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THE MORE THE MERRIER?
As we approach the Festa al Lago III Championship, the fields are starting to grow. With a total value of over one million chips in play, this table couldn't finish by 3 am last night so ten players began today.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count
Seat 1 Jean Gaspard Chicago IL 64,000
Seat 2 Terry Fleischer Las Vegas NV 187,000
Seat 3 Mark Dickstein New York NY 84,000
Seat 4 Craig Hartman Ft Wayne IN 72,000
Seat 5 Sam Arzoin New York NY 137,000
Seat 6 Asher Derei Los Angeles CA 58,000
Seat 7 Barry Greenstein Rancho Palos Verde CA 163,000
Seat 8 Chris Tsiprailidis Syracuse NY 93,000
Seat 9 Young Phan Irvine CA 85,000
Seat 10 Jeff Freedman Los Angeles CA 93,000
Ante 1,000 Blinds 4,000/8,000 60 minutes left in this level.
Watching these tables everyday, one wonders how some of these players could ever get to a Final Table in a major. How bad could the guys and gals be that they beat? How much money do chips have to cost before someone cares about them?
When you look up 'maniac' in the poker dictionary, there is a picture of Terry Fleischer. Unfortunately for Asher Derei in 10th place, even maniacs can pick up a hand once in a while. Asher only has 37k left in hand seven. Against anyone else, Derei probably doesn't call with the J 10 of Hearts, but the raiser is Fleischer. So Asher could have the best hand. This time Terry takes one from the pirates. He has the A Q of Clubs. Ace high is good but a Queen on the flop is even better.
Now down to the normal nine handed game, the players tightened up for a stretch. On hand 23 the player formally know as 'Prince,' Jean Gaspard, makes the right decision but gets punished for it. Jean calls all-in with the best hand, A 10 offsuit. Jeff Freedman had raised with Q J off and Jean catches him speeding. Sadly for Gaspard, the Jacks keep coming. "I couldn't beat Q J yesterday, no reason to believe I could beat it today," Jean says to friends on the sidelines. 'Prince' didn't rock, he started and finished 9th.
Six hands later, another one bites the dust. 'Syracuse' Chris Tsiprailidis will never be confused with a maniac. He's been here dozens of times. He knows where he's at and the value of his chips. But when you're sitting right behind a multimillionaire with a big stack, you have to enter that information into the equation. Barry 'Robin Hood' Greenstein is in the small blind and tries to blow Chris in the big blind off the hand with a raise. Chris has K J offsuit and goes all-in for 82k. Barry has the Q 6 of Diamonds. The flop comes A Q 6. No ten on the turn or river, no Tsiprailidis. So long, Chris in 8th place, see you soon.
This is Mark Dickstein's second trip to a Final Table in Festa de Lago III. Neither time will go into his personal scrapbook. Although Mark brought a few more chips this time, the results were about the same. Dickstein finishes 7th when he tries to buy the 26k of blinds and antes from the button with an all-in 58k and K 4 offsuit. Craig Hartman, in the small blind, is having none of it and calls almost all his chips with A 7 off. You've got to let these New Yorkers know that they play poker in Indiana. Craig doesn't need the seven on the river, the Ace high is good.
Let's get it out of the dirt. 2k antes, 5k/10k blinds.
I make fun of Terry Fleischer's game because I like him. He's very funny and engaging. But he is also seriously clueless. "I'm good in tournaments because it's like chess, it takes strategy. I'm good at strategy," Terry said to me before we started. "I played today because it's exactly the same event and buy-in I won last year on this date. I feel good about this one. You can rate my performance, Mike" All kidding aside, no matter how badly I think Terry plays tournament poker, he has a first and sixth in this event in two years. No one else has two Final Tables. So what do I know?
After knocking out Asher Derei with the A Q of Clubs, Terry never turns over another quality hand and he finishes 6th as the beginning chip leader. "I'm disappointed in myself," Terry said afterward. Terry's final hand is farcical. Fleischer tries to bluff Jeff Freedman off a made full house with no outs. "I played it badly," Terry moped. No kidding. Jeff makes it 30k from the small blind with K J offsuit. Terry calls from the big with 10 8 off. The flop comes K J 6. Jeff checkraises Terry another 40k. The turn is a Jack. Terry tries to buy the pot all-in for his last 80k, drawing completely dead. 187,000 in chips gone in 57 hands, with the blinds mostly at 4k/8k. It's obvious why tournament poker is exploding. People see this kind of play on TV and say, "I can do better than that." And they are right.
With Terry gone, the play tightens up considerably. It isn't until hand 76 that 5th place is determined. Veteran tournament pro Young Phan should have known better. He limps in from the small blind with K 4 offsuit. This lets the white-hot Jeff Freedman see the flop for free in the big blind. The flop of K K 10 sends Young all-in with trip Kings. But Jeff now has over 500k in chips thanks primarily to Terry Fleischer. Jeff flops up and down with Q J. Jeff has no trouble calling the 90k. When you are hot, you are hot. The Ace falls on the river and Young is aging fast.
Either we see no flop or someone is eliminated. Speeding forward to hand 89 Barry Greenstein, easily the best player at the table, is a surprising 4th when he goes all-in for about 170k in the cutoff seat. Barry never had any cards, so his charities will have to wait until the next tournament for a donation. Barry has the K 5 of Clubs. Someone who is getting cards is Jeff Freedman on the button. Jeff picks up A K off suit. Barry is drawing dead to a five that never arrives.
Jeff Freedman now has around 3/4 of all the chips on the table. This should be a walk in the park to the title, right?
Well, this is Jeff's first Final Table in a major. And it shows. Three handed, Jeff lets Sam Arzoin and Craig Hartman take the play away from him. Like Scott Fischman yesterday, Jeff seems to be waiting for heads up play. Meanwhile the other two players are fattening up on his stack. In hand 104, Sam Arzoin catches Craig Hartman with pocket 3's. Sam has pocket Kings and gets Craig to go all-in for 165k in front of him. Thank you, Craig. The Kings dominate and Sam is up to 450k in chips. The once huge lead for Jeff Freedman is down to 5-4 heads up.
Sam Arzoin has been at Final Tables of majors for over 20 years. This is no contest heads up. Sam is betting every hand as he should against a rookie. Very soon, Sam has the chip lead, then he has chip mastery. In only eleven hands, Sam Arzoin destroys Jeff Freedman. When Jeff raises all-in for his last couple of hundred thousand, Sam calls immediately with pocket 9's Jeff has the A 5 of Clubs and second place when the 9's walk.
More wasn't merrier for nine players, but most got what they deserved.
Mike Paulle
MikePaulle@PokerPages.com
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