Former dealer wins $3.76M in poker tour final

Former casino dealer wins WPT poker tour final

LAS VEGAS - Joe Bartholdi, a 26-year-old former Las Vegas card dealer, ignored the odds and outplayed some 604 other poker players to win the WPT World Championship and a cool $3.76 million.


Bartholdi, a native of San Diego, Calif., said he didn't think he had much of a chance at winning when he reached the final table at the Bellagio hotel-casino, but the other players seated at the table with him sensed he had something on his side.


``Everybody around me was telling me I was going to win,'' Bartholdi said Tuesday. ``I changed my mind and decided to believe as well.''


On the final hand of the tournament, Bartholdi held an unsuited nine-five Monday night against Davidson Matthew, a St. Johns, Antigua native from Canada who won his way into the game by playing a $25 online buy-in tournament, and parlayed that win into a cool $1.9 million second-place finish.


A flop of ace-nine-eight with two hearts showing gave Bartholdi just a pair of nines. After seeing raises and reraises, Matthew’s went all in and Bartholdi called his all-in bet.


``With all the info I had by how he had played previous hands, I didn't really think he had an ace,'' Bartholdi said.


Matthew flipped over two hearts, a 10 and a four, showing that he was on a flush draw. When the next two community cards were a deuce and ace of diamonds, Bartholdi's two pair had held up to win him the tournament. Each seat at the tournament cost $25,500 although there were some players that were sponsored by online poker sites.


The most Bartholdi had ever won in tournament play was $71,445 at last year's World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas.


He said he’d take his win slowly and seek out financial advice before making any big purchases.


``I'll file for taxes this year for sure,'' he said.


Before the tournament, Matthew had owed $80,000 to five credit card companies He also missed most of the first day of play because he forgot which day it started.


He said after coming in second he plans on giving up his business operating some 100 automated cash machines in Toronto.


``I was at the point of total bankruptcy,'' Matthew said by phone from Toronto on Tuesday. ``It just came in at the right time.''

News Added: 29 April, 2006

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