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$5,000
Pot-Limit Omaha
|
|
Seat |
Name |
Chips |
|
1 |
Sir Winston Churchill |
$100,000 |
|
2 |
William F. Buckley, Jr |
$100,000 |
|
3 |
William F. Buckley, Jr. |
$100,000 |
|
4 |
Barry Goldwater |
$100,000 |
|
5 |
Alexander Hamilton |
$100,000 |
|
6 |
William F. Buckley, Jr |
$100,000 |
|
7 |
Sir Winston Churchill |
$100,000 |
|
8 |
Alexander Hamilton |
$100,000 |
|
9 |
Alexander Hamilton |
$100,000 |
|
10 |
Barry Goldwater |
$100,000 |
Hey, look at the bright side, I didn't have them cloning Nixon. OK, so maybe the actual starting table didn't feature quite this many conservative clones, and indeed all the players who really did start the final table were alive, something that couldn't be said of this list. The game was so universally tight for so long, though, that at times, I had to wonder about whether several players had indeed passed on to that great poker game in the sky. Just about everyone was playing the same kind of tight, non-attacking game, so that gave me the opening to use the Star Wars title I had so wanted to employ this week. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
You really would have thought this was the final table of a five-card stud tournament for the longest time—you know, that game that has practically died out because there is no action, because it's so clear who is leading most of the time. Until we got three-handed, this final table bore about as much resemblance to a high stakes PLO game as Shaquille O'Neal resembles Tiny Archibald.
The lack of dramatic hands will give me some room to examine some of the more interesting byplay, while spending less time talking about flops, mostly because we didn't see too many of them. In reality, the starting positions and chips at the final table were:
|
Seat |
Name |
Chips |
|
1 |
Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton |
$88,000 |
|
2 |
Issam Tannouri |
$39,000 |
|
3 |
Robert Williamson III |
$103,000 |
|
4 |
Patrick Bruel |
$88,500 |
|
5 |
Berry Johnston |
$51,000 |
|
6 |
Johnny Chan |
$47,000 |
|
7 |
Jackie Chitwood |
$44,000 |
|
8 |
Chau Giang |
$30,500 |
|
9 |
Reza Daeipour |
$34,500 |
|
10 |
John Bonetti |
$10,000 |
Although less historically conservative than the first group I mentioned, this table was star-studded in more than one way. Chance had placed 1986 World Champion Berry Johnston (owner of five bracelets) right next to 1987 and 1988 Champ Johnny Chan (the owner of six and the all-time leading money winner), John Bonetti is a poker legend despite taking the game up at age 57 (he's 73 now), Chau Giang is considered by many to be one of if not THE best money game player in the world and also has two bracelets on his resume.
FRENCH MOVIE AND SONG STAR ADDS FLAVOR
Patrick Bruel, who also had won a bracelet, provided the other "way" the table was star-studded, because he is a French movie star and singer who very much enjoys his trips to the US, where he can walk around without anyone knowing who he is. The table had another distinctly international flavor, with three Frenchmen (Bruel, Tannouri, and Daeipour), three Texans (Chan, Williamson, and Bonetti), and four Americans (Giang, Flaton, Chitwood, and Johnston). We established at the 2001 WSOP that Texas was so big, and its citizens so, ah, unique, that it deserved its own status as a separate country.
There were twelve minutes left on the clock at the $1,000-$2,000 blind level when we began, meaning a player entering a pot could call for $2,000, or raise from $4,000-$7,000 (without one or more limpers, under WSOP style rules, the maximum initial raise in pot-limit is always seven times the small blind).
In a stunning development, absolutely nothing of consequence happened during the first eight hands, after which we shifted to $1,500-$3,000 blinds, allowing an initial opening raiser to bet anywhere from $6,000 to $10,500.
I COULDN'T HANDLE EITHER THE TRUTH OR THE TOURNAMENT'S START
John Bonetti managed to double his remaining 8.5k on hand #15, when his pocket kings held up. Until then, the action was so boring that everyone at the table was becoming amused by the line "I'm a good man," which somehow had come into use as a synonym for "I'm not going to attack your blind." The line was used so often I started thinking we had quite A Few Good Men, but I was starting to worry that my readers weren't going to be able to handle the truth about this game.
Finally, on hand #24, Chitwood raised the pot out of the small blind, and Daeipour moved all-in, with Chitwood calling. Chitwood held the better starting hand, As-Ad-Ks-Qd to Daeipour's Ah-Qh-7c-3c, but couldn't have been happy when two hearts hit the flop. The flush draw never connected, though, and Daeipour got to leave and go play some exciting tidily winks action.
