Poker’s
Great Dane:
Underdog Jan Sorensen, from Denmark, wins
Seven-Card Stud championship
Poker’s
popularity is skyrocketing. But it will
never be as popular, especially on an
international scale, as the game of soccer
(what the rest of the world refers to
as “football”). Jan Sorensen grew up in
the European tradition, where every young
schoolboy dreams of becoming a soccer
star. In most cases, those fantasies gradually
end up on a delusional ash heap, due to
the obligations of school, family, and
career. But in rare instances, dreams
of becoming a professional athlete do
come true.
Jan
Sorensen was 18-years-old when he first
started playing pro soccer for money.
His skills improved to the point where
he was playing on a major team in the
Danish Premier League. By age 30, Sorensen
was a veteran of many soccer matches.
He began to think of what he would do
in his post-athletic life. But before
Sorensen could make a decision, he was
dealt soccer’s worst equivalent of a ‘bad
beat.’ Sorensen blew out his knee in an
on-the-field injury. He would never play
soccer again.
Fortunately,
Sorensen picked up some skills at a different
game during his soccer career.
“We used to play poker all the time when
we were traveling,” Sorensen said moments
after winning the $5,000 buy-in Seven-Card
Stud championship at the 2005 World Series
of Poker. “We played on trains and airports
while we waited around killing time.”
Shortly after his injury-forced retirement,
Sorensen made a trip to Las Vegas. The
World Series of Poker just so happened
to be going that same month. Sorensen
played poker and became more interested
in the game. Little did he know it at
the time, but a decade later, he would
be sitting at a final table, playing for
a gold bracelet. With ESPN television
cameras recording the event for a later
broadcast, poker’s ‘Great Dane’ shed the
underdog role, topped a tough field of
192 players, and scored a different kind
of goooooooooooooal -- $293,275
in cash.
The final table included an interesting
assortment of poker players. Of the eight
finalists, four were from Las Vegas –
including the defending champion from
this event last year, Joe Awada. At the
start of Day Three, players and chip counts
were as follows:
THE
FINAL TABLE:
SEAT
1: John Phan Los Angeles, CA 198,000
SEAT 2: Gerard Rechnitzer Beverly Hills
71,000
SEAT 3: Keith Sexton Dayton, OH 135,000
SEAT 4: Joe Awada Las Vegas, NV 126,500
SEAT 5: Steven S. Deano Las Vegas, NV
58,500
SEAT 6: Chip Jett Las Vegas, NV 206,000
SEAT 7: Jan Sorensen Odense, Denmark 140,000
SEAT 8: Tom McCormick Fargo, ND 25,000
Players
were eliminated in the following order:
8th
Place – This was Tom McCormick’s
second final table appearance at this
year’s WSOP. Unfortunately, his stay was
short. Desperately low on chips, ‘The
Shamrock Kid’ was not dealt any four-leaf
clovers. Instead, he lost his final hand
to Joe Awada’s full-house. McCormick did
collect some serious green -- $27,070
to be exact.
7th
Place – Steven S. Deano was on
life support, but managed to avoid elimination
when the other short-stack, Gerard Rechnitzer
got steamrolled. Rechnitzer, a Beverly
Hills-based real estate investor, started
with a pair of fives, picked up a straight
draw, and ended up with two pair (6s and
5s) on his final hand. Joe Awada flattened
the two small pair with two larger pair
(Ks and Js) and ended up dragging Rechnitzer’s
final chip. Rechnitzer, who goes by the
name ‘Gee Rock’ received $36,095 for 7th
place.
6th
Place – Deano managed to make an
extra nine-grand by folding a few hands.
After Rechnitzer went bust, Deano moved
‘all in’ with a pair of jacks, which failed
to improve. John Phan ended up with two
pair (aces up) and skinned off Deano’s
final chips. Steve S. Deano, a professional
gambler based in Las Vegas, picked up
$45,120 for 6th place.
5th
Place – The defending champ, Joe
Awada was the next player to exit. After
an early rush which propelled him up near
the chip lead, Awada went card dead for
nearly two hours and finally perished
in 5th place. Awada picked up A-K (x),
which was enough to move ‘all in,’ but
he failed to make a pair against John
Phan’s straight. Awada, a fine champion
and inspiring human interest story (he
arrived in the US as a teen, didn’t speak
English, traveled with a circus, and ended
up owning a highly-successful gaming and
entertainment business) received $58,665
in prize money.
4th Place –
John Phan has been one of poker’s hottest
players over the past year. He has placed
high and won several major events. However,
the one item not yet on his resume is
a victory at the WSOP. Phan will have
to wait at least a bit longer to win a
gold bracelet. He played quite aggressively
throughout, but lost a few key pots late
in the tournament which took away most
of his chips. On his final hand, Phan
started with three big cards A-K (10)
but watched helplessly as four successive
bricks rolled off the deck, resulting
in getting busted by Keith Sexton’s two
pair. Phan’s payout amounted to $72,190.
3rd
Place – Keith Sexton had a sizable
chip lead, about 2 to 1 over Jan Sorensen.
Meanwhile, Chip Jett was teetering on
elimination. Down to his last 55,000 playing
at the 8,000-16,000 level, Jett made his
final stand with a pair of sixes. Sexton
picked up two queens, which was enough
to eliminate Jett. $99,265 was paid out
for 3rd place. This was a nice jinx breaker
for Jett, who was red-hot in tournament
poker a few years ago, and has recently
been striving to get back to the winner’s
circle. It wasn’t the win he was hoping
for, but was a nice cash, nonetheless.
2nd
Place – When heads-up play began,
Keith Sexton enjoyed a significant chip
lead versus Jan Sorensen -- 605,000 to
395,000. The final duel lasted 90 minutes.
The first critical hand was when Sexton
started with a pair of aces and failed
to improve, while Sorensen ended up with
two pair. Safe to say, that had Sexton
caught a second pair, the final table
might have ended sooner and crowned a
different champion.
The
two battled back and forth for over an
hour, each seemingly one big hand away
from victory. Then, the final barrage
of bets broke out when Sexton started
with a pair of kings versus Sorensen’s
pair of nines. The final decisive hand
went as follows:
SEXTON: (K-K) 8-3-2-J (X)
SORENSEN: (9-7) 9-3-7-8 (9)
Jan Sorensen’s full-house scooped the
final pot of the tournament.
Keith Sexton was the runner up. The Dayton,
OH-born poker player and home builder
(no relation to poker celebrity Mike Sexton)
earned $162,430 for second place.
1st
Place – Jan Sorensen is a 45-year-old
former professional soccer player from
Denmark. This was his fifth time to cash
at the WSOP. This was also his third appearance
at a final table. Afterward, Sorensen
was asked to express his sentiments, including
the comparison between playing in the
European soccer leagues versus competing
at the poker table. He noted that both
games require many of the same qualities,
including skill and stamina. Sorensen
was also asked a hypothetical question,
which truly shows how far poker has come,
in comparison to major sports.
When
asked which he would prefer – winning
the 2005 World Series of Poker plus an
estimated $7 million in prize money, versus
scoring the winning goal for Denmark in
the finals of next year’s World Cup
– Sorensen didn’t even hesitate.
“I
would rather win at the World Series of
Poker,” he said. “The World Cup doesn’t
pay me $7 million.”
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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