 will go toward a buy-in to the WPT Championship.

Quinn Do finished in 2nd place, earning $909,400.

	Nam Le - 4th place

Somewhere around hand 98: Nam raised to 420k from the small blind and Phil moved all in from the big. Nam called immediately, showing pocket Aces. Phil held pocket 3s and was about to double up the short-stack. Then the board came T 6 2 3 Q and Phil caught lightning on the turn to make a set and bust Nam.

Nam Le finished in 4th place, earning $411,770.

	Charles "Woody" Moore - 3rd place

On the next hand, in a battle of the blinds, Phil and Woody get to the turn with the board showing 8 5 2 7. Phil bet 400k and Woody moved all-in. Phil called, showing 87 off for top two pair. Woody held 62 off for bottom pair with an open-ended straight draw -- he would need a 2, 4 or 9 to survive. River was a Jack, however, and Woody was done.

Charles "Woody" Moore finished in 3rd place, earning $625,630.

There will be a short delay as they film the money presentation and get set up for heads-up play. Here are the chip counts:

With four players remaining, they've entered the "Flop-Free Zone" where a raise is all it takes. Phil Ivey has more than half of all the chips in play, so the other three are tip-toeing around him.

Blinds 80k/160k with 20k antes. Play continues. Rough chip counts:

Nam Le has moved all in two hands in a row and gotten no takers. He added 300k to his stack each time he did that.

Time for another short break.

Hand 63: Quinn made it 360k to play.  Woody made the call from the big blind, then checked in the dark. Flop was 9 5 2 and Quinn bet 400k. Woody instantly announced all-in and Quinn called just as fast. Woody's A 5 (middle pair) was trailing Quinn's K 9 (top pair). Last two cards came T 4 and Quinn doubled up.

Hand 65: Woody opened for 300k from the button, Quinn called from the small blind, then Nam moved all in from the big. After a bit of coffee-housing, Woody let his hand go. Quinn folded quickly and Nam showed pocket Jacks.

Another tape change break took place:

	Scott Montgomery - 5th place

Hand 50: Scott moved all in utg and Woody made the call from the big blind. Scott's J9 off was trailing Woody's A6 off, but the board came Q 9 3 5 J and Scott doubled up.

Hand 51: Nam raised from the cutoff and Scott moved all in again, this time for 800k. Nam called, showing K J . Scott's J8 offsuit was badly dominated. No miracles this time as the board came 7 5 5 3 3 and Nam took the pot with King-high.

Scott Montgomery finished in 5th place, earning $296,860.

	Quinn Do

Hand 40: Nam opened for 240k and Woody (small blind) kicked it on up to 600k. Nam made the call and the flop came T 9 4 . Woody had checked in the dark; Nam bet 400k, and Woody check-raised him up to 1 million. Nam went into the tank for several minutes, then made a motion like he was going to muck. The crowd went wild, but he didn't release his cards. He took another minute, then let them go. Woody adds more chips to his ever-growing stack.

Blinds 60k/120k with 20k antes. Play continues.

Hand 44: Quinn raised and Woody called. Flop came A 5 3 and Quinn bet 500k. Woody called quickly and checked dark. Turn was the 8 and Woody announced all-in. Quinn surrendered.

Hand 46: Scott raised to 360k from the small blind and Quinn called from the big. Both checked the flop of A 9 5 . Turn was the K and Scott lead with 400k. Quinn took about a minute, then called. River was the J . Scott announced all-in and Quinn insta-called, showing J 4 for the flush. Scott mucked and the crowd went wild. Quinn doubled up, leaving Scott as the short stack with less than a million.

	Phil Hellmuth - 6th place

Hand 26: Phil Hellmuth shoved all in from the cutoff. Woody called quickly from the small blind and they turned up their hands. Hellmuth's A9 off was in bad shape against Woody's AQ off. The majority of the crowd was calling for a Queen. Board came A J 2 7 Q and Woody took the pot.

Phil 'Poker Brat" Hellmuth finished in 6th place, earning $229,820.

Hand 32: Scott raised to 300k from the button and Quinn moved all in from the small blind. Scott said he didn't want to let his hand go, and made the call, showing A 5 . Quinn's QJ offsuit would need help if he was to survive. The board brought just what he needed: Q 9 7 9 T and Quinn doubled up.

