Joe Bartholdi Wins WPT Championship

While he would never tell you the final table was “easy,” from the way the seventh and final day went at the WPT Championship on Monday, Joe Bartholdi had as smooth of a run as anyone could hope for on his way to winning the $25,000 buy-in event and a check for $3,760,165. No, he didn’t hold the chip lead wire-to-wire, as he started out second out of six, but as soon as he got the lead, there was no looking back.

After getting everybody to fold pre-flop in two out of the first three hands, Bartholdi took down a massive pot, over $7 million in chips, on the fourth hand, slicing chip leader James Van Alstyne’s stack about in half. From there, Bartholdi held the chip lead for virtually the remainder of the final table.

The first player to hit the rail was the most recognizable name at the final table, Men “The Master” Nguyen. Just eleven hands after the Bartholdi pot, Nguyen, who was the short stack entering the day, pushed with pocket 10’s, only to be picked off by Claus Nielsen’s pocket Queens.

Van Alstyne lasted about another hour after Nguyen, but the hit he took earlier was not going to be overcome. With one $10,000 chip left, he actually had a hand, A-K, but Bartholdi finished off what he started by sucking out with J-10 to eliminated the chip leader at the start of the day in fifth place. At this point, Bartholdi had a $3.3 million lead on the second place Nielsen.

Nielsen himself was eliminated in fourth place, with Bartholdi being the executioner once again. Both players made their hands when the Queen of diamonds fell on the river, but Nielsen’s A-Q for a pair of Queens was no match for Bartholdi’s flush.

At this point, Bartholdi had three times as many chips as each of his two remaining opponents.

Bartholdi continued his onslaught, showing Roland de Wolfe the door in third place. Pocket Queens is a better hand than pocket sixes, especially when a Queen comes on the flop.

So, going into heads-up play with David Matthew, Joe Bartholdi held a 2.5-to-1 chip lead.

Matthew actually made a game of it, coming back to take the chip lead for a few hands. But, after about an hour, Bartholdi finally took him out. Interestingly, neither player had a monster hand at the end – Bartholdi held 9-5 and Matthew held 10-4. Bartholdi’s hand was good for middle pair, while Matthew had a flush draw. The draw never hit and Bartholdi took down the Championship.


Final Table Results (Bold = Television Table)

1. Joe Bartholdi -- $3,760,165
2. David Matthew -- $1,903,950
3. Roland De Wolfe -- $1,025,205
4. Claus Nielson -- $659,120
5. James Van Alstyne -- $439,375
6. Men Nguyen -- $292,915
7. Vanessa Rousso -- $263,625
8. Espen Saltnes -- $234,330
9. Chad Brown -- $205,040

Originally published April 26, 2006