Most poker players would consider homicide
to get a chance to win a World Series bracelet. Our winner today
made a deal to intentionally give his up.
There were 272 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Seven-Card Stud
for a total prize pool of $395,760. Three tables were paid,
a total of 24 players.
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"The
'Seoul' Man was singing his Song Monday night." |
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Few in poker can get hotter than Kevin Song. When the cards
are coming, Kevin just rolls over entire tables. The 'Seoul'
Man was singing his
Song Monday night. Song sounded off key to Robert Zipf who
had Queens in the pocket and went all-in with his last $7,500
only to fall to Kevin's Aces up. The Final Table was set,
we were down to eight players.
One year ago almost to the day, Bill Gibbs finished second
to Jerri Thomas in that first Stud event of WSOP 2000. It
must have been a good omen to Bill that he drew the same seat
as last year, number 4. Gibbs is the only player to finish
in the money both this year and last.
THE FINAL TABLE: 120 mins left of 120. The ante is $400,
bring-in $1,000, playing $3,000/$6,000
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Seat |
Player |
Hometown |
Chip Count |
| 1 |
Bill Tracy |
Glen Cove NY |
$ 36,500 |
| 2 |
Adam Roberts |
Las Vegas NV |
$114,700 |
| 3 |
Sam Grizzle |
Las Vegas NV |
$ 19,100 |
| 4 |
Bill Gibbs |
Las Vegas NV |
$ 72,200 |
| 5 |
Kevin Song |
Hacienda Hts CA |
$ 42,300 |
| 6 |
Sal Dimicelli |
Phoenix AZ |
$ 36,800 |
| 7 |
Wing Wong |
Rowland Hts CA |
$ 63,900 |
| 8 |
Bobby Schwing |
Lawrenceburg IN |
$ 25,300 |
Certainly with a Wing but evidently without a prayer, Wing
Wong started the Final Table third in chips. Seat 7 wasn't
a lucky number for Wong as nothing went right for the euphoniously
named Wing Wong. He couldn't even beat 'The Man Who Wasn't
There'--Sam Grizzle. As play commenced around 4:15 p.m. Grizzle
was nowhere to be found. The joke around the table was that
Sam, one of the highest stakes players in poker, had found
a bigger game to play in this afternoon and wasn't coming.
First prize was only $146,000, you see. More like a bet than
a prize to Sam.
Grizzle finally arrived just as Wing was taking flight in
eighth place, just after five o'clock. As expected, the irascible
Sam considered not coming at all. "Do I have to come?"
Grizzle had asked Tournament Director Bob Thompson over the
phone. When he arrived Grizzle told Adam Roberts beside him
how he'd been in a big game the night before, after their
Final Table was set, and had won $64,000 in an hour. What
a life!
Sam sat down and Wing Wong got up when Wing's Aces in the
pocket were cracked by a third Jack caught by the surging
Kevin Song. Wing made Aces 10's and 9's and needed one of
any of the three pair on the river to stay amongst the living.
Song on the other hand started with only one Jack in the pocket
and had two delivered to him on board.
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"Kevin
looked to be the Song of the day." |
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At that point, even as early as it was, Kevin looked to be
the Song of the day. He'd already assumed the chip lead when
he took on Bobby Schwing heads up. Well it don't mean a thing
'less it's got that Schwing. And Schwing didn't have it. A
former champion in this event, Schwing couldn't buy a hand.
He went all-in for his last $2k on sixth street with the best
hand, A K Q to Song's A K J. Bobby swung and missed for no
pair. Song rivered a King. Now there were six.
Some of the players were benefiting from the new structure
at the World Series this year. The Final Table uses Tex Morgan's
'TEARS' format with one hour and twenty minute levels. Some
of the players, as expected, weren't benefiting from the new
format at all. Just after the new levels arrived Bill Tracy
took his short stack up against Bill Gibbs. Tracy had just
been decimated by a third 9 caught by Sam Grizzle two hands
before and was desperately seeking a good hand to go all-in
on. He found it with split Kings. Without the ammunition to
scare Gibbs, however, Tracy could only watch as Gibbs first
had an Ace then a 6 dealt him for Ace up. It didn't take Dick
Tracy for Bill to find the door.
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"The
river brought the bad news to Gibbs." |
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The problem tournament players have playing against high
stakes live players is that the money seems insignificant
to the high rollers. In one of the several spectacular calls
of the day, Sam Grizzle went to the river with a split pair
of 7's. Both Sam and Bill Gibbs had a 7 as a door card. Bill
Gibbs had a pocket pair of 8''s in the hole, however, and
rightly judged he had the best hand. Going all-in on sixth
street, Gibbs was called by Grizzle. The river brought the
bad news to Gibbs. Grizzle caught a Jack for two pair on a
hand that many would have laid down under the pounding that
Gibbs had given prior to going all-in.
The cards were now falling on Sam Grizzle like autumn leaves.
'The Man Who Wasn't There' neared the chip lead when a second
Ace fell on his board. Adam Roberts couldn't call and Sam
Grizzle stacked a $60,000 pot. What was most amazing about
Grizzle's surge to the front was that he was almost anted
and low carded out of the tournament before arriving one hour
late. Sam had less than $10,000 when he started.
