Who reallyis the best NL Hold’em tournament player?

The lead-up to the finale saw seven champions crowned in various events over the weekend.

Event 4

Two final tables played out Friday, the first being the $500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament. The field of 246 players had been winnowed to the final nine on Thursday, with Darin Rima wearing the mantle of chip leader.

Rima was behind the first three busts on the final table, building a sizable chip advantage. However, he slowly took a back seat. After an hour of three-handed play Rima was ousted from the tournament by Tom Petric when Petric’s flopped two pair stood up to Rima’s pair of queens.

Sciscoe and Petric were nearly even in chips as heads-up play started. The battle between the two lasted 30 minutes, with Sciscoe becoming more aggressive as he noted his opponent becoming more conservative.

On the final hand, Sciscoe limped in with Petric and the two men saw a K-Q-4 flop. Petric led into the pot with 100k, only to see Sciscoe move all-in again. Petric called with K-8 for top pair but was dominated by Sciscoe’s slow-played pocket aces.

When the turn and river provided no help for Petric, Sciscoe became the champion of the $500 NLHE tournament. The final-table results were:

Event 5

Next, one of the non-Texas Hold’em tournaments hit the felt. The $300 Omaha Hi-Lo had whittled its way down from 148 starters on Friday and found Brian Brashaw leading a tightly packed final-table field. His supremacy was challenged by Shawn Ng, whom he faced off with in heads-up play.

It was all over when both players made queens and tens on a Q-10-3-9-Q board but Brashaw’s king out-kicked Ng’s eight for the championship. Final-table results were as follows:

Event 6

Of those who remained from Friday’s 156 runners for the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table on Saturday, Nick Bickey held the chip lead at the start of action and used it to drive on to the title.

Bickey was joined at the final table by two friends he travels the tournament circuit with, Jason Bartholomew and Dan Hicks, but Bickey pointed out there was no collusion between the three. “We all try to knock each other out for bragging rights,” Hicks stated. Bartholomew was first out in ninth place and Hicks finished in fifth.

Heads-up, Bickey and Joe Siedlik decided on an even-money chop, with Bickey getting the championship in the deal. Under Iowa law, however, they had to play out the tournament. Although Siedlik doubled up once with a 9-5 that turned into a boat, he was beaten when he couldn’t make his K-6 stand against Bickey’s A-4.

The final-table results were:

Event 7

This $300 No-Limit Hold’em tournament also began Friday and was unable to get to its final table in one day. The 100 starters in the event had only worked down to 12 by the end of play on Friday, so those dozen men came back to the felt on Saturday to determine the champion.

Dukich was responsible for the elimination of five of the seven players who left before he reached heads-up action against Dmitri Soudakov, who couldn’t prevail against Dukich’s 3-1 chip lead. It took three hands for Dukich to eliminate Soudakov during heads-up play and win the title.

The final-table results were:

Event 8

Sunday was a busy day at the Horseshoe, with three final tables slated for action. First up was the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table, winnowed down from a 109-player field.

David Dicken led the final table at the start of action and was the aggressor in the early going, building on his chip lead and cruising to the heads-up action against Kou Vang.

With a 2-1 chip advantage, Dicken looked unbeatable, but Vang steadfastly began to grind into his lead. On the final hand Vang flopped a nine to match his K-9 and outrun Dicken’s pocket eights for the title.

The final-table results were:

Event 9

The $500 H.O.R.S.E. event was a marathon: 87 rounders played for 12 hours on Saturday and then till 10 p.m. Sunday to reach a final table that didn’t wrap up until the wee hours.

Karl Tretter’s Day 1 lead would not allow him to see the light of day, with Teddy Nassif and Kevin O’Donnell facing off even in chips heads-up. Nassif soon went on the offensive.

After several rounds, he was able to climb into the lead over O’Donnell and crippled him during the next Omaha segment. Nassif was able to close the deal when he made a flush in Seven-Card Stud and O’Donnell blanked out.

The final-table results were:

After that flurry of poker, players are ready for the $5,000 Championship Event that starts today. PokerListings’ reporting team will be there for all the action, so be sure to check out our Live Tournaments section for the full details on the WSOPC action in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Visit PokerListings.com