DEAD AGAIN
On the very next hand, Giang raised to 10.5k, and Bonetti called out of the small blind. The flop came 7-8-3, Bonetti bet his last 6.5k, and Giang called. "I knew he didn't have much," muttered Bonetti, as he turned over his Ah-9h-K-Q (I'm only going to call suits when they have a possible relevance), to face Giang's J-10-10-5. Bonetti's overcards missed on the turn and river, and we were eight-handed.
"Whatd'ya gonna do," said the man who owns Houston's ultimate Brooklyn accent. "I doubled up once, if I can do it again I got some chips and I can play, but I can't just sit there." I take it back, John. There probably were three exceptions to the "tighter than a size 7 shoe on a size 13 foot" rule the others were employing, and you were one of them, your stack size dictating that you tried to make a move.
The other two exceptions didn't fare that well. Tannouri was probably playing three times as many pots as anyone else, and he was the only one who seemed interested in playing, for a while he did pretty well, because no one was playing back at anyone...for a while. Chan was the other active participant, but couldn't make any hands, and exited on #40 when he raised to 10.5k from late position, and Giang called from the small blind.
MIKE PAULLE, POKER ANALYST, TAKES HIS SHOT
Mike Paulle, the Binion's official reporter, seemed confused. "Giang never just calls," he whispered to me. "What's he going to call there with?"
"K-Q-J-10," I guessed, and after the flop came Jd-9s-6h, Giang checked, Chan bet his last 6.5k, and Giang called. A-10-10-8 for Giang, J-Q-9-8 for Giang.
"OK, close enough," Paulle acknowledged. An ace hit the turn and another jack hit the river, and Giang's full house ended Chan's day in eighth place.
The round ended after hand #50, and after reviewing them I almost put the great gentleman and great player, Berry Johnston, into my first list of notable conservatives, because he had played exactly ONE hand out of the first 50, a raise on hand #7 that went uncalled. He never even limped in from the small blind. He did get to look at a couple of flops when his big blind went unraised, but he folded to a bet each time. He hadn't started out with a lot, and his stack was gradually eroding.
We took the $500 chips off the table, and moved up to $2,000-$4,000 blinds, allowing an initial opening raiser to bet anywhere from $8,000-$14,000, with the chips now looking like:
Flaton, 67k
Tannouri, 60k
Williamson, 138k
Bruel, 101k
Johnston, 30k
Chitwood, 38k
Giang, 102k
Four hands into the new round, Johnston played his second hand of the day, a raise to 14k, and not surprisingly it went unchallenged.
Two hands after that, the hyperactive (for this table) Tannouri called a Bruel raise to 14k, and we looked at a 10d-9s-2h flop. Bruel bet 22k, Tannouri moved all-in, a raise of about 22k more, and Bruel looked at his stack. He'd have 40k left if he called and lost, 62k if he folded to the raise, and a pile that would move into first place if he won.
MIKE PAULLE, POKER ANALYST, TAKES ANOTHER SHOT
"He has to fold," Paulle whispered. "He could be drawing to two outs if he has an overpair and is facing a set."
"Don't think so," I said. "Even two outs twice is 8%, he doesn't have to be in that bad a shape, especially to a guy who has been playing this many hands, and he has extra equity from the other cards in his hand. There's too much in the pot to let this go. Gotta call."
Not that a player of Bruel's stature would be influenced by the whispers of either Paulle or me (he really can play: he's not just a French celebrity dabbling in poker with money he doesn't need), but I assure you, they were whispers, impossible to hear. Bruel decided to call after about a minute, and it turned out he was leading, A-A-5-7 to Kh-7h-K-Q. The 4h hit the turn, giving Tannouri a little more hope with the flush draw, but another four hit the river, Tannouri was gone, and Bruel was the chip leader.
MIKE PAULLE, POKER ANALYST, TAKES A SHOT AT THE POKER PUNDIT
"OK, you've been lucky twice, but you're still the darkest dark horse the field has ever seen in the Big One," my pal said.
"That so, eh?" I wittily replied. "In that case, you won't mind shaving your head if I make the final table."
"Done," Paulle said. "You're freerolling on me."
What can I say? With so little action at the table, Paulle and I had to do something to entertain ourselves.
Although his stack was still small, Johnston's conservative approach still had him seated at the table while four had exited, and he found another hand just three hands later, when Flaton raised to 14k and Johnston moved all-in for his last 26k. Flaton called, and trailed temporarily when Johnston turned over K-K-Ad-6d, while Flaton held Ac-Jc-7s-6s.
