| 2004 Master Classics of Poker Report November 13:
Well-known Austrian Takes Last Master Classics Event
By Rolf “Ace” Slotboom
The last final table of this highly successful tournament week had some fast and furious action. We had lots of bets and raises, quite a few multiway pots, and the colorful players made this table an exciting one to watch. Three of Holland’s major tournament trumps were on this final table: Peter Dekker, very successful in both the 2000 and the 2002 Master Classics, Mozes Fahim for already his second final table this week, and Europe’s Player of the Year 2001 and 2003, “Dutch Flying Fox” Marcel Lüske. (Actually, come to think of it, these people are all regular players in my own bread and butter game: the 500 Euros buy-in pot-limit Omaha. If you add other people like Rob Hollink, Arno Weber and Ed de Haas to that game, three poker stars who frequent this game of mine too, I guess I might have to look a bit more closely at my table- and game-selection.) Chip leader of today was Ercin Corc, in Austria better known as “George”, who used to run a poker room in Vienna when my girlfriend & I were still living there. He is a fast and highly aggressive player, so I expected quite a bit of excitement today – and I would not be disappointed.
Final table EUR 320 pot-limit Omaha (unlimited rebuys)
Players / Nationality / Chip Counts:
Seat # 1: Marcel Lüske, Netherlands, 118,900
Seat # 2: Van Bum Nguyen, Germany / Vietnam, 34,900
Seat # 3: Martin Vallo, Denmark, 29,100
Seat # 4: Mozes Fahim, Netherlands, 38,000
Seat # 5: Mads Andersen, Denmark, 41,000
Seat # 6: Ercin Corc, Austria, 217,600
Seat # 7: Peter Dekker, Netherlands, 64,900
Seat # 8: Sem Wong, Netherlands, 25,300
Seat # 9: Dan Popa, Rumania, 106,300
Total chips in play: 676,000 (approx.)
Cracking Aces Part I
As it happened, this tournament would turn into a “Cracking Aces” contest. On hand # 39, Marcel commented: “Aces no good today, guys – Kill the aces!” and he was right. By then, they had lost three times already, almost always in situations where they had been all-in before the flop, or close to it.
According to good Master Classics tradition, we lost our first player on the very first hand. It was Van Bum Nguyen who woke up with aces in the big blind – and he was on the rail before he knew it. Mads Andersen had raised Van’s 3,000 big blind to 10,000 and the German had reraised all-in with AA43 ss. Mats had an excellent hand against aces, the medium rundown JT98 ds, and won by making a straight.
Cracking Aces Parts II & III
One of the favorites to win today, the charismatic Peter Dekker, was unlucky when he lost a big pot against the sympathetic Dane Martin Vallo. On a flop Qd Jc Tc, Martin had bet out in early position, and Peter, holding the nuts with no redraws, decided to wait until the turn to make his move and flatcalled his bet. When a blank came on the turn, all the money went in, but on the river Martin (with Qc 9c 8 7 for a small straight + open-ended straight flush draw) made a flush. Peter now just had a few chips left and would lose them in a special pot. In early position, he raised all-in with QJT2 ds, and then Marcel from the button reraised the pot to 34,900 with AK87 ds. But then Martin in the small blind woke up with AAK6 ss, and reraised all-in to 63,500. With all this money in the middle, there was no way back for Marcel, despite the fact that his cards were somewhat dead. But on Aces Crack Day, everything was possible. With a final board K9742 with four hearts (that no one had), Marcel scooped the pot with two pair, kings and sevens, and he had done something quite unique: busting two players on one single hand. And then we lost yet another player who had put his faith in the aces, but who as a result would get eliminated. On the button, hometown Sem had raised to 18,000 with AAJ4 ss, and was called by initial caller Mats. Flop: Q73 with two spades. Mads checked, Sem bet all-in 23,000 and Mats then called holding KQJ8 for one pair + kickers, no extra draws. When a queen came on the turn it was over for Sem, and a few moments later we lost another Dutchman, Mozes Fahim. With 2,000 – 4,000 blinds and one limper, Mozes raised to 16,000 from the small blind with AKK5 ds and was called by the limper Ercin. When the flop came T98, Mozes bet his remaining 17,000 but he had run into the nuts of today’s chip leader, whose straight held up.
