 Be
careful what you ask for, you might get it.
Following an extraordinarily long first day of the opening
$2,000 Limit Hold'em event here at the World Series of Poker,
I was keeping my fingers crossed that we might have a final
table that ended before my flight out of here early Monday
morning.
I wasn't hoping for a final table so short and fast that
it became difficult to keep track of player exits, if you
blinked, but we followed one of the longest first days in
Series history with one of the shortest final tables.
I guess Chevy Chase was right in the movie Caddyshack
when he told his young caddy, Danny Newnan, "There is
a balance to the Universe."
When we start back at 4:00 today, the blinds were $5,000-$15,000,
playing $15,000-$30,000, and our final table looked like this:
|
Seat |
Player |
Chip Count |
| 1 |
Ralph DiPiero |
$112,000 |
| 2 |
Ken Shaevel |
$113,500 |
| 3 |
Nani Dollison |
$242,000 |
| 4 |
Eli Elezra |
$80,000 |
| 5 |
Pete Vilandros |
$119,500 |
| 6 |
Chau Giang |
$69,500 |
| 7 |
Meng La |
$87,000 |
| 8 |
Sirous Baghchehsarpie |
$85,000 |
| 9 |
John Pires |
$327,500 |
They added half an hour back onto the clock, so we would
have 40 minutes left at this level, with 80-minute rounds
to follow. I should say "round." We only needed
one.
DON'T SHED TEARS YET
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"No
computer formula is ever going to take the human element
completely out
of the equation." |
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The "Tex's Tears" computer system, which inventor
Tex Morgan designed to prevent exactly what we had happen
both last night and today-an unusually long or short day-couldn't
save us from a Day One where the players decided to play VERY
cautiously, in an effort to get to the final table, and a
Day Two where seven of the nine finalists had a below-par
stack. Morgan is on the right track with his efforts, and
he's contributed a lot to poker, but no computer formula is
ever going to take the human element completely out of the
equation.
Perhaps the final tablists were unduly pleased with the spiffy
leather jackets (an upgrade on last year's jackets) awaiting
them at the table, as well as gold cards indicated they had
made a 2001 final table. Everyone got some hardware to take
home, and after last night's duel, everyone deserved it.
Henderson, Nevada's Elezra looked like he would be the first
casualty when he raised from late position with Ac-10d, got
three-bet by Giang, another local who already has two bracelets
in his trophy case. Elezra called, bet out at the 4d-7d-8d
flop, got called, and never made his flush as both players
checked the two blanks on the end. Giang turned over two black
tens, and Elezra had two $5,000 chips left.
A short while later, Elezra had to put those chips into an
incomplete big blind, and was called only by Nani Dollison,
last year's Ladies Champion, out of the small blind. Both
players held A-10, and so Elezra got to keep his two chips,
forfeiting one of them out of the small blind on the next
hand. One measly chip left. Little could any of us know how
much it would be worth.
Shortly thereafter, Santa Monica's Ken Shaevel raised a pot
from middle position, only to see Houston's Pete Vilandros
three-bet him from the button, and Giang four-bet it from
the small blind. Shaevel thought quite a while, and decided
to call. Vilandros looked at his own short stack, and the
mountain of money already in the middle, and called as well,
putting $195,000 into the pot before the flop, which came
down Ks-3c-Kh.
Giang bet straight out, and Shaevel looked at the $35,000
left in front of him and called. Vilandros looked at the $20,000
left in front of him, and also called, giving us a $240,000
pot. Giang bet $30,000 blind before the dealer dealt off the
Turn card, the 2s.
A LADDER STEP, OR A SHOT AT THE TITLE?
Shaevel again considered. A fold meant that for all intents
and purposes he was trying to climb the ladder to perhaps
seventh place, and with $441,440 sitting out there for first,
he decided to go for it, calling with his last 20k. Vilandros
asked the question to which I'm pretty sure he already knew
the answer; if he called with his last $5,000 chip, and lost
the pot but his hand beat Shaevel's, would he get 8th or 9th?
This rule is well established: when two players go broke on
the same hand, the one who started the hand with more money
gets the higher finisher.
Vilandros literally kissed his final chip goodbye, and then
Giang turned over A-A. Shaevel sighed and turned over Q-Q,
and Vilandros shook his head turning over J-J. The mountain
of money sent Giang squarely into the fight for first, and
produced a pretty big smile from Elezra, who had suddenly
jumped two ladder spots worth ten grand while sitting there
with that rotten little chip.
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"One
raising war had earned him ten thousand dollars cash." |
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Elezra survived yet another all-in big blind, "doubling
up" to two chips, one of which he again forfeited as
the small blind. Back to one rotten chip. Why not fold? One
raising war had earned him ten thousand dollars cash.
