JOHNNY CHAN

There were 156 entrants and 143 rebuys in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha for a total prize pool of $448,500. 2 tables were paid, a total of 18 players.

Talk about your all-star cast! The player who finished one off the Final Table, Chris Bjorin, has 22 cashes in the WSOP and a bracelet. Chau Giang in 11th has two bracelets and O'Neil Longson in 12th has one. So how tough was THIS final nine lineup?

THE FINAL TABLE 49 mins left of 80. The blinds are $800/$1,500

Player	Hometown	Chip Count
Seat 1 Greg Hopkins	Redondo Beach CA	$68,600
Seat 2 Frederic Wrang	Stockholm, Sweden	$27,700
Seat 3 Willie Tann	Bovingdon UK	$51,400
Seat 4 Jim Lester	Cincinnati OH	$35,100
Seat 5 Jack Duncan	Las Vegas NV	$9,600
Seat 6 Johnny Chan	Las Vegas NV	$54,400
Seat 7 Josh Arieh	Atlanta GA	$44,500
Seat 8 Howard Greenspan	Minneapolis MN	$57,700
Seat 9 Jim Bechtel	Gilbert AZ	$100,100

Pot Limit Omaha is a game where you flop the nuts and pray. Even heads up, with only one other player in the hand, your made hand probably is only a slight favorite against a nut draw held by your opponent. Jim Lester won his first all-in when his two Aces found another on the board. The second all-in Lester wasn't so lucky. Again he flopped the best hand with his pocket Kings. Jim had trip Kings on the flop, but this time the draw against him got there. Howard Greenspan had two Aces with the A 10 of Diamonds and got a third diamond on the turn to give Lester 9th place.

In one of the biggest hands of his poker life, Greg Hopkins got a surprise. Hopkins has won everywhere he's played but this was his first WSOP cash. Starting 2nd in chips, Greg didn't have to gamble at such low blind levels but he chose to and paid for it. When Howard Greenspan raised on the button, Hopkins reraised from the big blind with A A K T. Greenspan had plenty of chips and flat called with Q J 9 8. The flop came Q 10 9. Hopkins didn't want to give Greenspan a free card with such a dangerous flop for two Aces. Greg bet $32,000. Howard came over the top all-in. Hopkins felt the need to call when he could have been drawing dead to a K J. The surprise to Hopkins was that Greenspan would call with only two pair. Greenspan rivered a straight with the Jack as the key card Hopkins didn't have. Greg's once formidable stack was down to $600. Raising all-in later with $7,000 under the gun with the A 9 of Spades, Hopkins went out a disappointed 8th when Johnny Chan showed him Jacks.

Former World Champion Jim Bechtel couldn't catch a cold this afternoon. Repeatedly, Jim would take a shot at a pot only to have someone else flop a big hand on him. Infrequently could Bechtel even call a bet after raising before the flop. His chips in freefall from the outset, Bechtel took his last beating when he raised with two Kings and an Ace. Josh Arieh had two Queens and called. This time Bechtel flopped an overpair to the board. But Arieh had a flush draw and a backdoor straight draw with his high wrap. The board came perfect perfect for Arieh and sent a stunned Jim Bechtel straight out in 7th.

What are the odds of a player with $9,600 outlasting a former World Champ with $100,100. Not good, probably. But that's what happened. 'Cactus' Jack Duncan was as prickly as his name. No one could get near him. Either he'd bet and on one would call or he'd flop a monster all-in and stay alive. Finally all-in once again, in the big blind with Aces of course, Johnny Chan had the courage to call Jack and Chan rivered the nut flush to play Mac Beth to Duncan in 6th.

Another player with such a tight table image no one wanted to call him was Frederic Wrang. The poor guy could get no action on his bets. But since he was so disciplined a player he wouldn't bluff enough to get any chips. It took another player having Aces to get Wrang all-in. Frederic had Aces, to no one's surprise. Amazingly, Wrang's 7 was a good kicker on the turn with his Aces but Arieh caught a trey on the river for a wheel. Almost any other card would have given them a split pot at least. Wrang moved up to 5th on a strong performance.

With four players left, a deal was agreed to that gave Howard Greenspan a slight premium over the other three. $10,000 was given to the dealers, $13,000 and change would go to 1st and $10,000 to second. The play had been tight until the deal. Now with most of the money gone, it got real loose. Willie Tann was the first to gamble. Tann went all-in with flopped Aces. Johnny Chan had the nut flush draw that got there on the river.

Now it was Howard Greenspan's turn to have his Aces rivered. Josh Arieh needed perfect perfect for his straight with a 10 8. That's what came and we were two.

Head up The Kid (Josh Arieh is 25) and the Champ (Johnny Chan won his first World Championship when Josh was 12) were dead even in chips. Josh took an early 3-1 lead when Chan's flopped set got crushed on the river. But as someone wisely sat on the rail, the only player that can beat Johnny Chan is Johnny Chan.

With five bracelets and the all-time lead in money winnings at the WSOP with $2.3 million, what motivates Johnny Chan to win? "I have five bracelets and six kids," Johnny said. "I'm serious!" He was serious. With Arieh smelling blood, Chan turned the tables on him. "I switched gears. He's a good tight player." Chan started "chopping him up." The last hand was a formality as Arieh went all-in with only $12,000 more than his big blind. Johnny had completely taken the play away from the kid with the sixth sense that only a few possess, a sixth sense that got Johnny Chan his sixth bracelet.