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  Usually when somebody puts on a display like the final table performance of Event #43 champion Martin Klaser, people usually start in with nicknames like "Klaser the Conqueror", "The Great", or the "The Terrible". In the case of the last example "terrible" is a compliment that hints to the fact that he personally eliminated half of the final table.



  It wasn't all roses and nicknames for King Kong Klaser: he may have started the final day near the top of the pack, but he had to work his tail off to break away from the pack on Day 2, and put himself in position to win it all. When he did get the advantage, he stepped on the collective necks of his opponents and dominated the final table. At first this looked like it was going to be the Casey Kastle show as he scored the first two eliminations, sending Tom Chambers to the rail in 9th place and ousting Larry Wright in a hand that had Casey flopping a nut flush, with no low.



  Martin Klaser started to push Casey Kastle out of the spotlight when Martin made a wheel on the flop against Joseph Haddad, and sent him back to Oregon in 7th place.



  After absorbing Haddad's stack, Klaser set his sights on Chad Burum's chips. Klaser took the fight to Chad by raising before the flop. Burum called and the flop came down as a Js-6h-5s. Burum went all in at this point. He was holding an Ah-Qs-8s-3h and feeling pretty good about himself with a good flush draw and an encouraging low draw. Of course Klaser (Ad-2c-6c-5h ) already had a made hand with a 6 high two-pair, and a good low draw himself. The last two cards were a 7c-4d, and Matin scooped the pot while showing Burum the door in 6th place.



  Casey Kastle got back into the action by eliminating chip leader Jon Maren in 5th place. Castle was living dangerously though, and countered Maren's all in bet with only a pair of 6s. The low pair held and Kastle was still alive and would continue his march to an inevitable showdown with Klaser by knocking out eight time bracelet winner Erik Seidel in 4th place.



  Martin Klaser sharpened his claws for the last push by taking out Michael Fetter in 3rd place. While things looked encouraging for Martin before the flop, a flopped set for Klaser pretty ended Michael's day. On paper this looks like a good back and forth battle, but Klaser had won more big, non-elimination pots, and pretty much dominated the field to this point. This was reflected in the one-sided chip count that had Martin Klaser with 1,520,000 and Casey Kastle with only 590,000.



  There have been upsets with more dramatic chip deficits than this, and David actually has a pretty good record at the WSOP when facing Goliath, but in this case it was like Goliath taking on a cheese omelette: unless the cholesterol count kills him on the spot, Goliath is probably going to dominate the encounter.



  Heads up play only lasted for nineteen hands, and sixteen of those were won by Martin Klaser. In the climactic hand, Kastle bet his tournament life on a 9-9-J flop. He was holding J-10-3-2, and hoping the backdoor straight draw and the top pair would win the day. Of course Klaser believing that he should bring a Hydrogen bomb to a knife fight beat Kastle's top pair with his A-3-Q-Q. When a third Q was dropped on the turn, giving Martin Klaser an unbeatable full house, there was nothing left to be said. It was over, and actually there was very little doubt how this one would end. Congratulations Martin Klaser on your impressive win in this event!