JENNIFER
There
are few professional poker players as
popular as Jennifer Harmon, now Mrs. Marko
Traniello, and none more beautiful. If
you've never seen her, think a young,
prettier Goldie Hawn with a killer instinct.
Nobody laughs when Jen sits down at their
table.
There
were 113 entrants in the $5,000 Limit
Hold'em for a total prize pool of $531,100.
Two tables were paid, a total of 18 players.
Gabe Kaplan wasn't too funny either, at
least to Marcel Luske. Kaplan said "I
have the nuts," when Gabe turned a straight
with his 6 4. Luske mucked his hand and
didn't ask the teacher if he could leave
the room. The remaining 18 could laugh
all the way to the bank.
To
setup the Final Table Saturday night,
Humberto Brenes was just doing his job
as chip leader. Danny Qutami went all-in
with pocket 7's and flopped a set. Brenes
called with the 8 2 of Diamonds to try
to end the evening so the last 10 players
could get some sleep. Humberto sheepishly
admitted making a straight on poor Danny
when the board wrapped around his 8.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
6 mins left of 75.
The blinds were $1,000/$2,000
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat
1 Al Stonum Las Vegas NV $ 28,000
Seat 2 Jennifer Harmon Las Vegas NV $
40,000
Seat 3 Fred Bonyadi Laguna Hills CA $
64,000
Seat 4 Q Knopow Las Vegas NV $ 76,000
Seat 5 Mimi Tran Torrance CA $ 55,000
Seat 6 Brian Green San Jose, Costa Rica
$ 24,000
Seat 7 Jon Brody Hollywood FL $ 38,000
Seat 8 Allen Cunningham Marina del Rey
CA $ 85,000
Seat 9 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa
Rica $121,000
Seat 10 Tony Hartman Minneapolis MN $
14,000
Mary's son, Tony Hartman Tony Hartman
didn't have enough chips if you counted
them twice. It was back to Fernwood for
Tony in 10th when his all-in raise with
A 7 ran into Jennifer Harmon's J 10. In
a scene played out repeated today, Jen's
hand mirrored the board when a Jack Jack
came on the turn and river. Her first
victim exited stage left.
Jon
Brody rocked Al 'Stones' Stonum's world
in 9th. Jon raised from middle position
with A J. Stonum called on the button
with the Q 10 of Hearts. Al went all-in
when the board came with two Hearts and
a non-heart Ace. The flush draw failed
and 'Stones' gathered no moss on his way
to the pay window.
All
that money Jon Brody got from Al Stonum
went for blinds and missed draws. Brody
has played several events and this is
his second Final Table of the year. He
said he was about even in tournament play.
Poker machines were another matter. Finishing
in 8th, Jon Brody took an A 2 in the small
blind up against Allen Cunningham's K
J in the big. With a King on the flop,
big bad Jon was retired from tournament
poker for the day.
This
Final Table was being played at the same
time as the Women's Championship on Mother's
Day afternoon. It's well known that some
women refuse to play in 'Women's' tournaments
for a myriad of reasons. Barry Greenstein,
the husband of Mimi Tran took offense
at an off-hand remark made by guest announcer
Diego Cordovez suggesting that the Women's
event was lucky that Mimi and Jennifer
Harmon weren't available to play. Diego
was just kidding. He knew that Mimi and
Jennifer would choose an open event if
given the option. Barry also wanted the
readers of this fine broadsheet to know
on Mother's Day that Mimi is the proud
mother of two children.
But
it was the not-yet mother, Jennifer Harmon
Traniello, who was cleaning house. In
the hand that illustrated the way this
contest was going to go, the prohibitive
chip leader gave up his lead. Huberto
Brenes picked up pocket Queens and did
well not to lose even more than he did
when Jennifer Harmon found pocket Kings
right behind him.
Meanwhile, the former 2nd chip leader
couldn't beat Harmon either. In two huge
hands for both, Allen Cunningham lost
with an A J against Harmon's pocket 9's.
Then later, he pushes A K all the way
to the river all-in against the magic
hand 'presto,' pocket 5's. All chips were
being Hoovered into Jen's stack. Cunningham
will have better days. Allen fell to 7th,
barely winning a hand.
To
make a disastrous day even worse, Hunberto
Brenes had Q Knopow all-in drawing thin.
Q had an A Q with an Ace on the flop.
Humberto flopped a set of 3's. Brenes
playfully choked the dealer Bobby after
the turn and river come Queen Queen. (Maybe
that's why Knopow wants to be called Q.)
The coup d' grace came soon thereafter
for Brenes in 6th. He had Mimi Tran dominated
with A Q versus Q 9. But Mimi's hand contained
two Diamonds. Tran got Humberto all-in
on her flush draw and she got there in
the river.
It's
rare when the first through third initial
chip leaders go out early. But when you
have one player winning every big hand
it's going to happen. The last survivor
of the top triumvirate was Q Knopow. You
would have gotten some pretty long odds
that Q would outlast Humberto Brenes and
Allen Cunningham who both started with
more chips. But last longer the Vegas
local did. The Brenes and Cunningham implosions
allowed Knopow to get up to 5th with an
A 8 all-in. This looked like a fitting
Mother's Day battle--two women--when Mimi
Tran's pocket Kings sent Q back to the
lab to invent more tricks for James Bond.
When
it was announced over the loudspeaker
that Jennifer Harmon had a 10 7 against
Fred Bonyadi's all-in K 9, Harmon's good
friend and loudest supporter Daniel Negreanu
yelled out. The 10 7 is Daniel's 'favorite
hand.' And it worked for Jen also. With
a 7 on the flop, the formidable Freddy
Bonyadi was made to disappear in 4th.
This
was supposed to be the perfect scenario.
It was Mother's Day. Two women were the
chip leaders. It was the first time this
year that two women had made the Final
Table at the same time. There was only
one fly in this perfect ointment. Brian
Green wouldn't go away. Mimi Tran and
Jennifer Harmon hammered on each other
mercilessly until a series of losses to
both Harmon and Green made Mimi's stack
look like it had been in a Tran wreck.
Pocket Queens by Harmon broke up our all
female finale.
Heads
up, Jennifer Harmon had a 4-1 chip lead.
Maybe Brian Green thought he needed some
chips to be competitive. Maybe he thought
he picked up a tell. We'll never know.
Whatever the reason Brian Green, who'd
played so well for so many hours, shoved
all his chips into the center of the table
on a Queen high. Unfortunately for Brian
it cost him a chance for a lot of Green.
Harmon had already flopped two pair.
Now
Jennifer has a bracelet for each wrist.
Mike Paulle
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