| Longtime Poker Pro Paul Kroh
Breaks the WSOP 'Curse'
After years of bubble finishes and bad beats, Kroh finally has something to 'crow' about
Poker veteran Paul Kroh hates bad beat stories. He despises listening to them. He despises telling them. But if anyone in poker has a right to bore the rest of humanity with his tales of tournament woe, it is Mr. Kroh. The 59-year-old east coast transplant now living in Battle Mountain, NV has played dozens of World Series of Poker events over the years. He has often had many chips going into the closing stages, when just two or three tables remained. But each and every time it looked like Kroh would finally break the curse, he'd get dealt A-K, move 'all in' and lose to A-Q or worse. He'd flop a set, and lose to a flush. Seven times, he says - he went out with pocket Aces on the bubble. Although he says he's not superstitious, Kroh even admits there are now some cardrooms and tournaments where he will not play (Harrah's Rincon is not one of those rooms - with good reason, as you will see).
Kroh's most famous, or infamous poker moment came when he was playing in the main event at the 1998 World Series of Poker. He was the chip leader after Day One. After Day Two, Kroh was sixth in chips. Then, on Day Three, he crashed and burned. He took a terrible beat to Scotty Nguyen when he moved 'all in' on a royal flush draw. Nguyen called instantly and sure enough - the flush came. Trouble was, Nguyen had the Ace-high flush to Kroh's King-high. Nguyen went on to win the tournament that year and became the world poker champion. Kroh finished a disappointing 13th. Yeah - lucky 13.
The brutality of beats led poker insider Phil Gordon to remark, 'Paul Kroh is the best poker player never to have won a gold bracelet.' High praise, indeed.
Bruised and battle tested, Kroh must have wondered what would go wrong on this day. He came to the final table with the chip lead, but faced the tough challenge of facing eight opponents who were equally determined to win.
Event #4 attracted 117 entries. Day One lasted 10 hours, during which 108 players were eliminated. The nine finalists returned for Day Two and players were eliminated in the following order:
9th Place - Jill Ann Spaulding is hard to miss inside any poker room - for at least a couple of big reasons. She's a stunning peroxide blonde who incessantly promotes poker and her own website. Jill Ann was the third female to make it to a final table so far at this tournament, but her time was disappointingly short. Just ten minutes into play, Jill Ann was short stacked and was bounced off the final table. She collected $1,702.
8th Place - 'Syracuse Chris' Tsiprailidis was the only finalist to have previously won a WSOP gold bracelet. He fell far short of that on this day. The Greek immigrant and former restaurant owner went out next in 8th place, and received $2,270. Ante Xaeoy, Chris!
7th Place - Brian McKain, the 30-year-old owner of a property management company arrived with the shortest stack, but leaped over two players and finished 7th. He went 'all in' with Q-9 on his final hand, which was steamrolled by Larry Satterwhite's pocket Aces. McKain, who won a No-Limit poker tournament at Canterbury Park (Minneapolis) in 2003, took $2,837 in this event.
6th Place - Greg Hopkins is another professional player with several final table finishes - including four previously at the WSOP. The 39-year-old pro from Redondo Beach looked to be in good position to make a run at the chip lead early on, but faltered during his final half hour on Day Two. He ended up 'all in' with K-Q against Marv Heintshel's A-7 and lost. Hopkins earned $3,405 for 6th place.
5th Place - After Paul Kroh lost the chip lead momentarily to Larry Satterwhite, then regained it again - Ryan Buchardt was the next player to exit. Buchardt came in second in chips but was never able to generate the momentum necessary to pose a serious threat to the bigger stacks. Buchardt went out when he ran into an 800-pound gorilla - Paul Kroh with pocket 10s to match the 10 on board for a set. Buchardt, a middle-limit cash game player, who at 24 was the youngest player to make a final table thus far in San Diego, received $3,972 for 5th place.
4th Place - Walt Morrill, a sports trading card dealer from Tomball, TX, had a great 2003 on the tournament trail - with six final tables and three wins. However, 2004 was an off year. Morrill got back on track with his first WSOP final table in this event. Morrill struggled with a short stack most of the day, but did manage to move up the money ladder into 4th place. He lost with a pair of 5s to a pair of 6s on his final hand, and collected $4,540 in prize money.
3rd Place - Larry Satterwhite, a retired college professor from Houston, seized the chip lead at one point, but that lasted only a few hands. He was grinded down to the lowest stack and made his final hand with A-2, which feel to Paul Kroh's 5-5. Satterwhite, known more prominently in No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha cash game circles, took $6,242 for third place.
When heads-up play began, the chip counts were dead even. Marv Heintschel put up a good fight in the heads-up duel but could not overcome he crush of cards that fell Paul Kroh's way in the final hour. Kroh held the chip lead the entire way and took Heintschel's final chips on the last hand of the tournament:
Heintschel - J-9
Kroh - 6-2 (suited hearts)
The flop came K-K-9 with two hearts. Heintschel was 'all in' at that point and was disgusted when a third heart fell on the turn. Heintschel was still drawing to four outs (Ks or 9s to make a full house). But a harmless blank fell on the river and Kroh was the new champion.
Marv Heintschel, a 65-year-old stucco contractor from nearby Escondido, plays most low-limit poker and small buy-in events. He certainly showed he can play with the best in the world in this event. Second place paid $11,349.
Paul Kroh has a number of tournament wins in his illustrious poker career - including three wins at a single tournament in Reno several years ago. He's also made multiple final tales at the World Series of Poker, World Poker Open, LA Poker Classic and other major events. But for all his success the one thing that had eluded Kroh was a WSOP title. Those demons were finally laid to rest on this day.
Amazingly, in the final 90 minutes of play, Kroh flopped five sets in and busted three of the last four players en route to victory. All of those sets held up. It was as if the poker God were finally apologizing for so many tough WSOP beats over the years - all in a single day.
Final Table Started at: 4:00 pm PST
Final Table Ended at: 8:30 pm PST
Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director
World Series of Poker Tournament Director - John Grooms
World Series of Poker Circuit Director - Ken Lambert
Harrah's Rincon Poker Room Manager - Bob Corona
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