Seif
in Wire-to-Wire Win
Top pro Mark Seif, who has a clutch
of major titles, picked up his third Legends
win with a final table wire-to-wire victory
in the 24th event of Legends 2004, $1,500
no-limit hold'em, which ended in a six-way
chip-count deal. He arrived with the most
chips, but pledged he would play easier
and not "explode," as he did in a prior
tournament at the Hustler Casino, when
he also was chip leader and tried to force
a win.
This was an extremely final tough table,
in line with the adage that the longer
the rounds (an hour) the more that skill
comes into play. Seif was very much in
control, making big laydowns and great
calls as his chips rose steadily. Perhaps
the key hand came when there was $78,000
in the pot and a board of 8-8-6-2-4. Seif,
with only K-9, bet $16,000 and Atlantic
City pro John DeFrancis raised to $32,000.
After long thought, Seif made a tremendous
call to beat DeFrancis� Q-J!
This
tournament attracted 245 players who generated
a prize pool of $367,500. On day 1, action
continued until the tournament got down
to three tables, with all players in the
money. Some of the better-known players
who did not make the money were T.J. Cloutier,
"Miami" John Cernuto, Randy Holland, Scott
Fischman, Amir Vahedi, Mel Weiner, Peter
Costa, Allen Cunningham, Kathy Liebert,
Kathy Kolbert, and Melissa Hayden.
The
tournament got down to three tables at
midnight the first day when Sirous Baghchehsaraie
went all in with Ah-6h and David Tran,
with A-Q, left him on the bubble The 27
finalists returned at noon the next day.
Gioi Luong led with $84,700, while DeFrancis
had $75,900 and Seif, $52,800. Short-chipped
Tobey �Spiderman� Maguire was the first
of the 27 to leave. By final table time,
Seif had $157,900, closely followed by
DeFrancis with $151,900, and John Hoang
third with $104,000. Seif said he built
his chips primarily through �timely bluffs.�
Action started with $300 antes and blinds
of $1,000-$2,000, 46 minutes remaining.
In
the first 16 hands there was only one
flop, fewer than the Coronas that Men
�The Master� Nguyen had. Hasan Habib,
starting with only $22,000, was first
out. On hand 20 he was two away from the
button when he raised all in for $9,000
with Q-4. DeFrancis called with A-10 and
left Habib in 10th place when the board
came K-10-7-J-7.
Veteran
pro and bracelet holder Tommy Hufnagle
was making one of his rare tournament
appearances and was short-chipped. With
blinds of $1,500-$3,000, he doubled up
by taking most of the chips held by police
detective Richard Little. Little moved
in with A-J and Hufnagle won $18,000 with
pocket aces.
Hand
31, where Seif made his great K-9 call,
saw him take a commanding lead with about
$215,000. A few hands later, Hieu �Tony�
Ma lifted $53,000 from DeFrancis and moved
into second chip position by carefully
playing his pocket jacks. He made a small
$5,000 raise pre-flop, then bet $10,000
on a flop of 10-8-3. DeFrancis, with A-10,
moved in and lost.
After
two hours of play, blinds went to $2,000-$4,000.
Seif, with pocket 9s, raised $7,000. Hufnagle
once again had pocket aces and moved in
for $17,000. But this time four diamonds
came and Seif, holding the only diamond,
left Hufnagle in ninth place. He now had
about $270,000 in chips.
Dr.
Scott Aigner, a physician/poker player
who operates an online poker forum, was
under the gun with pocket 9s and $34,000
left. He later said he had to either fold
or move in, and he moved in. After very
long thought, Hoang called the big bet
with pocket jacks and broke Aigner. Hand
75 was the final one. Little moved in
for $20,000 with As-3s and Seif won with
pocket deuces.
The
chip count now read: Seif, $291,000; Hoang,
$147,000; Ma, $90,000; Nguyen, $74,000;
DeFrancis, $71,000; and Luong, $63,000.
After some negotiation, the deal was accepted
to end the tournament.
BIOGRAPHY
Mark
Seif has been playing casino poker for
17 years. Besides his three Legends wins,
he holds titles from the World Poker Open,
Borgota, the Bellagio, LAPC, Winnin� o�
the Green, Cal State and Foxwoods. It�s
his fourth six-figure cash. He said he
holds a record for the shortest final-table
win (77 minutes at Tunica), which led
him to be overly aggressive at the Hustler,
a mistake he didn�t care to repeat. How
did he make that great call with K-9?
He studied DeFrancis for a long time,
asked him if he missed a draw, and detected
the faintest involuntary nod.
Seif
says he prefers no-limit because it rewards
aggressiveness and punishes mistakes,
and with so much experience he feels he
makes very few. He curbed his aggressiveness
tonight because the table was so strong,
but felt he had very good reads and made
laydowns against 10s, jacks and 6s where
he would have lost each time.
Max Shapiro
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