The
Road to Riches:
Tournament millionaire and WSOP winner
Mike Gracz has some good advice for young
aspiring poker pros
Playing
poker is great. But education is far more
important. My parents made me stay in
school and complete my degree. Then afterward,
that’s when I made the move to become
a poker player.
-- Mike Gracz (2005 WSOP Champion
-- $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em)
Poker
players came to the World Series from
all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries.
For each player, the road to the world’s
most prestigious tournament takes a different
path. There are highways, detours, and
roadblocks. There are even crashes. And
then, there are drivers who cross the
finish line on cruise control.
Michael
Gracz was born in Warsaw, Poland. He immigrated
to the United States as a child. Gracz
understood the importance of education
early. His mother arrived in the US to
pursue post-doctoral studies and eventually
became a fully-tenured university professor.
His father was a physical therapist. He
also happened to be a poker player.
“When
I was a teenager, I used to watch my father
play. He wouldn’t let me play, but I could
watch,” Gracz recalled. “(Later) I found
a low-limit game with these older guys
and I used to take my paycheck there and
lose it every week. I guess losing inspired
me to learn how to play the game better.
I went out and bought books and got proficient
to the point where I could beat them.”
When
Gracz enrolled as a student at North Carolina
State, he began playing poker regularly.
Eventually, he was spending more time
at the tables than studying or going to
class. “My mother kicked me in the butt
and told me I need to stay in school and
made me finish getting my degree in finance.
Then, after I graduated, I started playing
in tournaments, and now – here I am.”
Indeed, barely out of college and aged
24, Mike Gracz’s journey to the 2005 WSOP
was a bridge – a turbo-charged path from
one tournament win just a few months ago
to another, in what is the world’s most
challenging competition. He did encounter
a bit of heavy traffic, however.
There
were 826 entries and 1,495 re-buys in
this event. The total prize pool amounted
$2,201,630 – the second event thus far
which has exceeded $2 million. The final
table composition included two former
gold bracelet winners (David ‘the Dragon’
Pham and Meng La), and one television
celebrity (Phil Gordon, commentator of
“Celebrity Poker Showdown”). The chip
leader was poker tournament veteran Chuck
Thompson:
THE
FINAL TABLE:
Seat
1: David Pham 323,000
Seat 2: Shae Drobashevich 248,000
Seat 3: Phil Gordon 91,000
Seat 4: CT Law 516,000
Seat 5: Mike Gracz 173,000
Seat 6: Shane Schleger 134,000
Seat 7: Pascal Perrault 225,000
Seat 8: Chuck Thompson 549,000
Seat 9: Meng La 71,000
Players
were eliminated as follows:
9th Place –
Meng La arrived as the shortest stack
and didn’t last long. He was down to 40,000
in chips and moved in with K-Q, which
was topped by C.T. Law’s A-8. The ace-high
played and La was out. Meng La, who was
born in Cambodia, won a WSOP gold bracelet
in the $1,500 buy-in limit hold’em event
in 2002. He earned $44,035 for 9th place.
8th
Place – A short time later, Phil
Gordon got axed with a bad beat. The TV
commentator was dealt pocket aces and
played a 200,000 pot with David Pham,
holding 10-10. A ten on the turn crushed
Gordon’s hopes of winning his first gold
bracelet. Gordon, who is the co-founder
of the charity “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer,’
has worked tirelessly to promote the cause
within the poker community. Hopefully,
his final table appearance will spark
more interest and player donations to
this worthy cause. Gordon’s winnings amounted
to $66,055.
7th
Place – C.T. Law took the chip
lead when he hammered Parisian poker player,
Pascal Perrault. On Perrault’s hand of
doom, he showed top pair with eights,
which was stripped by Law’s nut flush.
Perrault became the first player this
year to make two final table appearances.
He finished 10th in the Omaha High-Low
Split tournament (Event #5) a few days
ago. This time, it was a 7th place finish,
which paid $88,070. That hand put Law
up to about 900,000 in chips.
