| Current World Series champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson claimed victory and a $164,735 payday after dueling for an hour with the always dangerous Men "The Master" Nguyen in the third event of the 2001 World Series of Poker, $1,500 Omaha hi-lo. A record-setting 306 players competed.
The two were a study in contrasts. Nguyen, whose countless victories include four WSOP bracelets, played to the crowd, chattering, whooping and once doing a wild war dance when he won a pot, while the quiet and reserved Ferguson did his best to ignore him. "The Master," perhaps trying to unsettle Ferguson, repeatedly commanded him to talk and to "act like a champ."
Finally, Ferguson responded: "I am a champ." He later said he coped with the verbal onslaught by giving himself a little extra time to relax during hands.
Limits at the final table started at $3,000 and $6,000. Nguyen arrived with a big chip lead of $114,000, but had trouble fitting the flop in early going and gradually dropped down.
Chip trailer was Allen Cunningham, with only $6,500. The young pro, with a best all-around at the Bicycle Casino in 1999 to his credit, went all in on the first hand but survived with a nut straight scoop against Harry Thomas Jr. A few hands later, after being chopped down by Charley Brahmi's flush, he was in the big blind, called Lindsay Jones' raise and went all in with A-K-10-9. He made top two when the board came A-7-2-8-9, but Jones, who had started with 2-2-3-5, flopped a set to send Cunningham out in ninth place.
Postal worker Phil Goatz got canceled by restaurant entrepreneur Ron McMillan on the 14th hand. He started with a promising low hand of A-3-4-9, No low came and he lost his last chips when McMillan paired a queen. Eleven hands later, McMillan went out in dramatic fashion. Brahmi, who leases out a store on the Atlantic City boardwalk, flopped four jacks and checked. To his misfortune, McMillan made a king-high flush on the turn, and when he bet, Brahmi raised him all in.
Nguyen, meanwhile, had been having trouble holding onto his chips. "First time I flopped good tonight," he finally said when he flopped top two and a diamond flush, winning when his bet wasn't called. Soon after limits went to $6,000 and $12,000, Nguyen lost again when he missed both a flush and a straight draw against Jones, a CPA.
A few hands later, Brahmi made a disastrous laydown. Ferguson raised, and Brahmi and Nguyen both called. A 5-10-2-10 hit the board and Nguyen bet $12,000. Brahmi held an A-3, but was down to $10,000. He shook his head, stood up, studied the payout board and decided to save his chips and try to move up a notch. To his dismay, a four, which would have given him a three-way scoop wheel, came on the riverNguyen critiqued his play in folding a nut low draw, but Brahmi still thought it was correct. Correct or not, he managed to survive for a round, but then got knocked out when he started with A-2-5-6 and bet all in on a flop of 7-7-8, which gave him a draw to a nut low and a straight. But he missed everything and got broke when Nguyen, with A-2-4-Q, caught a queen on the turn.
A few hands later, Joe Baumgartner raised all in for $10,000 in the small blind holding A-3-3-K. Thomas called with 2-5-7-10. No low came, and Thomas broke the service contractor salesman with sevens and deuces. At this point, Ferguson held a substantial chip lead of $186,000 while Nguyen and Jones had about $100,000 each and Thomas, $73,000. Two hands later, Jones bled off a lot of chips in a $156,000 pot when Nguyen made a nut flush and Ferguson a nut low.
Later, with limits at $10,000-$20,000 Thomas, down to $25,000, went all in with 2-4-5-6 and narrowly escaped by scooping with a pair of fours. Then he got pumped up when his nut flush beat Nguyen's number two flush. Soon after, the field narrowed again. On a flop of 7-4-3 with two hearts, Jones bet out holding Q-10-7-5, which gave him a pair and a straight draw. Nguyen raised with two hearts and a better low draw, and both players went all in. A jack of hearts turned and the CPA had the books closed on him.
Thomas was next to get critically low after first Nguyen, and later Ferguson, beat him with straights. Thomas, a real estate developer with two bracelets in the family (one for him and one for his wife Jerri) bowed out at exactly 9 p.m. Holding 2-3-7-Q, he bet a flop of 6-4-3. Nguyen, who had made a six-high straight holding 2-3-5-J, raised him all in. A six and a nine didn't change anything, and the stage was set for a showdown between "Jesus" and "The Master."
One hand later, Ferguson held a tremendous lead of about $400,000 to $55,000. But it wasn't over yet. Two hands later, Ferguson was a big favorite with A-A-2-7 to Nguyen's A-5-9-J, but Nguyen scooped by flopping a jack and catching a third one on the river, whereupon he jumped up and did a frenzied dance. The battle was joined, with chips flowing back and forth. Finally, after Nguyen scooped with a wheel, Ferguson came right back and scooped with a straight.
With limits now at the $15,000 and $30,000 level, the next hand was the last. A flop of Q-J-6 and two diamonds was capped and Nguyen went all in. The hands were turned up. Ferguson held the lead with K-K-8-4. Nguyen, with A-K-7-6 and two diamonds had a pair and a draw to a straight and a flush. The turn brought a deuce and the river a queen, neither card a diamond. Ferguson's kings held up, and the reigning WSOP champ added a third bracelet to his collection.
Max Shapiro
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