DOYLE'S
BACK!
For
the second time in three days, the Final
Table was upstaged by bigger news. Playing
at a table in Event #21, the Pot-Limit
Hold'em, was Mr. World Series of Poker
himself--Doyle Brunson. Yes, the legendary
Doyle Brunson is back at the WSOP and
all is right with the world. "Glad to
be back," Doyle said simply. He couldn't
possibly be as glad to be back as we are
to see him here.
There
were 144 entrants in the $2,500 Omaha
Hi-Lo Split for a total prize pool of
$338,400. Two tables were paid, a total
of 18 players.
The sweetest words Ron Moore and Bob Williamson
could hear were, "Nut, nut" uttered by
Phil Gordon in a hand with another player.
Ron and Bob would both have been all-in
for their respective big blinds coming
up. And one of them, probably, wouldn't
have been paid for eleven hours of work.
With
this year's structure at the WSOP, there
is no 'hand for hand' to get to the Final
Table. This change saves hours of time
for the players and staff over the course
of the tournament. It's less dramatic
for the writers, but the players don't
seem to mind. So with no significant money
involved between 11th and 10th place,
Daniel Negreanu gambled a little. Just
making another Final Table isn't enough
for Danny, he'll have plenty of those.
Negreanu had about $9,500 when he got
in a dogfight with Bill Gazes. Negreanu
raised on the button with a strange hand,
10 9 7 6. Bill Gazes had a dream hand,
A 2 3 4 in the small blind. Danny flopped
huge: Top pair, a complete wrap and a
flush draw when the board came 10 8 2.
But when an Ace and a Queen turned and
rivered, Bill Gazes had two pair and the
nut low. Had Danny limped in and had he
called a probable raise from Bill Gazes,
with that flop, the result would have
been the same. Eli Balas, with only $3,500
in chips, was appreciative of a place
to sit for the next hand.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
70 mins left of 75
The blinds were $1,000/$2,000
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat
1 Fred Koubi Van Nuys CA $40,500
Seat 2 Barry Shulman Las Vegas NV $39,500
Seat 3 Arlo Payne Show Low AZ $12,000
Seat 4 Bill Argyros Box Hill, Australia
$31,500
Seat 5 Eddie Fishman New York NY $21,000
Seat 6 Bill Gazes Los Angeles CA $81,500
Seat 7 Eli Balas Henderson NV $ 3,500
Seat 8 Lonnie Heimowitz Monticello NY
$71,000
Seat 9 Phil Gordon Las Vegas NV $32,000
Seat 10 Doug Saab Birmingham AL $27,500
Because that's all Eli Balas got was
one hand at the Final Table. Eli picked
up A 2 3 Q under the gun on the first
hand. Eddie Fishman found Aces in the
small blind. 'Eli's comin' hide your heart,
girl.' As the song goes. Eli was comin'�to
the rail. Three 9's on board ended the
WSOP veteran Balas' day in 10th.
You'd
never guess, when you get to know Barry
Shulman, the owner of Card Player Magazine,
that he's a Taurus. A milder, gentler,
less driven person isn't imaginable. NOT!
Today was Barry Shulman's 56th birthday.
It's safe to say there are few things
in life that Barry doesn't already have,
that he wants more than the title--Player
of the Year. Before the WSOP began, Shulman
(Barry not Jeff) was ranked in 1st place
for that award. Within the first week
of the WSOP, Barry gave up 1st place to
Huck Seed. Now he needs to get the top
spot back. To do that he has to place
highly in a few WSOP events, and hope
he can hold off Huck and the others. Since
the World Series has so many big money
events, the leader coming out of the Series
has a big advantage for the rest of the
year. All this having been said, Barry
Shulman will have to find another event
to score some much-needed points. He was
9th in this one. This table treated the
birthday boy like he was yesterday's road
kill. The players were running over Barry,
literally, as in 'runner runner.' The
two key hands that left Shulman on the
side of the road were both runner runner.
Fred Koubi caught Club Club for the nut
flush. And Bill Gazes caught Heart Heart
for the nut flush and the nut low. Happy
Birthday, Barry!
For
a table with so many gamblers, it was
amazing that there was an hour and a half
before another player left. But with split
games it can sometimes be hard to bust
people, one card on the river can save
them for half the pot. In today's case,
the all-ins kept winning just enough to
stay alive. The reverse effect of the
short stacks winning is that the tall
stacks come back to earth. Such was the
fate of Fred Koubi. As one might guess
from a nickname like 'Ready Freddie' Koubi
is a jammer. If Fred isn't in a lot of
pots, he's getting NO cards. That's how
it went today for Koubi, no cards, no
pots, and not much money in 8th. Ready
Freddie was resigned to call it a day
when he flopped trip 6's on his all-in
hand. Hope was ephemeral, however, as
Lonnie Heimowitz rivered a straight.
It
was this hand or the next for a player
with a great name for a punster--Arlo
Payne. Mr. Payne is very serious, however,
and we would never do anything to offend
him. Arlo was one of the short stacks
that kept winning their all-in hands.