The first four cards off the deck were J-10-4-7, giving Flaton the lead with jacks and sevens, but the board paired on the end, another ten, and Johnston's kings-up doubled him through.
A MORAL DILEMMA AVOIDED
On the very next hand I faced a moral dilemma that thankfully I didn't have to resolve. Bruel limped in for 4k, Chitwood raised 10k more from the small blind, and Bruel called. The flop came Kc-6c-6d, and Chitwood bet his last 13k, with Bruel calling. They turned the hands up, and Chitwood had flopped himself a lead, K-Q-J-10 to Bruel's Qd-Q-10d-7. Remarkably, the case queen hit the turn, giving Bruel trips, and Chitwood stood up to leave. A king hit the river, and the dealer started to push the pot to Bruel. No one appeared to notice that the card had changed anything, and I was about to decide if it was appropriate for me to mention from the rail that Chitwood had made a full house when Chitwood realized it himself and pushed his K-Q forward. Whew.
The next 38 hands were fairly unremarkable, and it was at this point when I started thinking about noted historical conservative figures. Take a look back at the last chip positions you got, and see what we had now, and the next break:
Flaton, 28k
Williamson, 160k
Bruel, 117k
Johnston, 50k
Chitwood, 52k
Giang, 125k
We hadn't, in other words, exactly seen much in the way of equity swings, aside from Tannouri's exit. I was starting to think that an analogy to two-card stud might be more appropriate than one to five-card stud.
The new blinds were $3,000-$6,000, allowing an initial opening raiser to bet anywhere from $12,000-$21,000.
JOHNSTON LOOKS FOR A NEW GEAR
Six hands into the new round, Johnston, who already had realized he needed to start making some kind of move, raised a hand to 21k, only to see Bruel call. Both players checked the Kh-Qs-4s flop, but when the Jd hit the turn, Bruel bet Johnston's last 21k, and Johnston folded, leaving him desperately short.
I guess either the cards or the players like Berry Johnston (and there are many reasons why the players should), because he got two fairly amazing breaks shortly thereafter.
Two hands later, having already surrendered a big blind, Johnston moved his last 15k all-in from the small blind, and needing to call only 9k to take a shot at a pot that already contained 21k, Chitwood folded. Bruel shot me a glance of disbelief, although given Chitwood's short chip position, the move wasn't necessarily unreasonable.
Seven hands later, on #114, Johnston moved his last 12k all-in from the button, and both Chitwood, in the small blind, and Giang (who had a large stack and only had to call 6k to take a shot at a 21k pot) folded. Bruel looked at me again, and in a very friendly tone (he's a very engaging guy), he asked Giang, in that marvelous French accent of his, "Is zis zee first time you play poker in tournament?" You really do need the context. The same words have been uttered many times in anger. These weren't. Bruel was surprised at Giang's fold, but he was merely needling a friend.
THE OLD SAYING GOES "WHAT YOU DO SPEAKS SO LOUDLY I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU SAY"
Proving that his actions would speak as loudly as his words (actually, they were spoken rather softly), four hands later Bruel limped in, only to see Johnston raise him 12k. Bruel went ahead and put Johnston all-in for his last five chips. Johnston turned over Q-Q-A-9, and Bruel had 6-6-7-4. The doorcard was pretty for Johnston, a queen, but the next two, 8-9. left Bruel with an open-ended straight. Johnston survived when the board finished A-2, and had once again doubled a meager stack.
Chitwood was now, by a small margin, the short stack, and three hands later, he raised it to 21k. Flaton put him all-in for his last 13k, and turned over K-Q-Q-7, while all Chitwood could manage was 10-10-K-6. Nothing higher than an eight ever hit the board, and Chitwood was gone.
After hand #125, I made another estimate, and the chips stood at roughly
Flaton, 120k
Williamson, 193k
Bruel, 67k
Johnston, 25k
Giang, 130k
BRUEL FINDS HIMSELF AT SIXES AND SEVENS
Bruel started growing a bit more aggressive, a good plan in this group, and his chip supply started rising again when he used the French side of the Force to finish off Johnston on hand #135. Bruel limped in with As-Q-7s-6s, and Johnston raised the maximum from the small blind with what turned out to be A-K-K-9. Bruel put Johnston all-in for his last few chips, and that "extra equity from other cards" turned out to be pretty useful: the board came 5-6-7-10-2, giving Bruel two pair, and ending Johnston's card dead day.
