NEVER
UNDERESTIMATE THE HEART OF A CHAMPION
"I've
got to wake up now," our winner said
after taking the only substantial loss
of the night. And he did.
There
were 40 entrants and 17 Rebuys in the
$1,500 Buy-In, Pot-Limit Hold'em
for a total prize pool of $81,900. Five
players were paid.
To
setup the Final Table, Bob Slezak gave
Marty Wilson a Hall of Fame jacket by
going all-in with the best hand against
the massive chip leader John Juanda. Bob
couldn't act happy like his namesake,
Walter. Slezak took 11th when he caught
Juanda on a steal. John had the 8 3 of
Diamonds and he raised on the six-handed
table. Bob had the A Q of Hearts. Juanda
was catching everything except spinal
meningitis at the time. It's impossibly
tough to go up against someone that hot.
John turned a 3 and rivered an 8.
THE FINAL TABLE:
55 mins. left of 60.
The blinds were $150/$300
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 Scotty Nguyen Henderson NV $ 7,625
Seat 2 Peter Costa Leicester, UK $10,075
Seat 3 O'Neil Longson Salt Lake
City UT $ 9,275
Seat 4 Paul Testud Paris, France $10,775
Seat 5 Richard St Peter Las Vegas NV $
2,700
Seat 6 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa
Rica $10,700
Seat 7 Marty Wilson Birmingham, UK $ 775
Seat 8 John Juanda Alhambra CA $28,150
Seat 9 Carlos Fuentes Pamplona, Spain
$ 3,150
Seat 10 Chris Bjorin London, UK $ 3,875
44
WSOP bracelets in a 40 player field? On
a percentage basis, this had to be the
toughest $1,500 lineup in poker history.
These are some of the names that DIDN'T
get close to the Final Table:
Phil
Hellmuth, 7 WSOP titles (World Champion)
Erik Seidel, 5
T J Cloutier, 4
Phil Ivey, 4
Men Nguyen, 4
Layne Flack, 3
Carlos Mortenson, 1 (World Champion)
Mike Laing, 1
John McIntosh, 1
Daniel Negreanu, 1
Barry Shulman, 1
David Ulliott, 1
First
out was 'Mad' Marty Wilson,
as he's known affectionately by
the Brits. We don't know if that
means he's angry or crazy over
here. Maybe both. Anyway, Marty may have
been mad because he didn't even
have enough time for a cup of tea at the
Final Table. Marty found exactly the wrong
person to go all-in against. Even if John
Juanda were not a world-class player,
his chip count would tell anyone that
he was on fire. John had 1/3 the chips
at the START of this table. That means
he killed many on his way here. And considering
the quality of the field, there were no
easy wins either. With $775, however,
Wilson couldn't choose his all-in
dance partner. Marty had K Q on the button.
John had A K in the small blind. When
a King flopped, Wilson may not have gone
away mad, but he just went away.
Since
this was Pot-Limit, native-born Americans
were as scarce as hen's teeth.
There were two out of the ten. One of
the two didn't stay long, but not
because he played badly. Richard St Peter
got the call from the real St Peter when
he went all-in with pocket Queens in the
big blind. Humberto Brenes had called
the short stack with pocket 6's.
Well you know what came on the river,
a 6 for three 6's. Say, maybe it
wasn't St Peter who called Richard.
Maybe it was the other guy.
So
far, they were leaving in the order of
their beginning chip count total. So 8th
place had to go to Carlos Fuentes. It
would be a really cheap gag to mention
that Carlos didn't have a chance
running with these bulls. (He's
from Pamplona, get it?) So we won't
do it. Fuentes was gored when he went
all-in with pocket 7's in the big
blind for his last $1,700. Peter Costa
had the dominating hand, pocket 8's.
There
were no predictions, no side bets, no
trash-talking. Scotty Nguyen seemed spent
from his incredible comeback win last
night. Scotty went out uncharacteristically
quietly in 7th when he tried the best
hand against the Zen Master—John
Juanda. John had so many chips he was
on a raising freeroll. He repeatedly opened
the betting with a raise. No one could
have that many good hands, so the table
justifiably presumed that Juanda was raising
occasionally with less than Grade A hands.
The problem was if you guessed wrong you
were busted. And sometimes, even if you
guessed right, you were busted. Scotty
guessed right. He reraised all-in with
his last few thousand in chips and A 9.
Juanda was on the button with Queen rag
and flopped a Queen. Then to shut the
door on the former Champ, John rivered
a third Queen. The cards just kept comin'.
No
one seemed to be learning not to play
with Juanda. If a player made a rebuy
and was in this event for $3,000, then
5th place money was good enough to pay
for most people's time and effort.