There was a short break to change tape in the cameras, so it was a good opportunity to snag the chip counts:

Hand 19: Phil Ivey raised to 250k from the small blind and Woody called from the big. Flop came T 7 3 . Phil fired 300k and Woody called. Turn was the A and this time Phil fired 500k -- Woody surrendered.

Hand 21: Nam made it 270k utg and after about a minute, Phil Hellmuth called. Phil Ivey called quickly. The flop came A T 3 and Nam lead out for 650k. Both Phils folded.

Hand 10: Woody opened for 250k and Scott raised it up to 800k. After tanking for a couple of minutes, Woody made the call. Flop was 9 6 3 and Woody checked. Scott bet 900k and Woody folded.

Hand 11: Nam completed the small and Hellmuth checked his option. Flop was J 6 3 and Nam lead with 140k. Hellmuth asked what he had left, then called. Turn was the K and Nam lead with 350k. Phil again asked what he had behind, then moved all in. Nam called quickly showing K 3 for two pair. Hellmuth held J 8 and was drawing slim, needing a Jack to win. River was the T and Nam doubled up.

Hand 12; Quinn opened for 280k and Phil Ivey moved all in from the big blind. Quinn took about a minute, then folded.

Hand 16: Woody made it 250k and Nam called from the big blind. Flop was K 5 4 . Nam lead for 140k and Woody quickly announced raise, pushing out another 300k. Nam let it go.

	Nam Le

Hand 2: On a flop of 8 6 5x, Phil Ivey fired 120k and took it down.

Hand 4: Ivey raised to 230k and Scott kicked it up another 420k. After a bit of thought, Ivey made the call and the flop came 8 7 2 . Ivey checked, Scott fired 800k and Ivey folded.

Hand 5: Phil Hellmuth completed the small and Phil Ivey checked. Both checked the flop of A 4 3 . Turn was the J. Hellmuth checked, Ivey bet 100k and Hellmuth folded.

Hand 6: Nam limped on the button, Hellmuth completed the small and Ivey checked. flop was A 4 2 . All three checked. Turn was another 2. Hellmuth checked, Ivey bet 90k and Nam called. River was another Ace. Ivey checked, Nam fired 155k and Ivey folded.

Blinds are now 50k/100k with 10k antes. Play continues.

On the first hand, Phil Ivey raised from the small blind and Charles Moore moved all in from the big. Ivey tanked for about five minutes, twice making a move like he was going to release his hand, but finally announced call. His A9 off was dominated by Charles "Woody" Moore's AK off. Board came 6 3 2 J Q and Woody doubled up.

Cards are in the air. Blinds are still 40k/80k with 10k antes.

Still waiting for Phil Hellmuth to arrive so they can do the player introductions....play should get underway soon.

Seat 1: Quinn Do, 1,450,000 in chips

Quinn Do (aka "Mighty Quinn") is a 32-year-old restaurant owner who was born in Vietnam and raised in Seattle, Washington. He's been playing poker for just four years, and while his resume isn't as long as either of the two Phils, he is the only other player at this table with a WSOP bracelet.

Quinn won his bracelet in 2005 in $2,500 Limit Hold'em, earning $265,000. While this is his first WPT final table, he did finish second in the Bellagio Cup I championship event -- an event which was added to the World Poker Tour this season.

Seat 2: Nam Le, 1,180,000 in chips

Nam Le is 27 years old, and has only been playing poker for about four years. But his poker accomplishments are already so great that he would be headlining most final tables that didn't include the names Ivey and Hellmuth.

Nam Le is the only final tablist with a WPT title -- he won the Bay 101 Shooting Star back in Season IV. This is his fourth WPT final table, and he has reached the final two tables nine different times. Nam Le has earned more than $1.6 million on the World Poker Tour.

Nam Le has also racked up a lot of smaller poker victories, and his career live earnings of $3.9 million put him in the top 50 on the all-time money list. If he picks up his second WPT title today, he'll skyrocket to 27th place on the all-time money list, bumping Doyle Brunson out of that spot and coming in right behind Barry Greenstein.

Seat 3: Phil Hellmuth, 2,380,000 in chips

If you want to know about Phil Hellmuth's poker accomplishments, just ask him. Humility is not often associated with Hellmuth, the man who wrecked a race car in the parking lot of the 2007 WSOP and still showed up to the Main Event in a racing suit and with 11 female models to represent his 11 WSOP bracelets.

