THE
PROP vs. THE TOURNY QUEENS
It
sounds like a Grade B poker movie produced
by Max Shapiro's fictional character--Dirty
Wally, but this production was 1st class
and very entertaining.
There
were 107 entrants in the $1,000 Buy-In,
Woman's Championship (Half Hold'em/ Half
Stud) for a total prize pool of $100,580.
Two tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
To show this was no powderpuff field on
Mother's Day, the following were some
of the top players who played but didn't
get paid: Patti Beadles, Kristy Bidar,
Ann Bloom, Joanne Bortner, Debbie Burkhead,
Kim Bye, Nani Dollison, Barbara Enright,
Maureen Feduniak, Mallie Hoyer, Christina
Hung, Suzie Isaacs, P.H. Kim, Kathy Liebert,
Janice Newton, Martina Oules, Nikki Papler,
Odette Tremblay, Gloria Tschetschot, Marsha
Waggoner, Karen Wolfson.
The
dreaded 'one out of the money' were two.
Julia Sun called two all-ins with pocket
4's. Maureen Feduniak and another lady
had a total of four overcards to Julia's
hand. But the Sun came down on both all-ins
as the 4's stood up. 16 women applauded
themselves with justification.
To
setup the Final Table Monday afternoon,
Sharon Fann was drawing dead to a 9 when
she went all-in against Catherine Brown's
A K vs. K 9. Nothing came and eight moved
on.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
46 mins left of 75
The game is Hold'em $300/$600 blinds
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat
1 Maria Stern San Jose, Costa Rica $20,750
Seat 2 Tina Sue Los Angeles CA $11,350
Seat 3 Catherine Brown Las Vegas NV $26,400
Seat 4 Vicky Carr New Haven CT $16,700
Seat 5 Susan Abraham Alameda CA $ 1,900
Seat 6 Marie Sohn Downey CA $ 7,350
Seat 7 LuLan Swanson Oceanside CA $16,025
Seat 8 Jerri Thomas Hamilton OH $ 7,375
Moving up from 9th last year in this event
to her first Final Table, Susan Abraham
will probably by 7th next year 'cause
she was 8th in this one. As we see all
the time in tournaments, terrible things
happen to short stacks. You always want
to be able to defend your hand with a
few more bets. Catherine Brown said apologetically,
"I was just trying to steal the blinds."
Brown raised from the button with the
Q 2 of Diamonds. Susan Abraham in the
big blind picked up A K and raised all-in.
Catherine called the few extra, knowing
she had the worst of it, as a good chip
leader is supposed to do in that situation.
Susan Abraham gasped as the river came
down. The board had come perfect perfect
to wrap a wheel around Brown's deuce and
wheel Suddenly Susan out the door.
Vicky
Carr could have sung "No�Respect." She
played so well for so long. Got here with
chips and everything. Then this happens.
Playing Hold'em now, Vicky flopped a set
of 3's only to find out that Catherine
Brown flopped a higher set of 8's. Of
course, Carr got all her chips in the
pot. Look for Vicky Carr's next album,
"She Sings The Blues In 7th."
Speaking
of songs, maybe it should be 'Ol Woman
River' because it was drowning only women
today. Playing Stud again, LuLan Swanson
couldn't get her 'raise all-in chips'
into the pot any faster. She had an A
8 high Heart flush on 6th St. Marie Sohn
had barely enough chips to cover Swanson
but didn't hesitate to call with them
and an A Q high Diamond flush draw. Proving
that Diamonds are only SOME girl's best
friends, the Jack of Diamonds appeared
for Marie and LuLan was a meat pie in
6th.
For
the squeamish or faint-hearted it's suggested
not to read the rest of this paragraph.
It shows how little justice there is in
poker. Tina Sue found the 2 3 and 4 of
Diamonds as her starting Stud hand and
committed to the pot knowing she would
have to go all-in. Catherine Brown had
a pair of 8's with a 9. Tina's 4th St
card was the 5 of Diamonds for an open-ended
straight flush draw. You were warned not
to read any further. Tina has grounds
to Sue the poker gods for non-support
in 5th place because she received nothing
the rest of the way, while Catherine Brown
received nothing but more 8's and 9's
for a full house.
