| Big Gunners Rule In Nut Paradise
By Rolf “Ace” Slotboom
In pot-limit Omaha events at major tournaments, it is quite common for these events to have slightly smaller fields, and a whole bunch of quality players. Today was no exception. On a final table with one of the best PLO cash game players in the world (“Sunny” Birindar Nijran), the 2002 Lido Main Event Winner (Graham Hiew) and two of the very best PLO tournament players in the world (Simon “Aces” Trumper and “Big Dog” Ed de Haas), it was clear we would be in for some fireworks. In the end, we got what we expected – actually, much more than that.
Final table EUR 520 pot-limit Omaha (1 optional rebuy)
Players / Nationality / Chip Counts:
Seat # 1: David Meyer, Scotland, 50,500
Seat # 2: Simon Trumper, England, 76,400
Seat # 3: Graham Hiew, England, 155,600
Seat # 4: Ed de Haas, Netherlands, 100,300
Seat # 5: Sonny (Boy) Osman, England, 50,200
Seat # 6: Elias Brussianos, Greece, 80,800
Seat # 7: Frederik Hostrup, Denmark, 97,000
Seat # 8: Ayhan Alsancak, Sweden, 25,800
Seat # 9: Birindar (Sunny) Nijran, England, 50,700
Great atmosphere: Players get the nuts all the time – and show them
To add some spice to today’s game, the casino must have decided to add some kings and aces to the deck – because it seemed there was always someone who would wake up with the nuts or close to it. First it was Simon who raised two limpers before the flop with KKQ5 ds (double-suited) and flopped a set. Then it was Sunny’s turn. Having made a small raise before the flop, he made a relatively small bet on the A87 flop, with everybody folding.
The Big Dog shouted, “Bluff!” to induce Sunny to open up his cards, and he dutifully obliged – showing AA. A little while later, Frederik Hostrup found them too. Having raised two or three times already with what looked like big pairs, Frederik now raised the pot once more. Ayhan, who was sitting to his immediate left, decided he could not have aces all the time, and reraised pot with the rather mediocre KJT7 ss (single-suited) to make the Dane lay down his hand. But Frederik had aces – and they held up to bust out the Swede.
Ed decided to join the party: In a small pot where he had just limped in middle position, the flop came ace / small / small, and sure enough he had bullets. (Again, according to table courtesy, he showed them.) Then, Frederik found aces once more and also made top set – but unfortunately for him, this time they would cost him dearly. Having raised before the flop, he was called by big blind Simon, and the flop came Ac 8d 6c. Simon checked and Frederik bet the pot, 17,500.
At that point, I wrote down in my notes: “Bluff?” because it seemed to me that the Dane was probably only trying to represent strength. When Simon called, I concluded that he probably didn’t believe the three aces either. Now, with the Jd on the turn, Simon came out betting all-in for a total of about 45,000 and Frederik couldn’t wait to get his chips in – because he had aces again for the current nuts, top set. What he probably hadn’t envisioned was that Simon held Qc Tc 9d 2d for the ultimate draw: two flush draws and a wraparound straight draw (any K, Q, T, 9 or 7 would give him a straight).
A truly amazing match-up of hands and in the end it was Simon who was the lucky one – catching the nine of clubs on the river that completed both a straight and a flush. So much for those who think aces are unbeatable, because if my calculation is correct Simon was actually a favorite after the fourth card to win the hand, even with one card to come. (Frederik’s AA52 ds in hearts and spades did give him the current nuts, but Simon had the worst possible hand for him to be up against.) So yes, it is true guys: Omaha is a drawing game – and sometimes it is a nut game too.
Some more nut hands
Some more super hands would follow soon: Sunny who had flopped a full house and got some action, and a little while later Sonny who had flopped top set on a J54 flop. And how about Graham Hiew, who had the absolutely amazing AAQQ ds for the current nuts preflop in a heavily raised pot – and then in the end he managed to bust out Elias by beating the Greek’s backdoor jack-high flush with a higher backdoor flush, ace-high! Really, it was quite amazing what we all witnessed in less than 40 hands of play. But the most amazing hand was yet to come.
The now shortstacked Frederik decided to make a stand, raising all-in under the gun with Qh 2h Q J, and was called by big blind Sonny’s 8h 5h A K. When on the turn the Dane had made a queen high flush things looked pretty solid against his opponent’s eight-high flush. (The board was Kh 4h 7s 6h.) But Sonny noticed that he was not dead yet and called for the seven of hearts – the one card in the deck that would give him a straight flush. “Seven of hearts!” he shouted at the dealer, and Bang! She gave exactly that. Sonny had done the right thing, calling for what he wanted – but poor Frederik had been busted two times in a row, first when somebody bet into his current nuts, and then when his opponent had only one card to beat him.
