WAITING
FOR ACES
Nobody
told this Final Table that gambling was
legal in Nevada. This was only supposed
to be a TWO-day event.
There
were 89 entrants, 73 Rebuys and 32 Add-Ons
in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for a total
prize pool of $471,650. One table was
paid, a total of 10 players.
The
unknown Englishman, Bruce Colman, had
pocket Queens. Brent Carter had pocket
3's and flopped a set. Colman went all-in
on the flop. Carter gladly called to send
Bruce to the land of Ronald Colman. Not
only were the remaining players in the
money, they were at the Final Table as
well.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
34 mins left of 75
The blinds were $600/$1,200
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat
1 Ricky Byrd Mobile AL $ 22,900
Seat 2 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa
Rica $ 20,500
Seat 3 Marciano Elie Boulogne, France
$ 69,800
Seat 4 Phillip Marmonstein Munich, Germany
$ 19,400
Seat 5 Bill Gazes Los Angeles CA $ 25,700
Seat 6 Brent Carter Oak Park IL $ 67,300
Seat 7 Surinder Sunar London, UK $ 18,100
Seat 8 Allen Cunningham Marina del Rey
CA $ 43,600
Seat 9 Chau Giang Las Vegas NV $ 25,400
Seat 10 Jan Hansen Langeskov, Denmark
$172,500
Actually
there was one gambler at the table, the
daring Dane--Jan Hansen. Midway through
the first day (seems so long ago now),
Hansen was the event's chip leader over
runner-up Phil Ivey. The two of them were
well clear of anyone else. Since Ivey
always has lots of chips, he's where you'd
go if you want more. In a spectacular
call on the river with pocket Kings, Hansen
took every one of Phil Ivey's chips. Now
Jan was the prohibitive chip leader and
he kept going. As the Final Table commenced,
Hansen held a mathematical improbable
$102,700 chip lead over second place.
Normally
tournament Pot-Limit Omaha can take forever
to play, but with this crew it was sure
to be especially lengthy. Almost half
the field was made up of 'ironpants' Europeans.
These guys play Pot-Limit Omaha all day
every day, several of them for a living.
They could wait until the end of the world
for a hand. The six Americans, which included
Central American Humberto Brenes, were
just as patient. At $600/$1,200 the blinds
were a concern to only a few. It was a
setup to tax the stamina of players and
staff.
It
took nearly two hours for the first player
to crack. For the second Final Table in
a row, Bill Gazes didn't win a hand. This
is his second 10th place finish this year.
Left with only $6,000 when he couldn't
call Chau Giang on the river in a proceeding
hand, Bill Gazes out the window and goes
all-in from the small blind with 7 7 3
2. Jan Hansen does the honors with A K
10 3 and the top three pair.
It
was almost two hours more for the 9th
place finisher to reveal himself. Allen
Cunningham went all-in when he flopped
two pair. Brent Carter loves gifts from
other players. Brent flopped two higher
pair and rivered the nut flush.
Now
we sped up from a snail's pace to a turtle's.
That's because the pocket Aces, these
players all wait for, were suddenly being
trashed. In an especially cruel hand,
top European player Surinder Sunar picked
up the beloved bullets and then picked
up his body to head for the exit. Both
Sunar and Chau Giang were all-in before
the flop. Giang had pocket Kings. As sometimes
happens in Omaha, it's not the Aces or
Kings that win the hand it's the other
two cards. Giang held K K 8 4, Sunar A
A K 6. Without chips Sunar was unable
to stop Giang from winning with a 4 on
the flop and an 8 on the river for two
small pair.
Something
that seldom happens in Omaha happened
to Ricky Byrd. Ricky had pocket Aces,
also, and he followed Surinder Sunar out
the door with them. Losing with pocket
Aces isn't what seldom happens though,
rare as it is. What was unusual was that
Jan Hansen flopped the nut straight and
it held up! Three players saw the river,
Chau Giang, Jan Hansen and the all-in
Byrd. The board was Q 10 9 8 5. All three
had straights, but Hansen had the nuts
with the K J. Byrd flew the coop in 7th.
