Liu, now the short stack, lost ground over the next hour, but came up big in what started as a three-way pot between her, Van Alstyne and Shayesteh. All three checked a flop of 7-2-8, but when the ace came on the turn Liu checked, Shayesteh bet 85,000, Van Alstyne folded, and Liu check-raised all-in for another 291,000. Shayesteh reluctantly called with A-3. Liu showed her A-8 which meant that Shayesteh was drawing dead and she more than doubled up.

She got on a big rush over the next hour as the partisan crowd cheered her on. Soon she was third in chips with 1,653,000 (half as many as chip leader Shayesteh). Half an hour later Shaw went out in fifth place ($200,000) on a rare family pot. All five players actually checked the flop of Jh-8d-6d, but Forrest bet 80,000 when the turn showed the 9c. Shaw went all in for 144,000 more. When Shayesteh called the raise, Forrest folded. Shaw had hit the 9 with his hand of K-9s, but Shayesteh had J-4d for top pair and a flush draw. The 10s on the river brought the final table down to four players.

The next hour and a half saw chips passed around the table, with Van Alstyne up and down on the short stack. At about the five hour mark he pushed all-in under the gun with 425,000 and both Shayesteh and Forrest called. With a flop of K-Q-4 Shayesteh checked and Forrest bet 250,000. Shayesteh called. The turn was a jack and Forrest followed a check with another bet—this time 500,000. Shayesteh reluctantly mucked and Forrest showed A-K, dominating Van Alstyne’s pocket 10s. He needed an ace or 9 for the straight but the river came up dry, leaving Van Alstyne in fourth place with a $250,000 payday.

An hour later Liu and Forrest were about even while Shayesteh’s chips had dwindled to less than half of theirs. A little while later a big turning point occurred when Liu and Shayesteh saw a flop of 5s-3s-Qh. Liu checked, Shayesteh bet 100,000, and she check-raised to 200,000 which he called. She bet 300,000 when the turn brought the 10h. He called again. The river was the 4s and Liu bet enough to put him all-in. Shayesteh agonized over the decision and finally folded, leaving him extremely short stacked.
 

After a few more hands, Shayesteh went all-in before the flop with his final 385,000 and Forrest called, turning over A-8 to Shayesteh’s K-K. The flop was A-J-9—and Shayesteh never recovered as the turn and river were 5-10. He finished third and took home $314,500.

Liu had the lead with 5,305,000 to Forrest’s 3,695,000, and would, over the next two hours, chop away at his chips only to lose big pots to even things back up again.

After eight hours of play at the final table, the blinds were up to 120,000/ 240,000 with a 30,000 ante, meaning almost five percent of the chips were in play before a card was dealt. The ever increasing blinds and antes would soon turn the contest into one more of catching cards at the right time and less a demonstration of poker skills.

Nearing the nine hour mark, Liu raised to 480,000 before the flop and Forrest called. After a flop of Ac-Ks-7d both players checked. With the turn came the 10c and a bet of 300,000 from Forrest which Liu called. When the 2c hit on the river, Forrest called out “all-in” right away, leaving Liu in agony. When she finally called and turned over Q-J showing the nut straight, her worst fears were realized when Forrest had the K-5c for the nut flush, leaving her with only 800,000 left. “I thought I trapped him, but he trapped me!” Liu said later.

Despite this turn of events, she soon had her chip stack back to nearly 3,000,000; however, she was now dealing with blinds of 200,000/400,000 and a 50,000 ante. With little room to maneuver, Liu called Forrest’s all-in bet with A-8. He turned over 7-7, and, when the board came up nothing but blanks, Forrest had won his first WPT championship and $1,100,000 while Liu settled for second place and $600,000.

Fifty of the “shooting stars” had targets on their backs (25 on each of the two starting days) with $5,000 bounties going to players fortunate enough to eliminate them. It took quite a while, but eventually Rudy Wong of Fremont was the first to score a bounty when he eliminated John “World” Hennigan on day 1A. Wong’s 6-6 was a big underdog to Hennigan’s 7-7, but he hit a 6 on the flop and picked up another on the river for quads, earning both the bounty and a nice t-shirt proclaiming he eliminated Hennigan. More than half of the bounties had been collected by the end of day 1B. The last one wasn’t claimed until the final card was dealt, when Forrest scored the $5,000 bounty on Liu.

The final table will be televised by the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel on July 18 at 9:00 p.m.