The last time I wrote something about my friend Richie Korbin, I was describing an unexpected encounter we had on the Card Player Cruises trip to the Caribbean. Richie figured out I was sick before I did, and I mentioned that this was "another good read for Richie Korbin." It's a cute story; you can check it out at www.cardplayercruises.com/glazer2a.htm

As a result, when I saw the list of player scheduled to start the final table today, May 5, in the 2001 World Series of Poker Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split $2,500 buy-in event, I was glad to see Richie and another friend listed, and wondered if Richie would make any "reads" as good on his opponents as he had with me on our chance encounter.

Although it was hard to get the modest Korbin to admit to much more than getting lucky after he won today's event, he did indeed make a key read at a critical point, and without it, I'd probably be writing about "Another Big Win for John Juanda."

YOU CAN'T JUST "DECLARE" LOW HERE

164 players started this tournament. In case you're not familiar with tournament hi-lo split poker, it's played in the "Cards speak, eight-or-better required for low" format, which means that you can't win low merely by "declaring" low, and if no one makes a low that is at least an eight-low, the high hand scoops the pot. When we started play at the final table, the seats and chip counts were:

We started play with a full 80 minutes left at the $4,000-8,000 betting limit (there had been eight minutes left to go at that limit yesterday, and in an effort to keep the limits from getting too big for the stacks, they decided, in essence, to play another full round at that level), with $600 antes, and a $1,200 low card bring-in.

"SECURITY, THERE'S AN INTRUDER ON THE BRIDGE"

We couldn't start before Korbin got off a good one-liner, though. As the master of self-deprecating humor approached his chair, he said, "Hey, this is great, the last time I went near a final table, they called security."

Even with the decision to play an extra round at $4,000-8,000, the players were relatively short-stacked for the betting limits. Even chip leader Juanda had only 14 big bets in his stack, and most players were far shorter, meaning you had to be cautious, as any hand played to the river could cost you your entire stack.

This meant that, as is usually the case in tournaments, premium starting hands changed in character. In your friendly local $10-20 eight-or-better game where six players see fourth street, you like to start with a two-way hand like 3-4-5 suited. In this game, multiway pots were extremely rare, and so players much preferred starting hands like A-A-2, if they could find them.

The limits took their toll on the shortest stack, Roberts, pretty quickly. He lost half his stack when his (A-2) 5 start got hit with two bricks, K-J, against Zolotow, and the rest of it with kings and fours when Juanda, drawing at a pair of aces and a low, made a second pair on the end. Roberts went out eighth at 4:30, 11 hands into the final.

WHEEL GETS KORBIN ROLLING

Korbin's first big hand came against Appleman, the always-rumpled looking east coast player who hung in so well on the bubble in last year's Big One and eventually became a threat to win the tournament. Appleman check-raised Korbin on sixth street when he made three jacks, and Korbin called with his seven low already made. Appleman bet Korbin's last $5,400 on the river, and Richie called and turned over a wheel, A-2-3-4-5, scooping Appleman on the $65,000 pot.

Appleman proved last year that he's nothing if not resilient, and got the chips back five hands later when he showed a board of Ac-Jc-6c-6s against Zolotow's Kc-8s-4s-Jd. Stevie Z called on third street, called a check-raise on fourth, and called Appleman down the rest of the way. Z showed us trip kings, shuffling his cards so we couldn't see if he had been rolled up or not (probably not, from the betting), but Appleman turned over a club flush, and Z had only $13,000 left.

We lost Z two hands later (#25), when he and Appleman exchanged raises to get all of Z's remaining $12,000 in on third street, so we got to see the whole hand unfold. Z had started (9-10) 9, and Appleman (Ah-10h) 6h. Z never improved, but still almost won, as Appleman caught 9d-Qd before finishing 2h-8h to make his flush.