If
you can't draw pocket Aces, sometimes
split Aces on the flop are just as good.
Sometimes they aren't as good. Marciano
"Rocky" Elie started the table 2nd in
chips and could never get going. In fact
Elie had to win a few all-in hands to
avoid finishing 9th. Betting all-in again
with his last $19k, Rocky looked strong
when an Ace flopped. He had A J 8 8. Humberto
Brenes needed help with Q Q J 7. Rocky
Marciano may have retired as undefeated
heavyweight champion, but "Rocky" Elie
took it on the chin in 6th when two running
Clubs came for Brenes with a Queen high
flush.
It
had taken six grueling hours to eliminate
only half the field. The players and staff
were looking at a long day's journey into
morning, so they took a dinner break.
Chau
Giang is widely considered to be the best
live action poker player in the world.
He was lamenting this Final Table being
on a Friday night, because he would miss
his real money $4,000/$8,000 game with
Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Lyle Berman
et al. Chau regularly rakes that game
for tens of thousands of dollars. Can
you imagine? So here he is, stuck playing
for only $185,000 and another Gold Bracelet
on his real poker night. Giang might have
been able to get over to the other game
in time. It was only a little after 9
pm when he busted out in 5th. This time
the power of the single Ace was on display.
Chau bet his last $31k all-in with J J
4 2. Jan Hansen called with a rag A 9
8 3. No problem. When you're hot�An Ace
came on the flop, of course. And Chau
Giang had to settle for only $25,940 for
two days work. Poor Chau.
The
main reason this Final Table took so long
was because the All-ins kept winning.
(There were dozens of intensely dramatic
hands that this report hasn't got space
to write about. Please watch the video
to see them all. Of course, you'll have
to allow 11 hours to get through the whole
thing.) The player with the most all-in
saves was Humberto Brenes. He pulled several
rabbits out of several hats. But miracles
do come to and end sometime. And Humberto's
did in 4th. Again, the single Ace muscled
Brenes to the rail. Humberto was all-in
with pocket Queens. Phil Marmorstein covered
him and held A Q 5 3. An Ace windowed
on the flop.
Oddly,
it was the elimination of the 27th WSOP
Millionaire (Brenes) that created the
28th. With at least a third place finish,
Brent Carter passed over the magic line
to seven figures at the WSOP. But Brent
Carter wasn't done, Phillip Marmorstein
was. In a fantastic climb from 9th in
chips at the start, Phillip had the chip
lead for much of this Final Table. It
would have been the greatest accomplishment
so far this year for someone to go from
9th to 1st. Just taking the chip lead
with only $19,400 over Jan Hansen with
$172,500 was phenomenal. Phillip hit the
wall in his personal marathon, however,
and finished 3rd when the least likely
card in the deck appeared on the river.
Phillip was all-in with A Q 8 5. Jan Hansen
had Q Q 9 7. Marmorstein needed an Ace
to stay alive. Instead the case Queen
came to end Phillip's improbable run.
Heads
up, Jan Hansen had a better than 2-1 chip
lead over Brent Carter. But Carter is
the ultimate gamesman. Before the WSOP
poker events even started, Brent came
in 2nd in the World Hearts Championship
held at the Horseshoe. Carter is famous
among the players as a 'nit.' He will
use any slight edge to his advantage including
his exhaustive knowledge of all the rules.
Cleverly, Brent used the only chip lead
he had against Jan Hansen (about one hand)
to make a favorable deal for himself.
Hansen was so disgusted by his backer's
acceptance of the deal, Jan refused to
shake Carter's hand on it. Although it
would take more than another hour to finish
this awesome test of poker stamina, Hansen
finally prevailed when he trapped Carter
into calling all-in with flopped Aces.
Jan, the only Dane ever to win a Gold
Bracelet, had flopped a wheel with a 2
3.
This
event started at 12 noon on Thursday and
ended at 1:08 am on Saturday morning.
What was supposed to be a two-day event
became a three-day event. Gratefully,
everyone was finally allowed to go home.
The wait for Aces was over.
Mike Paulle
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