Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker - WPT Season 4

Alex Kahaner

Tournament Report

Other Paid Places 19-27 $20,850 28-36 $14,595 37-45 $12,095 46-54 $9,800 55-62 $8,340 64-72 $7,500 Alex Goes ‘Straight' to Win! A straight on the turn turned everything around and brought victory to Alex Kahaner in the 2005 Legends championship/WPT event. For much of the final table, pro player Kenna James had the lead. Then, in a heads-up hand, James opened for 600k, Kahaner raised to $1.5 million, and James moved in with A-4 against Kahaner's J-10. A flop of Q-9-2 gave Kahaner an open-end straight draw, and a river king completed it. Kahaner now had about a 5-1 lead, and in three hands the rest of the chips. 'Sometimes things don't go your way, in poker and life,' the ever-gracious James remarked at the post-game ceremony. Kahaner is originally from Israel. He is a computer consultant turned home builder.This is only the second major tournament he has played, and his first major win. It was worth $1,540,000 plus a $25,000 seat in the Bellagio/WPT championship event. After players got to the final six on Day Three, the finalists sat down at the WPT TV sound stage to start play with hour rounds, $3,000 antes and blinds of $15,000-$30,000. James was in third place with 1.54 million in chips, behind Todd Phillips and Kahaner, both with about 1.9 million. On hand eight, James made a tough laydown. On a flop of Js-9h-8h, Kahaner bet 120k, James raised 250k, Kahaner moved in and James laid down Q-J. Kahaner showed Jh-10h for an open-end straight flush draw. Play was cautious in the early stages. Blinds went up twice, first to $25,0000-$50,000, then to $40,000-$80,000, with $10,000 antes, with all players left, and only one all-in confrontation. By hand 48, Kahaner had moved into the lead with just over 2 million, while the others ranged from around 1 to 1.6 million. On hand 56, Kevin O'Donnell got wrecked. He opened for 150k with A-6 and James came over the top for 215k more with A-9. When an ace flopped, James moved in for 695k. O'Donnell called and lost. He then went out quite meekly. On the next hand he was all in for half the ante holding 7-2. Two players limped, James chased them out with a raise to 480k holding pocket 6s, and left O'Donnell, a restaurant owner, in sixth place. It had taken three hours, 25 minutes, to lose our first player. Blinds now moved to $60,000-$120,000 with $15,000 antes, meaning there would be 255k in dead money in each pot. On the first hand, Kahaner survived on a lucky break. He tried an all-in move from the small blind with 6h-4h. James called with Kh-Qh, and Kahaner got away when a 6 flopped. Hand 73 saw three-way action. Phillips opened for 350k with pocket 7s and got calls from Kahaner and James. When a flop of 10-5-3 gave James a set of treys, he made a small trap bet of 250k. Phillips, a director/writer, went for it, moved in for 700k and finished in fifth place. Four hands later James knocked out another player, again with the worst starting hand. Tim Phan had moved in for 540k with A-J against James' Ac7c. The board came Q-9-6-8-7 and Phan was drowned by the river. James now had a substantial lead of 4.7 million out of approximately 8.39 million in play. But Kahaner began climbing up a few hands later when James re-raised pre-flop to 1 million and Kahaner forced him to fold by moving in. When blinds went to 100k-200k with 20k antes, the chip count was: James, 3,680,000; Kahaner, 3,380,000; and Jake Minter, 1,320,000. Another 27 hands went by, and then it got heads-up. Minter, a dealer/poker player, was all in for 1.4 million with A-5 against Kahaner's A-9. A board of 10-7-6-J-2 didn't change anything, and Minter cashed out for $333,600. Kahaner now had 3,780,000 to 4,610,000 for James. The turnaround hand came after 27 hands of heads-up play. 'It's only $500,000,' (the difference between first and second place), James teased before Kahaner finally called with his J-10 and made a straight. James was now short-chipped (if 1,400,000 can be considered short-chipped). Three hands later Kahaner moved in with Kh-Jc and James called with 6-6. James was still alive on fourth street until a king on the river dashed his hopes. -Max Shapiro BIOGRAPHY Yaniv Alexander Kahaner moved here from Israel in 1986. He used to be a computer consultant and now owns a residential construction company. He's been playing poker for about 11 years, and his poker action mostly is in side games, $40-$80 and $60-$120 no-limit, but he doesn't play that much because of his work. He only started playing tournaments this year. He describes himself as a selective, patient, methodical player, who gets aggressive when he gets cards and when the blinds go up. Asked about the key hand where James folded after re-raising to $1 million, Kahaner said he later discovered that James had A-Q to his A-K. He gave credit to James for being a very tough player. When he called with J-10, it wasn't because of pot odds, which don't apply in no-limit, he pointed out. 'A very smart man once told me, if you have two live cards, push it in.'