The 2009 World Poker Tour had many ups and downs, but everyone who participated knew it was all leading up to the big main event, the Five Star World Poker Classic WPT Championship at the Bellagio.

As many as 338 players were willing to plunk down an impressive $25,000 or to satellite in for a chance at being the 2009 Overall World Poker Tour champion.

WPT 2009 in Retrospect: The Championship Final

When the smoke cleared, a final table worthy of the World Poker Tour championship emerged. Seated around the table were some of poker's greats, old and new, including Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who had already collected a WPT title in 2009, all-time great Scotty Nguyen, feared Internet pro Christian Harder, and established pro Shannon Shor.

Interestingly, one of the least known players at the table presented the biggest threat, as Yevgeny Timoshenko entered the final table with over 13 million chips, nearly twice as many as his closest competitor. Ran Azor, on one of the shorter stacks, rounded out the final six.

Shannon Shorr Makes his Moves

Shannon Shorr went right to work, moving in repeatedly in order to get his short stack into shape. When he finally got called, he was able to show pocket tens to Scotty Nguyen's pocket sixes and double up.

Christian Harder picked off what was left of Nguyen's stack a few hands later. Timoshenko then started to grow his mountainous chip stack, leaving little hope for his opposition. He called Shorr's all-in bet with pocket fours, and Shorr showed 76 suited.

Despite the two overs and straight and flush opportunities, Shorr did not improve and he was gone in fifth place.

Young Timoshenko Dominates

Things ended quickly after that. Christian Harder moved in on the button and both the small and big blind (Grospellier and Azor), got their chips in with him. Harder showed A8 suited while Azor produced A7 off suit and Grospellier AJ suited.

Naturally, Azor's poor call with the worst hand was rewarded as a 7 came on the flop, eliminating the other two. This gave Azor a little ammunition, but not enough, as Timoshenko's 2-to-1 chip lead was good enough to earn him the title and he became the youngest overall WPT champion at the tender age of 21 and two months.