Cracking Aces Part IV
The fourth player to get his aces cracked may have had some consolation – he had lost his chips in a memorable pot. “Flying Fox” Marcel Lüske was in an excellent mood, cracking jokes, sharing his cards with the audience, pretending to show them to the cameras so that his opponents could see them too, etc. He then did something I have never seen someone do in a tournament of this size: make a blind preflop raise. Accompanied by the text “I am fed up – Let’s play some poker”, he raised Dan Popa’s 4,000 big blind to 10,000 without looking at his cards. Chip leader Ercin called from the small blind, and then it was big blind Dan who woke up with aces. He reraised the pot another 30,000, Marcel folded and Ercin called. When the flop came 7h 4c 2h, Ercin with AJT7 decided to put pressure on his opponent by betting 50,000 into him, but the Rumanian responded by raising all-in to 84,700 total with AA99. Both players didn’t have any hearts, so the aces were a rather big favorite to win – for a large part because of the worthless ace that Ercin was holding. But when a jack came on the river, the Austrian had made jacks and sevens – and we had yet another Aces Crack. With three players left, I estimated the chip counts at:
Ercin 491,000
Marcel 104,000
Mads 81,000
“I’m gonna be the chip leader, guys – heck, it might even be today”
Despite Ercin’s massive chip lead, it was Marcel who was the aggressive player. He raised almost every hand and the only thing Ercin did was meekly calling, rather than put his opponent to the test early. Or, as Marcel said to Mads: “I don’t know about you, but I want to play for first place, not for second”. As a result, Marcel was playing lots of pots against the chip leader, with the Dane going out of the way most the time. Marcel suffered a huge blow though, when with a board Ah Ts 5c 8h in an unraised pot and no bets on the flop, he bet out 12,000 on the turn and got raised to 54,000 by what proved to be a slowplayed set of aces. When Marcel check-folded on the river, he was down to only 32,000, or less than 5% of the chips in play.
Flying Fox shows fighting spirit
But he wouldn’t give up. He doubled up when on a flop 852 his top two pair held up, and he doubled up once more when on a flop K95 his inside wrap Q876 ds made it again Ercin’s flopped set of nines. And then exactly the person who was playing for second would end up as third. In an unraised pot, Mads had 8864 in the 6,000 big blind and flopped a decent wrap on a K75 rainbow flop. He bet 16,000 and when Ercin raised him 44,000 more from the button, he called. Mats also check-called 59,500 all-in on the turn 2h. When his wrap failed to materialize and on the end the board paired, it was Ercin who had his flopped set of sevens hold up.
But strangely enough, despite the 580,000 – 96,000 chip lead for the in general highly aggressive Austrian, it was Marcel who kept betting and raising. The Dutchman was able to win four or five pots without having to show his cards, and I actually though that he might be able to turn things around. But then he lost three pots in a row – and that was simply too much.
Chip leader finishes things off
First on hand # 95, Marcel had raised to 16,000 from the small bind / button (SBB), but then had to fold against Ercin’s river bet. On the next hand, in an unraised pot, Marcel check-called 10,000 on the flop Qc Js 2h. Turn: Kc, check / check. Now, when the river came Qh, Marcel checked, and when Ercin bet 15,000, it for all the world looked like he had made a small full – but when Marcel folded he showed 8764 for nothing more than just an eight-high! And on the immediate next hand, it was all over for the Flying Fox. From the SBB, he made it 12,000 to go, with again big blind Ercin merely calling. When the flop came Th 8s 5s, he bet into the preflop raiser though – Marcel calling his 20,000 bet. When the turn came Ah for a board with numerous drawing possibilities, the Austrian bet the pot, 64,000. Marcel had 54,400 left with Q976 for a nice wrap, and after long deliberation he decided it was worth it. Ercin had flopped yet another set (three eights this time), and when the board paired on the river, he had done it. He had beaten the man who has truly terrorized the tournament circuit over the past few years, and was rewarded with an almost 40,000 Euros first prize – and the honor of being a Master Classics Champion.
Some final words
The Master Classics of Poker 2004 have been a great success, for a large part because of the dedication of the Holland Casino Board (whose generosity has been highly appreciated by all the players), and the excellent work of managers, brushes and dealers alike. We have set new records for number of entrants, total prize money, and the biggest prize pool ever for one single event - almost one million Euros for this year’s Big One. I would say: See you all next year, guys – when we are going to break the record we’ve just set.
|
