On Wednesday night, Andy Frankenberger, who entered the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker final table as the chip leader, emerged as its champion and banked $750,000. In addition, Frankenberger is now the proud owner of a WPT championship bracelet and a trophy of Wild Bill Hickok. The final table took 184 hands to determine a champion and ended shortly after 2:00am PT at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.
After doubling up Tom Braband several hands earlier, Franco Brunetti was shown the exit in sixth place from the Legends of Poker. Brunetti moved all-in over-the-top of a raise by Kyle Wilson with K-3 offsuit and Wilson made the call with 8-6. I bet you can guess how this ends. A six hit on the flop to give Wilson the lead in the hand and no king came on the turn or river to save the day.
On the 77th hand of final table play, Jared Jaffee pushed all-in on a flop of J-7-4-7. Wilson tanked before calling and showed down 9-7 for trips, while Jaffee tabled Q-J for jacks-up. The river card was a king and Jaffee busted in fifth place for $86,000. The Legends of Poker marked Jaffee’s second WPT final table of 2010, as he finished fourth in the Southern Poker Championship in January for $135,000.
Twenty-three hands later, it was Braband’s witching hour. Braband 3bet all-in pre-flop and Wilson called, turning over pocket nines. Braband held K-J for an old-fashioned race and the board ran out Q-7-4-8-9. Braband picked up $109,000 from his first WPT final table. He finished 23rd in the Season 7 L.A. Poker Classic, his only other in the money finish on the WPT circuit.
Frankenberger, now the low stack at the table, doubled through Wilson with A-9 against A-7 and furthered his Legends of Poker title run by knocking out Tom Lee in third place. Lee open-shoved all-in pre-flop with A-8 and both Frankenberger and Wilson called in an attempt to knock him out. Frankenberger and Wilson checked the action down on a board reading K-9-4-Q with two clubs and, when the jack of clubs hit on the river, Frankenberger bet out 400,000 and Wilson folded. Frankenberger showed A-7 of clubs for the nut flush and Lee was relegated to the rails with ace-high.
Frankenberger held a 7:2 chip lead entering heads-up play against Wilson and the action ended just six hands later. Wilson 3bet all-in pre-flop with A-3 of diamonds and Frankenberger woke up with A-9 of clubs. Frankenberger flopped top pair on a nine-high board, while Wilson flopped a flush draw. However, no diamond came on the turn or river and Frankenberger took down the Legends of Poker.
Wilson earned $370,000 for his run in the five-day tournament and had a rail featuring Canadian poker pros Shawn Buchanan and Greg “FBT” Mueller. In 2008, Wilson took sixth in the Legends of Poker for $176,000. He also narrowly made the final table of the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Star event, but went out in 18th place for $55,000.
Here’s how the final table of the 2010 WPT Legends of Poker cashed out:
1. Andy Frankenberger – $750,000
2. Kyle Wilson – $370,000
3. Tom Lee – $174,772
4. Tom Braband – $109,000
5. Jared Jaffee – $86,000
6. Franco Brunetti – $63,000
Next up for the WPT is the London Poker Classic, which will emanate from the Palm Beach Casino from August 30th to September 5th. Then, the WPT returns to U.S. soil on September 18th in Atlantic City for the Borgata Poker Open.
