Eric Baldwin Stood 2nd at WPT Championship

Beaver Dam native Eric Baldwin took second place at the season-ending World Poker Tour's Championship on Saturday night at the Bellagio.

Baldwin, who was named Card Player Magazine's Player of the Year in 2009, advanced through a field of 195 players in the $25,000 buy-in event to get to heads up against David Williams.

Baldwin had a large chip deficit to overcome (15 million to 4 million) and went all-in with an ace-five of hearts. Williams called with a pair of twos in his hand.

Baldwin made a pair of aces on the flop (first three cards) to give him the lead. But a third two on the next card gave Williams -- the runner-up in the 2004 World Series of Poker main event to Greg Raymer -- the WPT Championship.


Baldwin received $1,034,715 for his efforts.

"Love all you guys," posted Baldwin on his twitter account. "Like I told mike sexton (host of the WPT broadcast), '2nd place is bittersweet but I'll wipe my tears with seven figures'"

The televised final table will be broadcast on Fox Sports Wisconsin later this year.