My
thanks to those in the poker world who offered words of sympathy
and support while I was away during my family crisis. Funerals
have a way of putting bad beats back into perspective. I got
back into Las Vegas late this morning, operating with almost
no sleep and on emotional fumes, and wondering how I was going
to cover a final table just a few hours later. Although I
can't say that I'm yet my usual cheery self, I got my answer
when I walked into the tournament room at Binion's and saw
the line-up for the final table of the $2,000 entry No-Limit
Hold'em Championship.
Seat |
Player |
Chip Count |
1 |
Knox Pressley |
$7,700 |
2 |
Phil Hellmuth, Jr. |
$183,900 |
3 |
John Farley |
$75,200 |
4 |
T.J. Cloutier |
$102,700 |
5 |
Steve Rydel |
$31,200 |
6 |
Jan Olav Sjavik |
$68,200 |
7 |
Stan Goldstein |
$200,600 |
8 |
Layne Flack |
$139,000 |
9 |
Jeff Stoff |
$73,700 |
|
"I
knew we were in for something special." |
|
|
What a final table! Hellmuth and Cloutier alone made it worth
the price of admission. Each would draw votes as the world's
best no-limit hold'em tournament player, and it's hard to
imagine that any list of even the top five could leave off
either one. But this was no two-man show. Flack is an incredibly
talented no-limit and pot-limit tournament specialist, and
could have chosen to arrive wearing a gold bracelet, as could
the dangerous but short-chipped Rydel. When I added the very
tough Los Angles pro Stan Goldstein in as the chip leader,
and the relatively lesser-known but fearless and skilled Stoff
into the mix, I knew we were in for something special.
A ROSE FOR HIS ROSE
Hellmuth, who is famous for his late arrivals to tournament
first days, also managed to arrive last to the final table,
albeit barely on time. The 6'6" SF Bay area pro handed
a rose to his wife Kathy, a psychiatrist who had hurriedly
flown in to sweat her man and was sitting in the grandstand,
sought out and hugged one other spectator, and took his seat.
We had ten minutes left with blinds of $500-1,000, $500 antes,
playing $1,000-2,000.
|
"The
tournament's very first hand altered the balance of power
dramatically." |
|
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The tournament's very first hand altered the balance of power
dramatically when everyone folded around to the two blinds,
and Goldstein called so he and Flack could look at a flop,
which came down 6d-8s-4d. Goldstein checked, Flack bet $5,000,
and Goldstein popped him back for $30,000 more. Flack called,
the Qc hit the turn, Goldstein moved all-in, and Flack called
instantly. Goldstein turned over the 2d-5d, a complete drawing
hand that could improve to a straight, flush, or even straight
flush, but Flack showed a made hand, Q-8, and a blank on the
river doubled the fast-firing Flack through our former chip
leader, who'd been crippled in one hand.
A NEW CHIP LEADER: LAYNE "ACTION" FLACK-TION
The double up gave Flack the chip lead, and left those who
had been observing him in action the day before shaking their
heads. Flack's mere arrival at the final table proved something
of a miracle, as he had been accumulating both chips and cocktails
rather rapidly the day before, and had taken several breaks
from the big stack he was accumulating in the tournament to
go play high stakes side action. Youth must have its advantages.
Flack is a lean and strong 31, and his body and brain cells
proved up to the triple duty he was requiring of them. Today
he stayed in his seat and drank more conventional beverages.
Stoff removed the impossibly short-chipped Pressley when
he raised Pressley's big blind holding Q-Q. Pressley played
his K-3, but didn't hit a king, and we were eight-handed.
Only a couple hands later, Rydel raised it to $6,000 under
the gun, and Goldstein, who had lost more than two thirds
of his stack on the first hand, raised $20,000 more. Rydel
was so short that a call was effectively moving him in, so
he went ahead and shoved his last few chips in himself, with
Goldstein calling. J-J for Rydel, A-Q for Goldstein, a coin-flip
hand, but the flop came 3-7-J, chopping Goldstein's stack
in half yet again.
Two hands later Rydel mixed it up again, the same $6,000
raise that had worked out so well a few moments earlier, except
this time from the button, and Norway's Sjavik moved in. Rydel
called and turned over 4-4, while Sjavik showed 6-6. The 10-J-Q-3-10
board sent Rydel out eighth, and Goldstein was able to keep
a close eye on all his former chips, with Sjavik sitting on
his right and Flack on his left.
