The
Return of Josh Arieh:
Animated poker pro dominates Pot-Limit
Omaha final table and wins second gold
bracelet
All
of us have embarrassing moments. The problem
is, what do you do when your most embarrassing
moment takes place in front of a room
full of television cameras and a viewing
audience of millions? At last year’s World
Series of Poker, Josh Arieh committed
an unsportsmanlike act just as he busted
out of the championship event. In the
heat of the moment, Arieh meant to encourage
his friend David Williams (who finished
as the runner up) with a pep talk, but
used language which made it appear that
he bore resentment towards the eventual
world poker champion, Greg ‘Fossilman’
Raymer.
Unfortunately,
viewers who later saw broadcast of the
exchange were (and largely remain) unaware
that Arieh approached Raymer afterward,
congratulated him for his victory, and
apologized for the incident. Arieh admits
to have a combustible temper, and said
that the crushing blow of getting knocked
out caused the initial outburst. Those
who know Arieh best, and know him both
as a friend and an adversary at the poker
table, generally believe he got tarred
and feathered by an ill-timed episode
which is neither reflective of his true
attitudes nor ordinary conduct at the
poker table.
The
luckiest of men have the chance to redeem
themselves. Redemption is all the more
fulfilling when it comes, yet again, in
front of television cameras. With ESPN
shooting all the action, Josh Arieh sat
down to what was arguably the toughest
final table lineup thus far at this year’s
World Series. His mission was as straightforward
as it was challenging – to win his second
gold bracelet. He also hoped that during
the course of playing in front of ESPN
cameras for the first time since May 2004,
he might emancipate himself from the unflattering
portrait seen during a few seconds of
television. He did both.
In
1999, Arieh – then a 23-year-old newly-crowned
WSOP winner -- burst upon the poker scene
with all the subtlety of a John Belushi
at a keg party. He was as flamboyant as
he was talented, as combative as he was
single-minded. Arieh won the $3,000 buy-in
Limit Hold’em championship that year,
which paid $202,080. The sky seemed to
be the limit. Little did he know at the
time, six long years would pass before
Arieh would get so close to winning another
gold bracelet.
The
Pot-Limit Omaha championship (Event #12)
attracted 212 entries. The total prize
pool amounted to $1,180,080. The final
table included four former gold bracelet
winners – Erik Seidel (with 7 wins); Chris
‘Jesus’ Ferguson (with 5 wins); and Josh
Arieh and Ron Graham (with one win each).
In addition, WSOP Circuit winner Doug
Lee made it to the final table. But it
was Arturo Diaz who enjoyed the chip lead
when play began:
THE FINAL TABLE:
SEAT
1: Erik Seidel Las Vegas, NV $67,000
SEAT 2: Josh Arieh Atlanta, GA $229,000
SEAT 3: Max Pescatori Milan, Italy $62,000
SEAT 4: Tony Sevnsom Houston, TX $171,000
SEAT 5: Ron Graham Tacoma, WA $90,000
SEAT 6: Chris Ferguson Pacific Palisades,
CA $109,000
SEAT 7: Doug Lee Calgary, AB (Canada)
$160,000
SEAT 8: Arturo Diz San Diego, CA $279,000
SEAT 9: Dave Colclough Birmingham, England
$50,000
Players
were eliminated as follows:
9th
Place – Erik Seidel’s bid for an
eighth gold bracelet was crushed early.
Seidel arrived low on chips and moved
his last 56,000 into the pot with multiple
straight draws. But Josh Arieh won the
pot with a pair of kings and Seidel made
his quickest final table exit in history.
His previous ‘worst’ final table finish
was 7th place (in 1995). This was Seidel’s
24th final table appearance during his
distinguished WSOP career and his 37th
time to cash. He won his seventh gold
bracelet only two days ago. Ninth place
paid $23,180.
8th
Place – Doug Lee knows how to win
at the Rio. Three months ago, Lee won
the WSOP Circuit event held in the same
building and hoped to add a gold bracelet
to his gold ring (the respective prizes
given out to WSOP winners). Lee lasted
only an hour on this day as his full house
(fours full of aces) was hammered by Chris
Ferguson’s high full house (nines full
of fours). It was a tough beat for the
young Canadian, who collected $34,690
in prize money.
7th Place –
The lowest stack from the start was Englishman
David Colclough. Nicknamed ‘El Blondie,’
Colclough hit trip jacks on the flop,
but Arieh made a flush on the turn. Colclouogh
had a chance to double up if the board
paired, but missed. The 41-year-old was
eliminated in 7th place, which paid $46,225.
6th Place –
Perhaps no other poker game makes the
chip lead so susceptible as pot-limit
Omaha. In fact, things change very quickly
in this game – as Arturo Diaz found out
the hard way. Diaz arrived in comfortable
chip position, but was never able to use
the size of his stack to his advantage.
Diaz missed a straight draw on his final
hand of the night and went out a disappointing
sixth place, which paid $57,820.
5th
Place – Max Pescatori’s poker nickname
is ‘the Italian Pirate’ because, frankly,
he looks exactly like one. The bandana-wrapped
poker player from Milano set sail with
only 62,000 in chips and was blown out
of the water about two hours into the
finale. It was Mutiny on the Bounty for
‘the Pirate,’ who called with his last
26,000 in chips, holding a pocket overpair
on the flop (queens). But new chip leader
Arieh completed a straight on the turn
which left ‘the Pirate’ drawing dead.
Pescatori sank in 6th place, thus earning
a treasure chest totaling $69,385.