I estimated the chips at this point as

Ferguson, $31,000
Appleman, $110,000
Korbin, $80,000
Miller, $45,000
Juanda, $150,000
Papachatzakis, $20,000

Ferguson and Papachatzakis had taken different paths in their early downhill slides. The reigning World Champion kept getting involved in pots with good low starting hands, only to see his hand get bricked time and again. Ferguson was playing in "the full Ferguson" (his nickname for when he dons both his trademark black hat and sunglasses), and he looks a bit like Richard Petty when in "full Ferguson" mode.

FERGUSON DRIVING DOWN THE WRONG "STREETS"

Petty retired in 1992 and so never got to drive at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, AKA "The Brickyard," but Ferguson was spending a lot of time there on fourth street and fifth street. Skip the "Jesus" stuff, he looked more like Chris Brickerson for most of the first hour, but he was disciplined enough to throw the hands away and not show any frustration.

Papachatzakis, on the other hand, was playing very tight, and just anteing himself down, unwilling to get involved with weak hands when the limits were so high. His patience wound up paying big dividends when he finally caught some hands later.

The limits moved up to $6,000-12,000, with $1,000 antes and a $2,000 low card bring-in, at hand 39. With only two people out, the limits were still high for the stack sizes, and Jim Miller, a young, wiry, intense shift manager at the Hustler Casino in Bell Gardens, California, ran into trouble first.

Korbin inflicted the first blow, a flush he caught on the river, and Miller called his $12,000 bet with two pair. Miller lost $25,000 on the hand, and had only $12,000 left. He had half of it left when he got it in on one of the few three-way hands we had in the tournament, with the boards showing

Ferguson, 4s-7h-8d-Kc
Appleman, 5d-Jd-Kd-8h
Miller, Ad-4c-3c-Qh

Ferguson got all-in on sixth street, and so we got to see that the hands actually were

Ferguson, (7-2) 4s-7h-8d-Kc
Appleman, (8-6) 5d-Jd-Kd-8h
Miller, (10-2) Ad-4c-3c-Qh

Appleman had the whole pot going to the river, but Ferguson caught the case eight for a second pair, and Miller missed his second straight pull at A-2-3-4. Miller was sixth at 6:00, and Ferguson had $36,000 and some new life.

At this point, I estimated the chips at

Ferguson, $36,000
Appleman, $110,000
Korbin, $120,000
Juanda, $140,000
Papachatzakis, $40,000

Juanda, one of poker's hottest young players via his win in the Championship event at the WPO in Tunica, had come in with a big chip lead, and unlike a lot of other big leaders at this World Series, hadn't started blowing off chips the moment he sat down at the final table. He'd been reasonably patient, and then got hooked up in one of those hard to get away from hands with Ferguson betting out the whole way:

Ferguson, (8-8) 5c-5s-10d-6s
Juanda, (6-6) 5d-7h-Kc-4h

Although Juanda couldn't see Ferguson's hole cards (Juanda does have one of the best stares in poker, it would make me feel guilty without having committed a crime, but it isn't that good), once he had called Ferguson's $12.000 bet on fifth street he had little choice but to call Ferguson's $10,000 all-in bet on sixth street, with a pair, an open-ended, and a low draw, but he caught a complete blank, a ten, moving Chris up over $80,000 and bringing Juanda back to the pack.

Papachatzakis, whom I will call Alex from here on out, finally started rolling on hand 57, when Juanda's (A-3) 8-6-A-J (6) ran into Alex's (10-10) A-2-4-2 (2), a full house.

When we hit the next break, the limits were scheduled to make a big jump, all the way up to $10,000-20,000, with $1,500 antes and $3,000 low card bring-ins. With only 20 big bets available to the five players combined ($410,000 in chips in play), several of the players were concerned about the luck factor getting out of control, so they spent a long time counting their stacks precisely and discussing a wide range of philosophical topics. The chip counts were

Ferguson, $51,000
Appleman, $74,500
Korbin, $106,600
Juanda, $124,000
Papachatzakis, $54,000

For reasons about which the world will have to speculate, the scheduled 10-minute break took about 35 minutes.

On the second hand after the break, we lost Ferguson in a heads-up duel with Juanda, when the boards were

Ferguson, (As-3d) 5h-8d-9d-10d
Juanda, (Q-6) Q-10-10-8

Ferguson squeezed his final card a long time, trying to see if he'd made either his low or his flush, but he hit an ace for a useless pair, and departed the tournament fifth, at 7:50 p.m.

