$5,000 Buy-In Omaha Hi-Lo Split

"Two for the Price of One"
By Andrew N.S. Glazer

In a few moments, you'll be reading Nolan Dalla's report about the final table at today's Omaha Eight-or-Better event. Originally I'd planned Nolan as the chronicler of this event so that I could play the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em, but some business matters intervened. As a result, you'll get Nolan's report (which I've not seen), but at the end, take a look at another perspective on some interesting by-play I observed last night as the final table was being set…but first, Nolan Dalla's final table story.

The Poker Gospel According to Mike Matusow,
Winner of the $5,000 Buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo Split World Championship
by Nolan Dalla

INTRODUCTION:

It has been stated that poker is not so much a game of cards, as it is a game of people. Poker is a "people" game. The cards are merely the instruments used to divide winners from losers, separating fools from their money, affording the most talented segment of poker's unique subculture all the luxuries of the living the good life. At the highest level of tournament play, poker is not so much about cards as it is about people -- their ideas, their actions, and their words.

The psychological part of the game is one of the most fascinating, yet least understood aspects of poker. Getting into your opponent's head and under his/her skin is refined to an art form at the world class level. In highly competitive tournaments such as the events at the World Series of Poker, using pschology and the power of one's own personality can be the defining characteristic that sets a player apart from the rest of the pack, making a world champion out of what otherwise might be just a very good player lost in the shuffle at the World Series.

In the $5,000 buy-in Omaha hi-lo event at the 2002 World Series of Poker, the final two players put on a show and a display for the gallery that will certainly go down as one of the most entertaining in the glorious 33-year history of poker's world championship. Both players were so extremely confident of themselves winning the gold bracelet in this event, that if you asked each of them who would win -- it was as if the other player didn't stand a chance. As it turned out, the two-hour head up finale between the last two players was a duel of words and egos that in the aftermath left one player disappointed and dejected, and the other player thrilled with his victory.

THE PLAYERS:

From the preliminary chip count, it appeared that this would be Daniel Negreanu's tournament to lose. The one-time bracelet winner (1998 World Series for pot-limit hold'em) had a $34,000 chip advantage over the second-stacked player at the table, Greg Mascio. With $98,000 in front, Negreanu had at least two times as many chips as everyone else at the final table. Even worse for his opponents, Negreanu considers Omaha hi-lo split to be one of his best tournament games. The script had been written. The "Daniel Negreanu Show" was about to begin. Or, so it seemed at the time.

Players at the final table on Day Two, which began at 2:00 pm on May 16, 2002 were as follows:

SEAT 1: Hans Pfister (Zurich, Switzerland) $35,000 -- Arrived in 7th chip position. $33,000 in earnings at the WSOP.

SEAT 2: Dr. Max Stern (Las Vegas, NV) $37,000 -- Arrived in 6th chip position. Originally from San Jose, Costa Rica, Dr. Stern is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, with 15 cashes, and $660,000 in lifetime WSOP earnings.

SEAT 3: Mike Shi (Lakewood, CO) $9,000 -- Arrived in 9th chip position. Third final table appearance at this year's WSOP.

SEAT 4: "Miami" John Cernuto (Las Vegas, NV) $51,000 -- Arrived in 3rd chip position. Winner of three gold bracelets and $855,000 in lifetime WSOP winnings. A first-place finish in this event would put Cernuto in elite company as the WSOP's newest millionaire (lifetime WSOP earnings in excess of $1,000,000).

SEAT 5: John McIntosh (Baltimore, MD) $13,000 -- Arrived in 8th chip position. Won a gold bracelet earlier at this year's WSOP.

SEAT 6: Daniel Negreanu (Las Vegas, NV) $98,000 -- Arrived with the chip lead. Orginally from Toronto, Canada -- Negreanu now lives in Las Vegas. Won a gold bracelet in 1998 and was the United States Poker Champion in 1999.

SEAT 7: Mike Matusow (Las Vegas, NV) $46,000 -- Arrived in 4th chip position. Won a gold bracelet in 1999 and finished 6th in the main event at the World Series last year.

SEAT 8: Marcel Luske (Amsterdam, Holland) $43,000 -- Arrived in 5th chip position. Self-described salesman and amatuer player for whom poker is a hobby hides the fact he has been tearing up the European poker circuit for the past year.

SEAT 9: Greg Mascio (Fullerton, CA) $64,000 -- Arrived in 2nd chip position. Three cashes this year, including second-place in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha hi-lo event earlier at the WSOP.


