THE
GREATEST FINAL TABLE EVER?
There
were nearly 20 WSOP bracelets and one
World Champion at today's Final Table
for what one veteran Binion's dealer said
was the best lineup he'd ever seen. Since
this dealer has been involved in the World
Series and the Hall of Fame for 40 years,
it's worth noting. However, maybe an even
better group started and didn't get there.
How's this for a nightmare table: In seat
1)Huck Seed 2) Carlos Mortenson 3) T J
Cloutier 4) Men Nguyen 5) Kathy Liebert
6) Layne Flack 7) Ken Flaton 8) Ted Forrest
9) David Phan 10) Ron Stanley. And none
of this crew got near the money. The 'NAMES'
of poker have turned out for this year's
Hall of Fame.
There
were 56 entrants and 27 rebuys in the
$1,500 Buy-In, No-Limit Hold’em
for a total prize pool of $119,460. Nine
players were paid.
To
setup the Final Table, Tony Cousineau
had pocket Kings and got it all in against
Burt Boutin with A Q. When a King flopped
we were down to ten.
THE FINAL TABLE:
17 mins. left of 60.
The blinds were $150/$300 with a $25 ante.
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 Jennifer Harman Las Vegas NV $
7,375
Seat 2 John McIntosh Baltimore MD $ 9,650
Seat 3 Tony Cousineau Dayton Beach FL
$11,525
Seat 4 David Ulliott Hull, UK $ 7,225
Seat 5 Kevin X Somewhere MI $ 8,400
Seat 6 David Plastik Las Vegas NV $ 8,725
Seat 7 Erik Seidel Las Vegas NV $19,650
Seat 8 Daniel Negreanu Las Vegas NV $
9,275
Seat 9 Humbeerto Brenes San Jose, Costa
Rica $ 9,075
Seat 10 Scotty Nguyen Henderson NV $33,600
There
were no short stacks but it only took
a few minutes to decide which nine would
be in the money. Scotty Nguyen was as
hot as it's possible to be. He'd already
made quads three times in the first seven
hours of the event. With a gigantic chip
lead on this all-star table, Scotty was
saying he was the best of the best.
Well,
you need to be lucky to be the best in
poker. And Scotty got real lucky against
John McIntosh. Nguyen raised to $800.
McIntosh reraised to $3,500. Scotty went
all-in with a dominated hand, pocket Queens
versus pocket Kings for John. Don't worry,
a Queen flopped. That took a fatal bite
out of McIntosh in 10th. Scotty's already
enormous chip lead just got $9,600 bigger.
It
was like the best players in the world
had decided the only way to beat Daniel
Negreanu was to reraise him pre-flop.
Three times in a row Danny raised. Each
time he was reraised. And by enough to
make him believe his strong Ace hands
were at best a coin-toss proposition.
He showed one A K that he threw away.
He said he had other big Aces. The winner
of a previous event at the Hall of Fame
this year was undaunted, however. "I'm
going to keep doing it, because it's fun,"
Danny said about raising. Finally disgusted
about being run over repeatedly, Dan made
the mistake of playing one of his A K's
against his very good friend Jennifer
Harman. Jen plays big pairs. Danny knows
that. He got his last $5,500 in and was
covered by Harmon with pocket Kings. "It
will be on the Internet that I lost $720
today," Negreanu joked.
"I
never bluff," Huberto Brenes will
tell you. Then he'll give you that sly
smile with the eyes twinkling. Brenes
has already won one of this year's events
and cashed in a couple others. But sitting
just in front of a mountain of chips cramped
much of what Humberto likes to do. It
was almost two hours since anyone had
left. The blinds still weren't high but
some of the stacks were running low. When
Brenes got down to $5,500 he raised all-in
from middle position with Q 7. The computer
hand crashed as Tony Cousineau raised
all-in for $600 more with A K. When an
Ace showed up, it was adios, muchacho
in 8th.
One
of the favorite tricks of the wily David
'Devilfish' Ulliott is to show an outrageous
bluff early, then only turn over big hands
from then on. Jennifer Harman wasn't fooled
by this ploy, but she was stuck with pocket
Queens and had to call Ulliott's all-in
reraise with A K. Of course, a King flopped
and Jen was left with only $1,600. That's
what she pitched into the next pot with
the Q J of Spades calling David Plastik's
raise of $1,700 under the gun. Plastik
may not be wrapped too tight, but he's
become an outstanding player. His A 9
caught an A on the flop and a 9 on the
river for overkill. That sent the prettiest
world-class tournament player to the rail
in 7th.
