The World Poker Tour’s North American Poker Championship took place October 10th through the 16th.  Four hundred fifty-four hopefuls gathered at the Fallsview Casino in Niagra Falls to enter the tournament.  This brought the prize pool of the $10,000 + $300 No-Limit Hold’em event to $4,403,800 CAD.  After seven days, the playing field worked down to the final table where 67 year old Glen Witmer, a retired real estate broker, would win the bracelet and $1.2 million for first place.

Witmer wasn’t the only amateur at the table.  Jim Trenholm, a firefighter from Toronto, also made it to the final table.  The other four positions were held be poker professionals: Ryan Fisler, Marc Karam, Kathy Leibert, and Full Tilt’s Gavin Smith.  Unfortunately for Trenholm, he was the first one sent to the rail as the final table began.

After the elimination of Fisler, Karam, and Leibert, Smith and Witmer entered into heads up.  Smith started as a 3:1 underdog, giving a good fight throughout the 50 hands of heads up play.  The final hand came 5-5 for Smith and A-K for Witmer.  It was smooth sailing until Witmer hit an ace on the river, sending Smith home with a second place win.  This would have been Smith’s second WPT bracelet.  However, Smith had to settle for a nice $532,545 for his efforts.

Witmer, who reported to have celebrated his 47th wedding anniversary during the tournament, is going to use a portion of his winnings to treat his wife.