This was his first victory in one of the big tournaments.

 

Before the final table, Nam Le tells me about his fear of the "chip leader curse":
- It is often said that the player who comes to the final table as chip leader cannot win.
A truth that from this point on obviously is no longer certain. Nam also takes a stance of humility before the question of who's the best player in the family:
- I still have a lot to prove before I can take the crown off my brother!
Something that his brother Tuan did not care to disown on a direct question tonight.

Besides Le, the final table of the Bay 101 Shooting Star was populated by tough and talented young players. The six final players competed for a first prize of $1,170,000 and the title of World Poker Tour champion. Chad Brown started the final table last in chips. He didn't manage to improve much and was eventually eliminated in sixth place by Ravi Udayakumar who beat him with two pair.
French Fabrice Soulier, who went out on the bubble in the L.A. Poker Classic last week, made a strong appearance at Bay 101. He battled on short-stacked for a long time before managing to build up a decent stack and making it to the final table. David Williams ended his competition by making a straight against Soulier's pocket deuces. Soulier finished fifth and was rewarded with $240,000.

 

Soulier, considered by Alan Goehring as one of the top "deep stack players" in the world, claims to be very pleased despite being eliminated:
- Of course, this is my best result so far. At least in what concerns the money. You cannot expect to win them all. And I had so cold cards. I had to bluff my way to where I am now.
- You're sometimes being accused of playing too impulsively. How would you describe your playing style?
- It's true. I'm too impulsive (laughs)! I'm a Latin, we don't control our impulses like the Scandinavians or North Americans. But that's an advantage too. We put opponents to tough decisions.

Not long after Soulier's knockout though, David Williams, the last bounty left in the tournament, found himself short stacked. He was taken out of the game by Le, who collected a $5,000 bounty for eliminating him. Williams finished in fourth place and earned $280,000.

With three players left, Danny Smith was the short stack. He quickly doubled up but then risked it all in a coin flip. Smith pushed in all his chips with pocket sixes against the K-q of Ravi Udayakumar. Udayakumar caught a queen on the flop and ended Smith's tournament. Smith received $340,000 for his third-place finish, and claimed to be very satisfied with his performance and his best result so far.

The heads-up began between local favorite Ravi Udayakumar and the young star Nam Le. Udayakumar started out with a 7-to-3 chip lead on Le but it took Le less than 10 minutes to regain the chip lead and go on to win the entire tournament. Udayakumar took home a comforting $629,500 for his runner-up finish.

 

- Of course I'm disappointed right now, but I'm sure it will feel great tomorrow. This is by far my greatest win ever. And hey, what can you do when a guy flops a straight in one hand and then rivers two pair in the next hand. The cards were on his side for a couple of minutes, and that was all he needed. He's a great player.

Nam Le captured the title at the 2006 Bay 101 Shooting Star and earned $1,172,800. In addition, he won the $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship.

Mason Raymond