The chips were now
Flaton, 110k
Williamson, 190k
Bruel, 125k
Giang, 110k
The game had finally started opening up a bit, and on #139, we had four way limp-in action and saw a flop of Kc-3c-7d. Giang bet 24k, and Bruel raised him 72k more. Holy lightsabres, Batman, we had some actual action, and Giang let the hand go, losing 30k to Bruel in one stroke.
Things got worse for Giang seven hands later, when he opened for a raise to 21k, only to see Williamson call and then bet enough to put Giang all-in on the As-4d-2c flop. Giang had 35k left.
RED ACES AND BLACK CLUBS A BAD MIX
Bruel showed us he knew how to get away from a hand when on the very next one, Williamson limped in from the button, Bruel raised 18k from the small blind, and Williamson called. The flop came 6c-7c-3c, Bruel checked, Williamson bet 24k, and Bruel made a solid gold decision to fold two red aces, because Williamson then showed he held a king-high flush.
We hit the next break after hand #158, with the chip positions
Flaton, 110k
Williamson, 245k
Bruel, 120k
Giang, 40k
The blinds moved to $4,000-$8,000, allowing an initial opening raiser to bet anywhere from $16,000-$28,000. Giang instantly doubled up, finding aces against Williamson's kings, but Williamson found the kings again on the very next hand, and Giang's Qs-Js-10-9 proved no match, as all the money went in before the flop, and the board came down Q-7-2-A-2. The dangerous Giang was fourth, and Williamson was suddenly near the 300k mark.
TIME OUT FOR A TALK ABOUT PRIZE MONEY REDISTRIBUTION
After about ten hands, the boys decided they wanted to stop the clock to talk about a deal, with Bruel, oddly enough, the discussion's initiator. The chip counts at that point were
Flaton, 142k
Williamson, 276k
Bruel, 119k
I know that's off by two thousand, but that's how the participants had counted their chips down, and they based their deal on it, deciding to chop the money according to chip count, except for $30,000 that would be left in play, with $20,000 for first and $10,000 for second. It probably took about 15 minutes for the group to work this out.
In case you're not familiar with deals, there's nothing immoral or unethical about them, as long as all players agree, and as long as the players are playing on their own money. If and when corporate sponsorship comes in, deals will have to go, but for now, the players have a right to reduce equity swings when the gambling gets rather high, if they want to.
NOW THAT'S PUTTING PRESSURE ON YOURSELF
"Now the important thing is the bracelet," said Bruel. "In 1998, I won my bracelet, and two months later France won the World Cup. I must win again for France."
As I'd figured Bruel to be the wealthiest of the three finalists, I was a little surprised that he had initiated the deal talks, but maybe he just wanted to be a good guy about it. In any event, he came back from the discussions a changed player, far more aggressive, and it worked, as he started picking up pot after pot. He'd moved up to 188k in just eleven hands, and those extra chips came in handy on the next pot.
Just as Bruel was saying "I like very much this tournament and the players and the dealers, today and yesterday, everyone is very friendly," Bruel limped in from the button, and Flaton from the small blind. Williamson raised it 24k from the big blind. Saying in his ever-friendly tone, "So that's how you make this game friendly, eh, well, let me call this obvious bluff," he did indeed call, and Flaton let the hand go.
The flop came Ac-4d-Qs, and Williamson immediately led out for $72,000. The extra chips Bruel had accumulated now mattered, because he moved all-in, a raise of about 80k. Williamson thought for a little while, but never looked happy or eager, and folded.
WILLIAMSON TRIES TO PICK HIMSELF UP OFF THE FLOOR
Bruel now had a big chip lead, and Williamson looked like he'd been knifed in the gut. He was deflated, and got up to walk a bit, when his friend Jim Lester called to him and told him to take a breath and shake it off. Meanwhile, Bruel was glowing, and again in a comical tone, said "Who proposed zis stupid deal?"
Williamson got some of the chips back in a battle with Flaton on the next hand, but two hands later (my, how the action does speed up once a deal goes down), he found those pocket kings again, and got all of Flaton's remaining 58k all-in. Flaton had A-Q-10-6, and the first card off the deck was an ace. Flaton suddenly had 124k, Williamson 98k, and for the first time in a long time I started wondering if Robert Williamson III was indeed going to be the third.
Williamson got back into second place fairly quickly, as Flaton couldn't find anything he wanted to play with, and on hand #202, Bruel limped in for 8k from the big blind, Flaton raised 24k from the small blind, and both opponents called, putting $96,000 in the pot before the flop.