ALL THIS IN TEN MINUTES
If it sounds like we were playing kind of fast, you're right,
because the clock went off ending the limit. All of this action,
including the literal decimation of the initial chip leader,
had gone down in ten minutes. We moved up to $1,500-3,000
blinds and $700 antes.
We lost Goldstein, whose talented and equally likeable brother
Ken had been sitting right behind me, a few minutes later
when he raised a pot to $15,000, Hellmuth raised back $30,000
more, easily enough to put Goldstein all-in, and he called.
A-K for Hellmuth, A-Q for Goldstein, and nothing ever resembling
a scary card ever hit the 3-3-4-3-2 board, although a few
Goldstein friends screamed for a three or four on the final
card that would have split the pot.
Goldstein would have made a few more bucks if his unfortunate
sequence had waited just one more hand for its dismal end,
because on the next hand, Stoff raised it to $16,000, Farley,
a Chicago options trader who thus is used to big swings and
big action, moved in. Stoff called quickly. A-10 for Farley,
A-K for Stoff, and Farley departed.
THE PLAY SLOWS AND THE TALKING QUICKENS
Farley's departure left us five-handed and set off a return
to normalcy, as the remaining players decided they had no
planes to catch, and play settled down into a more conventional
no-limit pattern of bet and take it, or bet, get raised, and
fold. Chips moved back and forth, but generally in small pots,
and the players started chatting it up a bit more.
Flack raised one pot to $9,000 from late position, Hellmuth
re-raised $25,000 out of the small blind, and Flack folded,
prompting Stoff to note "Phil's not prejudiced, he doesn't
need a hand to bet chips," and Cloutier replied that
"All of us have the same disease."
The equally diseased all had a pretty good chance at this
point, because my rough chip estimate showed
Hellmuth, $200,000
Cloutier, $120,000
Sjavik, $110,000
Flack, $220,000
Stoff, $230,000
|
"Cloutier
showed him Q-J, a stone-cold bluff." |
|
|
Actually, Hellmuth, while well known for his fast play, had
been one of the quieter competitors thus far, but that was
about to change. Cloutier raised $10,000 under the gun, and
Hellmuth called from the big blind, letting us see a flop
of Ad-Jh-4s. Cloutier bet $11,000, and Hellmuth called. The
4c hit the turn, Cloutier led out for $40,000, and Hellmuth
folded, showing A-8. Cloutier showed him Q-J, a stone-cold
bluff.
"I know he has a small ace," TJ said, "and
I know he's a good enough player to lay it down into that
bet." The visible bluff seemed to get Hellmuth moving,
and he started playing more hands, though not wildly. He shifted
into a more aggressive game, and the increased conversational
levels continued. Sjavik raised a pot to $15,000 under the
gun, Hellmuth raised $45,000 more, and Sjavik folded.
Hellmuth showed A-Q, and said, "I'm not
going to show you Q-J," to which Cloutier replied with
a smile, "We know, you've never bluffed in your life,
Phil." Everyone laughed, including Hellmuth, who seemed
to relax a bit and started analyzing the laydown to his friend
Flack.
MEA CULPA
"I blew it, Layne," Hellmuth said. "I didn't
even study him. That's my biggest asset in poker, picking
off other people's bluffs, and I didn't even look at him."
While Hellmuth was taking responsibility for the lost hand,
he wasn't forgetting about moving chips. He raised it to $9,000
from the button, and Cloutier re-raised to $35,000 from the
small blind. Sjavik moved all-in from the big blind, Hellmuth
tossed his hand away, and Cloutier called quickly with Q-Q.
Sjavik could only show 4-4, and when the flop came A-7-8,
Hellmuth exclaimed "Gosh!" a pretty clear signal
that he had folded an ace, but "Gosh!" probably
turned to "Gosh, that was lucky!" on the turn, when
another queen hit, sending Sjavik out fifth.
Cloutier consoled the Norwegian as he left, telling him "Hey,
you were just playing poker and ran into a hand," which
seemed to mollify the player who had seemed a bit in awe of
Cloutier's reputation, but on a break much later, after Sjavik
had departed, Cloutier told me the play had been a big mistake.
"Phil raises, I re-raise, and he thinks he has the best
hand with 4-4?" Cloutier asked rhetorically. "That
just can't be right."