Shortly after, it was Sonny’s turn to get a big hand beaten. Usually, his 88 would be good in an unraised pot with a board of A877 – but not today, as it was Simon who beat his eights full with an even higher one: aces full. Amazing stuff – it seemed like every hand there was at least someone who would wake up with the nuts.
Now, let’s play poker
But despite all these huge hands, the action was really just about to start. With four extremely strong British players left, in addition to our one remaining Dutch star (winner of this year’s World Poker Open PLO event in Tunica), we had some great poker ahead of us. The Big Dog had hardly been playing any hands during the first two hours of play, but five-handed this was about to change. With the blinds now at 3,000 – 6,000, the former basketball player decided it was time to change gears.
Supported by his girlfriend who was watching him closely, he started moving and grooving exactly the way we know him. He was fortunate to bust out the excellent Sunny, though. Limp / reraising the him all-in with a mere AKT6 ss, things were not looking too good against the Londoner’s AKJ5 ss, but when the board showed A62T6, things were looking good. And now he really started to take control.
He semi-bluffed Simon out of the pot on the turn with a 9966 ds for nothing more than the blockers and a nine-high flush draw, and suddenly looked like the ‘old’ Eddie again. He won another pot coming over the top of David’s preflop raise (the Scot correctly laying down his hand to the Dutchman’s aces), and yet another one against the same player when on the flop Jh 6d 2d David was able to raise Eddie’s bet, but could not call him when he got repopped. When two hands later David stared into the Two Eyes of Texas once more (this time it was Simon again holding the Aces; I guess now I know where that nickname of his comes from), it was all over for the friendly Scot. We were three-handed, with the chip counts as follows:
Simon 253,000
Ed 268,000
Graham 164,000
It didn’t take Ed long to make this a heads up battle. Out of the 3,000 small blind, Graham raised to 18,000, with Ed calling. When the flop came 9h 7d 3s, Graham checked, Eddie bet 36,000, Hiew check-raised the pot to 144,000 total and the Dutchman reraised all-in.
Graham must have sensed that Ed probably didn’t have much, because he only had Qc 9c J J for top pair / overpair / backdoor flush. And indeed Ed was drawing, but it was a rather strong draw: Td 5d 6c 4c for a 13-card straight draw with a little extra. A six came on the river to bust out Graham, and the game was now two-handed between Strong Simon and Big Eddie – the man who had won every major clash so far.
The tide turns for the Big Dog
But the first clash that he did lose was an important one. Simon had slowly crawled back from his initial 245,000 – 440,000 chip deficit, when the following hand developed. Simon raised Ed’s 8,000 big blind to 24,000 from the small blind / button (SBB). With a flop 8h 5c 2d, Eddie checked, Simon bet 48,000 and Ed immediately check-raised him to 192,000 total, acting very strong.
Simon had AA98 ds in spades and clubs, meaning that he basically had a pair, an overpair and some, but not a lot of extras. After a rather long deliberation, Simon decided that the tall guy was betting a draw – or at least a relatively weak hand – and he came over the top once more for 283,000 total.
Eddie (with Jd 9d 6s 2s for one pair + kickers + gutshot + backdoor flush) said “OK”, but with two fours on the turn and river, he had lost his first major confrontation of the day – and as a result, he was close to all-in with only 79,000 vs. Simon’s 603,000.
Ed fought back though, when in a heavily raised pot he flopped what he wanted (holding 9754 for a nice wrap on an A86 flop against Simon’s JJQ7 ds), and especially rivered what he wanted: a small card to complete his wrap.
But not much later it was all over for him anyway. On a flop J52 all diamonds, Eddie waited for an irrelevant turn card to bet out 10,000, got raised to 30,000 and then reraised to 100,000. When he got called, Ed knew he was toast, and thus he invested no more money. (Simon had the king-high flush and two pair for back up.) And on the immediate next hand, the tournament was over.
No raises before the flop, and no bets on the flop As 9s 7s either. Now, with the turn Ac, Simon checked, Ed bet 10,000 and Simon check-raised him 20,000 more. Thinking that Trumper may be trying to take the pot away from him, and probably thinking he could make his opponent fold a made flush or even a small boat, Ed came over the top for all his money, 150,000, with nothing more than three aces + kickers. Simon called immediately for A9xx for the nut full house (yeah, there is that nut again). Ed could still win by catching a jack, but he failed to do that.
Simon had been waiting all along to try to trap Eddie, and in the end this was exactly what happened. But the truth is that both played some excellent poker, in a superb atmosphere, in an event that could be considered a true promotion for poker. Congratulations to Simon “Aces” Trumper, who has now become the # 1 in the European Omaha rankings, and who got rewarded for his excellence on this day with a whopping 70,000 Euros.
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