ACT I: THE FINAL TABLE BEGINS:

Play began with 31:44 remaining in the $2K-4K betting round, with blinds set at $1K-2K.

Chip leader Negreanu immediately seized control of the final table by winning the first hand and scooping a hefty $40K pot. Already, spectators in the crowd were buzzing about a possible wire-to-wire finish for the ever popular Negreanu as he added yet another tower to his stack of blue and white-striped chips..

At the other end of the spectrum, Mike Shi sat alone and vulnerable with just $9,000 in chips remaining. The crafty Coloradoan made his final stand with a nice starting hand, A-3-4-6, but lost to Hans Pfister when the board came K-J-3-2-9 and Pfister tabled his trip kings. No low for Shi meant a 9th place finish and $7,420 in prize money.

The final table experience had to be a bitter disappointment for Greg Mascio. Arriving at the final table with the second-largest stack, Mascio must have felt he could give Negreanu a serious run for his money. Unfortunately, the cards did not fall right for Mascio. Negreanu lauched his first assault into Mascio's decreasing stack when he was dealt A-3-6-J and saw the board come down with J-4-5-6-7-9. Negreanu's seven-high straight and second-nut low scooped the pot and essentially cut Mascio's stack in half (Note: Mascio quietly folded his cards and did not show his hand). On the next hand, Negreanu made a wheel and scooped another big pot, this time at the expense of Dutchman Marcel Luske. The final hand of the night came a short time later for Mascio when he was dealt Q-Q-5-2, but lost when Luske flopped a straight. Mascio received $9,280 in prize money for 8th place.

John McIntosh sat idly by and watched as the first two players were eliminated. Down to less than $10,000 in chips, he then watched as the blinds escalated to $2K-3K and betting limits increased to $3K-6K -- not exactly the thing you like to see when short-stacked. McIntosh flopped two pair out of the big blind when the board showed 10-6-2 and called Negreanu's raise with his remaining chips after the flop. McIntosh held 10-9-6-3, but failed to improve his two pair. Meanwhile, Negreanu showed 7-8-9-J and won the pot when a 9 fell on the turn, making him a straight. McIntosh, who was one of the five of nine players at this final table with a gold bracelet, took 7th and $13,000 in cash.

Dr. Max Stern was the next player in serious trouble, as the Costa Rican native was scooped by Marcel Luske in an early hand and was left with only $10,000 in chips. He managed to move up two spots in the money by suriving three all-ins, then was dealt A-4-10-10 -- just the kind of hand he was looking for to double-up and get back into the game as a serious contender. Mike Matusow called Stern's raise out of the blind with 6-6-3-3 and flopped three's full of queens to take the pot and put Dr. Stern on the rail. Stern was out in 6th place with $16,700. Meanwhile, Mike Matusow had become a force to be reckenoned with at the final table and was now seen to be Negreanu's main challanger with nearly 100K in chips.

With five players remaining, the approximate chip counts stood as follows:

Negreanu, $190,000
Matusow, $98,000
Cernuto, $58,000
Luske, $40,000
Pfister, $20,000


ACT II: GETTING DOWN TO THE FINAL TWO

The second stage of the final table began with a prelude of what was soon to come. Negreanu and Matusow sat side-by-side and began bickering and bantering with each other. Sensing the inevitablity of a head-up showdown between the two stars because of their stack sizes, the two former champions played to the crowd and launched into a series of insulting and very funny comments about the other player's poker talent (or lack thereof). To hear the comments, you'd have thought these two young men were bitter rivals and mortal enemies, not the best of friends.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "You're going to need every one of those chips when we get down to playing head-up."

Amazing, how prophetic those words by Matusow would turn out to be.

Hans Pfister, from Switzerland was down to his last $8,000 and made a pre-flop raise with A-3-8-K. Pfister managed to catch two pair on the flop, but lost to Negreanu who had big cards to make a broadway straight on the turn (10-J-Q-K-A). Pfister collected $20,420 for 5th place.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "He's a donkey in live action. He puts his money in the pot with the worst of it, then prays to catch cards."

Next, it was Miami John's turn to hit the bricks. The former air-traffic controller turned poker pro was dealt Q-Q-8-4 with clubs. Luske had A-7-7-8, with higher clubs. The turn brought the third club on board giving both players a flush. However, Luske's flush was to the ace, while Cernuto could do no better than a queen-high flush. No low was made and Cernuto exited the final table in fourth place with $26,000.

