Bodog Beat

Poker pro Chino Rheem won the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic over the weekend. (Bodog Beat Image)

To say that poker pro Chino Rheem is having a sick year would be a bit of an understatement. After final tabling one WSOP event, he then went on to reach the final table of the biggest poker tournament of the year, the 2008 WSOP Main Event, where he finished in seventh place. Add to that the victory he just secured at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and Rheem has now taken home more than $3.4 million this year. Should be a nice Christmas for someone…

After six days of poker and a field that consisted of 497 entrants, Rheem fought through them all to enter the final table third in chips behind one-time chip leader Evan McNiff and then-leader Steve Sung. He played patient poker, letting the dirty work get done by his opponents and doubling up time and time again with well-played hands.

Rheem went into heads-up play against Justin Young with a 1.5 to 1 chip disadvantage but managed to take the chip lead early on when he check-raised Young on the flop and then bet massively on the turn. After that, the chip lead swung back and forth several times and the heads-up match ended up lasting for 151 hands before Rheem finally took down the title and the $1,538,730 first-place prize. Young took home $936,760 for his second-place finish.

The World Poker Tour kicks off 2009 with the WPT Southern Poker Championship, which will take place January 14 – 17 at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss. If you want to qualify online for a WPT event, then check out Bodog Poker's $12,000 Player's Choice packages and stay tuned in early January for a new promotion called "Flight Club."