Now
it got really interesting. With four players
remaining Catherine Brown was the clear
chip leader. Maria Stern was still healthy.
And Jerri Thomas, along with Marie Sohn,
were looking for help. It was the poker
Prop (Sohn) vs. the three Tourney Queens.
Stern and Thomas are the rarest of players
in WSOP history. The two women are the
ONLY two women to have won bracelets in
open events and to be married to men who
have both won bracelets. So here the women
were at the table�and it was so cute�the
two hubbies were sitting side by side
in the stands. To complete the trio of
'Tourny Queens,' Catherine Brown is a
feared tournament 7-Card Stud specialist
and self-professed "Tournament Junkie."
Oddly, Marie Sohn is now an assistant
Tournament Director at the Bicycle Club
in LA. But for years Marie was a house
proposition player for low-level stakes
games in the SoCal area. If you've never
played games like $3/$6 Hold'em at a casino
in LA, you don't know action. This was
Marie's daily work life. And she had to
be good just to survive in this snake
pit. As you might expect Marie Sohn plays
FAST. Her decisions are like lightening.
If she doesn't have them already, she
believes her cards are coming. Everything
about the way Marie plays was opposite
to the three tournament veteran's deliberate,
methodical pace. Sohn wasn't a danger
to them as long as she didn't have chips,
but if she got them WATCH OUT!
Jerri
Thomas must have survived at least six
all-ins at this table. She never had any
chips and said as a note in her bio, "I'm
happy to be here." Many top players, who
happen to be women, express the same sentiments
about how tough it is to play against
women only. Barbara Enright has the classic
quote in this regard, "I can't tell what
they've got, and they don't care what
I've got." One of Thomas' all-ins was
won with an Ace high against Marie Sohn.
Jerri went to that well once too often
for her last $1,500. Marie made a pair
of 6's this time with her 6 2 starting
hand to eat up Thomas' Ace high in 4th.
Marie Sohn was in full stroke now. This
was a world she understood. Short-handed
play is a staple for a prop as they are
required to keep games going until they
fill up. Clearly the aggressor, Marie
pounded almost every pot forcing Marie
Stern and Catherine Brown to make 'no
or no go' decision before they wanted
to. It wasn't long before Marie took over
the chip lead and looked like the sure
winner.
Meanwhile
Maria Stern couldn't make a hand. Holding
her palms up in resignation toward her
husband Max in the stands, Maria had to
keep folding. Stern is made of Stern stuff,
however, and will be back at a Final Table
soon enough. All-in for her last $2,200
and holding an A 5, Maria went out 3rd
when Marie Sohn turned two pair.
"God,
you are lucky," Marie Sohn said incredulously
to Catherine Brown. It might be better
to say that today was Catherine's day.
She's played in hundreds of tournaments
when she wasn't lucky. It was her turn.
Marie Sohn had Catherine Brown all-in
a couple of times only to see Brown escape,
usually on the river. Once, Sohn had 10's
9's and 8's on 6th St. Brown had a pair
of 5's with an Ace. Catherine spiked the
Ace to hold on. Another time, Sohn had
Aces up on 6th to Brown's Queens up. BOOM!
Comes another Queen for a full house.
All the momentum and giant chip lead that
Marie Sohn had built up with her fast
prop play was dissipated by these four
and five out river cards. After it was
gone, Marie couldn't get it back.
She'd
beaten two of the three Tourny Queens
but couldn't get the last one out. Marie
mucked her all-in hand when a 9 came on
the river to give the retired business
owner, Catherine Brown, a straight and
her first, well-deserved bracelet.
There
have been 131 entrants generated by the
Super Satellites as of this writing. The
big fields will start coming in this next
week. It's going to get wild.
Some
additional Super Satellite winners were:
Joel Fischbein, Barry Shulman, Randy Hudson,
P.H. Kim (3rd), Paul McKinney (2nd), Jac
Arama, Joseph Belofsky, Charles Tsolakides,
Rong Lam, Vernon Stordahl, Daniel Negreanu,
Gary Bush, Ross Boatman, Ben-Ami Akiva,
Henry Nguyen, Jeff Yoak (5th), Randall
Skaggs (3rd), Hasan Habib, Charles Cuschieri,
Chip Jett, Chris Tsiprailidis.
Mike Paulle
|
