POETIC
JUSTICE?
Did
the winner win it? Or did the loser lose
it? Here are the facts. You decide for
yourself.
There
were 54 entrants in the $5,000 No-Limit
Hold'em Championship Event for a total
prize pool of $253,800. Nine players were
paid.
THE FINAL TABLE:
43 mins. Of 60.
The blinds are $400/$800 with a $100 ante.
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1. T J Cloutier Richardson TX $25,400
Seat 2. David Ulliott Hull, UK $12,000
Seat 3. Peter Costa Leicester, UK $59,500
Seat 4. Chris Bjorin London, UK $18,300
Seat 5. Howard Lederer Las Vegas NV $64,900
Seat 6. Tony Cousineau Daytona Beach FL
$10,900
Seat 7. Tom Franklin Gulfport MS $ 6,400
Seat 8. Paul Rowe Las Vegas NV $19,100
Seat 9. Amir Vahedi Los Angeles CA $53,600
Day
One ended when O'Neil Longson went all-in
with pocket Queens only to have Amir Vahedi
wake up with pocket Kings in the small
blind and beat O'Neil into the pot.
Day
Two opened with a bang as the shortest
stacks seemed so giddy to be in the money,
they decided to go home to celebrate.
'Captain'
Tom Franklin didn't waste anytime testing
his luck for the day. He went all-in on
the first hand, raising with A K. Chip
leader Howard Lederer was happy to take
part in Franklin's luck-test and called
Tom's reraise to $6,300 with pocket Deuces.
The Captain may have gained a half-hour
of his life for something more meaningful
than playing cards with a short stack
when Lederer's Deuces held up.
Then
again, Franklin may have cost himself
a couple of bucks by his rash action.
Because after him, the deluge! A cascade
of players flowed out the door in record
time. It was only five minutes later that
T J Cloutier joined 'Captain' Tom on the
boat to nowhere.
It's
difficult to know from the sidelines what
goes through the mind of a great player.
Maybe T J thought he had the best hand,
maybe he thought Amir Vahedi was just
fooling around by raising in middle position.
Maybe T J wanted to shut out all the other
players behind him, in case Vahedi called.
Whatever the reasoning, Cloutier reraised
Vahedi's $2,500 bet by shoving in all
his $25,000 in chips. Cloutier's shove
did have the effect of getting himself
heads up with Vahedi, but it was Amir's
pocket Aces that T J didn't want to see.
Cloutier's A Q was dead meat and suddenly
there were seven.
But
not for long. In fifteen more minutes,
you could make that five.
Was
this Championship poker or Lemmings rushing
to the sea? The third Lemming who didn't
like money was David 'Devilfish' Ulliott.
David may be losing his hair, but was
he losing his mind? Actually, in fairness,
Ulliott was the only early out with a
pair. David's pocket 7's all-in were crushed
by the table's chip bully, Howard Lederer
and pocket Jacks.
Finally
that left us with a rational man: Tony
Cousineau. The Dayton Beach boy was making
more money by watching than playing. By
his own count, Tony had been all-in over
a dozen times on Day One. In a spectacular
show of grit (and luck) Cousineau was
still here and keeping his head while
all around him were losing theirs. With
all the shorter stakes gone and no more
crazies in sight, Tony took one more all-in
shot. He raised with his last $4,000 and
K 10 in the small blind. The table Hammer,
Howard Lederer, called the pygmy reraise
from the button with pocket change off
the sides of his pyramid. Lederer had
the A 4 of Spades and flopped an Ace.
Cousineau could thank the dearly departed
for the extra $5 grand and sixth place.
Just
when it seemed safe to go back in the
water without hitting a drown Lemming,
Chris Bjorin took the plunge in 5th. Finally,
we got an all-in who actually had the
best hand. Alas, to no avail. The swingin'
Swede, Bjorin, had pocket 9's and about
$30,000. When Howard Lederer raised with
A Q then called Chris' forward motion,
Bjorin had a chance. All Chris needed
was plenty a nothin'. But nothin' was
in short supply for Howard Lederer at
the time. Yet another Ace ripped right
off the deck. Lederer continued to have
plenty a plenty.
In
less than an hour, over half the table
had vanished. These guys might not make
the dinner break the way they are going!
