Poker: WPT Championship ends Season 2 with promise, not payoff

It was the single biggest poker tournament in history. Everything was on the line -- a championship title, a record $8 million prize pool, the culmination of 14 hard-fought final tables.

On the rails and at home, the fans of the World Poker Tour had every reason to brace themselves for impact as the 2004 WPT Championship arrived on Wednesday night. Even if you had somehow managed to avoid Travel Channel's intrusive, over-hyping promos, you couldn't possibly miss this event.

After all, it was set to be the most hardcore final table in recent memory.

All year, as the results of each tournament came together, I could see it coming. The best and brightest of the WPT were shining this season.

The always-impressive Erick Lindgren won two tables and was named 2004 Player of the Year. Paul Phillips finally scored a win, and so did "The Unabomber," Phil Laak. The ever-nasty Hoyt Corkins took a title. Barry Greenstein won one. And let us not forget, my hero Phil Gordon nailed the competition dead to rights in San Jose.

I could see it now: a final showdown between these awesome players. In my ideal world, Gordon would be your 2004 WPT champion, but there would, of course, be some hard competition from people who'd proven themselves, like the ever-talented Lindgren and Kevin Walker Award winner Michael Kinney.

I would have died happy if it had come down to Phil, Erick and Kinney in the final three -- imagine that for a table brawl! In fact, the battle would be more interesting than who actually came out on top.

Imagine my surprise, then, to find out the 2004 WPT championship table was comprised of six people I'd never heard of before in my entire life. Not Phil, not Erick Lindgren, not Hoyt Corkins, not Gus Hansen, not Danny Negreanu -- total strangers.

What a letdown, but it also opened the door to possibility. We'd see a brand new WPT champion this season, somebody who had to go through all of the above to earn that title.

Here's how they started:

1. Martin de Knijff - $4,375,000 2. Matt Matros - $3,860,000 3. Richard Grijalva - $2,995,000 4. Hasan Habib - $2,605,000 5. Russell Rosenblum - $1,780,000 6. Steve Brecher - $1,460,000

With the end of the WPT season comes the very last Kevin Walker Award, of course, and it goes to grad student and writer Matt Matros.

Matt reminds me of somebody I used to go to school with (don't ask me who -- I'm still trying to figure it out) and he demonstrated that he was a solid player at this final table. In fact, he reminds me very much of me -- quiet, serious, hyperobservant, and with a professional table image. I look forward to seeing him in the future, since he made me stop looking for Phil or Danny Negreanu every once in a while. (Although, given that Phil is 6'9" and Danny stands out in a crowd, it wouldn't exactly be a game of "Where's Waldo?," would it?)

While I get that weird mental image out of my head, let's move on to the actual championship.

Play was fast and tough from the very beginning. Only minutes in, short stack Steve Brecher was benched as he tangled with the imposing Swede Martin (who looks vaguely like Arnold Vosloo from "The Mummy" if you squint). Steve's A-4 was a coin flip against Martin's A-Q, but the board went J-7-3-K-3 and killed Steve's night. To be honest with you, I'm not even sure I noticed he was there.

The next person to go was Russell, who went up against Richard. Despite his youth and inexperience, Richard had come out firing, absolutely undaunted by being at a table of supreme importance. With a pair of jacks in his hand, he was a pretty good favorite to beat Russell, who needed to make a move and found A-Q in the hole. His move didn't pay off, though -- the board went 7-10-8-4-K, and Russell took a seat but didn't go far. (Literally -- the camera later panned over to show him sitting front row. But hey, if you were in the championship, wouldn't you want to see what happened?)

Richard was clearly making an impact, but it wouldn't last. The only person more vicious than him was Martin, and a battle of the two ended with Richard terminated. He held A-7 against Martin's K-2, and nobody could blame him for going all-in when the flop came A-3-3. Martin was on a flush draw, however, and after a turn of 7, the 10 of clubs came on the river and drowned Richard.

This left Martin with a commanding chip lead of something like ten million and with only Matt and Hasan to fend off. At this point, I'm thinking that a Kevin Walker Award winner won last week and that it's entirely possible I may have picked the winner again.

I really should stop getting ahead of myself.

Matt held A-5 against Martin's K-J, and the board went 2-10-J-9-2. With no hand at all, Matt tried to bluff by going all-in, except Martin saw straight through him. Though I'm not convinced that's the last we've seen of Matt Matros, it was all we were going to see of him in this championship.

Now, as you all know, heads-up play also means the money comes out, and this championship featured the stupidest ceremony of that I have ever seen, looking like something out of a bad Cirque du Soleil performance. Can we just bring the money out, set it down, and walk away? I'm getting worried that next time there'll be mimes or something.

Excuse me while I erase that mental image from my head.

Hasan had been warring with Martin all day, with Martin taking most of the victories, so it was no surprise that with a huge chip lead Martin ended up putting the death knell to Hasan. Martin held a pair of tens against Hasan's A-5, and Hasan had to double up to become a serious threat. Unfortunately for him, he made his move at the wrong time. The board went 4-5-2-Q-7 and made Martin de Knijff the 2004 WPT champion.

One thinks it might have been nice for 2003 champ Alan Goehring, who was in the audience, to be part of the presentation, but no...

The final finish: 1. Martin de Knijff - $2,700,000 2. Hasan Habib - $1,372,223 3. Matt Matros - $703,903 4. Richard Grijalva - $457,408 5. Russell Rosenblum - $332,660 6. Steve Brecher - $234,862

Now, it's been fifteen tournaments since I started covering the World Poker Tour for you, and I've learned a number of things along the way. In order to properly cap the season, I present you with the following useless facts.

Things I've Learned From The 2004 World Poker Tour Season

* No one is more aptly named than Chris Moneymaker.

-* Pretty much anyone is more capable at commentary than Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten. Additionally, I don't think either of them could take Phil Gordon in a fight.

* Anyone can win at any time. Including that one guy who turned $12 into several hundred thousand. Now that's what I call return on an investment.

-- It is not humanly possible to watch a Padres game and a WPT final table at the same time.

* Don't ever vacation in Crete.

* There are circumstances in which the term "American Idol" can be used without fear of psychological trauma.

* Paul Phillips' hair color changes at random each time you see him.

* Usually, if you mouth off, somebody will send you over the rail where you can think about your attitude problem.

* You can build fun little structures out of your chips.

* Danny Negreanu is pretty much everywhere.

* Sometimes the good guys finish first.

Close the books on the WPT second season, folks. I'll be back tomorrow with the end of "Celebrity Poker Showdown," but at least for now, we have a new WPT Champion and are free from the prattle of Mike and Vince. It's certainly been an interesting ride, and who knows what next season will bring?