| WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
Evidently everyone can now play tournament poker. Being experienced or successful
in the past means very little. This is great for the game, if not for the TV
producers. With two tables left, when I went home, there were plenty of names.
I come back today to a table of strangers. I blame the Internet.
Again, rather than wait to get nine handed last night, just as the day before,
today's Final Table began ten handed.
And it stayed that way for a little while.
On hand 15, Eric Hicks ran out of hot licks. Hicks made a move on the pot going
all-in for a reraise of about 30k. Eric might have been surprised to be called
after he'd limped in from late position. Jeff Wilson was on the button and raised
it to 8k. He then didn't hesitate to add the extra 22k to cover Hicks with A
Q offsuit. Eric Hicks took his lovely rooting section away with him in 10th,
with pocket 4's. when a Queen hit the turn.
One of the two well known players at this table was Tex Morgan. Still thin
as a post after all these years of casino food. (How does he do it? I NEED to
know.) To help prove today's thesis that experience doesn't matter anymore in
modern poker, Morgan will have to come back tomorrow morning (that's my German
gag). He didn't win a hand. Tex would have to dry his eyes on the rail (that's
my poker structure joke), in 9th place, when Morgan didn't raise enough to get
Wooyang Lin out preflop. Tex had pocket Queens that he might have slowed played
just a touch. The flop came K 3 3. Tex went all-in on the flop, with his case
20k, which made the starting chip leader Lin very happy with K Q offsuit.
With a smile that can light up an entire tournament area, Connie Kim left to
the writer's remorse in 8th. Connie couldn't find any cards to call the big
blind with, let alone win a hand. She was basically blinded off and out of the
event. At least she got paid something. Kings were running for Wooyang Lin at
the time. He flopped another one, with what would normally be a dominated hand--A
J for Kim and K J for Lin. Connie had finally found a hand she could go all-in
with, but she could only reraise Lin's 9k bet with 3,100 more in chips. It wouldn't
have matter how many Kim had though. Heads up, Lin would have called any amount
Connie would have had. Bang comes the King on the flop and that radiant smile
disappeared.
We fast forward 23 hands to number 65. Wooyang Lin did something difficult
to do in tournament poker. He started with a comfortable chip lead and finished
7th. How? He raised almost every hand and left himself open to be trapped. The
turning point for Lin was on a hand with Scott Wilson. Lin tried to buy Wilson
off a pot where Scott had flopped top pair with K Q suited. Wilson called Lin
down for a 100k pot. Wooyang had second pair with an Ace kicker. Lin only had
31k left when he picked up the A K of Diamonds in the big blind. Keith Naughton
bet out 10k with pocket Queens and got what he wanted, one raiser. The flop
came with two diamonds for Lin with his two overcards but then two bricks sealed
Lin's casket. Play fast, die early.
Five hands later, by playing slow, Steve Schlotterbeck moved up four spots
from 10th to 6th. What would have been the odds of a player with 119,700 starting
chips finishing lower than one with 17,800? Keith Naughton was feeling it all
day. He raised from the button with A J and flopped a Jack. Steve Schlotterbeck,
also from Pennsylvania, was all-in with the A 4 of Hearts and only a few chips.
Nice job by Steve. He made an extra $12,640 for sixth over tenth.
Scott Williams couldn't look. He pulled his cap over his eyes when he called
Jeff Wilson's all-in. Scott needn't have been concerned. Jeff was in the big
blind and sailed 50k into the pot as a reraise with pocket 8's. Scott had A
10 offsuit and flopped A 10, then rivered another Ace for a full house. You
can look now, Scott, you won. Jeff Wilson was 5th.
No one has been hotter than James Van Alstyne over the last six months. But
most of his wins and high finishes have been against famous poker players. I
got the impression that James may have been overconfident against newbies. On
an early hand, James raised first with 3 2 offsuit then showed the hand when
it made a wheel. Do you think, you're playing with kids? I think James may have
thought so. But the kids didn't know him. In the post game interview, I asked
Keith Naughton, who busted James, if he knew who he was. No, Keith knew who
Howard Lederer was when Keith busted him in the first tournament he ever played.
Now in his second tournament, he only recognized Tom McEvoy. Van Alstyne tried
to push Keith off a pot with a 40k raise, as the big blind over the small, when
Naughton bet. When Keith reraised, James only had 40k left and shrugging, called
the reraise knowing he was probably beat. Keith had A J, Steve had A 5. The
Jack played Van Alstyne out in 4th.
We'd had one player go out in over 80 hands. During the long stretch, Scott
Williams didn't ever try to defend himself. He was blinded out of this tournament.
He said he was hoping the two big stacks would battle and give him second place.
It never happened. When Scott finally tried to survive, he only had 25k left.
Scott gave up on getting the two giants to give him an extra $28,000. He went
all-in from the big blind with K 10 offsuit. He'd waited three hours for this?
He couldn't look as David Knauff put Scott out of his misery with A J.
Heads up, Keith Naughton had a little better than 2-1 chip lead. When David
Knauff pot committed himself by raising with pocket 3's, the politically correct
Naughton went all-in with third pair. "I don't think you have anything,"
Knauff said with his last 84k calling the all-in. The political consultant,
Naughton, didn't have much but he could beat a pair of 3's.
The newbies are taking over! Keith Naughton got into this event with a satellite
win. Asked if he would pony up the $10k entry with his $115,000 profit? Keith
said he would, only if he win another satellite. They may be unknown, but they
aren't dumb.
Mike Paulle | 
