Jonathan Little won his second World Poker Tour title when he eliminated Jonathan Jaffe to capture first place at the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals and $1,120,310 in prize money. Two big names in poker were also at the table, those names belonging to Mike “The Mouth†Matusow and David “The Dragon†Pham.
Mike Matusow started the final table as the short stack, with the next lowest stack, Jack Schanbacher, holding nearly twice as many chips as “The Mouth.†It was therefore no surprise when Matusow was the first to be eliminated. Mike Matusow moved all-in over the top of a Jonathan Little raise with [As][Jh] and Little made the call with pocket nines. The two were in a coin flip situation and Little would come out on top as the board rolled out [Kc][5d][3d][5h][4c], dropping no ace or jack. Mike Matusow headed for the exits, collecting $124,048 for his sixth place finish.
Despite getting an early double up, Jack Schanbacher would fall in fifth place when he charged down a dragon and ended up extra crispy. Schanbacher had taken some hits after his early success and shoved the rest of his stack in after being dealt [9s][8s]. David “The Dragon†Pham made the call with pocket queens. The flop fell [Jd][6c][5s] to give Schanbacher a gutshot straight draw, and after the turn fell [6h] he needed to have the straight to survive. Instead of a much needed seven the river fell [8c] and Jack Schanbacher was gone, earning $182,196 for finishing in fifth place.
“The Dragon†would soon be slain, as David Pham was the next to fall. With action having been folded to the small blind, Charles Marchese, who called the big blind, David Pham moved all-in from the big blind with pocket twos. Marchese made the call with [Ks][Jc] to form a coin flip situation. Marchese would make a pair of jacks when the flop fell [As][Jh][4s] to take the lead, and Pham would not hit his two-outer as the turn card was the [Ad]and the river card was the [9h]. David “The Dragon†Pham, the 2007 Cardplayer Player of the year, finished in fourth place to collect $240,344. He also earned enough Player of the Year points to put him in third place on this year’s leaderboard, showing consistent skill and earning consistent cashes.
Charles Marchese would fall to Jonathan Little when he shoved all-in after a Little raise. Little made the call with pocket queens and Marchese showed [Ac][Jc]. The board was utterly unhelpful for Marchese, as it ran out [9c][8s][2s][6c][2d]. Charles Marchese would collect $337,256 for his third place finish.
The battle of the Jonathans would commence, with Jonathan Little taking on Jonathan Jaffe in heads-up play. The final hand of the tournament occurred when Jaffe moved all-in over the top of Little with [Ah][10d] only to see Little reveal a dominating [Ac][Qh]. The flop would fall [8d][8h][6s] and would be followed by a turn of [Kd]. Jaffe needed a ten on the river to survive, but the river would instead pair Little’s kicker, dropping the [Qd] onto the felt.
Jonathan Jaffe collected $670,636 for his runner-up performance while Jonathan Little won $1,120,310 for his victory at the 2008 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals.