$1,500 Limit Omaha

"Would It Be a Seminal Event, A Seminole Event, or Both?"
By Andrew N.S. Glazer

Damn that Phil Hellmuth. Here I was, all ready to take a day off, and he went and made the final table of the WSOP $1,500 Limit Omaha Event, which meant it was back to work for Andy. Ya gotta support your friends, and besides, there was material to be garnered for the long-threatened biography "Poker Brat."

There was all kinds of history possible. Phil was shooting for his record tying eighth bracelet, Barry Shulman was shooting for his second, two Florida State grads (Randy Holland and Miami John Cernuto) were getting their tomahawk chop ready (those of you who think of the chop as an Atlanta Braves phenomenon don't know it started at FSU came to the Braves when FSU Seminole grad Deion Sanders became a Brave and instituted the annoying war cry in Atlanta, providing yet another reason for me to move to California).

We also had some newcomers to final table action, and it all added up to another day at the office for me. Longtime Card Player columnist Max Shapiro will be handling the reporting duties the next two days.

When we started play, we had an hour and six minutes left on the clock, with blinds of $1,000-$1,500, playing $1,500-$3,000, and the seats and chip counts were:

Seat Player Chips
1 Jimmy Karambinis $28,500
2 "Miami" John Cernuto $43,000
3 Willard Wellnitz $9,000
4 Avi Bahar $18,500
5 James Grimes $1,500
6 Randy Holland $27,500
7 Barry Shulman $20,000
8 Phil Hellmuth, Jr. $31,500
9 Mickey Appleman $4,500
10 Dave Russell $11,000

Grimes had started the tournament with $1,500 in chips and managed to arrive at the final table with the same number. They lasted one hand, as he tossed them in, got calls from the two Seminoles as well as Wellnitz in the big blind, and exited when Miami John flopped a set of threes.

WE ALMOST LOST TWO PLAYERS IN TWO HANDS

Wellnitz got himself all-in on the day's second hand, trailed on the flop, but caught a six on the turn to give him aces and sixes and the lead on Avi Bahar's aces and fives, and the ace on the river just kept things as they were.

Mickey Appleman, who came to the final table with both three bracelets and a lot of experience playing short stacks (he survived a pretty amazing bubble run in the 2000 Big One) more than doubled up on the fourth hand when he made a flush.

It might have seemed like the tournament had gotten off to a fast start, but the first four hands were nothing to what followed shortly thereafter.

BAD BEAT STORY + PHIL HELLMUTH = ???

On hand #5, Shulman limped in from the small blind, and Hellmuth checked. The flop came Kd-9d-7d, Shulman checked, Hellmuth bet, Shulman raised, and Hellmuth called. The Ac hit the turn, Shulman bet out, and Hellmuth called. The 10c hit the river, and again Shulman bet with Hellmuth calling.

Shulman turned over a rainbow K-Q-J-3, meaning he'd made a gutshot straight on the river, and Hellmuth, who'd flopped kings and eights, had the sort of mild reaction that gave us the title for the book in progress. "He check-raised me almost drawing dead, can you believe that?" said Hellmuth of his publisher (Shulman owns Card Player magazine, for which Hellmuth writes a bi-weekly column).

Hellmuth talked about the hand for a while longer, and raised hand #12, with both Bahar and Holland calling from the blinds. The flop came Qh-7c-4c, both blinds checked to Phil, who bet and got called in both places. The 2c hit the turn, Bahar checked, Holland bet out, and Hellmuth showed what were later confirmed to be two aces to an onlooker before folding. Bahar called all-in, and the 9s on the river didn't change anything. Holland had the 10c-8c, Bahar the Qc-Jc, and took the pot.

HELLMUTH WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING, WOULD HE?

Hellmuth's mood remained somewhat mercurial. At first he said "I guess I have no chance today," but then decided to switch gears to a "Boys, I'm not giving up yet, one of these times they (the aces) are going to hold up." He walked over to some friends in the stands and said "This is one of the tests of poker, can you hold it together when they put those kinds of beats on you?"

Two hands later, we found out. Wellnitz made it $3,000 from early position, Holland made it $4,500, and Hellmuth decided to call two and a half bets from the small blind. Wellnitz came along for the ride.

The flop came 9-8-3, everyone checked to Holland, who bet, only to get raised by Hellmuth. Wellnitz called all-in for his last $2,000, and Holland called as well. A queen hit the turn, Hellmuth bet his last few chips, and Holland called, and a blank hit the river.

Holland turned over the pocket queens that had made a set on the turn, and Hellmuth leapt from his seat, showing his 8-8-6-6 double-suited. After a questionable call of 2.5 bets before the flop, he'd flopped a set of eights, only to have the better starting hand run him down and out of the tournament. He got eighth on the basis of starting the hand with more chips than Wellnitz, a disappointing finish considering he'd started in second chip position.

TWO BAD BEATS LEAD TO A BAD PLAY

Pardon some self indulgence here. Those of you who know Phil Hellmuth's skill know I can't match it. It's far easier to analyze and criticize from the sidelines than it is to perform at the table. I've made mistakes at the table that seem beyond belief to me when I look at them later. But I also call them like I see them. Phil took two bad beats, especially the hand against Shulman, and I think those led to him playing this hand poorly. Calling two and half bets cold with two small pair, knowing one is likely to face at least two opponents, seems like a play that a completely calm expert wouldn't have made. It's hard to criticize my friend's play, but my first duty is to the truth. Phil got unlucky early, then got involved in a hand he probably should have avoided. He got lucky on the flop and then unlucky on the turn.

I hurt for him watching him exit, and my only consolation is knowing he'll be back, and perhaps that I can keep some credibility by calling it like I saw it, whether it was my friend's play or not.

Self indulgence done, reporter's hat now replaced, we move back to the now seven-handed table, with the chip counts now roughly

Karambinis, $36,000
Cernuto, $42,000
Bahar, $38,000
Holland, $28,000
Shulman, $25,000
Appleman, $16,000
Russell, $10,000

Shulman, who had made an early big move when he beat Hellmuth, was playing a lot of pots, as were Karambinis, an elderly Chicago player, and Bahar, an Israeli native who now lives in Los Angeles. Cernuto, who had more than a dozen Omaha eight-or-better tournaments wins on his resume, but never a limit Omaha event, was playing very conservatively, with Holland, Russell and Appleman somewhere in between.

YOU PLAY A LOT OF HANDS, YOU GET PAID OFF ON THE GOOD ONES

Two of the more aggressive players, Shulman and Karambinis, hooked up on a big pot on hand #25, and Karambinis got paid off for his aggression when Shulman hung in all the way on a board that came down Qs-6c-5c-5s-4d. We never saw Shulman's hand, but Karambinis turned over two kings that won the pot and left Shulman one of the two short stacks.

Karambinis struck again on the very next hand when he raised, got re-raised by Bahar, and called. The flop came 2c-5d-4s, Bahar led out, and Karambinis called, a scenario repeated when the Jc hit the turn. The 2s hit the river, pairing the board, and this time when Bahar led out, Karambinis raised. Bahar buried his head in his hands, as if he were saying "He can't really have a deuce in his hand, can he?" Bahar agonized over the decision for almost a minute, and finally decided to call.

Karambinis turned over Q-10-9-2, trip twos, and Bahar mucked his aces.

Shulman recovered a few of his wayward chips, but lost almost all of them when he took on Appleman, who flopped a set of jacks. Shulman had about 4k left, and it looked like he and Russell, a Detroit native, were going to fight it out for seventh place.

RUSSELL DIDN'T COME HERE FOR A LADDER CLIMB

Russell instantly proved he wasn't going to sit there looking for a ladder climb when he called the next hand and got the rest of his money in against Bahar on the flop. Russell had two tens in his hand, Bahar two jacks in his, but the 10-2-2 flop doubled Russell through, and for the second time in a matter of moments, Bahar had seen a big pair knocked off by a lesser starting hand. I guess that's why you need to be more tilt-proof to play Omaha than hold'em: these things happen a lot more in the four-card game.

Shulman soon got his last 3.5k into a three-way pot before the flop, with Holland and Appleman fighting hard over a rather large side pot. Holland took the side, having flopped top straight with a 5-6 when the board came 4h-3d-2d, but Shulman took the main pot when a diamond hit the river, more than tripling him back into the game.

We hit the break after hand #36, and as the blinds moved to $1,000-$2,000, playing $2,000-$4,000, the chip counts were

Karambinis, $58,000
Cernuto, $50,000
Bahar, $18,000
Holland, $12,000
Shulman, $10,000
Appleman, $27,000
Russell, $20,000

Shulman immediately doubled up by flopping a set of jacks, taking a little of the wind out of Karambinis' sails. He'd grabbed that big chip lead by playing a lot of pots and sooner or later he was going to lose one.

Shulman lost some of the chips back when he took pocket kings up against Holland's pocket aces, and was down to his last 4.5k when he raised to $4,000 and called Russell's re-raise for his last $500 chip. A-J-9-8 for Shulman, A-K-Q-9 for Russell, and the board came 10-J-5-3-Q to give Russell an ace-high straight and send Shulman out seventh.

"DETROIT DAVE" FINDS A NEW GEAR

A bit richer, Russell started getting more aggressive, and took a couple of little pots before he hooked up on a big one against Bahar. Russell made the first raise and Bahar called out of the big blind. The flop came 7s-8d-3h, Bahar checked, Russell bet, Bahar raised, Russell called, and Bahar bet and was called on both the turn and river (Qc-4s). Bahar had flopped sevens and threes, but Russell had flopped eights and sevens, and suddenly "Detroit Dave," as guest announcer Vince Burgio kept calling him, was the new chip leader. So much for a battle for sixth place.

Bahar was now the short man, and he got the last of his chips in on hand #55 with yet another big pocket pair, kings, but an ace hit the flop, and Karambinis wasn't laying down many hands with aces in them, and Bahar exited sixth.

The chip count now was approximately

Karambinis, $50,000
Cernuto, $33,000
Holland, $30,000
Appleman, $16,000
Russell, $66,000

This was one of the few times all day that Cernuto's chip count had dipped much below the 40k mark, and he immediately got it back into familiar territory by making a wheel against Karambinis' pocket aces. This wasn't Cernuto's first wheel of the day, but it was one of the luckier ones, as his A-3-K-J was up against Karambinis' A-A-Q-J as the board came down 9-4-2-3-5. Cernuto needed a three or a five on the end, and got it. Karambinis was the unlucky victim of his own tendency to play a lot of pots, because it was hard for Cernuto to give him credit for that big of a hand.

Appleman had a big up and down day. Starting with only $4,500, he could have exited almost immediately, but at several points got his stack up over $40,000. He'd gotten low again on hand #71, when he decided to limp in, only to see Karambinis make it 4k and Cernuto 6k. Seeing a chance to triple up with the right board, Appleman decided to play, and the flop came 8s-4d-3s, promising enough for Appleman's 5-6-7-9, but kings fell on both the turn and river, and Cernuto's pocket aces took the whole thing, sending Appleman out fifth.

The new chip counts stood at

Karambinis, $30,000
Cernuto, $70,000
Holland, $45,000
Russell, $50,000

Played as a live game, limit Omaha tends to be a game of straights, flushes, and full houses, especially at lower limits. In tournaments the action is tighter, and lesser hands will usually do the job. Once a tournament gets shorthanded, still lesser hands will work, and I wondered if the less experienced Karambinis and Russell would know this as well as the dual bracelet holders Holland and Cernuto would.

SO MUCH FOR SHORTHANDED OMAHA BECOMING A GAME OF PAIRS

Yep, that's what I was thinking, just as the very next hand came down, when Cernuto flopped a wheel and Karambinis flopped a set of aces. The action, as you might expect, was hot and heavy, but when the board paired on the end, Miami John decided to check and call, a good thing considering Karambinis now had aces full.

Hey, I said "tends." It's still possible to make big hands, even shorthanded. This one leveled the playing field so that we were essentially dead even in a four-handed game.

Seven hands later, I started to think Russell might not be too familiar with shorthanded Omaha when he checked the river on a K-9-J-4-4 board. The kings and nines he'd flopped were still good, and perhaps it was wise to be cautious against the unpredictable Karambinis, but I sensed shorthanded trouble approaching. We'd see.

Cernuto made a set of fours and later a full house to push him back into the lead as the clock went off ending the round with the chips now standing at

Karambinis, $33,000
Cernuto, $80,000
Holland, $11,000
Russell, $71,000

The blinds moved to $1,500-$3,000, playing $3,000-$6,000, and Holland immediately had to post more than a quarter of his stack as the big blind. Karambinis limped in, Cernuto came along for the ride, and the flop came 10d-8s-6h. Cernuto checked, Holland bet $3,000, Karambinis made it $6,000, Cernuto folded, and essentially pot-committed, Holland called. The 3d came off on the turn, and Holland tossed his last 2k in, with Karambinis calling.

It hadn't looked like the blinds had been kind to Holland: he turned over 8d-2d-3c-5c, but he'd gotten a free look at the flop and hit second pair. Karambinis turned over Ah-10h-2h-7h, top pair on the flop, but that three on the turn had given Holland a second pair, and the Jc missed everyone on the end. Holland had new life.

Karambinis had easily played the most hands of anyone at the final table to this point, and the stack that had once held so much promise started looking endangered. Miami John sensed Karambinis' despair and pushed twice at pots Karambinis had entered with a call, and each time Karambinis yielded. Finally, on hand #92, Karambinis raised his last 5k, and got called by both Holland and Cernuto, who checked the hand all the way down as the board came

3h-4s-6s-7s-5d

In hold'em, a straight on the board can mean a split pot, but in Omaha, you have to grab some of it. Holland first thought his 2-3 might have given him the pot, but Cernuto turned over a 4-6 for a bigger straight, and a disappointed Karambinis mucked his big pair in disgust.

With Karambinis out fourth, the chip counts stood at approximately

Cernuto, $104,000
Holland, $25,000
Russell, $71,000

We had two pros and two Florida State Seminoles going up against a Detroiter who had shown patience at the right times early, a reasonable stack now, and who had played a fine game when the game was full. Whether he would be able to play shorthanded, we'd soon find out.

Hand #97 provided yet another clue that the answer to the question might be "no." In a blind vs. blind limp confrontation between Russell and Cernuto, the flop came Ah-4c-8d. Russell bet out, Cernuto raised, and Russell called. The Jh hit the turn, and Russell checked, with Cernuto checking behind him. The 3c hit the river, and again both players checked.

RUSSELL WON THE BATTLE, BUT IN DOING SO MIGHT HAVE LOST THE WAR

Russell turned over aces and jacks, a huge three-way hand that he'd failed to value bet on both the turn and river. One raise from Miami John on the flop had stopped him dead in his tracks, and perhaps just as importantly, had told both Miami John and Holland that Russell was probably going to be overly cautious in a three-handed game.

Russell, in other words, won the battle on hand #97, but the way he played it probably lost him the war.

Seeing this weakness, both Holland and Cernuto looked to see flops against Russell, and once they got them, they pushed, and Russell yielded each time. After a fair amount of this, Russell got the idea: he had to take a stand.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Unfortunately for Russell, he picked exactly the wrong moment to do it. He raised hand #104 from the button, and both blinds called. The flop came Js-10s-2d, Cernuto bet out, Holland folded, and Russell called. He called again when the 4h hit the turn and again when the 4c hit the river.

Miami John Cernuto turned over A-J-J-9. He'd flopped top set and finished with top full, and Russell was suddenly down to only about $20,000.

Cernuto made top full again three hands later, this time proving he was an equal opportunity torturer, because his opponent, Holland, had flopped three queens when the board came Qc-10c-Qd. Cernuto had K-K in his hand, though, and when the Ks hit the turn, he led out, and Holland was virtually forced to call both on the turn and river.

"Argh!" exclaimed Holland, as Cernuto turned his hand over. The beat made it a horserace for second place, it appeared, as Holland and Russell were both near the 25k mark, while Cernuto now had about 145k.

After all of these wheels and full houses in a shorthanded game, Russell finally fell on a more conventional hand. Holland raised from the small blind, and Russell called. The flop came 6s-5c-4c, Holland bet out, and Russell called. The 10d hit the turn, Holland bet again, and Russell called all-in for his last 4.5k. Holland turned over A-Q-6-2, top pair on the flop, and Russell turned over A-J-7-4, bottom pair on the flop. The 9s hit the river, changing nothing, and Russell's valiant try finally had ended, as he was the dual victim of shorthanded inexperience and just bad luck on the moment he picked to take his stand.

"I don't think I've ever felt more disappointed winning $18,000," he told me as he left. It had been a good try from someone whose experience came in private clubs and (more lately) in Detroit's Greektown Casino poker room, but up against pros who knew the shorthanded game, he had been facing a serious uphill battle.

TIME FOR A TOMAHAWK CHOP

The two Florida State boys had made it to a heads-up intramural final, and Cernuto pulled out a Seminole "good luck charm" he had "abandoned at the Commerce, when he was using it and missed the 'draw of draws,' a wrap straight, the nut flush, and the nut low, with two bricks." If it was so unlucky, why was this horse that played the Seminole fight song doing here now, I wanted to know.

"I brought it along when both Randy and I made the final table," Cernuto said. "It seemed like fun, with both of us here."

Meanwhile, the two Seminoles decided to do their own version of the Tomahawk chop. With the chip sitting at Cernuto, 134k, Holland, 61k, the FSU boys decided to chop most of the remaining money, with Cernuto getting a guaranteed $60,000, Holland a guaranteed $48,000, and the remaining two thousand and bracelet left in action.

In case you're not familiar with such "deals," they aren't cheating, illegal, improper, or immoral. The players are playing entirely on their own money, and with $36,660 hanging in the balance between first and second, the duo decided to reduce the money fluctuation and play mainly for the pride of owning a third title. If and when corporate sponsors kick in added money, such deals will have to go, but until then, the players can agree to split their own money however they want.

The intramural bracelet battle started on hand #120, and it was clear the battle was no formality. World Series bracelets are hard to come by, and even though the money issue was essentially settled, each player wanted a third title. Holland gained ground briefly, but hand #128 hurt Holland badly, when his straight went down to Cernuto's fives full of queens.

After that one knocked Holland down to about 40k, Cernuto kept applying pressure, and Holland couldn't find a hand to get even with. He was down to about 25k on hand #138, when he raised it to 6k from the small blind on the button, and Miami John called.

COULD HE BE A DEAD MAN WITH THIS HAND?

The flop came Qs-8s-6h, Miami John bet out, and Holland called. When the As hit the turn, Miami John bet again, and Holland re-raised all-in for his last 4.5k.

Just to make it a bit easier to track, the board was now Qs-8s-6h-As

Holland showed us A-8-7-3, aces and eights, and Miami John turned over 8-9-5-7, a wrap around straight. Any four, five, seven or nine would give John the title, while a blank would give Randy Holland 50k and some reasonable chance at the title.

The 4d hit, and we had a new champion, and even though Cernuto is recognized as one of the world's finest Omaha eight-or-better tournament players, this was, as I mentioned earlier, his first limit Omaha title. Why was there such a difference in his record?

"I've never really liked this game," Cernuto said. "I always thought it was too much of a crapshoot, that there was more skill in either Omaha/8 or pot-limit Omaha. So I've only entered five or six limit Omaha tournaments before this one."

He'd entered the final with a big chip lead: had there been any particular strategy?

GET TO THE TOP THREE, AND THEN GO FROM THERE

"I wanted to make the top three, for sure," Cernuto said. "That's why my chip total stayed so close to $40,000 for the first couple of hours. I wanted to play fairly tight, playing a more disciplined game, and let the others gamble. Then, later, once I had gotten close and had the tight table image, I was able to let the other players' aggressiveness work to my advantage. I was able to let them push pots at me and do a lot of the work when I had good hands."

Cernuto is a classy guy, so I knew he wouldn't want to go on the record with the "push Russell around after the flop" strategy that became so obvious when it got three-handed. There wasn't any need: those hands pretty much spoke for themselves.

As for Randy Holland, the consummate, well-liked pro was disappointed at the end, deal or no deal.

"Sure, the money is important, I'm a professional player," Holland admitted. "But I'd be lying if I told you I didn't want that bracelet. It carries a lot of respect with it. Still, I can't be too disappointed. Given where I started in chips, and the way some of the hands went both for me and for some of the other guys early on, I easily could have finished at just about any place except 10th.

Amateur players, even very good ones, tend to want to quit playing for the night when their games get shorthanded. If any of the amateurs reading this have any dreams of winning a WSOP title, maybe the next time the fifth player leaves, you should try to encourage your buddies to keep playing. Shorthanded poker is a different game than the full ring version, and it showed today.

Now, if I could just get that damned "Tomahawk Chop" music out of my head….

FINAL OFFICIAL RESULTS
$1,500 Buy-in Limit Omaha
Entrants: 130
Prize Pool: $183,300

1. Miami John Cernuto, $73,320
2. Randy Holland, $36,660
3. Dave Russell, $18,320
4. Jimmy Karambinis, $11,000
5. Mickey Appleman, $8,220
6. Avi Bahar, $6,420
7. Barry Shulman, $4,580
8. Phil Hellmuth, Jr., $3,640
9. Willard Wellnitz, $2,940
10. James Grimes, $2,200

11th-12th, $2,200 each: David Colclough, Mark Mitchell.
13th-15th, $2,020 each: Rene Oliveras, Mark Williams, Al Matthews.
16th-18th, $1,840 each: Van Hoang Pham, Lonnie Heimowitz, Billy Boutte.

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