World Poker Open: Gaubert Takes The Title

Chris Moneymaker entered the final table of the World Poker Open with a commanding chip lead, however, it was Jeremy Gaubert who would claim the title in the end.

World Poker Open Championship attracted a total of 126 players and only 18 of them would eventually end in the money. It took three play days for the field to narrow down to the final nine players with Chris Moneymaker (pictured right) leading the pack.

The 2003 WSOP Main Event Champ had a commanding chip lead with over 1 million in chips, compared to his closest challenger and Team PokerStars Pro teammate Chad Brown who had just 433,000 in chips. Action at the final table began right away, with short-stacks falling one after another and it didn't take long before the big stacks collided.

Moneymaker battles with Gaubert

Despite starting with a monster stack, Moneymaker eventually had to surrender the chip lead to Steve Hamontree. To make matters worse, Moneymaker then got crippled to a short stack after losing a battle of the blinds when his A-Q ran into Jeremy Gaubert's A-K.


Moneymaker tried to make a comeback, doubling up with pocket aces through Gaubert but Gaubert got his revenge in the following hand. Moneymaker flopped a top pair and Gaubert flopped a flush draw which he caught on the river to bust Moneymaker in the 3rd place.

The heads-up clash featured Gaubert holding around 1.5 million in chips opposed to Steve Hamontree's 1 million. After just over an hour of play, Hamontree moved all-in with T-8 on a ten-high flop. Gaubert had pocket rockets which held up and secured him the first major title along with $192,953 in prize money.

Here are the final table results:

World Poker Open Results
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Jeremy Gaubert	$192,953
2nd	Steve Hamontree	$109,400
3rd	Chris Moneymaker	$60,110
4th	Chad Brown	$48,088
5th	Thomas W. Creel	$36,066
6th	Gil George	$30,055
7th	Tommy Vedes	$24,044
8th	Jerry Milanos	$18,033
9th	Parris Heard	$12,022