DEUCES
WILD
In
poker, perception can be more powerful
than reality. When asked if he'd raised
with 9 2, our winner today deadpanned,
"I'd never do that."
There
were 48 entrants in the $1,000 Buy-In,
Pot-Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool
of $45,120. Five players were paid.
To
setup the Final Table, one of the last
eleven players was going to be denied
a Hall of Fame jacket. The jacket was
the prize for the sixth through tenth
place finishers. Eleventh got bubkis.
Lee Markholdt took the booby prize when
his flopped open-end straight draw failed
to Alan Betson's top pair.
THE FINAL TABLE:
13 mins. left of 60.
The blinds were $75/$150
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 Erik Seidel Las Vegas NV $10,775
Seat 2 Ron Stanley Las Vegas NV $ 2,800
Seat 3 Knoc 'Jimmy' Tran Los Angeles CA
$ 2,275
Seat 4 Don Barton Pahrump NV $ 650
Seat 5 Mike Fetter Long Beach CA $ 3,100
Seat 6 K U Davis Plano TX $ 2,400
Seat 7 T J Cloutier Richardson TX $ 6,100
Seat 8 David Evans Northampton, UK $ 1,200
Seat 9 Peter Costa Leicester, UK $10,275
Seat 10 Alan Betson Dublin, IRE $ 8,425
Getting
to the Final Table was only half the battle
today. The players still had a fight to
get paid. Being short-stacked didn't help.
Only one of the second five shorties would
make it out of the ghetto. That meant,
of course, that one of the first five
chip leaders had to take a dive. It would
happen in an especially cruel way, as
it usually does.
Don
Barton looks and feels great. He recently
had the stomach bypass surgery that is
now so popular among poker players. Better
yet, his insurance paid for it. Sweet!
The new lean, mean fighting machine hasn't
hurt his poker game with the operation.
This is Don's second Final Table in five
events. Unfortunately, starting with only
$650, Don had one hand. Win it or leave.
Barton called Ron Stanley's raise all-in
with A 7. Stanley had those pesky pocket
5's and flopped trips. At least Don can
now fit into a smaller jacket.
Since
this was pot limit, you knew that the
Europeans would be here. David Evans got
everything he could ask for in his all-in
hand until the river. He was heads up
with A Q when a Queen flopped. T J Cloutier
would need a 7 for trip 7's or runner
runner for a straight to oust the Brit.
T J got the turn card he needed to give
him a gutshot straight draw. "8," Cloutier
said. The poker god always listens to
T J. An 8 is was on the river. Ouch!
There
isn't a nicer guy on the pro tour than
'Jimmy' Tran. But even Tran's sweet disposition
was tested when Mike Fetter had pocket
Jacks twice in a row on him. Jimmy had
weak Aces both times and an Ace didn't
hit the board on ten tries.
It
was Texas vs Texas when K U Davis went
all-in with A Q against his buddy T J
Cloutier and pocket 6's. This was Davis'
second consecutive Final Table. This time
K U got a jacket as the 6's prevailed.
You
can get a fairly decent used car in Las
Vegas for $2,260, which was 5th place
money. In the funny/sad story of the night,
a friend arrived in the audience to tell
Mike Fetter that his car was overheating
on the drive from LA. What makes the story
funny is that pocket Aces are called "Walkin'
Back To Houston" by the old road gamblers
in Texas, because you can lose your car
with that hand. What makes it sad is that
Mike Fetter was the only player from the
first division to fall out of the money
when he went all-in with pocket Aces.
Peter Costa did the dirty. Costa had pocket
8's and flopped a set. Good luck with
your car, Mike.
Now
everyone was getting paid. The pressure
was off a little bit. T J Cloutier was
determined to double up or get up. He
reraised all-in with pocket 9's in hopes
that Peter Costa didn't have an overpair.
Peter did; he had Kings. At least we know
that T J will never have to walk anywhere.
Irishman
Alan Betson is the European Champion having
won the title at the Aviation Club in
Paris. At this table however, Alan got
very few hands to play. It was obvious
that he was on a downtrend as his stack
kept shrinking. The killer came when he
covered the all-in bet by Ron Stanley
with a pair of 7's. Ron had A K in the
big blind and was about to leave for the
night when an Ace hit the river. This
left Betson with only $650, which he threw
into the next pot with K 8. All folded
to Peter Costa in the big blind. Peter
already had $300 in, so he reluctantly
tossed the extra $350 and sheepishly turned
over the 3 2 of spades. "I'll never beat
you," Alan said. "I'll back that hand"
pointing to the 3 2. Sure enough. The
board came 9 6 5 and the turn was a 4.
Betson had his Irish up in 4th.
Now
for the hand of the night, if not the
tournament. This was one of the worst
cold decks in recent memory. Here's the
scene. Peter Costa folds on the button.
Erik Seidel raises from the small blind.
Ron Stanley flat calls from the big. Normal
so far, right?
This
is where perception becomes stronger than
reality. Everyone knows that Erik Seidel
is one of the greatest players to ever
pick up pasteboards. But he's not on the
top of a list of players who would raise
with a 9 2 in this spot. Ron Stanley's
perception is that Erik might have a hand,
so Ron doesn't reraise with A 6. Besides,
if an Ace comes, Ron perceives that he
might make some money by calling rather
than reraising. This is all part of the
cold deck, you understand.
The
flop comes 4 2 2. Because Erik raised
before the flop, Ron can't put him on
a deuce. Erik bets $1k on the flop. Ron
calls. The turn is an Ace. Erik bets $2,500.
Ron calls. There is only one card left
that would make Ron Stanley lose all his
chips. That card is the case deuce. And
that's the card that comes on the river.
How can Ron put Erik on quads? Erik goes
all-in. Ron has to think Erik is betting
a full house. He has to call for a split.
Everyone's jaw drops when Erik turns over
9 2. Erik used his image to maximize his
return.
Heads
up, Seidel now has the chip lead $27k
to $21k. With the blinds still so low,
it looked like we were going to be in
for a marathon session. Erik is so calm
and patient at the table, his head resting
in his hand. His long frame bent over
the playing surface. It's as if he's a
vulture watching and waiting for his prey
to die. He's in no hurry. "I have no place
to go," Seidel said as heads up play began.
"Of I get home early, I'll have to get
up with the kids in the morning."
None
of Erik's demeanor was lost on the clever
and animated Peter Costa, who could hardly
be more different than Seidel. Peter gets
bored easily. When the action slows down,
he wants to speed it up. So this was a
nightmare mismatch for Costa. Within a
half hour, Peter had leaked a third of
his chips in dribs and drabs.
"Give
him a pair of twos," Peter told the dealer.
The dealer did. On a night that began
as day, deuces were running wild for Erik
Seidel. The quads set him up and deuces
full gave him the title. Erik flopped
a set. Peter flopped a flush draw. Costa
took the opportunity to go all-in. He
was going to be committed or go crazy.
The board paired on the turn and Peter
'The Poet' exited on rhymed couplets.
It
was only midnight. Did Erik have to get
up with the kids?
Mike Paulle
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