Judah
Wins Championship
In a spectacular, made-for-TV finish,
Mel Judah captured the $5,000 Legends
Championship/WPT event by breaking Paul
Phillips, straight versus straight. When
the board showed A-6-3-5-4, Judah, with
9-7, had the high end while Phillips,
with J-2, had the ignorant end. Phillips
started the final day with a huge chip
lead of 657k while Judah, second lowest
with 143.5k, had dipped down to 32k at
one point before starting his comeback.
The
six finalists, playing on the WPT special
sound stage, started with $500 antes and
blinds of $2,500-$5,000. There was little
action until the next round, with $1,000
antes and blinds of 4-8k. On the first
hand, Laak, whose nickname is “The
Unabomber” because of the hooded
sweatshirt he favors, was bluffed out
of a $120k pot by Phillips, who showed
a jack-high busted flush draw. “Don’t
open your mail,” someone in the audience
shouted, referring to the real Unabomber’s
mail explosives.
Hand
24 was the last one for Laak and a turning
point for T.J.Cloutier, the Bike’s
all-time money winner. Laak raised pre-flop
with pocket sevens, T.J. moved in with
A-10, flopped a 10, relieved the student
from Ireland of about 100k and came close
to doubling up. Phillips still led with
about 757k, but now T.J. was closing in
with around 451k. The other approximate
chip counts were: Fred Bonyadi, 152k Judah,
118k and Chip Jett, 67k.
Judah
then began to fade. On hand 44 he was
down to 32k when he looked at pocket queens.
After T.J. raised to 24k, Judah, in the
small blind, moved in and his ladies held
up.
After
blinds went to 6-12k, with $1,500 antes,
Fred Bonyadi cashed out fifth on a bad
beat holding J-9 to T.J.’s J-7. A
flop of J-10-7 gave him top pair and a
straight draw, but also gave T.J. the
winning two pair. The first of several
chip-lead changes came on hand 54. On
a flop of Jc-6c-2d, Phillips bet 100k
and T.J. called. When a 9c turned, T.J.
bet 200k into the 280k pot and Phillips
folded. “I’m either an idiot
or a genius,” he said, a determination
to be made when the hole cards are shown
on TV next year. On the next hand, Jett,
short-stacked all the way, finally departed.
He had Ks-9s to Phillips’ K-Q, couldn’t
help and ended up in fourth place. Three-handed,
T.J. still had a slight lead over Phillips,
but both had 10 times the chips of Judah’s
70k.
Mel
now started moving up. On hand 61 he moved
in and wasn’t called. On hand 63
he moved in again, this time with K-10
against T.J.’s pocket treys and won
when the board came 10-9-5-8-A. A few
hands later, after T.J. raised to 30k,
Judah again moved all in. Again he was
the underdog, K-J versus A-10. A jack
on the river saved him, and he relieved
T.J. of 116k. And then, on hand 73, Phillips
bet 40k into a board of J-10-3-2 and once
more Judah moved in, this time for $148,500
more. Phillips folded and Judah showed
A-2.
By
the time blinds went to 10-20k with $2,000
antes, Phillips had retaken the lead and
Judah had slipped back. But then Judah
doubled up again by making a full house
against Phillips, who moved in with a
straight draw. Judah took the lead on
hand 99 when his A-Q held up against Phillips’
K-Q and he doubled up to 658k versus 440
for T.J. and a bit over 300k for Phillips.
On hand 114, Phillips, who had moved ahead
of T.J., broke him with a truly horrendous
bad beat. With antes of 3k, and blinds
now at 15-30k, T.J., all in with J-J against
Phillips’ 7-7, was a 10-1 favorite
on the A-5-2 flop. He busted out when
a seven hit the turn. Phillips led again,
901k to 645 for Judah. After time out
for a ceremony where a unicyclist brought
in the prize money on a silver platter,
play resumed. After Judah moved in several
times without being called, he took over
the lead again. On the final hand, Phillips
raised to 90k pre-flop. Then the board
was checked down to the river which resulted
in the two straights. Phillips later said
he had to call. “There was already
$200,000 in the pot. If I had folded,
I would have been in very poor chip position.”
BIOGRAPHY
Mel
Judah was born in Calcutta, India, and
now lives in London. He is married and
has two children. A former ladies hairdresser
who started playing poker with friends
when he was 14, he has been traveling
the international tournament poker circuit
for years. Judah has had numerous World
Series cash-outs, with two bracelets.
He narrowly missed getting a third this
year when he came in second to Men “The
Master” Nguyen in a $5,000 7-card
stud event.
Tonight,
he said, players were stealing his blinds
and he knew he had to make a move soon.
Fortunately, he got pocket queens just
in time, made a stand and he was able
to move up after winning that hand.
Max
Shapiro
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