Negreanu
Cruises to Victory,
Wins Second Gold Bracelet
I'd
rather play against a lamb, any day --
someone who waits for kings, gets them
cracked, and then complains to everyone
about taking a bad beat.
--
Daniel Negreanu
Event
Number 23 at this year's World Series
of Poker was essentially a drama acted
out in three parts. Act One consisted
of the first day of the tournament, playing
down to the final table. Act Two consisted
of the final eight players playing down
to the last two. Act Three consisted of
the final three-hour heads-up duel between
two players at the very top of their game
-- with see-sawing lead changes, and the
championship literally on the line with
every single hand. It would be hard to
imagine an encore, given the multitude
of games and hands that were played, and
the final result which crowned Daniel
Negreanu as the S.H.O.E. champion.
S.H.O.E.
is an acronym for four of the most popular
poker games -- seven-card stud, Texas
hold'em, Omaha high/low, and stud eight-or-better.
It is a test of overall poker skills,
requiring talent at multiple games. 135
players started this event on day one,
and after Huck Seed busted out in 9th
place, the final eight players had been
determined to come back for the second
day.
The
final table which assembled on May 7th,
included a mix of seasoned veterans, as
well as a few newcomers. They were:
-- Artie Cobb, widely-acknowledged as
one of the best seven-card stud players
in the world, making his 24th showing
in the money. His first appearance in
the money at the World Series of Poker
dated all the way back to 1976. He has
four gold bracelets.
-- Diego Cordovez won a gold bracelet
in 2000, and took second in this event
last year.
-- Dick Corpus, making his second WSOP
cash. -- Jim Pechak, making his second
final table at this year's tournament.
-- Chris Johansson, a top player from
Stockholm who has enjoyed success in Europe,
making his second WSOP cash.
-- Dr. Max Stern, the three-time gold
bracelet winner, making his 18th cash.
-- Daniel Negreanu, winner of a gold bracelet
in 1998, making his 10th cash. Negreanu
also won the United States Poker Championship
in 1999.
-- Jon Brody, making his fourth time in
the money at this year's tournament.
As
might have been expected based on chip
counts, the first player to be eliminated
was the very short-stacked Dr. Max Stern.
Stern came in with only $5,100 and desperately
needed to double-up early to survive,
but failed. Stern went out in 8th place
and was followed soon thereafter by Jon
Brody, making his fourth final table appearance
at this year's World Series of Poker (more
than any other player, to date).
One
hour into play at the final table, Dick
Corpuz started out with a big hand in
seven-card stud -- a pair of aces. By
fifth street, he improved his hand to
two pair -- aces and queens. However,
Daniel Negreanu caught a jack on sixth
street to complete 7s full of jacks to
scoop a monster-sized pot, which meant
elimination for Corpuz.
At the first break, Negreanu had the chip
lead, followed closely by Diego Cordovez.
Chris Johansson was the next player to
hit the rail, when he was scooped by Jim
Pechak in the stud eight-or-better round.
The talented Swede, Johansson, collected
$12,560 for 5th place.
Since
S.H.O.E. features four distinct card games,
each player had strengths and weaknesses,
according to game. Diego Cordovez clearly
hoped to make it to the hold'em round,
but was unsuccessful as he found himself
short-staked with five minutes to go in
the eight-or-better round. Cordovez missed
a draw and lost to Jim Pechak, which resulted
in a 4th place finish. Cordovez, dressed
in his trademark Stanford University athletic
suit, collected $15,060. Down to three
players, the chip counts stood as follows:
Negreanu -- $150K; Pechak -- $110K; Cobb
-- $25K.
Artie
Cobb is by any definition one of the most
interesting personalities in poker. His
famous trademark is wearing funny hats.
At previous final tables over the past
three decades, he's worn hats of frogs,
cows, and other odd animals. This time,
he wore a hat with a bunny popping out
of the top. But the bunny rabbit might
as well been thrown to the wolves, as
Cobb ended up short-stacked during much
of his duration at the final table. Cobb's
last stand was with 7-7 against Negreanu's
9-9 in the hold'em round. Needing to draw
out, seven was not a lucky number for
Cobb, who had to hop off the final table
in third place, good for $25,180.
Down
to two players, Negreanu held roughly
a 2 to 1 chip lead over Pechak ($180K
vs. $90K). Pechak then made an impressive
run just as Negreanu appeared to run card
cold for a 30 minute period. By the time
the two finalists had been playing heads
up for an hour, the two players were tied
for the lead, with the chip lead see-sawing
back and forth every time one of the players
won a key hand.
Then,
Pechak really got creative with his playing
and seized the initiative. At one point,
Pechak had Negreanu down 3 to 1 in chips
and it appeared the script would be written
as "Pechak's Incredible Comeback." But
there would be no Hollywood finish for
the cigar-chomping Arizonan, who gave
Negreanu great difficulty during the heads-up
battle.
"I
had a good read on where Jim was at,"
Negreanu said afterward. "I knew if I
could catch a break here and there, I
would win it. Even when I was down (outchipped
by a 3 to 1 margin), I never got to the
point where I thought I had to deviate
from my initial strategy which was a strategy
of aggression the whole way through."
The
final hand of the night came during the
hold'em round when Negreanu's 7-7 topped
Pechak's J-7. It was Pechak who ended
up running card cold at the worst possible
moment, as he failed to scoop a pot of
any significance in the last 20 minutes
of play. Even Negreanu noted that Pechak
played flawlessly during most of the final
table and didn't get many breaks from
the deck during the last round of the
night.
"I
thought Jim played really solid when we
were heads-up," Negreanu said of his opponent
afterward. "He played tournament strategy
to a 'T.' He gave me a lot of trouble
since I was expecting him to play one
way and he played the opposite way. I
was very impressed with his game."
Negreanu
now has two gold bracelets from the World
Series of Poker, and a United States Poker
Championship. At the conclusion of the
final table, Negreanu's mother called
from her home in Toronto, Ontario. "I
won it," Negreanu said in Romanian (his
native language). "O suta de mii." That's
"one-hundred thousand," however you want
to pronounce it.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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