The 2009 Foxwoods Poker Classic $10,000 no-limit championship was a showdown between Vadim Trincher of Cliffside Park, NJ and Amnon Filippi of New York City, who battled it out heads-up for more than two hours. In the end, Trincher captured the 2009 championship, winning $731,079, the championship trophy, a commemorative leather jacket, and a $25,500 seat to the World Poker Tour championship in Las Vegas.

Five players remained when the final table began:
SEAT 1: Lenny Cortellino . . . 1,175,000
SEAT 2: Matthew Casterella 1,808,000
SEAT 3: Alex Perelberg . . . . . 200,000
SEAT 4: Vadim Trincher . . . . 2,813,000
SEAT 5: Amnon Filippi . . . . . 1,852,000

More than two hours passed before Perelberg moved all-in with 10s-7s and his last $95,000. He was called by Amnon who held Kh-8s. The flop of 9d-Qs-Js offered plenty of outs but the 4c and Qc finished Alex's run with a $106,007 payday for fifth place.

It took nearly five hours for Matthew Casterella's Ad-Kc to fall to Filippi's pocket sevens.

Fifteen minutes later Filippi eliminated Lenny Cortellino pair of aces with two pair. Then it was heads-up and play continued for about two hours before Trincher bet $800,000 into a flop of 5s-Js-5d. Filippi raised all-in and Trincher called. Filippi held Jc-4d, for two pair, but Trincher's 7s-6s flush draw was completed when the 8s fell on the turn. An inconsequential Ks on the river gave him the championship and nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. Filippi won $409,405 for second place.

While this was a big tournament with a large prize pool, in what may be a sign of the economic times, Foxwoods saw only 259 players entering their $10,000 buy-in event, a drop of 22 percent compared to last year, when 333 players showed up. While there's certainly less discretionary money going around, no one likes to see this kind of decline-a trend that unfortunately bears watching.

EVENT #11 4/5/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM CHAMPIONSHIP
BUY-IN $9,700 + $300
PLAYERS 259
PRIZE POOL $2,436,930
1. Vadim Trincher . . $731,079
2. Amnon Filippi . . . . $409,405
3. Leonard M Cortellino $214,449
4. Matthew Casterella $138,905
5. Alex Perelberg . . . $106,007
6. Joe Raposa . . . . . . . $85,292
7. William Botchis . . . $68,235
8. Lee Markholt . . . . . $54,830
9. Allen Kessler . . . . . . $46,315

EVENT #14 4/5/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $40
PLAYERS 183
PRIZE POOL $54,900
1. Jonathan Drane . . . $14,379
2. Donald F Schneider . $7,855
3. Frank Liseno . . . . . . . $3,753

EVENT #13 4/5/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $910 + $90
PLAYERS 82
PRIZE POOL $72,381
1. Andrew Kaplan . . . $15,562
2. Antonio Bueti . . . . . . $15,562
3. Natale Kuey . . . . . . $15,562

EVENT #12 4/4/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $910 + $90
PLAYERS 107
PRIZE POOL $94,449
1. Daniel Fennessy . . . $20,500
2. Moran David . . . . . . $19,287
3. Grace Shin . . . . . . . . . $9,500

EVENT #10 4/1/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $4,800 + $200
PLAYERS 48
PRIZE POOL $223,488
1. Joe Ebanks . . . . . . . $95,570
2. Robert Rosen . . . . . $52,872
3. Spencer Stacey . . . . $31,523
4. George Caragiorgas $22,349
5. Constantine Moustakis $11,174

EVENT #9 3/31/09
7-CARD STUD
BUY-IN $350 + $50
PLAYERS 165
PRIZE POOL $56,557
1. Steven Prout . . . . . . $13,388
2. Bill Munley . . . . . . . . $10,000

EVENT #8 3/30/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $440 + $60
PLAYERS 609
PRIZE POOL $259,921
1. Frank Liseno . . . . . . $40,655
2. Adam Lippert . . . . . $35,000
3. Christian Aguilera . $30,000
4. Michael Laiosa . . . . $17,675
5. Keith Crowder . . . . $15,075

EVENT #7 3/29/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $1,375 + $125
PLAYERS 189
PRIZE POOL $252,078
1. Matt Brady . . . . . . . $41,605
2. Ryan Welch . . . . . . . $36,000
3. Tony "Bagels" Cavezza $36,000
4. Eugene Fouksman . $35,500
5. Jason Rice . . . . . . . . $17,267

EVENT #6 3/28/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $2,325 + $175
PLAYERS 143
PRIZE POOL $322,501
1. Feming Chan . . . . . $96,751
2. David Hickman . . . . $54,825
3. Avdo Djokovic . . . . $32,250
4. Scott Dorin . . . . . . . $26,606
5. Frank Selldorff . . . . $22,737
6. Carl Restifo . . . . . . . $18,705

EVENT #5 3/27/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $910 + $90
PLAYERS 391
PRIZE POOL $345,135
1. Allie Prescott . . . . . . $67,673
2. Donald Yucius . . . . . $55,337
3. David Zeitlin . . . . . . $40,757
4. Joshua Bergman . . . $24,159
5. Michael Laiosa . . . . $20,709
6. Ronnie Bardah . . . . . $17,256

EVENT #4 3/26/09
LADIES-NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $260 + $40
PLAYERS 300
PRIZE POOL $75,660
1. Susan Ramos . . . . . . $12,112
2. Wendy McParland . $11,657
3. Rosa Klaneski . . . . . $11,201
4. Melanie M Kaye . . . . $7,162
5. Jennifer Galagher . . $4,767

EVENT #3 3/25/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $530 + $70
PLAYERS 731
PRIZE POOL $375,842
1. Christopher Sherlock $68,000
2. Scott Mobark . . . . . $42,862
3. Anthony Ruberto . . $42,000
4. Brian Desmarais . . . $35,836
5. Dawit Kumssa . . . . . $31,861

EVENT #2 3/24/09
LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $350 + $50
PLAYERS 238
PRIZE POOL $80,800
1. Todd Rebello . . . . . . . $8,897
2. Peter O'Neil . . . . . . . $8,896
3. Joseph Pitti . . . . . . . . $8,000
4. Noel P Shankey . . . . $11,000
5. Jim Bucci . . . . . . . . . $11,000

EVENT #1 3/23/09
SHOOTOUT-NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $260 + $40
PLAYERS 1,341
PRIZE POOL $337,947
1. Joseph Cadette . . . . $58,491
2. Christopher MacNeil . $48,753
3. Laura Church . . . . . $33,059
4. Dan Thelen . . . . . . . $26,664
5. Brett Skolnick . . . . . $25,663