Between them the field of just 145 players managed to accumulate 421 rebuys, more than tripling the size of the prizepool, and helping to rack up an $800,000+ first prize, the biggest of the 2007 World Series so far.

By the time the rebuys were over, the ensuing mayhem had drawn to a close and the dust had settled, an intriguing final table was headed up by the ever dangerous Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot, who started with almost twice as many chips as his nearest competitor, Canadian pro Eric Cajelais. Besides them sat John Juanda, Robin Keston, Humberto Brenes and Minh Ly, among others. The stage was set for a classic battle.

One player who perhaps slipped under the radar was Burt Boutin, a well respected American professional. He started the day as one of the short stacks, but doubled through the Devilfish twice in quick succession to put himself right in contention. In the first hand Boutin flopped top two pair with As-9s-Td-6d when the board came Ah-9c-2c. Devilfish had Ac-Kc-6s-3c for top pair-top kicker and the nut flush draw. The board blanked out however, and Boutin was up to nearly a million, while Devilfish was down from about $2 million to roughly $1.5 million.

The next double through was one the Devilfish will remember with a grimace.

On a flop of Jc-7s-6d Minh Ly bet and Boutin raised to $390,000. The Devilfish then moved all-in and after Ly folded Boutin made an extraordinary call with just Th-8s-7h-5c, for middle pair with a straight draw. It was not extraordinary for its brilliance however, but simply for its recklessness. Having just built up a sizeable chip stack he put it all at risk with a hand that was bound to be losing. Sure enough the Devilfish tabled 9c-8c-7c-6s for two pair and a straight draw and Boutin was a huge underdog, drawing to just 7 outs: a nine or a four. But wouldn’t you know it, one of the three remaining nines hit on the turn and a furious Devilfish was knocked down to just $155,000 in chips while Boutin was propelled over the $2 million mark.

Then began the Devilfish show. With his stack decimated, and his mood similarly damaged, the Devilfish moved all-in the very next hand. Sirous Jamshidi made the call with A-A-J-5 and Devilfish showed K-K-9-9. The flop came 9-8-5 and Devilfish dodged the remaining two aces to make his first double-up. A few hands later and the same two players were at it again; Devilfish had kings again with K-K-9-7 and this time he started ahead of Jamshidi who had A-J-Q-3. The board came 8-7-5-3-6 and Devilfish made a straight to double-up once more. Devilfish wasn’t finished there however, and he doubled-up a third time when all-in with A-A-J-8 against Cajelais’ 6-6-5-4. The Fish made a set of aces on the flop and was suddenly back in the running.

With his mood improved the Devilfish began to enjoy the wild behaviour of Burt Boutin once more, who was running around the table like a man possessed. “I think this guy needs some more RedBull,” joked Ulliot, as Boutin jumped up from the table once more. Meanwhile Minh Ly was eliminated in fifth place and Jamshidi followed in fourth, leaving a short-stacked Ulliot to battle it out with Boutin and Cajelais.

Here the Devilfish show came to an end however, as he fell victim to yet another bad beat. With the board showing 8c-6s-2s Devilfish pushed all-in with Js-Th-9d-7s and was a 2-1 favourite with his straight and flush draw after Cajelais called with Ad-Jd-Tc-8h for a solitary top pair. Unfortunately for Ulliot the turn and river were the biggest bricks in the deck: a 2 and a 3, neither of them spades. His run at a second WSOP bracelet was over.

That pot meant Eric Cajelais started the heads-up stage with a slight chip lead over Burt Boutin, but it didn’t last long. On just the second hand both players got it all-in on the Ah-8s-2s flop. Cajelais tabled 8-8-5-5 for a set, but Boutin had As-Ks-Qh-6c for the nut flush draw, which duly arrived on the turn to send Boutin through the roof. Indeed Boutin was so excited he had to be reminded by the tournament director that he could still lose if an ace, eight, two or three (the turn card) came on the river. It didn’t, and Boutin could celebrate once more.

That gave Boutin a monstrous chip lead, and his finished the job five hands later when he made two pair on the turn to win what looked like it would be a split pot. Boutin had his second WSOP bracelet, a huge first prize, and total delirium to go with it. No doubt he was drinking something a little stronger than RedBull last night.

The results for the final table were as follows:

1^st – Burt Boutin - $825,956

2^nd – Eric Cajelais - $483,775

3^rd – Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot - $332,582

4^th – Sirous Jamshidi - $230,883

5^th – Minh Ly - $174,537

6^th – Larry Johnson - $144,682

7^th – John Juanda - $107,196

8^th – Humberto Brenes – $79,710

9^th – Robin Keston - $60,711