As much as Hellmuth is mocked for his tantrums and self-aggrandizing ways, it's undeniable that he is one of the greatest hold'em players in history. He has more than $9.8 million in career earnings, and regardless of his finish tonight, he's guaranteed to become just the third player in poker history to cross the $10 million mark (behind Jamie Gold and Joe Hachem). Amazingly, he's made it that far without a single million-dollar victory -- the biggest cash of his career came 19 years ago, when he earned $755,000 for winning the WSOP Main Event (24 years old at the time, he still holds the record as the youngest WSOP Main Event champion).

With all that success, he has comparatively little success to show for his time on the World Poker Tour. And it bothers him. This is just his third WPT final table, and his first since Season II. With $585,000 in career WPT winnings, he'll need to finish third or higher to add his name to the list of WPT Poker-Made Millionaires. A fourth-place finish will leave him about $3,200 shy of a million.

More than anything else, Phil Hellmuth wants to fill the hole in his resume by winning a WPT title. His singular goal is to go down in history as one of the best who has ever played, and a victory here tonight will remove any lingering doubts.

Seat 4: Phil Ivey, 4,100,000 in chips

Phil Ivey is arguably the greatest poker player in the world, even with six fewer WSOP bracelets than Phil Hellmuth.

At the WSOP, Ivey has won five bracelets, including three in one Series (a record he shares with Hellmuth and Ted Forrest). A master of all poker games, Ivey finished third in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event against one of the toughest fields in history. What about the WSOP Main Event, you ask? He finished in the top 25 three times in a four-year period (23rd in 2002, 10th in 2003, and 20th in 2005).

Even though he plays most of his poker in U.S. cash games, he still found time to finish second at EPT Barcelona (Sep '06) and win the 2005 Monte Carlo Millions.

Speaking of cash games, he's a regular player in the Big Game at Bellagio, honing his skills against the best in the world -- Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, and others. The late Chip Reese once said that Ivey will eventually win more money playing poker than any of the others in the Big Game, and Greenstein rates him very highly on his website, calling Ivey "the best tournament player in the world."

After Brunson's "Corporation" of high-stakes players had lost millions of dollars to Texas billionaire Andy Beal in February 2006, Phil Ivey stepped in to turn the tide. Ivey would quickly make up their losses -- and then some. He won $10 million from Beal in one day and $16 million overall, saving the Corporation plenty of money and even more embarrassment.

But after all that, there is one glaring hole on Ivey's poker resume -- he has never won a WPT title.

He has actually had a great deal of success on the World Poker Tour by most standards. This is his record eighth WPT final table, and he has an unbelievable streak of reaching the final table every time he has cashed. But all those final tables just draw more attention to the fact that he has yet to win one. Unlike Hellmuth, however, Ivey's career WPT earnings of $1.2 million make him a member of the WPT Poker-Made Millionaires.

Ivey's total career earnings are more than $8 million, and with this final table he's guaranteed to crack the top 10 of the all-time money list.

Seat 5: Charles Moore, 1,510,000 in chips

Charles "Woody" Moore is 59 years old and from Dallas, Texas. He retired from the oil industry ten years ago, but has been playing poker for most of his life, and a lot of the long-time players know him well.

Moore isn't a regular on the tournament circuit, but he has already made one WPT final table, finishing fourth in Aruba back in 2002. He also has a WSOP final table on his resume.

Moore's wife Becky will be cheering him on in the stands.

Seat 6: Scott Montgomery, 2,680,000 in chips

Scott Montgomery is a 26-year-old online player from Perth, Ontario, Canada who plays under the name "r_a_y." Montgomery is a former English teacher who has been playing poker professionally for several years. This is his first WPT tournament (entered via a $500 satellite), and he is making the most of it.

	Phil Ivey - chip leader

The final 6 players will get down to business at 5pm PST Thursday here at the Commerce Casino. Here they are with their chip counts and seat assignments:

Kaelaine Minton Reporting

Kaelaine is one of the hardest working reporters on the tournament cicruit, and she can play poker, too!  She won the 2007 World Poker Open Media Tournament at the Goldstrike in Tunica, besting a field of 50 to win the event and the WPO gold bracelet!   Her motto is "will do anything poker-related for money".

Contact Kaelaine