Stephanie Moore /

Three of the biggest names from the world of mixed martial arts, Bruce Buffer, Dan Henderson, and Randy Couture, took on three of poker’s biggest stars in Patrik Antonius, Howard Lederer, and Erick Lindgren in one of Poker After Dark’s more unusual matchups. Each player put up $20,000 and competed for the $120,000 winner-take-all first prize.

On Day 2, Antonius would be the first player to hit the rail. After losing a good sized pot to Henderson on the first hand of the day, the next hand saw Buffer raise from the small blind with Ac Ks and Antonius call from the big blind with pocket queens. An ace on the flop put Buffer in the lead, and he bet 3100, enough to put Antonius all in if he called, which he did. But Antonius couldn’t improve, and he was an early casualty.

On Day 3 with the blinds at 300/600, chip leader Henderson opened for a raise to 1200 holding pocket tens, and a short-stacked Couture pushed in his remaining 5450 chips holding As 7d. Action folded back around to Henderson, who made the easy call. The board ran out 10h 9d 6h Qd Qs, and Henderson’s full house knocked out Couture in 5th place. Henderson’s play, especially on Day 3 had confused the pros, who often found themselves laying down their hands in frustration to his aggressiveness.

Day 4 saw Henderson begin as the chip leader, and after making a nice play against Lindgren on the first hand of the night he had more than half of the chips in play. Then with the blinds at 600/1200, Lederer open-raised from the small blind to 3600 with pocket fives, and Lindgren moved all in for his remaining 13,900 with Ac 4c. Lederer called, and when the board ran out Qs 6h 10s 3d Js Lindgren was sent home in 4th place.

With just three players remaining Henderson continued his aggressive and sometimes erratic play and appeared to have both Buffer and Lederer on the ropes. But near the end of the session Lederer took a big pot off of Henderson to take over the chip lead, a position he hadn’t been in since the match began.

Then on Day 5 with the blinds at 1500/3000, Henderson’s unconventional run at this week’s title ended when he open-raised to 9000 with Ac 9c, only to have Lederer move all in holding pocket 10s. Henderson called, and when the board ran out 9d 7h 7d 2s Js, Henderson hit the rail in 3rd place. Hendo proved himself to be as tough a competitor on the felt as he is in the octagon, and certainly provided a lot of entertainment for viewers over the course of the match.

So heads-up play began with Lederer holding a 2:1 chip lead, and that’s about where the lead stood when the final hand came down. Lederer moved all in preflop with pocket fours, and Buffer made the call holding Ad 7d. But the board improved neither player’s hand, and Howard Lederer claimed the title and the first place prize money. With his victory, Lederer also joined Johnny Chan as the only players who have won four times on Poker After Dark.

Dennis Oehring serves as the Public Relations Coordinator for the firm POKER PROductions.