This is a special issue of WNP. Andrew N.S. Glazer reports live from the WSOP - World Series of Poker Apr 22 to May 24, 2002.

$3,000 Buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em

Baubles, Angles and Beads
By Max Shapiro

This was probably the most incredible final table anyone had ever witnessed, with more twists, turns and angles than a Maverick movie plot. It was a 22-1/2 hour event, with a three-hour heads-up match between a world champion and a Mardi Gras bead manufacturer playing the first pot-limit game of his life. There were numerous odds-defying draw-outs, countless chip-lead changes and drama to spare. The final table encompassed 8-1/2 hours and roughly 300 hands. Crowd-pleasing entertainment was provided by poker player/actor Gabe "Welcome Back, Kotter" Kaplan, who did much of the play-by-play announcing. And there were even touches of lowbrow comedy provided by a rather inebriated Layne Flack, quickly yanked after trying his hand at announcing, and by the "disappearing dealer."

If Andy ("Don't stop me, I get paid by the word") Glazer were writing this, it would make War and Peace look like a short story by comparison.

In the end, it was the Louisiana bead maker, Fred Berger, who unbelievably defeated three-bracelet holder Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Chris, who played with his three bracelets interlocked around his trademark black Stetson (no doubt the most expensive headband in history), agreed that it was the most remarkable final table he had ever seen. "He had me $450,000 to $50,000, then I battled back, got lucky and had him $450,000 to $50,000, then he battled back..." It was indeed, he agreed, like a movie script. Berger said this was the first WSOP he had been able to attend because this is usually the busiest time of the year for him. A no-limit specialist who has won events at the Reno Hilton and 4 Queens, he said he picked up pointers in pot-limit by watching from the bleachers.

The final table was set just before the 2 a.m. cut-off time. Dennis Waterman and Brian McCann checked down the pot against an all-in Jose Stawski, and Waterman's pocket 6s held up. Play resumed with $1,000 and $2,000 blinds and 7 minutes left on the clock. The line-up looked like this:

Seat	Name	Chips
1	Chris Ferguson	$43,500
2	Dennis Waterman	$35,500
3	Ken Flaton	$7,000
4	An Tran	$68,000
5	Tom Schneider	$57,500
6	Danny Qutami	$55,000
7	Tony Cousineau	$40,000
8	Fred Berger	$15,000
9	Brian McCann	$158,500
10	Hylton Socher	$45,000

TOO MANY CHIPS ARE A PROBLEM?
Brian "Bear"McCann started with a big chip lead which he held onto for most of the tournament. A hardworking and struggling pro from Los Angeles, McCann has just a couple of wins at Commerce and Bicycle Casino tournaments in his resume and seemed a bit bewildered to find himself with such a massive chip lead at a World Series event. "I don't seem to know what to do when I get a lot of chips," he said. "I start to play like I'm the world's greatest player, and then I blow them off." McCann, who often has a hard time slowing down, seesawed up and down early on before going on a rush.

At the other end was Kenny Flaton, who wished he had McCann's chip problem. The "Skyhawk," winner of the first U.S. Poker Championship, arrived with a mere $7,000.

McCann stumbled quickly. In the first hand, he raised $7,000, then made an unsure fold after Ferguson popped it. Four hands later, he put Berger all in with A-K, only to see Fred flop a full house holding pocket 9s. But he wasn't daunted, quickly recovered and kept pushing chips into the pot vigorously for the next few hours.

THE SKYHAWK CAN'T GET OUT OF HIS CAGE

With blinds increased to $1,500 and $3,000, a very short-chipped Flaton, one off the button on hand #10,
looked at A-4 and decided to play his first hand and raise all in for $5,500. Tom Schneider and Danny Schneider called in their blinds. They checked the pot down and Schneider, with pocket 7s, made a winning set, and the Skyhawk never got to fly.

For the next 20 hands, it was the usual pot-limit pattern of raise and fold. Then, holding A-6, Hylton Socher liked his pot odds and button called in five-way action. McCann had K-J and got heads-up by betting $16,000 on a flop of J-7-3. A jack on the turn locked it for Brian and locked Hylton out of the tournament.
After getting Watterman to fold on fourth street a few hands later, McCann had built his stacks up to close to $180,000.

ACES BECOME KINDLING WOOD
Soon after, Waterman finished in eighth place in the first of many truly tough beats pock-marking this tournament. After Tony Cousineau brought it in for $9,000 with A-J, Waterman re-raised all in with pocket aces. Dennis was a monster favorite, but the board came K-Q-J-K-J to fill Tony and chop the Oregon logger out of his seat.

With blinds increased to $2,000 and $4,000, the standings were:

McCann, $181,000
Schneider, $69,000
Ferguson, $65,500
Berger, $62,000
Cousineau, $60,000
Qutami, $50,500
An Tran, $37,000

WELCOME BACK, KAPLAN
At this point, Kaplan took over the microphone. He immediately noticed that players frequently were showing their hole cards after they bet and everyone folded. That was showing courtesy, he commented. (No, Gabe, that's called advertising.) As the pattern of raise and fold continued, Kaplan thought that "We might see a flop by 6 o'clock." He also observed that while there was lots of joking and camaraderie at the last couple of tables, when it got to the final table and serious money, the jokes stopped and players got quiet and very serious.

Hand #61 finally produced some drama. Ferguson raised to $11,000 in late position and An Tran moved in for all his $31,000. Chris thought and thought until "The Boss" called for a clock. With 3 seconds to go, Ferguson called, perhaps swayed by the fact that he held A-9, the miracle hand he won the world championship with against T.J. Cloutier's A-Q. Not this time. Chris did flop a nine, but An Tran's J-J was the boss. Later, An Tran seriously asked if the table was willing to convert to no-limit, but was met with deafening silence.

IS THERE A MATHEMATICIAN IN THE HOUSE?
Hand #76 produced the suck-out hand of the tournament. When Danny Qutami button-raised all in for $22,000, McCann, in the big blind, decided he "had to call," despite holding only 8-5 of spades. Qutami turned up A-J and looked like a sure winner when the flop came Q-J-7. But then a 6 and a 4 fell to give Brian most improbable straight and give Danny his exit visa. I tried to figure the odds on Mike Caro's Poker Probe, but it replied that it couldn't count that high. Ferguson, a walking computer, mentally calculated that the Bear had about a 1.2 percent chance to win.

Later, McCann still playing the bully with his big stacks, re-raised Cousineau's $10,000 flop bet by $36,000.
Tony folded rather than go all in, and now a slide rule was needed, Kaplan cracked, to count down Brian's chips, which totaled about $270,000. With the total hands at the final table nearing the 100 mark, still another big draw-out came down to put Tony down and out of action. When Schneider raised with Q-10 of hearts, Cousineau, with A-K, moved in for his last $20,000. It was unfortunate raise, because the flop came A-9-4. If Tony had chips left, he would have bet and won. Instead, he could only watch helplessly as two running hearts came off the deck to flush him away.

"I think there's some luck in this game," Kaplan cracked.

THE BOSS GETS TRAPPED
A few hands later, after Schneider opened for $10,000 with Q-Q, An Tran, with 6-6, came over the top for $24,000 more. Schneider just smooth-called to trap him. The flop was A-10-5 and An Tran, whose accomplishments include a best all-around at the 4-Queens, moved in for his remaining $15,000. Schneider didn't like the ace, but quickly called, busted the Boss and moved up to about $125,000.

Ferguson, meanwhile, had been dropping down alarmingly, but stayed alive when he moved all in for the second time against McCann and got him to fold. As relative chip positions continued to fluctuate, Berger for a time moved into second spot before Schneider caught up again.

After 123 hands had dragged by, blinds went to $3,000 and $6,000. And the chip count now was:

McCann, $237,000
Schneider, $143,000
Berger, $104,000
Ferguson, $41,000

LET'S MAKE A DEAL ... ANY DEAL!
And now a deal discussion broke out. It went on for so long that Kaplan likened it to negotiations between Arafat and Sharon. There was some $375,000 up for grabs for the first four spots. Math whiz Ferguson came up with a complicated formula that would have guaranteed McCann a bit over $100,000, along with an additional $50,000 for the winner. McCann consulted with his advisers and came back with a counter-proposal. An offer of $8,000 more to McCann was made, with $30,000 to the winner. Finally, an uncertain McCann decided to play on.

On the next hand, Ferguson had just raised to $18,000 when negotiations broke out again. Perehaps it might have been questionable to talk deal in the middle of a hand, but co-director Matt Savage decided to cut the boys some slack and allow them to talk with the clock again stopped. Finally, McCann agreed to take $106,000 with $45,000 more to the winner.

I realize that reporting precise tournament deals is a controversial subject, but since the players discussed figures openly, and loud enough for the spectators to hear, the amounts weren't exactly a secret. Kaplan then asked the audience if they approved the deal. "Now let's go out to Fremont Street, find a few winos and see if they agree too," he added. Later, he added another riff to the running gag. "There will now be negotiations on how to divide up the braclet," he announced.

NOW LET'S PLAY SOME MORE
As play continued, Schneider's fortunes dimmed. Finally down to about $36,000 after a flop of 9-6-3, he called all in with A-J after Brian bet the pot with 5-4 for an open-end straight draw. It didn't come and Tom was back up to $110,000.

On hand #165, more high drama. The flop is 10-10-2. Brian has 10-K and bets a modest $8,000. Chris, who's flopped a full house with a 10-2 "Doyle Brunson" hand, just calls. An 8 turns. Brian check, Chris bets $12,000 and Brian check-raises, bets the pot and Ferguson moves all in for $53,000. Brian calls and later describes his call as a "terrible play." And now, in a stunning reversal of fortune, Chris has the lead and Brian, the long-time leader, is close to last. Or, as the bible says, "And the last shall be first, and the first last" ... or something like that. The daisy chain continues a few hands later when Brian, with 4-3 of diamonds, flops a flush to outrun Chris' A-K and regain the lead. Again and again the lead changes. Then, on hand 177, Brian once again becomes the lead sled dog.

CHECKING THE NUTS
This is the hand that finally sees another player eliminated. There's over $78,000 in the pot when the flop comes 10-9-4 of spades. Brian, holding an A-8 of spades nut flush, checks and lets Tom hang himself by moving in for about $70,000 with 4-3 of clubs.

THE POT THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
But four hands later, another stunner changes things forever. This time Brian has A-9 to Fred's J-10 of clubs. An ace and two clubs flop. Fireworks break out. when an 8 of clubs comes on the river, Brian hauls in a $351,000 pot and Brian is down to about $65,000.

With blinds now at $4,000 and $8,000, Brian survived for a while, going all in twice and coming out alive. The second time, he had K-J suited to Chris' K-3 suited. Then, with the hands turned up, Savage tapped the dealer on the shoulder to cue him to deal the flop. The dealer thought this was a signal for a dealer change, got up and started to walk away. "Where are you going?" Savage called him back. "I thought I had won and it was all over," McCann cracked. The dealer returned, and when he was really relieved soon after and got up, the spectators burst into applause.

With hand 200 approaching, McCann, very low-chipped, raised with A-K. Berger, with pocket 10s, put him in for the last time, and then blew him away when a third 10 came on fourth street.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN
And now the final battle was joined, starting around 7:30 and lasting until 10:30. ("We'll have a breakfast break soon," Savage remarked as the hours marched by.) At the start, Berger, who came to the final table with $15,000, had about $415,000 to Ferguson's $110,000. Many hands went by with both players avoiding a confrontation and Chris getting the best of it, creeping up to about $220,000. Finally, at around the 250th hand, Jesus had a miracle. He had A-K against Fred's pocket treys. He was all in with the board showing Q-9-6 when runner-runner J-10 gave him a straight and a $480,000 pot.

"Nobody go away," a game Fred Berger told the cheering crowd." He was right. About 25 hands later, he again had 3-3. This time Chris had A-7 and flopped an ace. But a trey on the turn turned it around, and suddenly Berger had around $400,000 to Chris' $125,000.

(At this point, a cheerfully bombed Layne Flack wandered in and volunteered to do the commentary. After a couple of attempts at humor ("Nothing's happening yet"), Savage thanked him for his efforts and grabbed the microphone.)

AROUND AND AROUND
Unbelievably, more was to come. A few hands later Chris was a big dog with K-2 against A-K, went all in and then made a full house on a board of Q-Q-2-J-2! As yet more hands went by, they were nearly even, $275,000 for Fred, $250, for Chris. The cruncher came at last just before the 300th hand. This time Chris started with the best hand, A-K vs. A-J. But the flop of Q-J-6 made Fred a huge favorite. Unaware of this detail, Chris moved in for $142,000 and the $500,000 pot went to Fred when an 8 and then a 9 changed nothing.

AT LONG LAST, THE END
Left with $25,000, Chris fatalistically put it in on the next hand with 9-8. Fred had K-2. The board came 5-7-3-5-10 and Fred Berger now had something better than beads to drape around his wrist.

Final Official Results, Event #17, $3,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em
Total Entries: 175
Total Prize Pool: $493,500

Finish	Name	Prize Money
1	Fred Berger	$197,400
2	Chris "Jesus" Ferguson	$98,700
3	Brian McCann	$49,340
4	Tom Schneider	$29,600
5	An Tran	$22,200
6	Tony Cousineau	$17,300
7	Danny Qutami	$12,360
8	Dennis Waterman	$9,860
9	Hylton Socher	$7,900
10	Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton	$5,920

11th-12th, $5,920: Jose Stawski, David Levi.
12th-14th, $5,420: Randall McCallum, Bobby Hoff, David Shu.
14th-16th, $4,940: Young Phan, John Duthie, K.U. Davis

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