Event
#8
Mystery man, Prince of Docness ran wire-to-wire
and won $57,426 in the $500 buy-in Omaha
High-Low event at the 2003 Wold Poker
Open. Prince of Docness, also known as
"Doc" for short, came to the final table
with a sizable chip advantage. He drew
even at one point when the action came
down to the final three players, but pulled
away at the end to record his first WPO
victory. This win comes exactly two months
after Doc won an Omaha High-Low event
in November at the Foxwoods Casino, which
amounted to an Omaha parlay.
Play
started with blinds at $1K-$2K and limits
at $2K-$4K. Hyechin Murphy was short-stacked
and went all-in on the turn when the board
showed 10-8-5-4. Holding A-2-7-J, Murphy
held a strong hand with the nut low with
a wheel draw. Unfortunately, an ugly deuce
fell on the river which counterfeited
her hand. Murphy, who plays regularly
in Tunica's cardrooms, collected $2,483
for 9th-place.
On
the next hand, Herbert Owenby made an
unwanted exit. Owenby was dealt A-2-5-J
but lost to Mike Sexton's flush. Owenby,
a former physical education teacher who
has made final tables at major tournaments
including the United States Poker Championships,
Queens Poker Classic, and the World Series
of Poker, added $3,104 to his lifetime
winnings for 8th-place.
A
short-time later, Jim Rye won won a monster-sized
pot when he cut down two players, Mike
Sexton and Bill Reed. Rye made both the
nut flush and nut low to scoop a $40K
pot. At that point, he appeared to pose
the most serious threat to Doc, the chip
leader.
However,
Prince of Docness made things darker for
everyone at the final table when he scooped
a huge four-way pot and knocked out two
players on the same hand. Doc held A-5-9-10.
Joe DiDonato had A-6-7-8. Jim Rye had
A-2-2-4. Jim Bokhari was also involved
in the pot, but his hand was never revealed.
The final board showed 5-9-7-9-5 giving
Doc a full house, 9s over 5s. DiDonato's
flopped nut straight was toast, and Rye's
low failed to rise from the deck. After
the carnage was over, the end result was
a 7th-place finish for Jim Bokhari, who
plays regularly in Las Vegas cardrooms
and specializes mostly in Omaha High-Low
cash games. He received $3,880. Joe DiDonato
was also ejected from his seat at the
final table and took 6th-place. DiDonato,
who works for a construction company in
Lake Charles, Louisiana, collected $5,432.
With
Doc up to $120K in chips, Bill Reed and
Mike Sexton eyed each other's stacks like
hungry wolves desperately hoping to survive
another round. Both players were just
one round of blinds from being all-in.
The situation was critical. A short time
later, Reed had to go all-in when he was
dealt 2-7-7-9 in the big blind, but lost
when the final board showed A-2-K-10-3.
Reed had no low, and his pair of 7s were
no good for high -- which meant a trip
to the rail for the good man from Georgia.
Reed, a retiree, has won several tournaments
in the Gulport-Biloxi area. But the best
he could do tonight was 5th-place in this
event. He collected a nice paycheck of
$6,984.
The
next three hands were a dream come true
for poker's "Mr. Ambassador." Mike Sexton,
the television host of the upcoming World
Poker Tour and former World Series of
Poker bracelet winner, won three enormous
pots in a row that put him close to even
in chips with Doc. On the first hand,
Sexton needed some help when he was dealt
A-5-8-9. One the turn, the board showed
3-4-J-4. By this time, Doc had Sexton
all-in. When a deuce fell on the river,
that gave Sexton a wheel and he won a
$25K pot.
On
the following hand, Sexton won another
huge pot, this time against James Ellis.
Sexton made queens full and Ellis quietly
mucked his cards. Ellis was now down to
a single $500 chip. He went all-in on
the following hand, this time against
Sexton and Doc. As it turned out, Sexton
made a powerhouse hand. He spiked a king-high
straight flush (no low was possible) and
in just three hands, he not only increased
his stack to over $100K, he busted Ellis.
James Ellis, who is a retired educator
from Texas, was pleased with his performance
-- and with good reason. He took $9,312
for 4th-place.
Over
the next half-hour, Sexton and Rye dueled
chip for chip, most of the time splitting
pots. A key hand came when Rye completed
the nut high flush against Doc. That big
pot put Rye and Sexton into a virtual
tie with the Prince of Docness, which
meant it was anyone's tournament to win
at that point.
But
that's as close as either player would
come to dethrowning the chip leader. After
Doc quartered Rye a few hand later (both
players had A-2, and Doc won the high),
he was never in serious jeopardy. Meanwhile,
Sexton saw his chips deminish a stack
at a time, with the blinds racing around
the table at $15K per orbit. The deck
that had previoulsy been so hot suddenly
froze on Sexton, and he was gradually
blinded down to $20K. Sexton's final hand
of the night came when he committed his
final chips with 5-6-9-9 after a flop
of A-2-9. The trip 9's did not hold up.
Doc made a wheel on the turn, and when
the board failed to pair, Sexton was out
in 3rd-place with $14,744 to sooth the
pain.
On
the following hand, Doc scooped a large
pot against Rye and enjoyed a 3-1 chip
advantage. Ten minutes later, Doc made
a diamond flush and scooped another big
pot, increasing his lead over Rye to 6-to-1.
The final hand of the tournament came
when Rye was dealt 7-8-8-J versus Doc's
2-5-6-7. All of Rye's chips went into
the pot when he flopped an 8 -- making
three-of-a-kind. But the final board showed
3-6-8-4-2, which made Doc a straight,
as well as a low. Jim was the runner-up
and Doc was the winner.
The
Second-place finisher, Jim Rye is a retired
Army colonel. He is the defending 2002
poker champion of the Horseshoe Casino's
Tournament of Winners, held every year
here in Tunica. Rye, both an officer and
a gentleman, received $29,488.
For
all of his success in tournaments and
side action over the past decade, the
champion, Prince of Docness, remains something
of a mystery within the poker world. Rumor
has it that Doc once worked as a mental
health professional. He now says he specializes
in "flopology." When asked for clarrification
as to what science "flopology" refers
to, Doc remained both secretive and intentionally
ambiguous. "I still have a client-base,"
Doc said. "Now, all of my patients are
Omahalics." After the bizarre "interview,"
the Prince of Docness escaped into the
darkness, leaving a bewlidered group of
bystanders to try and make sense of what
just happened.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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