Down to the last three players, the approximate chip counts were as follows:

Negreanu, $200,000
Matusow, $130,000
Luske, $70,000

Luske took a hit when Negreanu scooped a sizable pot and watched as the betting limits went up again, this time to $4K-8K, with blinds set at $2K-4K. Next, Negreanu picked up another big hand with two pair and an A-3 for low, nearly whipping out what was left of Luske's chips.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "He's hot now, but that won't last for long."

With Negreanu holding a decided chip advantage (5-2), Luske put his final chips into the pot and then staged a brief comeback by taking his last $21,000 back up to nearly $60,000 -- all at Negreanu's expense. But it was merely a temporary illusion. The Flying Dutchman from Holland took a bad beat when Matusow hit a jack-high straight -- and those chips that were once Negreanu's were finding a comfortable new home in Matusow's stack.

Luske finally went out in third place after a strong comeback effort when he was dealt Q-9-5-5 against Negreanu's J-9-4-3. These aren't normally solid Omaha hands, but played short-handed they can turn into absolute monsters as Negreanu found out when the flop came 3-4-4. The full house put Luske out with a third place payout of $44,560, or over a hundred thousand Dutch gilders.

With Negreanu enjoying a slight chip lead, the real show was about to begin.


ACT III: NEGREANU vs. MATUSOW:

Here's where the people part of the game really kicked in. Forget about Danny Gans. Never mind George Carlin. Blow off Don Rickles. The best comedy show in Las Vegas on this Thursday night was "Negreanu vs. Matusow." Part poker match, part situation comedy, part ego trip, these two champions gave the crowd quite a show.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "We played head up together at least twenty times. You almost beat me once. It was amazing!"

As nearly a quarter of a million in prize money for first and second place was set on the table for the players to see, their eyes were clearly drawn not to the money but to the gold bracelet. Both players, having won their first bracelet over three years ago (Matusow in 1999 and Negreanu in 1998) were chomping at the bit for another. Both players seemed to have been stricken with the "sophomore jinx," that it's much harder to repeat success than to intially acheive it. No doubt about it -- both players wanted the gold bracelet. Bad. Adding to the drama -- no mention of a deal was ever proposed by either player. These two warriors who had competed many times in tournaments before, in head-up freezeouts, and in hotel rooms for high stakes, were now taking their rivalry to a new level -- in front of all to see at the World Series of Poker.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: See that gold bracelet? After I win this, I'm going to have it engraved -- TO MIKE, FROM DANIEL, WITH LOVE."

NEGREANU TO MATUSOW: I can beat Mike with my eyes closed."

Next, Negreanu ordered a Corona beer prompting this gem from Matusow:

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "How can you beat a drunk? They don't know how to lay down a hand."

As the banter continued, the chip lead changed back and forth. Once, twice, four, five, six times. The chips whirled around the table and just as soon as it looked as if one player might seize control, the other would take down two or three successive pots and draw back to even.

Then, Matusow went on a nice rush. He picked up a $60,000 pot with kings full of aces, then on the next hand check raised Negreanu after a flop of 7-7-2. Thirty minutes into head-up play, Matusow had a $230K to $140 chip lead. Matusow begame even more aggressive as he accumulated chips. He raised and re-raised Negreanu constantly and seemed to sense when the former Canadian missed the flop. Negreanu put a stop to the avalanch of chips flowing over into Matusow's stack when he won a key pot with K-J-5-4 and made two pair to scoop the pot.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "You keep pumping up the pot with K-J-5-4 and you aren't going to have many of those chips left."

Negreanu smiles. Negreanu sips his Corona.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "Later tonight, I'm going to go out celebrating my big win over Daniel Negreanu. (Turning to Negreanu) What are you going to be doing, Son?"

Matusow wins another hand, which brings another quip:

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "You can't change destiny. Don't you know that?"

On the next hand, Negreanu won a sizable pot and turned to see an attractive woman in the crowd, presumably an acquaintance of Matusow's. Matusow waved at the lady, prompting Negreanu to dish it back:

NEGREANU TO MATUSOW: "Take care of him tonight, because he's going to be very upset after he loses this chip lead."

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "Hey! You finally won a pot, and now you've found your voice!"

Negreanu orders a second Corona. Matusow orders a Mountain Dew (soft drink).

Next, Matusow bet after a ragged flop which caused Negreanu to fold as he shows one pair. As the chips are being pushed to Matusow, he can't resist himself.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "All I got to do is bet and take it -- you're getting easy. At least try to put up a little fight, Danny."

