There were several poker professionals who made the final table but neither Antonio Esfandiari, Bill Perkins, nor Chris Klodnicki succeeded in outshining Anthony Gregg. Only 166 players found it worthwhile to spend the thousands of dollars necessary for buying in this tournament, still 18 millions were generated for charity. Most WSOP tournaments end in three days but in this case, the players had to wait for one more day to learn the name of the winner.

Pretty much everything that matters happened not at the final table but among these four players, with Antonio Esfandiari being justly regarded as favorite to win the tournament. Surprising or not, he failed to meet the high expectations and was eliminated in the fourth place when his opponent hit an ace on the final street. Klodnicki was the one who caused his elimination but Antonio didn’t leave right away, waiting to see how his friend Perkins fares in the tournament.

Sadly for both of them, Bill didn’t make it for much longer and was eventually intimidated in the third place, with Anthony Gregg as the executioner. The eventual winner took charge of the game and started to use his chip lead to push opponents around, from the beginning of day four. The strategy paid off and after eliminating Perkins, he began the heads-up against Klodnicki with twice as many chips.

Obviously, Gregg started as favorite to win the event and he didn’t wait for strong cards to be dealt to him, but raised aggressively hand after hand. His opponent tried to react to this aggressive tactic but lost a major pot that left him with no more than twenty big blinds and then went all in with few outs left. His opponent snap called him and his top pair held, resulting in a hefty payout and a coveted WSOP bracelet.