MURDER'S
ROW
It
would be difficult to find a more famous
Final Table in a major. Nine of the ten
players are household names, if you happen
to live in a poker household.
There
were 30 entrants and 50 rebuys in the
$1,000 Buy-In, Pot-Limit Omaha for a total
prize pool of $78,200. Five players were
paid.
To
setup the Final Table, again 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 nada. K
U Davis only wanted to make the Final
Table three days in a row. He flopped
trip 10's, but couldn't get the board
to pair. John McIntosh had flopped the
nut flush.
THE FINAL TABLE:
60 mins. left of 60.
The blinds were $100/$200
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 O'Neil Longson Salt Lake City UT
$ 5,525
Seat 2 David Ulliott Hull, UK $ 8,275
Seat 3 John McIntosh Baltimore MD $ 5,975
Seat 4 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa
Rica $ 8,875
Seat 5 Peter Costa Leicester UK $ 3,375
Seat 6 Eric Holum Las Vegas NV $ 6,500
Seat 7 Ayaz Mahmood Houston TX $12,025
Seat 8 John Juanda Alhambra CA $ 6,925
Seat 9 Russ Hamilton Las Vegas NV $14,025
Seat 10 Chris Bjorin London, UK $ 8,100
Yesterday,
only one of the bottom five short stacks
made it into the money. Today, three did.
Which meant that the starting stacks were
basically stood on their head.
The
poet, Peter Costa, made his third Final
Table in a row but failed to bring many
chips with him. It was poetic justice
that the shortest stack should be first
to leave. Peter didn't even wait for his
first blind. He raised under the gun and
called a reraise by O'Neil Longson all-in.
Costa had a great hand for Hi-Lo with
A J 9 2 but was missing a little power
for high only. Longson, also English,
flopped trip 8's to send the Cyprus-born
Brit packing.
We
knew we were in for a long night when
the only action player at the table was
the second one out. David 'Devilfish'
Ulliott didn't win a hand, blowing off
$8,275 in record time. In a three-way
showdown David needed a Diamond on the
river to stay alive. Chris Bjorin had
pocket Kings but flopped two pair with
his 4 2. John McIntosh was drawing dead
with worse Diamonds, but he caught a Jack
on the turn for a higher two pair. "The
desert is dry for the Fish," David
said before leaving in 9th with the lovely
Laura. Well, life can't be too bad for
the Fish.
"I
don't like to sit in the middle,"
Eric Holum said. They made him anyway,
when two players to his right exited.
Eric was right about moving. While in
that middle seat, Eric got the dirty end
of the stick on a classic Omaha High confrontation.
Holum had pocket Aces. Former World Champion
Russ Hamilton had pocket Kings. Eric went
all-in on the flop which was fine with
Russ. Hamilton had flopped trip Kings
to send Eric Hold'em'er' Holum back to
No-Limit in 8th.
The
only non-famous player at this table was
Ayaz Mahmood. He was in a crocodile pit
and may not have know it. All the things
that worked earlier against lesser players
failed at the Final Table. Starting second
in chips, Ayaz was clearly upset by his
ill fortune. With all those chips at the
start, Mahmood couldn't even make it to
the money. In desperation, Ayaz went all-in
with the A K of Spades. Chris Bjorin had
pocket Aces. Now we'll find out if Mahmood
is a flash in the pan or a real player,
by seeing if he can return to a Final
Table.
It
wasn't just the non-famous who cracked
amongst these tough nuts. In the shock
of the night, former World Champ and starting
chip leader Russ Hamilton missed the money
as well diving to 6th. And no one appeared
more shocked than Russ himself. Outside
of spiking that King against Eric Holum,
Hamilton was in a steady chip downdraft
that all his talent and cunning couldn't
turn around. Since the average rebuy was
over $1,500, it was an expensive and frustrating
day to miss the cut with so much ammunition.
