4/26/10 – Had Shawn Buchanan prevailed in this weekend's final table of the $25 000 buy-in WPT World Championship at the Bellagio, he would have been the first player to win both the WPT World Championship and the WPT Player of the Year in the same season.
Unfortunately that was not on the cards, as Buchanan went out in third place to set the scene for a heads up between David Williams and Eric Baldwin.
That left Fara Jaka with the Player of the Year title for Season VIII, and Buchanan with a third place consolation payday of $587 906.
It also left Williams and Baldwin facing off for the big money and glory of the title, along with a $25 000 seat in the next WSOP and a glittering trophy.
On the previous day an original field of 195 ended up after six tough days as a final table of six when Phil Hellmuth was eliminated in seventh place after 8 hours of exciting action. His departure left David Benyamine with a small chip lead on a table that featured Williams, Baldwin, Buchanan, Billy Baxter and John O'Shea.
The Williams vs. Baldwin heads up started at hand 115 and lasted for a little short of 40 minutes. Williams held a massive 10 710 000 lead over his feisty opponent with the blinds at 100,000-200,000 and a 20,000 ante.
Baldwin gave a good account of himself but not good enough, and Williams took the main prize of $ 1,530,537, leaving the runner up with a second placing paycheck of $1,034,715.
The last three placings were:
4th Place: David Benyamine – $329,228
5th Place: Billy Baxter – $246,921
6th Place: John O'Shea – $199,888