While I'm sure Chris would have preferred to remain in the tournament, his quick departure in this round saved him from an interminably tight hour. Chris went out on hand 82, and it wasn't until hand 126 that we played a hand to the river, and that one wound up a chopped pot. With the limits so high, no one wanted to get involved with the worst of it.

FOR EVERY MOMENT OF PLEASURE, A BALANCING MOMENT OF PAIN

There really is a balance to the Universe, because here I was, only the day after one of the most exciting poker tournaments I'd ever seen or ever expected to see, and suddenly now I was thinking, as the waitress came through asking if anyone wanted a cocktail, that about the only thing that was going to get me through this tournament was an intravenous drip of caffeine, morphine, St. John's Wort and Prozac. At least I finally got Charlie Daniels' The Devil Went Down to Georgia out of my mind: all I could hear now was Emerson, Lake, and Palmer doing Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends.

We actually had a moment of real action on hand 134, but Richie Korbin spoiled it with that good read I referenced at the start. Juanda opened the hand for $10,000, and Korbin popped him right back for another $10,000, with Juanda calling:

Korbin, (??) Ad
Juanda, (??) 3s

Juanda caught a five on fourth street, Korbin a jack, and Juanda bet, with Richie calling. Juanda caught a seven on fifth, giving him a scary 3-5-7 board, and Korbin caught another jack. Juanda bet out, Korbin thought about it, and showed us that he was folding aces-up. Juanda shook his head, as if to say, "How could you slip this noose?" and showed us the 4-6 he had in the hole for 3-4-5-6-7, a straight that would have come close to breaking Korbin if he had hung in without filling up.

While I was busy trying to figure out what combination of chemicals could keep me from going insane during the explosion of inactivity, Appleman kept getting caught in the same kind of trap that had gotten Ferguson: good starting cards, bad finishing cards. His stack wore down at about the same rate my spirits did, and Alex finished off the last of it when his flush and 7-6 low beat Mickey's pair and 8-7.

A NEW CLASSIC BLUNDER

The clock buzzed to end the round just as Appleman busted out fourth, and I realized that I had a new line ready, if ever they were to re-make The Princess Bride. Do you remember Wallace Shawn, as Vezzini, in his duel of wits with Wesley (Cary Elwes), when Shawn thought there was the fictitious deadly, colorless, odorless poison "Iocaine" in one of the wine glasses, and switches glasses with Wesley before they drank?

After they had both drank their wine, Vezzini laughed, maniacally, "Ha-ha... you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"

In the re-make, we can change the "land war in Asia" line to "The most famous is never cover either a Razz or a Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split tournament unless you have some Iocaine powder with you." (By the way, Wesley had put Iocaine in both cups, and drank his because he'd built up an immunity to the stuff. He who laughs last, laughs best).

When the players returned from break, they were playing $15,000-30,000, with $2,000 antes and a $5,000 low card bring-in, and the chip counts were

Korbin, $62,500
Juanda, $135,000
Papachatzakis, $212,500

On the very first hand after the break, #143, Korbin doubled through Alex when his (4-5) 6-Q-2-5-clunk beat Alex's (3-Q) A-8-J-9-clunk. A pair of fives beat a pair of threes for $62,500, and the chips were virtually dead even. The entire table combined didn't have 14 big bets available (30,000 x 14 = 420,000)

Korbin took charge shortly thereafter when he nailed Juanda on this board:

Korbin, (??) 8-9-7-4
Juanda, (??) Q-7-J-K

Juanda raised the hand coming in, and Korbin called third street and fourth street, then both players checked fifth and sixth. Korbin bet out on the river, $30,000, and Juanda called. Korbin turned over his ten high straight, and in the space of five hands at the high limits had gone from the outhouse to the penthouse.

He knocked Juanda out five hands after that, when Juanda started (6-5) 5-A-A-2 and caught another six for a useless improvement to aces over sixes instead of aces over fives, and Korbin held (3-4) 2-6-2-5 for a low straight.

