The winner of the $2,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em championship was Will Durkee. He is a 24-year-old graduate student at Northwestern University in Chicago. Durkee is originally from Pittsburgh, PA.

Durkee received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. He graduated in 2005. While in college, Durkee excelled as both a student and an athlete. He was “Honorable Mention All-American” in NCAA Division I wrestling as well as an “Academic All-American.” He holds a degree in economics.

This was his fourth time to cash at the World Series of Poker presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light. He won over half-a-million dollars. First place paid $566,916.

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Phil Hellmuth, Jr. finished in 104th place in this event. That means he added to his margin as the all-time “Number of Lifetime WSOP Cashes” leader – now with 58. Men “the Master” Nguyen is second – currently with 54.

Todd Terry finished in third-place. He also won a WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Atlantic City in 2006.

This was the second tournament at this year’s WSOP to be broadcast by official media partner, Bluff. Earlier this week, Event #6 marked the debut of the nearly-live simulcast on the official WSOP website – www.worldseriesofpoker.com. For the first time in history, the entire final table is being broadcast with hole cards seen by the home audience. Expert commentary is provided by poker pro Brian Wilson (who won a WSOP gold bracelet in 2005), ESPN’s Howard David (who is normally the radio voice of Monday Night Football), and others.

Players are sequestered during play at the final table. Noted poker writer (and PhD psychologist) Tim Lavelli has coined the perfect term for this new poker arena. “The Sequestrium,” he calls it. History will decide if the label sticks.