Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic is Ready to Roll

December 14 2009, Michael Friedman

Poker once again returns to the Bellagio with today's start of the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

This yearly event draws some of poker's biggest fields thanks to the hefty $15,000 buy-in and it appears as though player numbers this year will be on par with past events.

A field of roughly 400 is expected to grace the legendary casino's tables.

Considering this event's prestigious line-up of past winners, fans can expect plenty of excitement when this year's event airs on TV.

In 2008, the media flocked to the event to cover 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event final tablist David "Chino" Rheem's run that saw him win $1.5 million.

The previous year, Eugene Katchalov took home the biggest first-place prize to date when he beat out 626 players to take home $2.5 million.

In addition to Rheem and Katchalov, the winners list of this event reads like a "who's who" of poker. In 2002, first place and $581,460 went to Team Full Tilt member Gus Hansen.

During the WPT's second season, Paul Phillips blasted the field and took home $1.1 million.

The following year, Team PokerStars Pro and PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge star Daniel Negreanu crushed the field for $1,770,218.

In season IV, Danish player Rehne Pedersen defeated high-stakes maven Patrik Antonius for the roughly $2 million first-place prize but arguably the most talked about win came from 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem. The Aussie schooled the field including fellow PokerStars Team Pro Negreanu, to take home the $2.2 million prize, ending talk of how Hachem's WSOP win was just a one-time thing.

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