But what can a body do when they flop
the nuts, but go all-in? It turns out
that the one card Peter Costa shouldn't
have wanted to see was a 10 on the flop.
Costa held pocket 10's. Any other card
and Peter would probably have been able
to wait out the short stacks for 5th and
a decent return. Unfortunately for Costa,
John Juanda was now catching everything
except West Nile disease. John couldn't
miss a board blindfolded. The flop came
10 7 2 with two Hearts. Juanda, with the
A 4 of Hearts, put Costa's $10k all-in
on a nut flush draw. NO WAITING! The third
Heart ripped right off the top of the
deck on the turn. Peter Costa got yet
another nice jacket.
There
must be some skill in Pot-Limit games
and only a few players have it. The Pot-Limit
Omaha game of last week had four of the
same five players in the money that this
one had. In this one, John McIntosh's
place was taken by the Frenchman, Paul
Testud. The other four were exactly the
same. Hmmmm!
Humberto Brenes was at his sixth Final
Table of this year's Hall of Fame. With
one win, three seconds and now a fifth
place money finish, Brenes is having quite
a time of it. But Humberto also seemed
tired from being on the wrong side of
last night's Scotty Nguyen miracle. He
wasn't getting many hands and he made
a strange call of Chris Bjorin's all-in
that crippled his stack. Chris was only
turning over pairs and usually big ones.
Yet Humberto called with A J offsuit.
As expected Bjorin showed his pocket Queens
that walked. With only pennies left, Brenes
bet out all-in from the big blind on the
flop for his last $1,500 in a desperate
attempt to steal a pot. There aren't too
many players born who steal pots from
O'Neil Longson. He'll call a red hat.
O'Neil had raised from the button with
K 9 and flopped a King. He wasn't going
anywhere. Humberto bet his pocket 4's
to no avail. "What was I supposed
to do?" Brenes said sheepishly.
They
were STILL going all-in against John Juanda.
The guy had three-fourths of the chips.
Isn't that a hint? Longson's Q J was dead
meat to Juanda's A 6 of Hearts. The last
Gringo was western history. Just teasing!
Juanda was calling all short stacks so
he couldn't be avoided. O'Neil could now
go back to a one of his huge live games
where he could make more than $8000 on
one hand.
Someone
finally found a way to beat Juanda in
a hand. Chris Bjorin went all-in with
A 8 and was covered quickly by John with
A 10. No problem, just flop A 8. Why didn't
anyone else think of that! Chris looked
like he was on his way to the only place
anyone could go at this table which was
2nd. Then suddenly he self-destructed.
When the flop came 10 7 6, Bjorin couldn't
put Paul Testud on 8 9. When Paul went
all-in on the flop, Chris called the $8,900
bet with only a Q 10. Paul doesn't speak
any English so he plays Marcel Marceau
at the table, mime-ing what he wants to
communicate. It was Marceau who put Chris
out of his misery in 3rd when Bjorin's
10 8 in the big blind was drawing thin
against Testud's A 8.
The
question, from the beginning of this table,
was who would eventually be heads up against
Juanda and how many chips would they have.
The answer was Paul Testud and $30,000.
By wiping out Bjorin, Testud actually
had a fighting chance down only 5-3 in
chips.
Then
came the hand of the night.
Juanda
knew from watching Testud's play that
Paul was a trapper. Therefore 'weak was
strong and strong weak.' John wouldn't
bet if Paul checked, but he would raise
if Paul bet. This worked perfectly all
night except for one card on the river
that almost cost Juanda the title.
The
chips flowed back and forth with increasing
speed as the blinds went to $1,000/$1,500.
Both
players got all their chips in the pot
with Testud having A Q and Juanda having
A K. It looked like the event was over,
especially when a King came on the turn.
But Testud mimed the nut flush draw on
the turn, as the flop came J 5 4 with
two Clubs. It was the Queen of Clubs on
the turn. Paul had the Ace of Clubs. Sure
enough, the King of Clubs rivered. And
for the first time all tournament John
Juanda wasn't the chip leader. In fact
he only had $15,000 left.
"I
have to wake up now," John said to
himself. He had literally been sleep-walking
through this event, it had been so easy.
As we saw last night with Scotty Nguyen,
we saw again tonight with John Juanda.
John won almost all the rest of the hands,
completely dominating Paul Testud. It
was a wipe out. The anti-climatic last
hand had Testud betting all-in when a
10 came on the river. That gave Paul 10's
and 8's. It also gave John Juanda trip
10's.
Many
in the audience thought the runner runner
Club flush by Testud had ended Juanda's
reign of terror over this table.
Never
underestimate the heart of a champion.
Mike Paulle
|