Maybe another would do the same.
San Jose, California's Pires, whom I inaccurately characterized
yesterday as always sporting what looks like a three-day growth
of beard (I've decided it's either more like two days, or
he's one of those guys who looks like he needs a shave 15
minutes after he shaves), started the war Elezra sought on
the very next hand, raising under the gun, only to get 3-bet
by Scottsdale, Arizona's Ralph DiPiero. Pires called.
The flop came A-8-9, Pires checked, DiPiero bet, and Pires
raised with DiPiero calling for his last chips. A-5 for Pires,
10-10 for DiPiero, no miracle tens on the turn or river, and
Mr. Elezra had himself another twelve grand for that rotten
little chip of his.
You'd think he might have learned that patience is a virtue,
but Elezra liked his next hand too much and tossed his last
chip in. Pires held K-3 in the big blind, Elezra turned over
A-9, but the 10-4-3-7-8 board finished off Elezra in sixth
place.
THE JOURNALIST'S NIGHTMARE EXITS
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"Everyone
paused for a gulp of oxygen, decided that was bad idea
when they
inhaled all the second-hand smoke." |
| |
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On the very next hand, Torrance, California's Meng La took
out his Marina Del Ray neighbor, Sirous Baghchehsarpie, a
very friendly, 60-ish fellow whose last name makes him the
nightmare
of writers everywhere, when he raised one off the button with
A-10, and Sirous took him on from the button with A-J. The
flop came 10-9-9, and the K-7 finished blasted a third player
from his seat in three hands. Although Elezra had to be thrilled
with his three free ladder steps, he'd been one hand away
from a fourth.
Everyone paused for a gulp of oxygen, decided that was bad
idea when they inhaled all the second-hand smoke, and then
took a look at the four folks who hadn't yet been voted off
the island:
John Pires, 400k
Nani Dollison, 200k
Chau Giang, 500k
Meng La, 100k
La lost a few chips in a dustup with Giang, and decided to
try to grab the blinds with a raise. Pires wasn't having any
of it, raised back, and La called. Pires bet La's final 10k
in the dark, and when the flop came K-6-10, La stared at it
for a while. The other stacks were all simply too big. There
weren't any miracle ladder moves available. He tossed the
two chips in and turned over J-7. Pires showed A-6, and left
La with no outs when an ace hit the turn. Just for good measure,
he made a full house on the end with another ace.
We had three players left, and the buzzer went off, signaling
the end of the first 40 minutes of play. The players did not
take a break, but Elezra, who had just finished collecting
his money, came over to Giang and whispered something to him
with a broad smile as he departed, no doubt a thanks for the
pocket rockets that moved him up the ladder.
The blinds now went to $10,000-$20,000, playing 20 &
40, so even with stack sizes of Dollison, 250k, Giang, 400k,
and Pires, 570k, we were going to be playing fast, with $30,000
in blinds due every three hands.
TWO DRAWING HANDS SINK GIANG
Giang couldn't be upset at the thought of fast play; he'd
come to the final table in last chip position and was now
second, and with two bracelets already to his credit, he wasn't
going to get tenuous worrying about picking up his first one.
Holding As-8s, he got involved in a series of raises and re-raises
with Dollison, both before and after the 10s-3h-2s flop. He
called another bet on turn, when the 5h hit, and angrily folded
to Dollison's river bet when the 6d came off, slamming his
cards face up for everyone to see the missed flush.
An ace would have done the trick too, but that's all, because
Dollison showed us her two kings, and moved close to the chip
lead.
Another drawing hand-or at least, alleged drawing hand, as
we never got to see it-gouged Giang almost immediately. Pires
kept leading at the 6h-3c-7c-8s-Kd board, and Giang called
until the king hit, when he mucked his hand and said he'd
had a straight draw. It seemed unlikely, because either of
the straight draws would have given him a pair of eights on
the turn, and I think he would have called Pires with a pair
on the end, but perhaps not. In any case, his stack had tumbled
from 400k to 80k in a matter of moments, and Pires finished
him off shortly thereafter when they exchanged a series of
re-raises into an A-K-8 flop, putting Giang all in. A-3 for
Giang, A-J for Pires, and the 9-4 finish left us two-handed.
At this point, Pires suggested a short break to Dollison,
and they counted up the chips. 690k for Pires, 545k for Dollison.
First place money was $441,440, and second place money was
$226,690. With the limits this high, a deal seemed reasonable,
and after the pocket calculators showed that a precise division
of the remaining money would give Dollison roughly $294,000,
she declined, Pires offered to make it an even 300k, and we
had a deal, playing on with "only" the bracelet's
prestige at stake.