The chip counts when the heads-up battle began were

Korbin, $256,000
Papachatzakis, $154,000

Korbin grabbed $60,000 when he raised coming in with the 8s on hand 167, and eventually showed a board of 8-9-9-8. Even though Alex had called showing the Js originally, and then bet out when he caught the 10d on fourth street, he called fifth when Richie paired his nines, and was through when Korbin caught the second open pair on sixth, even though Alex caught an open pair of his own, twos.

ANCIENT SAYING: DON'T TAKE TWO PAIR UP AGAINST FULL HOUSE

It was obvious that Alex had two pair of his own, and they were certainly better than eights and nines, but he didn't want to risk the rest of his stack on the chance that Korbin had raised starting with a pair of eights and might now be full. Korbin led $290,000-$120,000.

Richie got Alex down to about $70,000 when his two little pair beat Alex's pair of eights, and almost ended the match on hand 177, when Alex, who'd started the hand with $50,000, called for his last $20,000 with the boards showing

Korbin, Jc-2c-3c-2s
Papachatzakis, 9c-3s-10c-4d.

Korbin showed he'd started (Q-7), said "good call," as he showed all he had was the pair of twos, the river helped neither player, and Alex's pair of threes took the $100,000 pot.

A nine-high straight on hand 183 left Alex with only $20,000, but he kept surviving all-in situations, and Korbin couldn't finish him on any of the next eight hands, even though Alex was all-in on six of them. Trip eights finally left Alex with no outs going to the river on hand 192, and we had a champ on the longest day (hand-wise) I'd covered so far.

FIRST, LET'S GET RID OF THAT DAMN COUCH…

Korbin pulled out a cell phone and started calling his wife, Kaye. "I have to let her know she can start the shopping spree," he explained.

Richie was, understandably enough, a happy guy in the aftermath, as he called winning the bracelet the fulfillment of an 18-year dream, but he remained the same down-to-earth, self-deprecating guy I've known for a while.

"Honestly, when we began today, I didn't think I had much of a chance," he said. "I was only in sixth chip position out of eight, I had guys like John Juanda, Mickey Appleman, Steve Zolotow, Chris Ferguson, and Adam Roberts at the table with me, and seven-stud eight-or-better isn't my best game, Omaha eight-or-better is. And I have to credit Alex too, I didn't know much about him, but he showed tremendous discipline and patience at the start. At the end, when the limits were sky high, I made some hands. I don't feel like I outplayed everyone. It's more like I feel I played well, avoided making mistakes, and got the cards when it was important to get the cards."

As always, I wanted to know if winning changed the winner's life in any way.

"No, other than fulfilling a dream, a dream I think most poker players have, it doesn't change too much," Richie said. "I'm still the same guy. I guess it does give me a lifetime qualification for the Tournament of Champions, it's nice to get that."

Four former or current World Champions - Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Berry Johnston, and Scotty Nguyen - have won bracelets at this World Series, a fitting tournament in the year we're putting probably the greatest player of all time, the late Stu Ungar, into the Hall of Fame. Richie Korbin doesn't think of himself or talk of himself in that kind of company, but I hope this bracelet lets him stop making jokes about them calling security when he approaches a final table. Now he can just have security escort him and that pile of money for Kaye's shopping spree down to the cashier's cage.

Final Official Results, $2,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split:

164 entrants, total prize pool $397,700.

9th-12th, $5,965 each: Andy Sacino, Martin Stilling, Chiavan Chen, David Levi.

13th-16th, $3,975 each: Paul Clarkson, Arthur Young, Gino DiPeppe, Steve Haynes.

YOU'RE ON YOU OWN FOR THE ACE-TO-FIVE LOWBALL DRAW

Your reporter wants to keep his mental batteries fresh for some of the fun events coming up, like the Deuce-to-Seven, so I'm going to take Sunday off, and get back to business on Monday. Quality over quantity. See you then.

Andrew N.S. Glazer, Editor
Wednesday Nite Poker

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