| Poker players may have to start taking
this 'Jesus' thing seriously! We may be seeing some divine intervention
here. There hasn't been anyone this HOT since John Lennon's
quasi-gag about 'The Beatles.'
There were 306 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Omaha Hi-Lo
Split for a total prize pool of $445,230. Three tables were
paid, a total of 27 players.
It was 2:30 a.m. Monday morning when desperation overrode
Danny Ngo's good sense. There were ten players left and only
nine would be allowed to return to the Final Table Monday
afternoon. The designated hatchet victims were the two short
stacks, Danny Ngo, and right behind him, Allen Cunningham
in the 10 seat. Ngo, a poker dealer in LA affectionately known
as "Karim" for his towering 5 ft. frame, had made
it through his big blind leaving Cunningham extremely vulnerable
with only $6,500 behind Allen's $3,000 big blind.
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"Desperation
is in the mind of the beholder..." |
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|
Maybe it was 14 1/2 hours of unrelenting pressure against
a stellar Omaha Hi-Lo field, maybe it was frustration. But
desperation is in the mind of the beholder, to coin a phrase,
and Danny Ngo went all-in from his small blind for his last
$4,000 when he could have folded and gotten eight more hands
before his big blind returned. On a hand that most wouldn't
play for free, Danny made his last stand with Q Q 10 6 following
a raise and a call in front of him. Cunningham was so relieved
by Danny's all-in call; Allen didn't even look at his hand
in the big blind before sailing it into the muck. Suffice
it to say, nothing resembling Danny's hand appeared on board
and we could all get some sleep. 'Master' Mensky's Circus
was in town and it would start its performance at 4 p.m. that
afternoon.
THE FINAL TABLE: 32 mins left of 1 hr and 20 mins. The blind
are $1,500 and $3,000
|
Seat |
Player |
Hometown |
Chip Count |
| 1 |
Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson |
Pacific Palisades
CA |
$ 68,500 |
| 2 |
Lindsey Jones |
Laguna Beach CA |
$ 68,000 |
| 3 |
Charlie Brahmi |
Ventnor NJ |
$ 31,500 |
| 4 |
Phil Goatz |
Las Vegas NV |
$ 36,000 |
| 5 |
Ron McMillan |
Las Vegas NV |
$ 31,500 |
| 6 |
Men 'The Master'
Nguyen |
Bell Gardens CA
|
$ 114,000 |
| 7 |
Joe Baumgartner |
Cedar Park TX |
$ 51,500 |
| 8 |
Harry Thomas Jr. |
Hamilton OH |
$ 51,000 |
| 9 |
Allen Cunningham |
Bloomington CA |
$ 6,500 |
Presumably most of the readers of this report have never
seen Men 'The Master' Nguyen at a Final Table at the World
Series of Poker. He turns a relatively tense affair into a
three-ring circus with his constant chatter to the other players,
his strutting around the table like a banty rooster on steroids,
his mugging to the audience and a running commentary on his
hand and the hands of everyone else. Most of what he does
is designed to distract and disconcert his opponents. A constant
stream of ice-cold Coronas with lime, from the winsome cocktail
waitresses, fuels all of this show.
There can be no disputing Men's tactics. Few have been more
successful than Nguyen over the last ten years. That's why
he's called 'The Master.' Although his play is outstanding
in every way, it's in the psychological warfare of poker where
he excels above and beyond his fellow great players. Do you
know any other players who have their nickname stitched into
the legs of their dress slacks?
A few years ago, when he was running bad, Men changed his
nickname to 'Mensky.' "No one calls me 'Master' anymore,"
he said at the time. "I don't win tournaments anymore."
That was then, this is now. Nguyen is having one of his best
years. He's currently leading in the standings for the 'Player
of the Year' as you can see on the last page of your current
CARD PLAYER magazine.
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"What
happens when a force of nature like Men Nguyen meets an
immovable object like Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson?" |
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|
So what happens when a force of nature like Men Nguyen meets
an immovable object like reigning World Champion Chris 'Jesus'
Ferguson? Read on and you'll see.