6th
Place – Shae Drobashevich went
out next. He was getting low on chips
and moved in with A-6, which was dominated
by C.T. Law’s A-Q. A six failed to leap
from the deck and rescue Drobashevich,
which meant a 6th-place finish. ‘DB,’
as he prefers to be called, is a graduate
of the University of Chicago (fittingly,
in economics). He picked up $110,090 in
additional funds.
5th
Place – Shane Schleger described
himself as a semi-professional poker player.
He admits to holding several “ditch digging
jobs” in the past. But Schleger won’t
be working for minimum wage anytime soon.
He went out next (with K-J) when he tried
to bluff Mike Gracz, who made an gutsy
call on a river bet with no pair, ace-high.
Schleger made about $6,000 an hour the
hard way – three days of poker playing
translating into a payout of $132,110.
4th Place –
David ‘the Dragon’ Pham got torched when
he put 140,000 into the pot with A-5 after
the flop came A-Q-8. C.T. Law had pocket
eights and flopped a set. That pretty
much extinguished the Dragon’s hopes of
victory. Pham, who won the mixed game
S.H.O.E. event at the 2001 WSOP, collected
$154,125.
3rd
Place – If any player has paid
his dues in poker, it’s Chuck Thompson.
The 66-year-old veteran of many tournament
wars was making a bid to win his first
gold bracelet. Cheered on by his two sons
in the audience, Thompson arrived at the
final table as chip leader. But after
losing half of his stack in the first
few hours, Thompson was never able to
use his depth of experience to his advantage.
On his final hand, Thompson’s A-J was
smashed by Mike Gracz’s pocket eights
when the board showed A-K-8-K-9. Thompson
received $176,145 in prize money, but
was understandably disappointed he did
not capture the elusive gold bracelet.
2nd
Place – The heads-up duel between
Mike Gracz and C.T. Law was memorable
in many ways. It had just about everything
needed to enter the long legacy of legendary
final tables in the 36-year history of
the WSOP. Play lasted nearly three hours.
The chip lead changed at least seven times.
In fact, both players were in peril at
various times and just when it looked
as though the night would end, a dramatic
hand would return lost chips and restore
faith.
Law
demonstrated certain tendencies. Gracz
picked up on them and used them effectively.
When Law missed, he often bet out small
on the river, trying to steal the pot.
Gracz called frequently (with nothing)
and won a number of 100,000 pots, which
added up significantly as the night went
on. There were key hands as well, such
as when Gracz made a straight, and took
half of Law’s stack. Gracz won another
big pot when he turned a baby flush (4-3
suited, matching three suits on board)
and cracked Law’s big pair.
The final hand came when Law and Gracz
got into a raising war after the flop
came J-8-5. Law had Q-J and called an
‘all in’ re-raise (with top pair). Gracz
was making a grandstand play, holding
second pair. Law was in the lead and it
looked like another swing back in forth
in chips. Then, the poker gods intervened
on Gracz’s behalf and dealt him a beautiful
card – a third 8. Gracz had gone from
big dog to huge favorite. There was still
one card to come. Later, Gracz was asked
the first moment he contemplated that
he might win the tournament. “When the
(blank) six of clubs fell on the river,”
Gracz replied. Indeed, the final card
failed to resurrect Law and Gracz was
the victor.
Runner-up
Cheung Tai (‘C.T.’) Law is a Hong Kong-born
restaurant owner who now lives in northeastern
England. He is married and has four children.
Law received praise from Gracz, who said
of his opponent, “I thought he played
great. I was very fortunate to beat a
player of his caliber.” Law’s cut of the
action amounted to $311,555.
1st
Place – The winner was Mike Gracz.
He is 24 years old and currently lives
in Raleigh, NC. Gracz has now won a whopping
$3 million in tournament poker this year.
Despite the staggering amount of prize
money and his recent millionaire status,
Gracz’s appreciation for the historical
significance of the World Series of Poker
gold bracelet was both respectful and
refreshing.
“I
was playing for the bracelet. The ambiance
around the World Series is something very
special. To have the gold bracelet on
my wrist is something I would give up
all this money for. That’s how much this
bracelet means to me.”
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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