As
Bad As It Gets:
O’Neil Longson wins grueling Razz
championship
If
Doyle Brunson’s record-tying tenth World
Series of Poker lifetime victory was poker
at its finest, then the final table of
the Seven Card Razz event was every poker
fan’s worst nightmare. Think of working
as a security guard on the graveyard shift
in an empty warehouse. O’Neil Longson
won the most punishing event thus far
at this year’s World Series. He topped
an all-time Razz turnout (291 entries)
and collected $125,690 in prize money.
This was gold bracelet Number Three for
the near-comatose retiree and poker pro
from Utah.
In
every way, shape, and form the Razz finale
was dreadful. First, it lasted a seemingly
infinite 16 hours. On Day Two, play started
off at 2 pm. The tournament did not end
until 8 am the next morning. What
brave (or insane) spectators remained
who were scattered inside a near-empty
tournament area were either snoozing or
catatonic. The winner, O’Neil Longson
showed little emotion after winning, most
appropriate given the circumstances. A
thrilling poker moment, this was not.
This
is not to say that Longson, a widely-respected
tournament veteran, did not put on a masterful
performance. In fact, play at the final
table was extraordinary. There were a
number of highly-interesting poker personalities
in the finale, which might have provided
some riveting drama has the game been
No-Limit Hold’em. But instead, the game
was Razz – a hybrid of Seven-Card Stud
in which the object of the game is to
make the worst possible hand. There are
no devastating rivers, nor coin flip showdowns
in Razz. Instead, there are hours and
hours and hours of tedious monotony. It’s
poker version of an assembly line.
The eight finalists took their seats and
play began. There were three former gold
bracelet winners – O’Neil Longson (2),
Mike Wattel (1), and Hassan Kamoei (1).
Players were eliminated in the following
order:
8th
– Hassan Kamoei went out first.
He arrived with the lowest stack (11,500).
Kamoei went out with an 8-6 low which
lost to Larry Cesareo’s 8-4. Kamoei collected
$11,245 and got a good night’s rest.
7th – Larry
Cesareo was the next player to exit. He
was low on chips and made his last stand
with 10-9, ultimately losing to Archie
Karas’ 9-6. Cesareo was slayed in 7th
place – good for $15,660.
6th
– Mickey Wernick is a true poker
pioneer. He was one of the first non-American
players to visit the WSOP back in the
late 1970s. He saw a new game being played
called ‘Texas Hold’em’ told a few friends
back in England, and the Brits have been
playing it ever since. Wernick is deserving
of a gold bracelet and he has a number
of in-the-money finishes and final tables
in his 25-year WSOP career. But 6th place
was the highest he could climb on this
night. Wernick went out when his 9-8-6
was bested by Archie Karas’ 9-8-4. Wernick
earned $19,675 in prize money.
5th – Mike
Wattel fell just shy of winning gold bracelet
number two a few weeks ago. He was the
runner up in the Seven-Card Stud High-Low
Split event. Wattel walked away disappointed
again, this time. He fell low on chips
and had a number of decent starting hands,
which then turned into dogs when face
cards and pairs killed his hand. Wattel
finally went out in 5th place and received
$24,900.
4th – Anargyros
Karabourniotis, a.k.a. Archie Karas, is
one of gambling’s most mythological figures.
Ten years ago, Karas strolled into Binion’s
Horseshoe with a few thousand dollars
in his pocket and started shooting craps.
He won. The next day, he came back and
won again. Big. Over the next few weeks,
Karas went on the biggest roll in Las
Vegas history, winning an estimated $25
million at one point. But in the end,
Karas lost in all. In recent years, Karas
has played tournament poker regularly.
Although he has played in the highest
cash games in the world, he has not yet
won a major tournament. Karas came close
on this night, but ultimately fell short.
There’s no telling how long the $30,120
that was paid out to Karas lasted. Odd
are that he’ll either end up winning the
Rio property or going bust.
3rd
– Al Barbieri is just what one
would expect in a person, given his South
Philadelphia roots. The Italian-neighborhood
goombah, nicknamed ‘Sugar Bear’ (this
is for real, folks) had Bruno Fitoussi
‘all in’ at one point and it seemed he
might get heads-up against Longson. But
Barbieri lost that crucial hand and then
saw his tall towers of chips get wacked.
Barbieri was eliminated in 3rd place –
good for $42,165.
2nd Place –
Heads-up play began with O’Neil Longson
holding a 2 to 1 chip lead. The betting
levels were so high that only a hand or
two could swing the lead in either direction.
In the end, Bruno Fitoussi ended up losing
the final hand of the night (make that,
morning) with 10-7 getting topped by 9-8.
The runner up was Bruno Fitoussi, a.k.a.
‘the King.’ Fitoussi is best known in
the poker world as the manager of Aviation
Club de France, in Paris. Fitoussi has
also proven to be a top poker player in
his own right. He won the World Heads-Up
Championship in 2001 and also finished
15th in the main event (WSOP) in 2003.
Second place paid $70,275.
1st
Place – O’Neil Longson is a 71-year-old
professional poker player, who lists ‘retired’
as his profession. But Longson shows no
signs of slowing down, at least when it
comes to winning tournaments. This was
Longson’s second gold bracelet in two
years.
This was a day of both similarities and
contrasts. Poker legend Doyle Brunson
won his gold bracelet on the same day.
That meant that two players in their 70s
have now won championships at the World
Series. Poker may be a young man’s game,
but Longson and Brunson are showing the
world that the old-timers can win, as
well.
Longson
walked away from the nearly-empty poker
room as he has many times, strolling casually
and quietly back to his room at the end
of a long day. Those who may have passed
him en route would never have known by
the stoic look on Longson’s expressionless
face that he had just won six-figures
and become a three-time WSOP winner.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one
is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
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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