THE FINAL FOUR
With four players left, the chips were remarkably evenly
distributed:
Hellmuth, $190,000
Cloutier, $270,000
Flack, $180,000
Stoff, $240,000
"What's wrong with this picture?" asked Stoff,
a very strong player but a bit light in the gold jewelry department
compared to his famous opponents. "Me and three world
champions."
|
"Stoff
found out why all three of his opponents are champions
shortly thereafter." |
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|
Stoff found out why all three of his opponents are champions
shortly thereafter, when Flack raised a pot to $15,000 from
the button, Stoff re-raised $45,000 more from the small blind,
and Flack called immediately. The flop came down Jc-5c-4h,
Stoff took a look, and moved in for about $150,000. Flack
studied the board and his opponent for quite a while, and
finally said, "I call."
Before the players could even turn their cards over, Hellmuth
asked Flack, "Do you have eights, Layne?" Flack
turned over 7-7. Stoff could only show As-4s, bottom pair,
and wasn't saved by either the turn or the river.
"Great call, Layne," Hellmuth said, as Flack raked
in the chips. Stoff wasn't out, but had only about $3,000
left.
|
"I
might forget a name, but I never forget how a man plays." |
|
|
"I knew he was weak," Cloutier said later. "Jeff
took too long to bet. I might forget a name, but I never forget
how a man plays." Well, now you know why a no-limit tournament
with 441 entrants had come down to three of the world's finest,
as everyone seemed to have been able to figure out that calling
$150,000 with something less than top pair was right under
the circumstances.
The 80-minute round ended with Stoff having dodged a few
bullets, but Flack's nervy call had sent him into the lead:
Hellmuth, $270,000
Cloutier, $220,000
Flack, $360,000
Stoff, $30,000
When we returned from break, the blinds moved to $2,000-4,000,
with $1,000 antes, and Flack finished off Stoff shortly thereafter
raising from the button with J-J. Stoff decided to call with
J-9, and we were left with three awfully familiar faces.
"I kinda thought it might be the three of us, when we
started here today," Cloutier said.
Flack thought for a moment it was going to be him and one
of the other "two of us," because Hellmuth and Cloutier
hooked up in a big pot where Hellmuth bet $40,000 on the turn
into a K-9-6-2 board and got called, and then bet $100,000
when a queen hit on the river, only to see TJ move in. Hellmuth
called quickly, and both players turned over K-Q.
Hellmuth won three small confrontations with Flack, and Cloutier
one larger one, to change the chip positions to Hellmuth,
$360,000, Cloutier, $310,000, and Flack, $210,000, when we
found our final two.
THE BEAST UNDOES AN ALLEGED TWO KINGS
Flack raised a pot to $20,000 from the small blind, and Hellmuth
called. The flop came Q-2-6, with both players checking. A
nine hit the turn, Flack checked, Hellmuth bet $25,000, and
Flack raised $50,000 more. Hellmuth studied for a while, tried
to get a read on Flack by asking him how much more he had
left, and then called. Another six hit on the river, Flack
moved in, and Hellmuth called immediately, saying, "I
call I have A-6" as he turned up his hand.
|
"How
many players can resist showing their bad beats, after
all?" |
|
|
Flack didn't show his hand, but stood up to shake hands with
his two competitors, and left. He told me he had two kings,
and while you might think he would have shown that strong
a hand-how many players can resist showing their bad beats,
after all? -it seemed plausible, giving the betting. If Flack
was telling the truth, Hellmuth had used the Number of the
Beast, 6-6-6, to beat two kings.
CLASH OF THE TITANS
So here we were, Phil Hellmuth and his six WSOP bracelets,
all of them in Texas Hold'em, against TJ Cloutier, the WSOP's
all-time leading money winner, owner of four bracelets himself,
and a four-time visitor to the No-Limit World Championship
Event final table.
"People would pay to see this on TV," said Cloutier.
"Phil and I have been at a lot of final tables together,
but this is the first time we've ever gone heads-up for a
title."
Thanks to his elimination of Flack, Hellmuth started with
the edge, $580,000-$300,000. The two players never stopped
to even consider a deal.
Hellmuth took the aggressor's role, chopping away at Cloutier,
who kept showing useless hands and folding them. The few times
that Cloutier did find something to play back with, Hellmuth
showed no interest, and Cloutier kept showing big hands that
Hellmuth had dodged. If Hellmuth had indeed "blown it"
with his earlier failure to study Cloutier on the A-8 vs.
