ONE
MISTAKE
The
cruelty of No-Limit is that you can play
perfectly for the entire tournament only
to have one mistake on one card cost you
the title.
There
were 134 entrants in the $500 Buy-In,
No-Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool
of $62,980. Two tables were paid, a total
of 18 players.
Chaos
broke out, with 21 players left, when
three of them went out on the same hand.
That put all the survivors in the money.
Dan McGuire was one of the three eliminated
and he was kind enough to tell his story.
Dan had an A K in the small blind when
Stan Schrier raised from the button. McGuire
called all-in for his last $2,200. In
yet another case of the magic of Presto!
Schrier's pocket 5's caught runner runner
Spades for a flush on the river when the
Ace that Dan needed for Aces was a Spade.
To
setup the Final Table, it got uglier.
Jerry Howe had a lot of chips with eleven
players left. He was a lock for the Final
Table if he doesn't look at his cards.
But Jerry flopped top pair and thought
he had the best hand when Eric Holum under
bet the flop in front of him. Howe came
over the top with his flopped pair of
Kings and a 5 kicker. Holum was afraid
of pocket Aces, but called the huge bet
anyway with A K. Jerry went from the penthouse
to the outhouse when Eric called. Now
the short stack, this is where it got
ugly for Jerry. Howe did it happen? Jerry
went all-in, with a King again, and flopped
a King again. Against Eric Holum, again!
Eric called with the J 2 of Diamonds.
The board came Jack on the turn and Deuce
on the river. Ouch!
THE FINAL TABLE:
2 mins. left of 45.
The blinds were $150/$300
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 Dave Crunkleton Las Vegas NV $
2,900
Seat 2 Tommy Garza Reno NV $ 1,500
Seat 3 Eric Holum Las Vegas NV $20,000
Seat 4 Kevin Crockett Spokane WA $ 4,400
Seat 5 David Whittemore Las Vegas NV $
9,900
Seat 6 Darren Hamilton Henderson NV $
4,425
Seat 7 Tom Schmit Lake Oswego OR $ 8,625
Seat 8 Al Ethier Whittier CA $ 5,825
Seat 9 Knox Presley North Las Vegas NV
$ 4,075
Seat 10 Chip Penney Las Vegas NV $ 5,300
This
was supposed to be less a contest than
a coronation for Eric Holum. He had almost
a third of the chips on the table and
a better than 2-1 chip lead on anyone
else. Besides, Eric already had a WSOP
title in No-Limit Holum…er…Hold'em.
It looked for all the world as if everyone
else was happily playing for second. No
one with any sense wanted to challenge
such a huge stack in No-Limit.
Things
got off with a bang early as Darren Hamilton
was pole-axed by runner runner Clubs to
give Kevin Crockett a flush. Darren had
gone all-in with A Q and Kevin called
with pocket 8's. When a Queen flopped,
Darren looked golden but the Clubs just
kept on coming.
Now
on fumes, Hamilton tossed in his last
few chips from the big blind with 8 6.
He figured he was getting plenty of equity
as Dave Crunkleton had already raised
all-in and David Whittemore had come over
the top all-in from the small blind. Darren
Hamilton got the honor of being the first
one out, but he was joined by Dave Crunkleton
on the same hand in 9th place when David
Whittemore's pocket Queens held up against
Crunkleton's A 4 of Spades.
Eric
Holum's position as prohibitive chip leader
got even scarier when Tom Schmit decided
he had a hand. Unfortunately for Schmit,
so did Holum on the button with pocket
Queens. Tom raised under the gun to $1,500
with A K. Holum went all-in and Schmit
called a guy who could bust him. It's
dangerous to play coin-toss hands with
the chip leader. The Queens were good
and Tom Schmit was bad in 8th.
A
K was already having a tough day. It got
worse. Veteran player Al Ethier tried
an A K of Diamonds all-in against David
Whittemore's pocket 6's. David had raised
to $1,500 under the gun. Al came over
the top with his last $2,500. No Ace,
no King, no Diamonds, no draw. The disgusted
Ethier took the air in 7th.
In
only our third Hall of Fame event, we've
already had some strange coincidences.
Yesterday, Minh Nguyen played on his second
consecutive Final Table and finished 8th
on both. Today, Kevin Crockett played
on his second consecutive Final Table
and finished 6th on both. Crockett's demise
came as pocket 5's continued their great
run. This time Presto didn't have to suck
out for a change. Kevin Crockett had pocket
4's in the big blind and reraised all-in.
David Whittemore called the extra $2k
and had Crockett dominated with the 5's.
Golf
pro Chip Penney only had one stroke on
this green, go all-in. Since Chip played
so few hands, no one was crazy enough
to call him until Penney met up with David
Whittemore. David may be a conservative
Real Estate attorney in real life, but
he's pretty wild at a poker table. "He
caught me stealing, I had to call him,"
David said afterward. Whittemore raised
under the gun with 10 9. He knew he was
a big dog to Penney when Chip reraised
all-in for an extra $3,500. Chip had the
A J of Clubs. But a 10 flopped and held
up. The wild Whittemore dropped a Penney
into the 6th hole from 30 feet.
Four
handed any Ace looks good. Knox Presley
raised all-in for $3,500 with an A 9.
This was chump change to the surging David
Whittemore in the big blind. Besides David
woke up with another pair of 5's. This
was a no-brainer call even for an attorney.
Don't mess with Presto! Presley swiveled
his hips and left the building in 4th
when neither overcard showed up.
No
one at this table today played better
than Tommy Garza. Starting 10th in chips
with only $1,500, Garza drew the worst
possible seat. Tommy was right in front
of the aggressive chip leader Eric Holum
who had $20,000. Yet with guile and luck
Tommy won every hand he played to a showdown
because he had to for survival. But three
handed the blinds eat the short stacks
alive. Tommy had to try something. He
went all-in with a 7 6 to Eric's 9 8.
Garza almost got a split when all big
cards came, but Eric's 9 played. Tommy
Garza got a magnificent 3rd.
Eric
Holum played perfectly for nearly 12 hours.
He was right where he wanted to be. Eric
was heads up with a better than 2-1 chip
lead on David Whittemore. Holum had reason
to be confident. He knew he had the No-Limit
experience and success going for him.
This was only Whittemore's third major
and first Final Table in a big event.
Holum was so sure he could put this title
away, he turned down Whittemore's request
to discuss a deal.
That
wasn't the 'One Mistake' that cost Holum
the title, however. It did cost him about
$9,000 in prize money, though, as his
chips were worth about $21,000 in real
money when he refused the deal.
The
one mistake Eric made all day was saying
the magic words, "All-in" at exactly the
wrong time.
Holum
had raised from the button a mere $2,500.
The tournament rookie Whittemore smooth
called the successful veteran. The flop
came J 4 2. Whittemore checked. Eric had
K 4 and flopped a pair of 4's. He could
have bet any amount and folded to a reraise,
but he trapped himself by going all-in
for $40k. David called instantly. Whittemore
had slow played pocket Aces.
In
one hand, on one card, in one instant,
all the excellent work of 12 hours was
wasted. Now it was Wittemore who had a
better than 2-1 chip lead.
The
end came quickly. Eric raised to $10k
from the button. David went all-in. Eric
called with K J. David had pocket Jacks.
End of story. What a tough game that one
mistake can be so costly.
Mike Paulle
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