In
a joking attempt at collusion, Paul Rowe
kept urging Peter Costa to unite with
him in a 'short-stack' attack on the monsters
Lederer and Vahedi. Unfortunately for
Rowe, Costa ignored him. Left on his own,
Paul united his chips to Peter's when
Rowe went all-in from the small blind
with A K. Costa had pocket Jacks. Paul's
'Hail Mary' didn't deter Peter from joining
the big boys in a threesome of their own-Peter,
Amir and Howard. Folksy name!
With
Paul Rowe's $30,000, Peter Costa passed
Amir Vahedi for second in chip count.
Both were well behind the Lederer Towers,
however. It was at this point that the
horse, Amir Vahedi, started to go over
to the stands to talk to his jockey, Phil
Hellmuth, between hands. Howard Lederer
didn't seem to mind, but Peter Costa obviously
wasn't amused. Whatever the former Champion
was telling Vahedi, it wasn't working,
as Amir's chips continued to fall like
sand through an hourglass. The problem
for Vahedi was that Costa had an Ace in
almost every hand. That allowed Peter
to reraise all of Amir's jabs at the pot.
In
utter frustration, Vahedi still had the
decorum to get all his chips in the pot
with the best hand again Costa. Amir had
pocket 10's and Costa had A Q. When an
A Q flopped, it looked like curtains for
Vahedi. But a 10 hit the turn and trips
held up. Vahedi now had just enough ammunition
to shot himself into 3rd. Amir tried to
parlay his one hand rush into a heads
up with Lederer. From the small blind,
Vahedi raised $10k. Peter Costa came over
the top all-in. Amir called with his last
$45k and an A 8. The big hands late kept
coming for Peter Costa. He had pocket
9's. Amir Vahedi was last year's No-Limit
Player of the Year and he played fittingly
in this event.
Heads
up, Howard Lederer had an $168k/$102k
lead on Peter Costa. Lederer had branded
this table from the outset. His presence
in the final two was a given hours earlier.
That he would have a substantial lead
was no surprise either. The question was
always who would be with him and how would
the David do against Goliath.
It
looked like the Goliath was going to stomp
the puny David into the dirt when Peter
Costa made a call that had the gallery
buzzing. The board had come J 10 2 Q 9.
Lederer bet $35,000 on the river. Peter
Costa must have known in his heart that
Howard had a King, but after a ten minute
think session Costa just couldn't put
his hand down. The call left Peter with
only $40k to Howard's $230. This puppy
looked OVER.
How
often does a world class player lose with
an almost 6-1 chip lead heads up? Not
often.
Before
the fireworks that were to go off in a
few minutes, Costa got some of his chips
back with an all-in pair of Jacks against
an A 4.
Then
POW!
"If
I don't bet, I get nothing," Peter said
afterward about the hand of the night.
The flop had come J 4 J. This has to be
a hand that Howard Lederer can let go
easily. He has a massive chip lead and
the blinds are only $1,000/$2,000. But
by betting out when the flop came, Costa
effectively convinced Lederer he didn't
have a Jack.
Of
course, Peter DID have a Jack and he happily
called Howard's $45,000 bet on the river
nearly all-in. Howard showed King high.
Now
the chip count was $150k for Costa and
$120k for Lederer.
And
we come to Howard's End.
There
is still plenty of time for both players
to work on each other. The blinds are
still miniscule. There is a not insignificant
$43,150 at stake, which is the difference
between first and second place. What's
the rush? Lederer may have had other plans,
because we didn't make it to Dinner Break.
When
the last hand flop came Kh 9d 3d, Costa
bet $30k and Lederer reraised all-in.
Peter Costa is a candidate for European
Player of the Year. He is obviously an
outstanding player. It would be poetic
justice for Peter 'The Poet' Costa to
win this Championship, because he's played
in almost every event for the 2 � weeks
here with several near misses.
It
must have taken 15 minutes for Costa to
decide what to do. Lederer was admirably
patient and didn't call for a clock on
Peter. Finally saying, "I can't find a
reason to lay the hand down." Costa called
with K 6, top pair with a weak kicker.
Peter was the favorite over Howard's A
4 of Diamonds. Lederer needed an Ace or
a Diamond.
Did
Peter Costa win this event or did Howard
Lederer lose it? You have to decide, because
the pair of Kings held up.
Mike Paulle
|