I've played a fair amount of 15-30 with John Pires, as well
as battling him at one or two final tables, and one of the
things that always made him my focus in any game we were both
in at Bay 101 was that he never seems to lose his focus.
He'll smile occasionally, and is sociable enough, but his
eyes are always darting around, always seeking information,
and I saw the same darting looks now. The money might have
been locked away safely, but John Pires wanted this bracelet.
Nani Dollison wanted it every bit as badly.
Both players had earned their big stacks the night before
with aggressive play, and neither changed their styles now.
Pires probably got even more aggressive, but the Korean-born
Dollison, who now makes her home in Lake Coromont, Mississippi,
knew how to match Pires' speed, and didn't let his aggression
push her off her hands.
She took a pretty big chunk out of Pires' stack when Pires
kept pushing at a 6-5-2-5 board, finally check on the end,
and couldn't beat Dollison's Q-2, and grabbed some more on
the next hand.
ROOSEVELT'S NEW DEAL WORKED BETTER
"Maybe we should make a new deal," Dollison said.
Too late, with the money already locked up, but Dollison was
right, because the chips kept flowing her way. The big hand
came after a three-bet pre-flop and we saw an A-10-3 board.
Dollison bet and got called, and a king hit the turn. Dollison
led out again, Pires raised, and Dollison called. Another
ten hit the river, Pires checked, Dollison bet, and Pires
let it go, a good thing as Dollison turned over A-10 to show
us her full house.
Pires tried most of the tricks in his book, and there are
a lot of them-he's been a full-time pro for about five years-but
none of them worked. He check-raised Dollison on the end of
another of their 3-bet pre-flop hands, this one coming down
Ah-9h-10d-5c-7s, only to see Dollison re-raise, and again
Pires had to release his hand. The end seemed near, with Dollison's
stack nearing the million mark.
Pires made a few comebacks, getting back to 300k, down to
60k, and back to 300k, but he could never break through that
plateau, and finally, down to his last hundred or so, raised
out of the big blind after Dollison had limp-called from the
button. Dollison called, the flop came Q-9-3, the duo exchanged
three raises that got Pires all-in, and they turned 'em over:
Q-6 for Dollison, 10-10 for Pires. A finishing four and seven
gave us our champion.
A NEW ALL-TIME LEADING LADIES MONEY WINNER
Dollison has been playing poker for about seven years, and
spent much of that time working as a dealer in Mississippi.
She's not sure if she will return to dealing or not; her poker
playing is getting pretty profitable. She won $53,200 as the
Ladies Champion last year, and took an event at the WPO in
Tunica, just before the World Series begin. The official $441,440
makes her, in just her second cash, the all-time leading women's
money winner at the World Series; Annie Duke, with 16 cashes,
had been the prior leader at $391,854.
$300,000 is a lot of money, and I asked her if it was going
to change her life. "I don't think so, it is only money,"
she said. "I don't want to get silly with it. I am going
to help out my sister and her niece. We are very close, the
only family I have left (she's 47), with both brothers and
both parents gone. We have always helped each other out, whoever
has had money has helped the other one, so now I help her."
That sounds like an even nicer balance to the Universe than
a short final table following a long first day. Congratulations
to a worthy champion who made her way through a huge field
with a heart that it seems she uses as well at the poker table
as she does with her family.
Final Results:
- Nani Dollison, $441,440
- John Pires, $226,690
- Chau Giang, $113,345
- Meng La, $71,585
- Sirous Baghchehsarpie, $53,690
- Eli Elezra, $41,760
- Ralph DiPiero, $29,830
- Ken Shaevel, $23,860
- Pete Vilandros, $19,090
10th-12th, $14, 315 each: Phi Nguyen, David Oppenheimer,
Jack Keller.
13th-15th, $11,930 each: David Essad, Samuel Arzoin, Richard
Fong.
16th-18th, $9,545 each: Hung Tran, Julian Levy, Philond Nguyen.
Third table finishers, $7,160 each: George Paravoliasakis,
"Vito" (there were a number of players who were
not anxious to see their names on the Internet, for some reason),
"Wink," Mark Bremont, Dan Barnett, Mel Judah, John
Esposito, Andre Boyer, and Buddy "Visor" Ashmore.
OMAHA EVENT SETS ANOTHER RECORD
We had 306 entrants for the second Omaha event, another record.
As I reported yesterday, Mike Paulle will be taking you through
that final table and the next, while I deal with family business.
Andrew N.S. Glazer, Editor
Wednesday Nite Poker
For more information on this newsletter read "What
to Expect from Wednesday Nite Poker".
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