As Bad As It Gets: O’Neil Longson wins grueling Razz championship
If Doyle Brunson’s record-tying tenth World Series of Poker lifetime victory
was poker at its finest, then the final table of the Seven Card Razz event was
every poker fan’s worst nightmare. Think of working as a security guard on the
graveyard shift in an empty warehouse. O’Neil Longson won the most punishing
event thus far at this year’s World Series. He topped an all-time Razz turnout
(291 entries) and collected $125,690 in prize money. This was gold bracelet
Number Three for the near-comatose retiree and poker pro from Utah.
In every way, shape, and form the Razz finale was dreadful. First, it lasted
a seemingly infinite 16 hours. On Day Two, play started off at 2 pm. The tournament
did not end until 8 am the next morning. What brave (or insane) spectators remained
who were scattered inside a near-empty tournament area were either snoozing
or catatonic. The winner, O’Neil Longson showed little emotion after winning,
most appropriate given the circumstances. A thrilling poker moment, this was
not.
This is not to say that Longson, a widely-respected tournament veteran, did
not put on a masterful performance. In fact, play at the final table was extraordinary.
There were a number of highly-interesting poker personalities in the finale,
which might have provided some riveting drama has the game been No-Limit Hold’em.
But instead, the game was Razz – a hybrid of Seven-Card Stud in which the object
of the game is to make the worst possible hand. There are no devastating rivers,
nor coin flip showdowns in Razz. Instead, there are hours and hours and hours
of tedious monotony. It’s poker version of an assembly line.
The eight finalists took their seats and play began. There were three former
gold bracelet winners – O’Neil Longson (2), Mike Wattel (1), and
Hassan Kamoei (1). Players were eliminated in the following order:
8th – Hassan Kamoei went out first. He arrived with the lowest
stack (11,500). Kamoei went out with an 8-6 low which lost to Larry Cesareo’s
8-4. Kamoei collected $11,245 and got a good night’s rest.
7th – Larry Cesareo was the next player to exit. He was low on
chips and made his last stand with 10-9, ultimately losing to Archie Karas’
9-6. Cesareo was slayed in 7th place – good for $15,660.
6th – Mickey Wernick is a true poker pioneer. He was one of the
first non-American players to visit the WSOP back in the late 1970s. He saw
a new game being played called ‘Texas Hold’em’ told a few friends back in England,
and the Brits have been playing it ever since. Wernick is deserving of a gold
bracelet and he has a number of in-the-money finishes and final tables in his
25-year WSOP career. But 6th place was the highest he could climb on this night.
Wernick went out when his 9-8-6 was bested by Archie Karas’ 9-8-4. Wernick earned
$19,675 in prize money.
5th – Mike Wattel fell just shy of winning gold bracelet number
two a few weeks ago. He was the runner up in the Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split
event. Wattel walked away disappointed again, this time. He fell low on chips
and had a number of decent starting hands, which then turned into dogs when
face cards and pairs killed his hand. Wattel finally went out in 5th place and
received $24,900.
4th – Anargyros Karabourniotis, a.k.a. Archie Karas, is one of
gambling’s most mythological figures. Ten years ago, Karas strolled into Binion’s
Horseshoe with a few thousand dollars in his pocket and started shooting craps.
He won. The next day, he came back and won again. Big. Over the next few weeks,
Karas went on the biggest roll in Las Vegas history, winning an estimated $25
million at one point. But in the end, Karas lost in all. In recent years, Karas
has played tournament poker regularly. Although he has played in the highest
cash games in the world, he has not yet won a major tournament. Karas came close
on this night, but ultimately fell short. There’s no telling how long the $30,120
that was paid out to Karas lasted. Odd are that he’ll either end up winning
the Rio property or going bust.
3rd – Al Barbieri is just what one would expect in a person,
given his South Philadelphia roots. The Italian-neighborhood goombah, nicknamed
‘Sugar Bear’ (this is for real, folks) had Bruno Fitoussi ‘all in’ at one point
and it seemed he might get heads-up against Longson. But Barbieri lost that
crucial hand and then saw his tall towers of chips get wacked. Barbieri was
eliminated in 3rd place – good for $42,165.
2nd Place – Heads-up play began with O’Neil Longson holding a 2 to 1
chip lead. The betting levels were so high that only a hand or two could swing
the lead in either direction. In the end, Bruno Fitoussi ended up losing
the final hand of the night (make that, morning) with 10-7 getting topped by
9-8.
The runner up was Bruno Fitoussi, a.k.a. ‘the King.’ Fitoussi is best known
in the poker world as the manager of Aviation Club de France, in Paris. Fitoussi
has also proven to be a top poker player in his own right. He won the World
Heads-Up Championship in 2001 and also finished 15th in the main event (WSOP)
in 2003. Second place paid $70,275.
1st Place – O’Neil Longson is a 71-year-old professional poker
player, who lists ‘retired’ as his profession. But Longson shows no signs of
slowing down, at least when it comes to winning tournaments. This was Longson’s
second gold bracelet in two years.
This was a day of both similarities and contrasts. Poker legend Doyle Brunson
won his gold bracelet on the same day. That meant that two players in their
70s have now won championships at the World Series. Poker may be a young man’s
game, but Longson and Brunson are showing the world that the old-timers can
win, as well.
Longson walked away from the nearly-empty poker room as he has many times,
strolling casually and quietly back to his room at the end of a long day. Those
who may have passed him en route would never have known by the stoic look on
Longson’s expressionless face that he had just won six-figures and become a
three-time WSOP winner.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make
a sound?
Official Report by Nolan Dalla – World Series of Poker Media Director
World Series of Poker Circuit Director of Operations – Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director – John Grooms
Rio Poker Room Manager – Michael Matts
Rio Poker Tournament Director – Robert Daily
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