Those at the party ranged from professional poker players and media members to the big wigs and bosses of the WPT. The attendees were treated to all sorts of entertainment including Jager-bomb contests featuring pros Gavin Smith and Layne Flack, drinking for everyone at the open bar, and plenty of clubbing at Grand Sierra’s All City Live dance club.

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But to the players, this party may have just been a way to butter them up for the long, 14-hour day that awaited them on the first day of the World Poker Challenge. The 14 grueling hours were a way of trimming the field of 261 who paid the $7,500 entry fee down to a scheduled 81 people at the end of the day.

Many of the players who traveled to Reno took their lumps and participated in the drawn out evening. However, there were others who couldn’t bear the thought of spending nearly two-thirds of a day trading chips back and forth just for a chance to make it in the money. Full Tilt pro Steve Brecher was one such person as he decided that, after making the trip, he no longer wanted to be in the tourney with a 14 hour day ahead.

The 261 who did choose to participate saw quite a few major pros make the trip to the Grand Sierra. And some beginning tables were heavy with them due to certain ones showing up late. A great example was seen at the table seating Mike Matusow, Lee Watkinson, Vanessa Rousso, J.C. Tran, and John Phan. One pro who had no problem surviving the first day madness was Phil Ivey as he blasted through the marathon day with ease and was sitting in first place by the end.

The rest of the field had to be a bit worried with one of the best (if not the best) players in the world heading up the leaderboard going into Day 2. But there were definitely those among the final 75 people who played like they didn’t care. Jason Potter, Jordan Rich, Ron Linden, and Zachary Hyman all did well as they jumped ahead of Ivey and pushed him into 5th place by day’s end. Those who didn’t make it to the payout day of the final 27 included Steve Sung, Brandon Cantu, Bill Elder, and Erick Lindgren.

Everyone making it to Day 3 already knew they had profited by journeying to Reno. But the amount of that profit would hang in the balance for the last 27 players on this evening. Ron Linden made the tumble from third place the day before to busting out in 18th on Day 3. Jordan Rich didn’t fare much better as he went out at 15th. And for all the previous Phil Ivey talk, he wouldn’t be making the final table either when he when out in 10th.

Those who did make it through Day 3 and to the final table included Jason Potter, who held onto his chip lead with 1,156,000, Lee Markholt, who stormed into 2nd with 1,137,000 chips, and Bryan Devonshire, David Pham, Zachary Hyman, and Jeff Dewitt rounding out the table with all holding far under 1,000,000 chips.

The action started with the short-stacked Jeff Dewitt already battling to stay on the final table. The amateur did his best to hang with the pros but bowed out after he couldn’t hit his flush when going all-in against Lee Markholt. Lee wasn’t finished yet though as he quickly put David Pham out next for which he pocketed $93,664.

Jason Potter, who’d led the last two days, was looking to boost his stack big-time against Bryan Devonshire but lost via a Devonshire ace on the river. This put Potter in a compromising position where he needed a big hand against Zachary Hyman to stay in. Potter went all-in with Ac, 3d to Hyman’s As, 5d. The board read Qs, 8s, 4s, 8h, 7s, which gave Potter his second big loss to a river and put him out in 4th.

Zachary Hyman couldn’t revel in his victory for long though as he lost a big part of his stack to Lee Markholt before losing the rest of his small chip pile to Bryan Devonshire which set the stage for heads-up play.

The heads-up play wasn’t exactly a long ride though as the second hand would be the deciding factor. With a flop of 4s, 3h, 2s Devonshire made a raise with Markholt calling. The turn saw Jd come up and Markholt went all-in forcing Devonshire to do the same. Showing 8, 4 Devonshire knew he was done when Markholt showed a two pair in a J, 4 hole hand which couldn’t be beat at this point.

Devonshire congratulated Markholt as he cashed out at $271,625 which was far less than the winner’s prize of $493,815 Markholt grabbed. But for Lee, this win was more than just about the money. He had 14 prior cashes on the WPT with no final table appearances. Not only did he make the final table this time around but he also took home first place in the process. Of course the near half million dollars wasn’t a bad way to top it off either.