Marcel
Sabag Terminates Field to
Run Away with Pot-Limit Victory
He started lowest chipped with a puny
$3,800, quickly went all in with A-K against
Richard Tatalovich's pocket queens and
proceeded to make a full house and double
up. After that explosive start there was
no stopping Marcel Sabag as he repeatedly
drew out to terminate five of seven players,
steadily worked his way into the chip
lead and ran off with the 12th event of
Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker,
$300 pot-limit hold'em.
When the field got down to three, Sabag
had about $54,000 to 32k for Martin Corpuz
and 25k for Grady Talbot, and a deal was
made. Although he's made his share of
final tables, this is the first tournament
win for Sabag, who owns a cellular phone
store.
Starting blinds at the final table were
$200 and $400 with 13:38 remaining. Except
for Sabag's all-in escape with a full
house, there wasn't much action until
hand 21.
With blinds now at $300-$600 and three
limpers in the pot, Hassan Kamoei raised
to $3,900 with A-Q. Talbot, who had held
the chip lead for the last three hours,
popped it 8k more with Kd-Qd and Kamoei
called all in for about 7k. Talbot flopped
a king to put Hassan out in tenth place
and increase his chip lead.
Six hands later the board showed Ah-9s-2h-2d.
Mel Wiener bet $1,500. Given Wiener's
reputation as an action player, Tatalovich,
who held 9-5, figured that Wiener would
have bet the flop if he had an ace, deuce
or pocket nines, so he moved in for $4,700.
Surprise: poker player Lance Tahata had
the pocket nines for a full house, and
Tatalovich, making his fourth final table,
busted out in ninth place.
Screenwriter Corey Mandell was cut out
of the script right after blinds increased
to 4-8k. First, Sabag, all in a second
time, flopped a set of sevens to outrun
Mandell's pocket kings and leave him with
$3,500. He took the rest on the next hand
when his A-J held up against Mandell's
Q-J. This was to be the first of five
consecutive terminations.
At the final table was businesswoman Sharon
Goldman, and rooting for her from the
sidelines was husband Dan Goldman, VP
of marketing for PokerStars, the Internet
site where Chris Moneymaker won his WSOP
seat. But to Sabag she was just victim
number two.
In the small blind with Q-7, she raised
all in for $1,700. Sabag called from the
big blind with Ac-6c, flopped an ace and
climbed up to $11,500. After taking several
more pots, Sabag inched into the lead
with about 28k, $2,000 more than Talbott.
On hand 60, with $600-$1,200 blinds, Sabag
pulled off another big draw-out and took
down a third consecutive player. He raised
with pocket sixes and was up against pocket
10s when Will Walsh went all in with a
$2,400 re-raise. Sabag flopped a third
six and once again exuberantly leaped
out of his seat as his chip count rose
to about 36k.
Five hands later, same story. Once again
Sabag was an underdog, though a slight
one, with A-K against an all-in Tahata,
who had pocket queens. And once again,
Sabag wasted no time drawing out as he
flopped an ace to leave Tahata in fifth
place.
It was the fourth straight kill for the
Terminator, who had now gone from $3,800
to about $60,000. Trailing him were Wiener
with 23k, Talbot, the beginning chip leader
who had now dipped down to 19k; and Corpuz,
with around 11k.
After blinds went to 1-2k, Sabag proved
he was a human, not a machine, by finally
losing a hand. He raised 16k with A-Q.
Talbot raised all in for 10k more with
10c-9c, made a straight on the turn and
then a flush on the river. Sabag's problem
probably was that he was not used to starting
with the best hand.
On hand 74, Corpuz had all his chips in
with Kc-Qc against Wiener's Ah-9h. A king
and two hearts flopped. Wiener missed
his straight, and Corpuz doubled up to
about 32k while Wiener dropped to 15k.
Six hands later the dramatic finish unfolded.
Sabag raised the pot to 7k with pocket
queens. Wiener re-raised all in another
5k and turned over … pocket aces. The
bullets were better than a 4-1 favorite,
but Sabag pulled one final rabbit out
of his Hustler Casino cap by flopping
a set of queens. When the board showed
Q-8-6-4-J, Wiener was out, Sabag's fifth
straight victim, and now three were left.
After considerable negotiating, they agreed
on a deal and Sabag could claim a truly
remarkable victory.
Max Shapiro
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