| | |  | Last Updated: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 |  | | | Another Young Gambling Winner
- Thursday, 27 Apr 2006
The World Poker Tournament is one of the biggest tournaments in the world of online gambling. In fact, winning is generally the last thing on players mind when they are gambling at the WPT, all they hope for is a spot at the final table. For one lucky players however, winning is inevitable, and this year a gambling fan from Las Vegas won the mega-jackpot. Joe Bartholdi ignored the odds to beat 604 other poker players and win the WPT World Championship and $3.76 million.
The 26-year-old former Las Vegas card dealer said he didn't think much of his chances of winning when he reached the final table at the Bellagio hotel-casino, but others around him sensed he had something on his side, perhaps a bit of gambling luck. "Everybody around me was telling me I was going to win," Bartholdi said Tuesday. "I changed my mind and decided to believe as well." Bartholdi clutched an unsuited 9-5 going into the final hand Monday night against Davidson Matthew, the Canadian who parlayed a $25 online buy-in tournament into a cool $1.9 million second-place finish.
A flop of ace-9-8 with two hearts showing gave Bartholdi a measly pair of 9s. After successive raises and counter-raises, Bartholdi called Matthew's all-in bet, and is now in the gambling record books. "With all the info I had by how he had played previous hands, I didn't really think he had an ace," Bartholdi said. Matthew flipped over two hearts, a 10 and a 4, with a chance for a flush. When the next two community cards were a deuce and ace of diamonds, Bartholdi's two pairs won the tournament. Each seat at the tournament cost $25,500 although some players were sponsored by online poker sites. | |
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