"Rags
to Riches"
Peter Phillips Stages Stunning Comeback
Victory in Stud Eight-or-Better Event
Talk
about a long shot. Peter Phillips started
Day Two of the JBWPO Stud Eight-or-Better
Event lowest in chips -- with only $3,800.
His over/under could have been measured
in seconds, instead of minutes. Contrast
that with the chip leader, who began the
day with a whopping $61,400. In fact,
Phillips had less than 3 percent of the
total chips in play when play began. Four
hours later, Peter Phillips had ALL the
chips and $38,816 in prize money for his
first major tournament victory.
The
most unlikely of comeback scenarios was
impossible to foresee in the early stages,
as chip leader George Kraynak continued
to distance himself from the pack. Jeff
Hunsinger. a salesman from Birmingham,
was the first player to make an exit.
Hunsinger was the second shortest-stack
with only $5,600, which meant with the
betting limits at $2K-4K he was "all-in"
on fourth-street. Hunsinger had two pair
when his final hand was shown -- (J-4)
4-3-5-J (Q). Unfortunately, George Kraynak
ended up with two pair also, Ks and 6s,
which scooped the pot. Hunsinger received
$2,203 for eighth place.
Not
much went right for Angel Fontanez at
the final table. He lasted less than an
hour and played his final hand when he
started off with a pair of Kings. Angel
failed to improve and lost to George Kraynak's
two pair, 7s and 6s. While Angel fell
from grace in seventh place -- good for
$3,148 -- Kraynak fortified his chip lead
with over $80K – towering over the rest
of the field.
Brent
Carter (no relation to the Las Vegas-based
poker pro) was playing in his first poker
tournament. Carter, from Florida, was
low and chips and ended up with (8-6)
6-3-2-K (9), good for just a pair of 6s.
Gary Gentry's pair of 7's edged out Carter's
weak hand and another player was bounced
off the final table. Carter received $4,196
for sixth place.
Frankie
Hendrickson survived four “all-ins” before
succumbing to misfortune. Down to her
last $12K, she ended up with two pair,
9s and 3s which was crushed by Thor Hansen's
powerful wheel, A-2-3-4-5 -- which scooped
the $30K pot. Hendrickson, who has made
final tables previously at the JBWPO,
went “back to Kokomo” (IN) with $5,246
for fifth place.
After a short break, the limits were raised
to $4K-8K. George Kraynak went on a terrible
run over the next 20 minutes, during which
he lost two critical pots. Thor Hansen
benefited from Kraynak's misery, particularly
on one hand when Hansen made a 6-high
straight to scoop the high and low versus
Kraynak's two pair -- As and Qs.
Hansen
then seized the chip lead on a hand when
he eliminated Kraynak shortly thereafter.
Kraynak began with split 9s and ended
up with (9-3) 9-6-7-10 (2) versus Hansen's
(K-9) K-6-Q-J (6) -- good for two pair.
Kraynak, an Information Technology Consultant
with several second and third-place finishes
added $6,294 to his poker bankroll for
fourth place. It has been quite a week
for Kraynak, as he also finished third
in the "Cajon Classic" held at Harrah's
New Orleans, last week.
Peter
Phillips maintained a "stealth" strategy
most of the finale, rarely getting involved
in a hand unless he seemed to have the
best of it. Phillips, calmly sipping a
glass of cabernet while he played, managed
to make the biggest comeback of this year’s
tournament, starting with a paltry $3,800
(enough chips to play just one hand) and
-- incredibly -- ran his stack up into
the chip lead.
The
key hand of the tournament occurred when
Phillips and Gary Gentry both started
with low cards and ended up with two-pair.
Phillips scooped the $60K pot when his
As and 8s made a "dead man" of Gentry.
The two rivals squared off the next three
straight hands after that --- splitting
each pot.
Gentry
was down to just $15K when his last hand
was dealt. He ended up with two-pair when
his (K-9) 5-6-4-K (4) was shown. But old
nemesis Peter Phillips snagged a 10 on
sixth-street, good for trip-10s, which
scooped the pot. Gentry, a retiree from
Evansville, IN took home $9,967 for third
place.
Then, the marathon began. Thor Hansen,
the two-time World Series of Poker bracelet
winner faced off against relatively unknown
Florida retiree, Peter Phillips. When
heads-up play began, the chip counts stood
as follows:
Hansen -- $90K
Phillips -- $87.5K
A
short time later, limits went up to $6K-12K,
which meant any single hand played to
conclusion would completely alter the
outcome of events. Over the next ten minutes,
Hansen rocketed into a 3 to 1 chip lead.
Hansen used a combination of well-timed
aggressiveness, combined with obvious
strength in third-street situations (his
Ace up-card versus Phillips' 9 up-card,
for example) to slowly chip away at his
adversary. Phillips realized he had to
make a stand at some point, and completely
out of character, decided to play a hand
"blind." With a Queen up and no further
information, Phillips was anything but
conservative and kept betting until he
caught a second Queen on board and forced
Hansen to fold. Strangely enough, the
bizarre "no peek" strategy for Phillips
ignited a staggering comeback that left
everyone sharing at the final table arena
in stunned disbelief. Phillips drew close
to even again by playing his hands hyper-aggressively,
raising and re-raising with no outward
fear. Phillips was clearly mixing up his
play enough to confuse Hansen, who gradually
became more passive at the two-player
marathon was underway.
The
two finalists traded off chips for another
45 minutes before Phillips seized the
momentum and took the chip lead. Limits
increased again to $8K-16K. Now, losing
a head played to conclusion could be catastrophic.
Both players played cautiously, although
Phillips was clearly more aggressive as
the excitement in the Grand Ballroom of
the Gold Strike Casino-Resort continued
to build.
The
final hand came exactly five hours into
the final table when Hansen was down to
his last $30K. He was "all-in" for the
fourth time on fifth-street and showed
(A-K) J-Q-6 against Phillips' (9-7) 9-6-5.
Hansen caught a much-needed Ace on sixth-street,
good for top-pair and -- at the time --
the best hand. But seventh-street was
pure agony for Hansen. He failed to improve
his Aces, while Phillips caught another
5 -- good for two pair.
Hansen
shuffled away from the final table, clearly
disappointed with the turn of events.
Nevertheless, the Norwegian-born poker
pro now living in Southern California,
collected $19,933 as the runner up.
"I
was lucky," Peter Phillips said afterward.
But it was more than just luck that propelled
the 68-year-old retiree into his first
major tournament win. Phillips carefully
picked his spots in the early stages of
the final table, and once heads-up, completely
shifted gears and ran away with the title.
In the five-year history of the Jack Binion
World Poker Open, no player had ever come
from so far behind, with so few chips
to eventually win a tournament. For Peter
Phillips, it was clearly a "Rags to Riches"
finish.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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