The flop came Qs-8s-2h, and everyone checked. The 10d hit the turn, Flaton moved all-in for 55k, and Williamson called. Flaton had started with the better hand, K-K-9-6, but Williamson had Qd-Jd-10c-4c, and had made two pair on the turn. When a harmless four fell on the river, Skyhawk Flaton was third, and Williamson, who'd been in an emotional nadir just minutes earlier, was now the slight chip leader in a heads-up duel, 280k-255k. No matter what happened, Williamson III was not going to be third.
FORGET THE FLOOR: NOW IT WAS TIME TO GO FOR THE GOLD
I started renumbering the heads-up hands. In heads up play, the small blind goes on the button (SBB) and acts first before the flop but second after it. On #1, Williamson raised it to 24k from the SBB, and Bruel called. The flop came J-J-5, Bruel checked, Williamson bet 48k, and Bruel folded.
On #2, Bruel tried to limp in from the SBB, but Williamson raised, and Bruel let it go.
On #3, Williamson limped from the SBB, but Bruel raised, and Williamson called. The flop came 10s-6c-4s, Williamson checked, Bruel bet 48k, and Williamson called, putting 144k in the middle. The 8c hit the turn, Bruel moved in, and Williamson called instantly, saying "I have a straight" as he turned over 7s-5c-Jd-3d. Bruel said he had no outs and wanted to throw his hand away, but you have to turn over a final WSOP hand, and his unfortunate no-outs hand was A-K-K-J.
A MOMENTARY LAPSE IN CONCENTRATION COSTS BRUEL
"I should never have kept betting," Bruel said afterwards. "I think I got too relaxed late in the match, it was a long day, I lost my concentration for one moment, and boom, that was it."
"I had a feeling the way the play was going I was going to have to suck out on him," said an ecstatic Williamson, who while enjoying the money was very clearly enjoying the bracelet more.
"It fits you very well," said a gracious Bruel in defeat. "You are a worthy champion."
"Ecstatic" was exactly the word Williamson used to describe his emotions in victory. "I've always been a specialist," he said. "Everyone else here dreams about winning the main event, but I've just started with no-limit hold'em. I used to play stud, then I switched to limit hold'em, them to pot-limit Omaha, and lately to triple draw lowball, so I really feel like I have two real games now and I wanted my bracelet in one of them. I want that triple draw bracelet, too."
Williamson, 31, turns out to be a bit of a philosopher. "I have some money, but life isn't about money," said the restaurateur and real estate developer. "Life is about how you treat friends and family and karma, and about not crossing certain lines. I'd been running bad in poker for a few months now: this prize money just gets me back into the black for that period. But I think the bracelet, the prize I wanted, I think that's more about living life the way I think it should be led. I try to do the right thing, and it feels like that came back to me today."
Sounds to me that when Williamson finished off the last of the clones, he was using the good side of the Force, not that Bruel or Flaton represented the dark side. I have no idea how the movie is going to turn out, and frankly it would have been a victory for good had the engaging Bruel won, but it's nice to see a good guy getting his dream. For a day that started in deadly dullness, it was a pretty sweet finish.
Final Official Results, Event #27, $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
Total Entries: 107
Total Prize Pool: $502,900
|
Finish |
Name |
Prize Money |
|
1 |
Robert Williamson III |
$201,160 |
|
2 |
Patrick Bruel |
$100,580 |
|
3 |
Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton |
$50,280 |
|
4 |
Chau Giang |
$30,180 |
|
5 |
Berry Johnston |
$22,640 |
|
6 |
Jackie Chitwood |
$17,600 |
|
7 |
Issam Tannouri |
$12,580 |
|
8 |
Johnny Chan |
$10,060 |
|
9 |
John Bonetti |
$8,020 |
|
10 |
Reza Daeipour |
$6,040 |
11th-12th, $6,040 each: Ralph Perry, Phillip Marmorstein.
13th-15th, $5,540 each: Mickey Appleman, Ken Lennaard, Jan Boubli.
16th-18th, $5,020 each: Randy Holland, Jay Heimowitz, Brent Carter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: YOUR NEXT TWO REPORTS WILL BE BROUGHT TO YOU BY NOLAN DALLA, AS THE POKER PUNDIT TAKES A DAY OF REST BEFORE ENTERING THE $3,000 NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM EVENT. RUMORS THAT HE IS TAKING ANOTHER DAY OFF TO GO SEE THE FIRST SHOWING OF STAR WARS, EPISODE II, "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" ARE STRICTLY A FIGMENT OF THE READER'S IMAGINATION.
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