Q-J hand, he seemed to be showing a fine sense of where Cloutier
was most of the time, as well as holding most of the cards.
NO RODNEY DANGERFIELD PROBLEMS HERE
Unlike a lot of no-limit players who like to get most of
their money in before the flop, Hellmuth and Cloutier gave
each other a great deal of respect, playing cautiously, and
limping in and seeing cheap flops much more often than we
usually see in heads-up play. They both seemed cautious, much
more like boxers than sluggers, each trying to score points
with small taps here and there than risking one big knockout
blow.
As Cloutier's stack continued to erode, he realized he needed
to find another gear, whether or not his cards wanted to cooperate.
He bet $25,000 at one 8d-10d-8h flop, got called, and fired
another $30,000 when the Jh hit the turn. Hellmuth moved in
after only the briefest of hesitations, and in the first major
heads-up confrontation, Cloutier decided to throw away K-10.
He had $130,000 left.
Cloutier lost another chunk when Hellmuth limped in from
the small blind on the button (if you're not familiar with
heads-up action, the small blind goes on the button and acts
first before the flop, but then the button gets its customary
last-to-act advantage after the flop; I'll abbreviate "small
blind on the button" as "SBB" here), Cloutier
raised it to $15,000 from the big blind, Hellmuth called,
the flop came Ah-Qs-2h, TJ bet $25,000, and Hellmuth moved
in again. TJ folded, and Hellmuth showed Ah-Jh.
WANT SOME FREE INFORMATION? HERE YOU GO, PAL!
|
"At
the Cloutier-Hellmuth level, one finds mind games within
mind games within mind games." |
|
|
These two players showed each other more cards "voluntarily
and unnecessarily" in two and a half hours of heads-up
play than I have "voluntarily and unnecessarily"
shown anyone in the last two and half years. At the Cloutier-Hellmuth
level, one finds mind games within mind games within mind
games, so this may be an excellent strategy. For we mere mortals,
I still think this giving away of free information falls into
the "don't try this at home" category.
The AJ hand left TJ with only $90,000 as the clock went off
ending the round, but the players both decided they didn't
want or need a break, and we moved right into play with $3,000-6,000
blinds and $1,500 antes.
As a new dealer sporting the name tag "Jesse" came
into the box, Cloutier continued his running commentary about
his lack of luck by cracking "You think I'm drawin' bad,
I had an ex-mother-in-law named Jesse."
Cloutier edged back up to $140,000, and the players decided
to take the short break they had declined earlier. This was
just a stretch-you-legs break: never a hint of a deal. While
Hellmuth wandered off, Cloutier turned around and spotted
Kathy Hellmuth in the crowd. "Hey, honey, did you just
get in?" he asked. "No, I've been here," she
said. "Then you've been watching your husband eat me
alive, he's a good player," Cloutier responded.
ACTION HEATS UP AFTER BREAK
On the very first hand after the break, Hellmuth raised it
to $14,000 from the SBB, Cloutier moved in, and Hellmuth called
instantly. As-5c for Cloutier, 7-7 for Hellmuth.
The flop came Kc-Js-9s and the turn came 6s, leaving Hellmuth
one card from victory unless Cloutier could spike a second
running spade, or an ace.
The seven of spades on the river doubled TJ Cloutier to $280,000,
almost the exact chip position he'd been in when the long
duel had commenced.
"I knew you had to move on me when I raised," Hellmuth
said. "That's why I called so fast."
"I had to get some money into a pot," Cloutier
said. "You were grinding me out."
Hellmuth has never made any secret of his desire for a big
bracelet collection, and his emotional volatility isn't exactly
a high clearance item either. We were about to find out if
he could keep his cool with victory snatched out from his
grasp.
Hellmuth dodged one trap when holding K-8, he declined to
bet on the end when Cloutier checked the 9-8-3-7-3 board to
him. TJ showed A-3.
THE DECISIVE HAND
With these chip positions, one big double through could send
Cloutier into the lead, so Hellmuth knew he had to be careful.
Still, the hand after the A-3 escape, TJ made a small raise
from the SBB, Phil raised back $35,000 more, and TJ moved
in. Hellmuth called quickly. 6-6 for Cloutier, Ah-Kh for Hellmuth.
Coin toss time.