First, there was a slight problem of getting rid of the other
seven talented and highly motivated players at the table.
The first to go, predictably, was the terminally short-stacked
Allen Cunningham. In stark contrast to Nguyen, Allen does
everything very quietly. And that's how he left the circus…quietly.
Cunningham went all-in for his last $2,500 from the big blind
with A K 10 9. Lindsey Jones, who was raising nearly every
pot, had 5 3 2 2 and caught a deuce.
"I made a mistake that cost me $20,000 in chips,"
Phil Goatz said after he departed in 8th. On the previous
hand to his all-in, Phil could have bluffed a flush when a
third club hit the board. Chris Ferguson wouldn't have been
able to call with only a pair of 3's in his hand. When a trey
hit the river, Chris won the hand and Phil was left with gas
fumes for a stack. Ron McMillan sent Phil back to the barnyard
with the other Goatz on the next hand when a Queen came giving
Ron Queens up.
The popular Ron 'Big Mac' McMillan, who owns four McDonald's
franchises in Las Vegas, ("You want 'em?" he said
prior to commencement) ran out of catsup soon after Phil's
departure. He made the grievous error of betting all-in on
a gut shot royal draw against the slow-playing Charlie Brahmi.
You'd slow-play too if you flopped quad Jacks like Charlie
did, wouldn't you?
Charlie Brahmi will always be famous in World Series history
as the man who wasn't paid. In the first event in the 1999
WSOP, Charlie won against a huge Texas Hold'em field. Two
guys claiming to be his backers were given $100,000 of Charlie's
winnings by mistake. Thankfully the money was returned to
Brahmi that evening and it all seems funny now. For a few
tense hours it wasn't very funny to Charlie, however.
After flopping those quads to eliminate Ron McMillan, the
road went straight downhill for Brahmi at this Final Table.
For anyone who has ever played in a tournament, they will
have an opinion as to what they would have done in the following
scenario. Charlie was caught between the horns of a classic
dilemma. Brahmi was in a big pot and could go all-in with
his last $10k on a nut low draw. He knew he couldn't win the
high end. Across the table, Joe Baumgartner had $3,000 left,
not enough to get through his blinds. Charlie looked at the
prize sheet and saw that if he folded and Baumgartner was
eliminated, Brahmi would move up to 5th and get an extra $5,000
in prize money.
What would you do? (Don't peek!)
Charlie folded his hand. The nut low card, of course, came
next and Brahmi lost out on $50,000 in chips prompting a lecture
from his friend John Bonetti. Naturally, to make matters as
terrible as possible for Charlie, Joe Baumgartner survived
his all-in big blind. Brahmi ended up 6th, anyway, when Men
Nguyen caught a Queen on the turn against him. So for trying
to play intelligently, he received exactly nothing. As we
say in poker, 'No good play will go unpunished.'
With Brahmi out of the way and $5,000 real dollars richer,
it took only a few hands for the still pygmy-stacked Joe Baumgartner
to go out 5th. Joe raised all-in from the small blind for
his last $10k. Harry Thomas very reluctantly called $4k from
the big blind with 10 7 5 2. Joe's A K 3 3 went down the toilet
when both a 7 and a 2 arrived.
It was now Deal Time at the Circus. The four remaining
players had the following chip counts:
Chris Ferguson $184,000
Lindsey Jones $104,000
Men Nguyen $96,000
Harry Thomas $73,000
After the usual haggling that goes on during deal negotiations,
the players agreed to take a bunch of money off the table.
