WPT Five Diamond final table was a blinder

The final table for the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic was a blinder! We had such a strong field for the event over all and that fact was really reflected by the players who reached the final.

It seemed like each of the players had their own ‘interesting story’ attached to them and that’s always a real benefit to the journalists and media who are there covering it.

We had a female player in Vanessa Rousso who, if she had won, would have been the first female to win a WPT open event. Van Nguyen won a WPT Invitational Event but there had yet to be a female champion for a non-invitational WPT.

We had Antonio Esfandiari who already had one WPT title under his belt and was hoping to score a second on his birthday. Yes, his actual birthday! Well known high stakes cash pro Andrew Robl was attempting to close his first big live title after a number of near misses.

John Racener Jr recently was runner up at the WSOP Main Event and although he certainly came to the table with the most in live cashes, there was no doubt that he wanted a title of his own. Kirk Morrison disappeared from the circuit for a few years but was back with a vengeance. In 2007 he just missed out on a final table for the World Poker Tour event in Reno and then came second in the WPT Championships that same year and this was the first deep run we’d seen from him since then.

And finally, Ted Lawson came in as a short stack to our final table and after narrowly missing out on a Final Table spot at WPT Foxwoods in 2007, he was eager to have another stab at a title.

Lots of stories! I won’t ruin it for you if you want to watch it when the WPT airs this season but if you’re dying to know what happened then check out the live updates.

Nominated in Favorite Poker Hostess category

Also on a personal note – I’ve been nominated for the Bluff Magazine Readers Choice Awards in the Favorite Poker Hostess category. I believe that the voting will only be open until January so if you have a spare few minutes then take a look.

There are 14 categories and I’m in the second one so it doesn’t take too long. I’m happy to be up there with people I like and respect. I think Gloria Balding is really fantastic at what she does over at Poker News and some of her spoof videos are awesome.