4th
Place – Tony Sevnsom, from Houston,
is no stranger to final tables. He has
appeared at WSOP Circuit events this year
and hoped to win his first gold bracelet
in this event. He came reasonably close
to victory, but finally ran out of stream
when his 10-7-6-5 missed multiple straight
draws. The final board showed 8-5-2-Q-3,
which meant Arieh (yet again) won a big
pot, this time with two pair (holding
9-8-5-4). Sevnsom, a.k.a. ‘Tekk,’ picked
up $92,510 in prize money.
3rd Place –
For the second time in two days, the three
finalists all were former gold bracelet
winners. Despite the humongous size of
the fields for all WSOP events, the top
finishers continue to be the pedigreed
players who have proven themselves over
time. Despite the shared common link to
championships of the past, Josh Arieh
was, quite frankly, playing a different
style of tournament all his own. By this
time, Arieh had gobbled up nearly three-quarters
of the chips in play. He became so dominant
as play became short-handed that, had
this been a prize fight, the referee might
have stopped the action. But neither Chris
Ferguson nor Ron Graham were ready to
throw in the towel.
Arieh’s
chip raiding became so ridiculous (and
easy) that he started raising pots blindly,
in an effort to pressure either Ferguson
or Graham to play a pot. With a difference
of $95,000 at stake (between 3rd and 2nd)
Arieh could afford to be the bully and
watch Ferguson and Graham hopelessly squirm
in their seats, hoping to leapfrog the
other into 2nd place.
Finally,
Ron Graham decided to throw himself on
Arieh’s alter. But it was ‘Jesus’ who
collected what was in the collection plate.
Graham moved ‘all in’ for 25,000 with
10-10-8-4. Arieh was dealt A-J-10-3. Ferguson
was dealt 8-7-6-5. In a rare three-way
pot, Ferguson took the loot when the final
board showed 7-7-3-8-A (with a full house).
Ron Graham – who won a gold bracelet in
Deuce-to-Seven Lowball in 1986 and also
finished third in the main event (the
same year Chan and Seidel battled for
the 1988 WSOP championship) settled for
3rd place and $115,640.
2nd
Place – Despite Arieh’s dominance
over the first four hours of play, the
outcome of the tournament was still very
much undecided when heads-up play began.
Arieh had the chip lead – 878,000 to 339,000.
But all Ferguson needed was one big hand
to draw close to even in chips. In fact,
two big hands would conceivably flip-flop
Arieh with Ferguson. This made the initial
play between the final two competitors
very timid. But as play continued, Ferguson
seemed to play more aggressively, got
called when he had a big hand, and eventually
took the chip lead.
If
the first 40 minutes of heads-up play
was disturbing to Arieh, he certainly
didn’t show it. Seemingly focused and
in control of his emotions the entire
time, Arieh watched Ferguson take a 2
to 1 chip lead, then reversed the tide
with three big hands which effectively
were a flurry of knockout punches. Two
hands were not shown (no showdown). In
fact, Arieh won 7 of the final 8 hands
that were dealt. The closer came as the
final table approached the sixth hour.
Arieh
was dealt K-9-3-2. Ferguson was dealt
K-10-9-3. Neither player had much of a
hand, but the flop came 7-5-2 with two
hearts. Arieh bet out, Ferguson raised
to 200,000 with a lower heart draw and
Arieh re-raised enough to put Ferguson
‘all in.’ Ferguson was drawing nearly
dead – as only a 10 could save him. The
turn and river brought an ace and a jack,
which meant Arieh had won his second gold
bracelet with what would normally be a
pathetic pair of deuces.
“I
thought Josh played great,” Ferguson said
afterward. “He played a big stack perfectly.
He kept stealing pots. No one wanted to
go up against him.”
As
the runner up, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson
collected $210,460. To most players that
would be a huge score. But for Ferguson,
shooting for gold bracelet number six,
he had mixed emotions. “I have to be happy
with the outcome,” he said. “But to get
the chip lead and have a shot at first,
then not win was disappointing.” Stoked
with over 200 grand, Ferguson is now free-rolling
the remainder of this year’s World Series.
1st
Place – Josh Arieh is a 30-year-old
poker pro who was born in Rochester, NY.
He now lives in Atlanta with his wife
and two children. The first thing Arieh
did following his victory was compliment
his opponents -- especially Chris Ferguson.
“Chris
is such an amazing player. I am nowhere
near the player Chris is – he is such
a role model. Up until today, I had not
played that much with him,” Arieh said.
“I play a lot of pot-limit Omaha and that
I know he plays all of these games at
such a high level. So, to win against
him was thrilling for me.”
Arieh
also reflected on his reaction to winning
his second gold bracelet over the first,
which came back in 1999. “When I won here
six years ago, I took it all for granted.
I was single. I was gung ho. I didn’t
care about the same things I care about
now. Today, I know what it means and understand
how tough it is to win one of these (gold
bracelets) and it’s a huge load off my
back.”
Arieh
also offered a bit of poker advice: “I
play a lot of heads-up poker. It’s all
about position. Every time I played a
big pot, I had position (acting last).
It’s very uncomfortable to play big pots
out of position. I did my best not to
do that. It all boiled down to a few big
hands where I had position and got my
money in with the best hand.”
With one month still to go at the 2005
World Series, and over twenty events still
to be played, Arieh believes his level
of confidence has improved to the point
where he will make it to another final
table, and possibly win another title.
“When I play, I think what I am
doing is right. But when I win, I know
what I am doing is right. This is the
best feeling in the world.”
Official Report
by Nolan Dalla – World Series of
Poker Media Director
World
Series of Poker Circuit Director of Operations
– Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director
– John Grooms
Rio Poker Room Manager – Michael
Matts
Rio Poker Tournament Director – Robert
Daily
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