Did Somebody Call a Doctor?

What began as an errand ended as a dream come true for James Dempsey.  The British poker pro came to Las Vegas as a favor to friend Chris Moorman, who needed someone to pick up some money for him.  Dempsey ending up picking up quite a nice payday for himself, winning the Season X Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $821,612.

As is always the case at the Bellagio, this year’s final table wa sa stacked one with reigning champ and two-time WPT winner Antonio Esfandiari, November Niner Soi Nguyen, online poker phenom Andrew Lichtenberger, WPT Jacksonville Fall Series 4th place finisher Vitor Coelho, Dempsey, and WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst.

Esfandiari’s hopes for a repeat victory were dashed early in the evening when he busted on just the tenth hand of play.  Dempsey was on the button and raised enough to put Esfandiari all-in from the big blind.  Esfandiari called with [Ah10s] and was out front of Dempsey’s [Ad4h], but Dempsey managed to turn a four to send the Magician out in sixth place.

Just two hands later, Coelho joined Esfandiari on the rail when he put the remainder of his dwindling stack in with pocket eights, but couldn’t hold against the overcards of Nguyen and Selbst.  Coelho’s fifth place finish did help him move to second behind Will Failla in this year’s WPT Player of the Year race.

The actin kept coming at rapid fire pace, with Selbst doubling thru Lichtenberger and Lichtenberger subsequently going out in fourth place when he four-bet shoved all-in holding pocket eights and Nguyen made a big call with pocket nines.  The hand sent Lichtenberger to the rail and sent Nguyen to the top of the chip counts going into three-handed play.

Dempsey evened up the stacks just six hand later when he made a big call of his own.  Selbst four-bet shoved holding [Kc9s] and Dempsey called her all-in with a dominating [Ah9c].  The [6d5h4hAc] board left Selbst drawing dead by the turn, and with the [5c] on the river she headed out in third place.

Selbst’s exit left Dempsey and Nguyen heads-up and virtually dead even in chips after just 41 hands of action.  From there, the speedy pace of the tournament screeched to a halt as the two players battled back and forth over the course of more than 80 hands of heads-up action.

The two sparred at first, but Nguyen eventually moved out to a substantial chip lead after getting paid off by Dempsey on a couple of big hands.  Dempsey managed to rally back though, doubling thru Nguyen to stay in contention, then doubling thru him again to take a big chip lead of his own.

That hand left Nguyen in a position where he needed a quick double up to stay alive.  It wasn’t long before Nguyen took his stand, moving all-in over the top of a raise from Dempsey holding [KcJd]. Unfortunately for Nguyen, Dempsey called and had him dominated with [KhQc].

Nguyen got lucky with the [Jc9h6c] and his pair of jacks remained out front with the [4h] on turn, but Dempsey hits a lucky card of his own with the [10d] on the river to make a straight worth over $800,000 and a WPT title.

Dempsey’s errand was an excuse to play in his first-ever WPT event.  Now he is a WPT champion and won’t need any excuse to be back at Bellagio in May, when he will take his seat in the Season X WPT World Championship.

Here are the final table results from the Five Diamond Main Event:

1st: James Dempsey – $821,612 (includes $25,500 WPT World Championship seat)
2nd: Soi Nguyen – $517,478
3rd: Vanessa Selbst – $338,351
4th: Andrew Lichtenberger – $218,933
5th: Vitor Coelho – $159,224
6th: Antonio Esfandiari – $119,418