Alexandre Gomes had already secured his place in Brazilian poker history by winning a bracelet at the 2007 World Series of Poker. Now the 26-year-old can add “World Poker Tour champion” to his list of accomplishments after winning the Bellagio Cup V main event Sunday night.

Gomes entered the final day of the tournament as its shortest stack with 1,586,000 in chips, about one-third that of chip leader Faraz Jaka. But as Erik Seidel had predicted the day before in an interview with the WPT, with the big blind at 24,000 at the start of play everyone was deep-stacked enough to make this the toughest final table in WPT history.

Seidel, in fact, would exit in sixth place ($164,460) when he check-raised all-in holding two overcards and a flush draw on an eight-high flop against Justin “BoostedJ” Smith’s overpair and failed to hit the turn or river. Seidel set a new WPT record in doing so; the 108 hands that passed before the former Foxwoods WPT champ was knocked out on Sunday night eclipsed the previous mark by 15 hands. (WPT records aren’t new territory for Seidel, though - his Foxwoods win was the longest final table in the tour’s history.)

Swedish pro Christoffer Sonesson was the next to go 15 hands later. With the big blind at 80,000, Sonesson moved all-in under the gun for 1.1 million with pocket fours and Gomes called with A-Q behind him with. The board was safe for Sonesson until a queen spiked on the river, sending him out in fifth place ($203,385).

Alec Torelli had spent most of the tournament at or near the top spot, but his run came to an end in fourth place ($271,165) when he tangled with Gomes. Blinds were at 50K/100K when Gomes raised under the gun to 250K. Torelli responded in the small blind with a reraise to 710K and faced a decision for his tournament life when Gomes moved all-in for 4.46 million. Torelli eventually called with A-Q but couldn’t outrun Gomes’ T-T.

The remaining three players would take turns assuming the role of chip leader for the next 53 hands before a short-stacked Smith moved all-in with A-4 over the top of Faraz Jaka’s openeing raise. Unfortunately for the young online star he was up against K-K, which held to send him home in third place ($464,870).

Jaka and Gomes both had over 60 big blinds in their stacks as heads-up play began, with Gomes enjoying a small five-bet advantage. After 43 hands Jaka, who faced a 2-1 deficit in chips, reraised Gomes all-in holding A-7. Gomes called with A-J, which held up to propel him to the win and a first-place prize of $1,187,670. Meanwhile Jaka took home the runner-up cash of $774,780.

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