Even in victory, Sam Grizzle seldom has a kind word for anyone.
It's the reason he's such an interesting personality. His
verbal target this afternoon was Kevin Song. "If I was
as lucky as you are," speaking to Kevin after Song said
something about Grizzle's luck.. "Not just normal player
lucky…" Sam's voice trailed off into the profane
mumble that he's famous for.
This exchange between two of the most famous poker players
at the table highlighted a sequence of hands between them.
As the two most aggressive players, they often found themselves
heads up against the other. First Kevin would catch a card
to win, then Sam would. At one point Sam complained about
the calls he was getting on his bets. Adam Roberts retorted,
"You won't get any sympathy from me!" The most intriguing
call Sam got from Kevin was when Sam had an Ace high four
flush on board. Song took a long time then called with only
pocket Kings! After dragging a huge pot, Kevin told Max Shapiro,
who's writing the tournament reports for the Horseshoe, that
he thought he was only a 2 1/2-1 dog on the hand. Ever wonder
why these guys are here and we're not. This hand is a classic
example of the expert play that separates the great from the
merely good.
Over the next hour, however, the tune went sour for Kevin
Song. The call with pocket Kings turned out to be Song's final
high note. A new sheriff hade arrived in town, a man who'd
been quiet for the first three hours--Sal Dimiceli. Like the
others, Sal showed no fear when confronted by a scare board
that would have most of us running for the restroom. Several
times, especially against Sam Grizzle, Sal called with two
small pair and won. Now it was Kevin's turn to face the fearless
new sheriff. Song's final shootout came against Dimiceli.
This time Sal had the pocket Kings and sent Song all-in with
8's and 3's. A pair of sixes on board ended Song's day in
4th.
Soon thereafter Sam Grizzle had the hand that realistically
doomed him to third place. Sal Dimiceli had three fours showing.
Sam had two Queens in the pocket and one up. Sam called Sal
repeated bets and couldn't fill. Sal did with 4's full of
6's. Grizzle never fully recovered even when he made Aces
up against Dimiceli with a deuce on the river.
"I never thought I'd be praying for a deuce," Grizzle
said.
At this point, the three remaining players were very close
in chips when Adam Roberts refused a three way split. "I'm
willing to gamble with these guys," he told a friend.
In the proposed deal each would have gotten $80k and played
for the rest.
After deal negotiations broke down, Sal Dimiceli went on
a rush that had him with 3/4 of the chips. It became a question
of who was going out first, Adam Roberts or Sam Grizzle. It
turned out to be Grizzle. As is common in the last throws
of a tournament event, whoever takes out the third place player
usually wins the whole thing. This time it was Adam Roberts
who made two consecutive hands against Sam Grizzle to secure
his place heads up against the dominant chip leader Sal Dimiceli.
First Roberts had to survive an all-in himself against Grizzle
with pocket Jacks that became Jacks up. Then it was Sam's
turn to go all-in. Grizzle couldn't overcome trip Queens by
Roberts and went out third with 9's and 5's.
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"With
the South Carolinian gone, there were only two boys from
Brooklyn left to decide the title." |
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With the South Carolinian gone, there were only two boys
from Brooklyn left to decide the title. Dimiceli started out
with a 2-1 chip lead but couldn't hold it. Sal was distracted
by the fact that he was going to miss the last flight to Phoenix
at 11:10 p.m. if the heads up took too long. Roberts, knowing
this, used the extra pressure wisely.
When the two Brooklyn natives were nearly even in chips they
made an amazing deal. Sal took $115,000 to Adam's $105,000.
Adam didn't want the bracelet however and would give it to
Sal, if Adam won, for an extra $3,000. At one point Sal surged
to a 5-1 chip lead, but with the level increasing to $15,000/$30,000
Dimiceli could never deliver the knockout punch.
"It's not over," Roberts shouted when his all-in
hand held up Kings full of deuces. And it was Adam's turn
to go on a final rush. Roberts didn't miss his opportunity
to put Dimiceli away when it came a little later.
Adam Roberts has been here before. He finished second in
this event to Maria Stern in 1997. The 37-year-old musician
and teacher has also won a $5,000 Stud event in '94. "I
learned to play Stud in the boiler rooms, we called them back
in Brooklyn." Roberts made 9's and 2's against the retired
postal worker Dimiceli's split Kings.
"I'm not a jewelry kind of guy." Roberts said in
explaining why he gave up the bracelet. But he is a Stud kind
of guy.
Official Money Winners
1. Adam Roberts $146,430
2. Sal Dimicelli $75,190
3. Sam Grizzle $37,590
4. Kevin Song $23,745
5. Bill Gibbs $19,790
6. Bill Tracy $15,830
7. Bobby Schwing $11,875
8. Wing Wong $8,310
9th-12th received $5,540
Robert Zipf, Ronald Pokres, Steve Musket and Michael Rabinowitz
13th-16th received $3,960
Paul Darden, Robert Butler, Dan Levinson and Tony Breuner
17th-24th received $2,375
Jesse Jones, Dan Heimiller, Ronald Long, Mel Judah, Grant
Guevrmont, Charles Burris, Ted Forrest and Eugene Lan
For more information on this newsletter read "What
to Expect from Wednesday Nite Poker".
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