He started 9th in chips and finished 7th.
Payne is the exact opposite of jammin'
Fred Koubi. Arlo will sit there till the
cows come home waiting for a hand. But
now with the blinds up and Payne under
the gun (sorry), Arlo had to loosen his
high starting hand standards. Payne went
all-in for $4.5k with an uncharacteristic
Q 8 4 3. Phil Gordon ended Arlo's�whatever,
when Phil turned Jacks full of 8's.
It's
been four years since we last saw Billy
'Crocodile' Argyros at the WSOP. A few
at this table may wish Billy stays away
for four more years. Just kidding! But
the crocodile squeaky-voiced hand puppet
WAS getting to be a bit much. Whenever
Billy got a hand he could play, he'd put
the puppet on and would 'squeak' it at
every turn of the cards. Those Aussies,
they know how to have fun! In the end
the puppet didn't help Billy. He started
6th in chips and ended in 6th as well.
All-in for his last $4k and A 3 6 9, Argyros
was chopped up by Phil Gordon for high
with two pair and Mike Fishman for low.
The fellows might have said, 'Squeak this,
Crock.'
Bill Gazes is a newlywed. His new bride
was sitting right behind him, sweating
his play. Bill may have to do some extra
housecleaning for failing to bring home
the $135k first prize. How far can only
$15k go for a new couple? This was yet
another in a series of disappointing Final
Tables for Bill Gazes. In this one, Bill
started 1st in chips. He had $10,100 more
than Lonnie Heimowitz in 2nd. But as has
been noted, when the short stacks win
the tall stacks lose. Oh, and there was
another problem. Doug Saab was on fire.
In the first hour and a half, Doug Saab
scooped more of the significant pots than
anyone else. Doug, who started with well
less than half of Bill Gazes chips, took
over the chip lead and he wasn't giving
it back. At least not yet. Bill Gazes
is such a talented player; he will overcome
this problem he's having of finishing
off tournaments. We should be so lucky
as to have his future in this game. All-in
with A 3 6 K, Gazes went out a mortifying
5th when the new hottie, Eddie Fishman,
made a flush and a better low with 2 4
8 Q.
The
new $3k/$6k blinds were doing their job,
clearing the table. First Gazes and then
Heimowitz exited within ten minutes after
the raise in blinds. Lonnie is the son
of one of the WSOP greats, Jay Heimowitz.
Lonnie is going to have to be VERY successful
to get near the accomplishments of his
dad. With a fourth today, Lonnie's one
step closer. Heimowitz had few chips left
when he went all-in with A 3 7 7. The
board came high. Phil Gordon made Jacks
full again.
The
remaining three players readjusted the
payouts to better reflect their respective
chip counts. With the money locked up,
Phil 'Flash' Gordon still wanted that
bracelet. As a horse for world champion
Chris Ferguson, Phil's style couldn't
be less similar to Chris'. Seldom does
Gordon see four cards he doesn't like
enough to bet. Playing more hands than
anyone else causes Phil's chips to fluctuate
wildly. If he starts to run bad, it can
end quickly. Phil was third in chips when
the deal was made with $92k. All those
chips were gone in about a half hour.
Gordon went all-in with A K J 6. Shrugging,
Eddie Fishman gave Phil some action with
10 3 2 2. This wasn't the way it was supposed
to end. Phil lost to Eddie's pair of deuces
with no pair, and to the 3 2 low with
his A 6.
"See
you at the Final Table," is a common poker
expression between tournament players.
It's a nice way of saying, 'goodbye, chump,
you won't make the dinner break.' But
in this case, the expression turned out
to be true. Doug Saab and Eddie Fishman
split a one-table satellite to get into
this event. Each might have said upon
parting 'See you at the Final Table,'
never thinking that they would not only
both make it, but that they would be playing
heads up for the bracelet as well. We
know how Doug Saab got here; he was hot
early. But Eddie Fishman? Eddie was so
sure he was going out early, that (with
the consent of the table) Fishman made
a $1,500 save with fellow short stack
Billy Argyros. Then something funny happened.
During a ten minute break, Eddie switched
places with his identical twin brother
Mike. The other players came back in and
said to 'Eddie' "You changed your shirt."
Eddie (Mike) said, "Is that illegal?"
At that point the laughing Eddie Fishman
took his brother out of his seat. Can
you imagine how often these guys have
done that on dates? If the real Eddie
hadn't have returned, no one would have
known but the brothers. Anyway, after
the switch, Eddie Fishman's luck changed
dramatically. It was like he was a different
person. As hot as Doug Saab used to be,
Fishman was hotter. Starting out heads
up with a 3-1 chip lead, Fishman blitzed
Saab. He won Doug's last few chips, including
the bracelet, with runner runner 9's and
2's. In the Year of the Rookie, 1st year
WSOP player Eddie Fishman made winning
a bracelet look catching fish in a bathtub.
Mike Paulle
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