The dealer burned and turned, and the flop's doorcard was
the Kc, followed by 2d-8d and 10s. Cloutier made a motion
to shake Hellmuth's hand, and Phil accepted, saying "I'll
shake your hand anytime, buddy, no matter what this next card
is."
|
"I
know Phil well enough to know you don't enter his "zone"
when he's getting ready for a final table." |
|
|
The Ace of clubs on the river gave Phil Hellmuth, Jr., 35
years old, an unnecessary second pair and his seventh WSOP
bracelet, second now all-time to Doyle Brunson's eight. Hellmuth
leapt into the air in delight, and went to embrace his wife.
When that was done, he came over to his biographer, who had
not been present for a Hellmuth tournament win since the pair
began working on the book two years earlier, stretched out
a hand, and got another long hug back, only fitting, as Phil
had startled me a bit when he first entered the final table
arena by hugging me. He knew what I'd been going through the
last few days, and we're good friends, but I hadn't even expected
him to acknowledge my presence before the tournament began.
He'd barely acknowledged Kathy's presence, aside from presenting
her with the rose. I know Phil well enough to know you don't
enter his "zone" when he's getting ready for a final
table, but I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised. I've
seen him around his own family enough to know he has a firm
grasp of poker's role in the world compared to family.
Although Hellmuth keeps count of bracelets the way Ebenezer
Scrooge kept count of the lumps of coal Bob Cratchit used,
he doesn't hoard them. He's given every bracelet away to family
members, except for his 1989 World Championship bracelet.
#7, he announced, is going to son Phillip, although actual
possession of the trinket will probably be transferred only
when Phillip is old enough to understand the gift's value,
and as Phillip is nine, this might take a while.
"Yeah, maybe when he's 21, or getting married,"
quipped Kathy.
Bracelet #7 also has one other unique property. "It's
my first non-Walkman win," Hellmuth noted. "I've
had the headphones on for all the others, but with the new
rule (no headphones, earphones or electronic devices of any
kind at the final table), I had to go music-free."
There might not have been any music, but for the whole two
and a half hour Hellmuth-Cloutier concert, neither player
missed a beat.
Final Results, $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em:
441 entrants, total prize pool $855,540
- Phil Hellmuth, Jr., $316,550
- TJ Cloutier, $162,550
- Layne Flack, $81,270
- Jeff Stoff, $51,235
- Jan Olav Sjavik, $38,500
- John Farley, $29,945
- Stan Goldstein, $21,930
- Steve Rydel, $17,110
- Knox Pressley, $7,700
10th-12th, $10,265 each: Phongthep Thiptinnakon, Paul Ladney,
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.
13th-15th, $8,555 each: Herschel Zalewski, Berry Johnston,
Louis Asmo.
16th-18th, $6,845 each: James Tarr, Maurice Sova, Roman Absinsay.
Third table finishers, $5,135 each: Paul Evans, Lee Markholt,
Lyle Berman, Snorre Allan Rotback, Kenna James, Larry Colt,
Eric Holum, Skip Wilson, David Scharf.
DEALER TIPPING POOL UNCERTAINTY BEGINS TO CLEAR
There has been some uncertainty among those finishing in
the money in this year's WSOP concerning how much to tip,
because Binion's had announced, prior to the tournament, that
3% of the prize pool would be withheld for tournament personnel.
Since 3% is a fairly traditional tip amount, some players
assumed this meant no additional tipping would be necessary.
Players soon learned, though, that Binion's was not quite
certain whether or not they would define "tournament
personnel" in precisely the same fashion that players
assumed it meant. Some of the uncertainty cleared up today,
when Binion's announced to its dealers that half of the 3%
would go to them. Given the traditional splits of tips between
dealers and floor people, this means the dealers will be making
as much or more than they have made in previous World Series
tournaments, even if players don't tip a nickel extra. I arrived
in Las Vegas just as the dealer meeting was breaking up this
morning, and the dealers seemed happy with the result.
Still unclear is how the remaining 1.5% will be divided amongst
floor people and other Binion's employees, although apparently
a decision is near. As Binion's management makes its decisions
about these matters, I will report them here, so that players
considering entering WSOP events can make intelligent decisions
about the amount they wish to tip, and how they wish to direct
those tips be allocated.
Two players who made public comments criticizing the Binion's
management in the early stages of the distribution uncertainty,
Paul Phillips and reigning USPC Champion Richard Tatalovich,
were barred from the WSOP, although each has been told he
may return if he apologizes for the critical statements. Phillips
and Tatalovich were each quoted in a Las Vegas Review Journal
article.
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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