Negreanu wins a pot.

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "I have to let you win a pot every once in a while. I don't want the whole world to know that I'm THAT much better than you."

MATUSOW TO NEGREANU: "Yesterday, you had me down $90,000 to my $10,000. That's a 9 to 1 chip lead. Come to think of it, you need that advantage when you play against me."

Things got a bit more serious on the next hand, as Matusow got involved with Negreanu in a $65,000 pot. Negreanu showed down an ace-high straight with A-K to the board's 10-J-Q-x-x getting the best of Matusow's king-high straight with K-9. With that pot, the two poker warriors were back close to even in chips. This only added to the war of words between the two players.

As limits were increased again, this time up to $6K-12K and $3K-$6K blinds, Negreanu sensed that this was going to be a long battle. He looked at Tournament Director Matt Savage and said, "Hey Matt, you don't mind if we hang out here at the final table a few more hours, do you?"


ACT IV: THE FINAL CURTAIN

Mike Matusow picked the right time to get hot in this poker tournament. He went on a roll just as the limits increased and found himself with pocket aces in consecutive hands. Pocket aces are not nearly as strong in Omaha hi-lo as in hold'em, but played head-up they can be very effective. On the first hand, Matusow showed A-A-x-x and took a $60,000 pot from Negreanu who failed to make a low to salvage half of his chips back. On the very next hand, Matusow won again with the aces, this time against Negreanu's pocket kings. Negreanu, who had been calm and cool the entire final table -- even in the face of Matusow's razor-sharp comments -- slinged his cards forward in obvious digust. Negreanu was down under $100,000 in chips for the first time since play had begun four hours earlier.

Things were to get even worse for Negreanu. On the next hand, Matusow was hit with a monster flop -- making the nut low with trips. Negreanu did not show his hand, but was left with only about $40,000 after the third consecutive scoop for Matusow.

Sensing the seriousness of the proceedings and the fact that the end was looming on the horizon, Matusow showed the proper restraint by backing off with his humorous comments. Not many players outperform Daniel Negreanu at a final table, and Mike Matusow was doing precisely that -- getting help from the deck, no doubt, but playing his stack and position well in an effort to put all the pressure back on the short-stacked Negreanu. It was not a position Negreanu was used to being in at head-up play at final tables.

A few hands later, Matusow made a bluff after the flop and won (showing no pair and no draw) as Negreanu folded his hands and looked quietly straight ahead. Down to just $20,000 left, Negreanu made his final stand of the night with K-7-6-3. Matusow was dealt A-J-4-4 and clearly had the advantage. The flop came Q-4-2, giving Matusow trip 4s and essentially sealing Negreanu's fate unless he could catch a low or a straight. The turn was a 10 (blank). Negreanu needed a card less than an 8 not matching the board to take the low, while a 5 would scoop the pot and give Negreanu new life. A harmless 9 fell on the river, which meant Matusow's trip 4s was the best hand. Mike "Motormouth" Matusow had won his second gold WSOP bracelet.


AFTER THE SHOW:

Watching the final table was a real treat. It was an epic duel made even more meaningful by the fact that both Matusow and Negreanu had their parents in attendance. Negreanu's Romanian-born mother (who now lives in Toronto) sat quietly behind her son. Matusow's parents also sat next to the final table and watched thier son win a world championship. How proud both of these parents must be.

The colorful banter and fun exchange between these two champions hides the fact that behind these scenes, these two players are actually great freinds. As he walked away with $85,400 in prize money, Negreanu couldn't help but sling one more arrow in Matusow's direction:

NEGREANU TO MATUSOW: "I'm glad to see you finally get some money. Now, we can keep you in action."

Those words may have been more true than most people realized. As he posed with his second gold bracelet and in front of $148,520 in first place prize money, Matusow confided that he had run terribly bad the last six months. "So far at the World Series, I haven't even made it past the dinner break," refering to the fact that he has exited early in every event he has played up until tonight.

It was payback time.

Refering to the $10,000 buy-in main event next week, Matusow had a bold prediction: "Bracelet Number Three is coming up next week."

With that, the Mike Matusow show came to a merciful close -- at least until the next final table when the madness shall reign once again.