They settled on:
Chris Ferguson $95,000
Lindsey Jones $70,000
Men Nguyen $68,000
Harry Thomas $58,000
An extra $20,000 for 1st (along with the prized WSOP bracelet)
and $7,345 for second was left to play for.
| |
"'I
only play Omaha
Hi-Lo in tournaments,' Lindsey Jones said." |
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|
"I only play Omaha Hi-Lo in tournaments," Lindsey
Jones said when asked. "I'm a $40-$80 Hold'em player
at the Commerce (LA cardroom). With his lovely and very pregnant
wife Sandra in the stands behind him, Lindsey had played aggressively
all day, which would never get past the Ringmaster of the
Circus without comment. "You were very lucky today playing
the hands you did," Men 'The Master' said as Lindsay
went out in 4th. The $70,000 will start a nice college fund
for Jack Brian Jones due June 10th. When the blinds went to
$5k/$10k the pressure of playing Omaha Hi-Lo like high stakes
Hold'em finally started to catch up to Lindsey. Soon Jones
had to go all-in with Q 10 7 5 and was Heart flushed by Nguyen.
Early in this Final Table, Harry Thomas took over the chip
lead. The lead didn't last long, but Harry did. All three
of the remaining players had WSOP bracelets. Men Nguyen had
four of them. Chris Ferguson had the biggest of them all,
of course, winning $1,500,000 last year as reigning World
Champion. Harry Thomas could claim the only wife with a Series
bracelet, however. Something he's probably prouder of then
his own. Harry's wife Jerri nervously watched throughout the
Final Table ordeal. The increased blinds and the comparative
shrimp stack finally took its toll on Ohio land developer
Thomas, though. Men Nguyen made a 6 high straight with his
5 5 3 2 from the small blind. Harry went all-in from his big
blind with Q 7 3 2.
Heads-up, the immovable object--Chris Ferguson had a 5-2
chip lead over the force of nature--Men Nguyen. It would take
the next level of $5k/$15k blind playing $15,000/$30,000 to
get these one of these two all-in and all-out.
It an outrageous display of psychological warfare, Men Nguyen
began to berate the World Champion for deliberate play.
"Act like a Champion," Men shouted. "This isn't
Hollywood. There's just the two of us."
"I just hunkered down, took a little extra time,"
Chris said afterward. "I knew one of us was playing like
a Champion."
With Men down to his last $55,000 he won an all-in pot. With
the win, he got up and jumped around the enclosed area whooping
a war dance. A few hands later Men would draw nearly even
in chips when he made a wheel.
That's when the tents came down at the Circus. The elephants
were being lead away. The clowns were washing off their grease
paint.
Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, World Champion, won the next hand
with a straight to go back up 2-1 in chips.
"I had 40 outs," Men said. "Any low, any diamond,
any 10, almost anything." 'Never happened to me,' Chris
might have said if he wasn't such a gentleman.
Men put all his chips in the pot after the flop with A K
7 6 and two
diamonds. Chris matched him with K K 8 4. The flop was Q J
6 with two diamonds. With a deuce on the turn and a Queen
on the river, 'Master' Mensky's Flying was over for the day.
Undoubtedly, it will be returning to the Final Table Fairgrounds
soon. The man is that good. Equally likely is the fact that
Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson will be back soon also. Divine intervention
or not. He also is that good.
Official Money Winners
1. Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson $164,735
2. Men 'The Master' $Nguyen 84,595
3. Harry Thomas Jr. $42,300
4. Lindsey Jones $26,715
5. Joe Baumgartner $20,035
6. Charlie Brahmi $15,585
7. Ron McMillan $11,130
8. Phil Goatz $8,910
9. Allen Cunningham $7,130
10th-12th received $5,345
Danny Ngo, J.C. Pearson and Greg 'Fossil Man' Raymer
13th-15th received $4,450
Sheldon Rosenberg, Sean McMahon and Vincent Oliver
16th-18th received $3,560
Tchavdaic Gueorguiev, Frankie Havard and Marlon Delossantos
19th-27th received $2,670
Matthew Man Fu Ho, Matt Lefkowitz, Chris Tsiprailidis, David
Chiu
Josh Arieh, Kenny Yeh, Todd Bleak, Hassan Kamoei and Lap Ki
Wan
For more information on this newsletter read "What
to Expect from Wednesday Nite Poker".
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