Just like us mere mortals, the Champ went
hours where he couldn't make a hand. Typical
of his night, Hamilton's few chip last
hand had him raising all-in with higher
starters. Russ had A 9 7 4 against John
McIntosh in the big blind with J 10 7
6. The Ace flopped but so did two Jacks.
There
was a collective sigh of relief was Hamilton
left. The surviving five would be paid
some money for their long hours of toil
against one of the toughest lineups ever.
O'Neil Longson and John McIntosh especially
had climbed a high peak starting 9th and
8th respectively.
The
new chip count had Humberto Brenes at
$20,300, Longson at $18,600, John Juanda
at $17,000,Chris Bjorin at $13,500 and
John McIntosh in fifth with $10,600.
The blinds were just starting to get high
enough where the guys were going all-in
if they liked the flop. Chris Bjorin thought
enough of his A K Q overcards to the flop
to bet out. Humberto Brenes had a pair
of 10's on the flop and called. The turn
card was a Jack giving Brenes two pair
and Bjorin the nut straight wrap. Chris
became unwrapped in 5th when his nut draw
drew a blank.
O'Neil
Longson seldom speaks at a poker table,
but he was catching so many cards he urged
his tablemates to "gamble" several times.
They were too smart for that. Longson
had more than tripled up in the hours
of this Final Table. No one wanted any
part of the high stakes live-play gambler.
O'Neil can be found in the biggest game
being played in any side-action game at
any tournament. He knows how to play a
rush. O'Neil knew it wouldn't last forever
and he wanted to get as much as he could
while it did. The rush got him to 4th.
Thirteen hours of success were destroyed
in two consecutive hands against John
McIntosh. In both hands John made a Spade
flush to bury O'Neil's dreams. The first
hand took most of Longson's hard earned
bounty. On the second, O'Neil flopped
two pair against John's pocket Aces, Longson
turned two higher pair but by then McIntosh
was home with the nut flush. It was a
sudden and startling ending to a fabulous
Final Table performance.
But
in Omaha High the motto might be 'Live
by the flush draw, die by the flush draw.'
Someone else's flush draw that is. The
third huge pot in a row was won by a Spade
flush. But this time Johm McIntosh was
on the wrong end of it. Mac got all his
chips in the pot with pocket Kings. Brenes
had only flopped Queens but with a Queen
high Spade flush draw and two Spades on
board. Humberto continued to catch cards
as he has all this year. With a 7 on the
turn, Brenes had two pair and then a Spade
came on the river. McIntosh had climbed
from 8th to 3rd and got a decent payday
for his terrific work.
Heads
up it was the human card rack, Brenes,
against the Zen master John Juanda. There's
a running gag on the pro tour that if
you want to win a tournament you have
to beat John Juanda. John has far more
second place finishes than whoever is
runnerup. No one is crying for Juanda,
though. He's making a fortune with his
seconds. The two started out with Brenes
having a 2-1 chip lead. These two would
never discuss a deal, so they would play
it out.
Even
after 14 hours of play, both guys looked
incredibly fresh. The chips washed back
and forth for an hour with Juanda taking
a slight lead until the deciding hand
came down. As usual Juanda put all his
chip in with the best of it. John had
the awesome A A Q Q double suited. Brenes
was all-in preflop with A K 10 4 and three
Spades. As often happens when the big
cards tangle, it's the little ones that
get the job done. Humberto had only a
pair of fours on the flop, but turned
10's and 4's for the lead. The four on
the river gave Brenes a full house.
Again,
John Juanda would finish second. With
only $6,500 left, John wanted Humberto
to call his all-in blind. Brenes ignored
him until he looked at his hand and found
A A Q 7. John had Q 10 5 4. Humberto only
flopped a royal draw with his A Q of Diamonds.
Juanda's only out was a third 10 that
never came.
After
finishing second himself two days ago,
Humberto Brenes murdered Murderer's Row
tonight.
Mike Paulle
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