A
player who's come out of nowhere the last
few years to deserve to sit with this
group is Tony Cousineau. Now a consistent
moneymaker, Tony couldn't wait any longer.
He raised all-in with his case $3,500.
His J 9 of Diamonds might steal the blinds,
or the hand might even win a showdown.
Actually neither happened for Tony in
6th. Erik Seidel called with the Q 10
of Hearts. The ten on the flop was enough.
This
was an outstanding table even with the
X factor. Kevin X from 'Michigan' didn't
want his name used. Maybe he was supposed
to be somewhere else. It's doubtful Kevin
knew who he was playing with. He may have
known Scotty. Nevertheless, X played great,
out of his mind, actually, considering
the competition. But he wasn't getting
a lot of hands. Kevin was the low man
and thought he might have caught Devilfish
Ulliott with a subpar hand. David raised
and Kevin came over the top all-in with
A 10 and an extra $3,900. X grabbed his
head in agony when Ulliott called and
turned over A J. X marked the spot and
the spot was 5th.
What
made this Final Table so fascinating,
besides the outstanding play, were the
personalities involved. It was a shame
that this one wasn't videotaped. A thousand
word recap couldn't begin to do justice
to what became a six-hour marathon between
some of the more interesting players in
the game.
Englishman 'Devilfish' Ulliott can be
hilarious when he starts feeling the cards
are coming his way. This is a family publication
so his scatological interplay with the
audience can't be repeated here. David
went on a rush, with four players left,
that took him all the way to the chip
lead. It didn't seem possible that anyone
was going to touch Scotty Nguyen tonight,
but the former Champ was self-destructing
for a spell by doubling everyone up. Three
times Scotty covered all-ins with K Q
offsuit. All three times he lost. Suddenly,
Scotty found a way to plug his leak. He
played A Q instead of K Q.
"I
was cold-decked," Ulliott said, which
wasn't true. David made a calculated call
of an all-in Scotty and lost. The flop
came K Q 10. David had Q J. Scotty's A
Q shut Ulliott out when no straight came
for the Devilfish. Nguyen was now back
in charge with the chip lead. Then David
went all-in with A 4 and $7,600. The other
David (Plastik) called with A 9 and the
higher kicker played. Just when it looked
like Ulliott would pull off a major upset,
in only a few hands he was gone in 4th.
Erik
Seidel may have gotten a new nickname
tonight. The players were calling him,
"Nine Lives" for all the worst hand all-in
showdowns he was winning. One of the great
players in the game for over a quarter
of a century, Erik is hard to beat even
when he doesn't have good cards. He's
so deliberative on every bet, it would
be wonderful to hear his mind at work.
It would make the best poker book in history.
It wasn't until the blinds went up to
$1k/2k with a $300 ante that Seidel finally
lost an all-in bet. Erik went all-in for
maybe the 10th time of the night from
the small blind and the K 2 of Diamonds.
The bet of $7,100 didn't bother Scotty
Nguyen in the big blind, he just wanted
a hand that might be able to bust Seidel
at last.
In
a reversal of his famous last words to
Kevin McBride the year he won the World
Championship Scotty said, "If I call,
it's all over." Another prediction came
true. Scotty found an A 9, and it was
all over for Erik Seidel in 3rd as Ace
high won.
Heads
up, Scotty had a 6-5 chip lead on David
Plastik. The Champ refused to discuss
a save with a player he'd never been one-on-one
with before. That's often a mistake for
the chip leader. And it looked like it
might be a mistake again, as Plastik hit
a three-outer on Scotty to take a 3-1
chip lead. Nguyen had put Plastik all-in
with his pocket 10's. Oddly, the ultra-careful
Plastik had called with A 7. With an Ace
on the turn, it looked like curtains for
the Champ.
But
Scotty remained the aggressor, so he kept
picking up the blinds and antes. Nguyen
is nothing if not self-confident. Even
after almost losing everything with three
blown K Q's, Nguyen played the hand again,
all-in. This time it was Plastik who had
pocket 10's. When a Queen flopped, Scotty
was back in business.
After
six hours of stellar play by some of the
world's best, the prohibitive beginning
chip leader finally prevailed for the
title when David Plastik exploded all-in
with the A 8 of Spades. Scotty didn't
hesitate to call with pocket 7's which
held up.
In
one of the greatest Final Tables ever,
what started with Scotty Nguyen having
the most chips ended with him having them
all.
Mike Paulle
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