Final Official Results, Event #29, $5,000 Buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo Split
Total Entries: 79
Total Prize Pool: $371,300

Finish Name Prize Money
1 Mike Matusow, Las Vegas, NV $148,520
2 Daniel Negreanu, Las Vegas, NV $85,400
3 Marcel Luske, Amsterdam, Holland $44,560
4 "Miami" John Cernuto, Las Vegas, NV $26,000
5 Hans Pfister, Zurich, Switzerland $20,420
6 Dr. Max Stern, Las Vegas, NV $16,700
7 John McIntosh, Baltimore, MD $13,000
8 Greg Mascio, Fullerton, CA $9,280
9 Mike Shi, Lakewood, CO $7,420

As the hour grew late Wednesday night, I watched the last two tables of the Omaha Eight-or-Better event, thinking we might see history in the making…because there sat Phillip Ivey, with an above-average stack, and only one table left to go to reach a sixth final in this WSOP. Even more important, if Ivey could win this event, he'd win a fourth bracelet, something that has never been done in one World Series.

Because there were only enough entrants to pay one table, readers of the official results also couldn't see that there was a chance that the mighty David Chiu could have made the final table, although he was very short stacked.

As I sat wondering if we were on the verge of seeing an unbreakable record set (it will be hard enough for Ivey to win a fourth: it's inconceivable that anyone will ever win five in one Series), I had the pleasure of watching two of poker's fastest players and talkers, Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu.

"WHAT YOU SAY IS SO LOUD I CAN'T SEE WHAT YOU DO"

As you saw in the opening final table statistics, Negreanu started the final day with the chip lead and he didn't grab it in last few moments of the evening. He had a chip mountain most the whole time I watched. The only problem was that it was hard to watch because one of my other senses, the auditory one, was in the process of being overwhelmed.

"One more hand, just one more hand," said Matusow, "if I can win just one more hand I'll get to this final table, and I absolutely guarantee that if I get to the final table with $50,000, I'll win. I'm the best in the world at high-low tournament Omaha, the best. Well OK maybe second, I might give Scotty (Nguyen) an edge."

These weren't whispered remarks. Anyone in the area could have heard them, but Matusow, the seventh place finisher at last year's Big One, wasn't done.

"The really cool thing," Matusow announced to the table, "is that Daniel has all these chips, and I guarantee you that he can't win this tournament if I do."

Negreanu was cracking up-he and every other high stakes Las Vegas pro have listened to Matusow yap louder and faster than this, and I made an observation.

"That's a pretty bold prediction, Mike," I said, "because if you win the tournament it's mathematically and logically impossible for Daniel to win."

Matusow stopped hyperventilating long enough to realize he'd offered a tautological prediction, so he shifted over to bolder statements. "It doesn't matter, he can't win, this is my game."

Daniel laughed and approached me between hands. "What's really funny," Daniel said, "is that we've played this game heads-up about 19 times, and I'm 17-2, but Mike only remembers the two he won, he thinks he's ahead 2-1."

NO HISTORY FOR IVEY

As I listened to the auditory duel, Chiu survived a few all-in hands, but couldn't make it. More importantly, Ivey, who isn't an Omaha-8 specialist, got scooped in several pots. He probably could have just anted his way to the final table, but someone who owns three bracelets isn't focusing on the honor of making a final table. He was trying to accumulate chips for a win, and it didn't work out. Ivey went out 11th.

That pretty much wrapped up my interest in seeing how the final table would be set, with no history to be made, but Matusow offered one last remark.

"You know how disappointed I was when I went out of the Big One last year, because you were there," Matusow said. "Well, I'll tell you, I'll be even more disappointed if I don't win this tournament, because this is MY game."

You've already read the details of how Matusow made good his prediction. Just thought you might like to know that he had indeed made it.

A REMATCH AND POSSIBLY SOME HISTORY OF ANOTHER SORT

One other thing you might like to know is that we've reached the finals of the Bracelet Winners Tournament, and we have a delightful rematch on our hands. In 1989, the legendary Johnny Chan was going for an unprecedented third consecutive world title, but came up one place short, when another player known to utter an occasional extra sentence, young Phil Hellmuth, Jr., stopped him with two nines against A-7 suited.

Hellmuth and Chan have worked their way through the brackets. Chan is one of poker's coolest characters, and I very much doubt he'll admit that there would be any satisfaction in taking any revenge. Hellmuth, on the other hand, has so far been having a tough series, but if he beats Chan, he gets that record-tying eighth bracelet that he wants so much. There's no fixed time for the event yet, because as I write this both are still in the $3,000 no-limit event, but I'll bring you the details.

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