2008 WSOP Event 53 Winner Matt Graham

  Event 53 was the last under card event before the insanity of the World Series of Poker Main Event took center stage. Anybody who thought that the last day of this event would just wilt under the shadow of the WSOP signature competition and that this would be just another day at the office would be completely wrong. The final day of this event was perhaps one of the most entertaining of the entire World Series of Poker season.  When the final day of play started, there wasn't a final table. Seventy-two players were still left from the previous day, and it took seven hours to get down to nine. Notable players who went from being competitors to tournament road kill were Blair Rodman, Rhett Butler, Kenna James, David Bach, Hoyt Corkins, Mike Wattel, and Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke.  The final table began with remaining players seated as follows:Seat 1: Jean-Robert BellandeSeat 2: Danny WongSeat 3: Spencer LawrenceSeat 4: Matt GrahamSeat 5: Andrew ProckSeat 6: Michael KachanSeat 7: Brandon WongSeat 8: John KranyakSeat 9: Joe De Niro  Michael Kachan was one sent off to lick his final table wounds. After being crippled in an intense three-way pot that was eventually won by John Kranyak, he was finished off by Danny Wong who matched an Ace in his hand with one that appeared on the flop. The pair was good enough to send Kachan away in 9th place.  Andrew Prock started off ahead of Joe De Niro when he put all his chips in against Joe's A-J. The A-Q that Prock was holding had a slight lead that cut short by a flop of A-J-3. Neither the turn or river could save him and Andrew went to the rail in 8th place.  It wasn't more than a few minutes later that De Niro was replaying the same hand, only this time he had Prock's A-Q against John Kranyak A-J. Joe's charmed life continued as not only did no card on the board advance John's hand, but a Queen that fell on the river just put a period on the end of the hand that saw John Kranyak going away in 7th place.  Jean-Robert Bellande and his prodigious stack started to flex their numerical muscle. He eliminated Spencer Lawrence who was all-in with the help of a 9 that showed up on the flop. The pair was good enough to punt Lawrence in 6th place.  Bellande and Danny Wong were the big stacks at the table. They were not content to stay away from each other and just settle things heads-up at the end. Instead they just tore right into each other's stacks. Bellande came out on top of four big hands against Wong.  Wong was on fumes with 50,000 chips left, but tripled up at the expense of Joe DeNiro. Bellande was not going to let Wong rebuild his stack and had another go at him. In the final hand between Bellande and Wong, a six on the river created a board that had A-6-5-6-6. This matched up well with Bellande's A-8, and gave him a full-house. Whatever Wong had could not compete seeing as he mucked his hand and headed for the rail in 5th place.  Brandon Wong followed closely on the heels of Danny Wong when he challenged Joe De Niro and Matt Graham. Wong got his chips all-in before the flop, and Matt Graham got out of the way after the flop. All Wong's A-2 could get him was a bottom pair on a 10-8-2. Matt caught a middle pair, and the two eights held up to boot Brandon Wong in 4th place.  Jean-Robert Bellande struck again when he and Joe DeNiro found themselves facing off against each other for the second time in just a few tics of the clock. DeNiro had lost the first encounter when Bellande had managed a runner-runner straight and was finished off when his all-in bet fell when Jean-Robert rivered a pair of Aces. DeNiro walked away in 3rd place.  Jean-Robert Bellande had his massive stack of 1,900,000 when going against Matt Graham's collection of 800,000 chips as heads-up play began. At the start Bellande started to pad his already impressive lead, but as any guy knows, size doesn't matter; it's how you use it.  Bellande and Graham engaged in a back and forth struggle that had Bellande coming away on top. While Graham had managed to take a few hands, Bellande slowly expanded his lead.  Things turned on a river card that completed Matt Graham's gutshot draw. This one hand erased Bellande's entire advantage and put the players on even footing. After this shift in power, the two traded insignificant leads until Graham pulled ahead in a hand where Matt had a higher two-pair than the one Bellande could muster. Jean-Robert was crippled and eventually was eliminated on a hand where the board connected with neither player and Graham's A-J held serve against Bellande's 7-9.  It was over and Matt Graham had pulled off a dramatic, come from behind victory to win his first bracelet. This was an aggressive marathon event that left competitors and onlookers exhausted. In other words, it was a fitting end to the numbered events. Now on to the Main Event!