| It was a match-up made in poker heaven. Phil Hellmuth Jr., the 1989 World Series champ, with six bracelets and $2,089,810 in 25 finishes versus T.J. Cloutier, the four-bracelet, all-time WSOP money winner, with $2,645,116 in 33 finishes. The game was no-limit hold'em, and it was the first time they had ever gotten heads-up at the World Series. For nearly an hour they sparred with uncharacteristic caution, a reflection of the respect that two great champions held for each other. T.J., out-chipped and not picking up cards in the last stages, finally went all in with the best hand, pocket sixes, only to have Hellmuth, with A-K of hearts, catch a king on the flop and an ace on the river.
Third-place finisher Layne flack also brought two bracelets to the table, while British-born Steve Rydel, who finished eighth, added one more.
Blinds at the final table began at $1,000 and $2,000 with $500 antes. Action started with a bang on the very first hand. With the board showing 8-6-4-Q and two diamonds, Stan Goldstein, who arrived with a $200,600 chip lead, shoved in all his stacks holding 5-2 of diamonds and a straight flush draw. Flack, starting with $139,600, called with queens and eights. They held up and he doubled up into a big lead.
A few hands later T.J. raised $7,000 and Jeff Stoff, a computer consultant playing his first World Series event, moved in with pocket queens. Poker player Knox Presley, who arrived with a mere $7,700, called in the small blind with K-3 and departed when the board didn't help.
Not long after, Rydel raised $8,000 with pocket fours and Jan Olav Sjavik, another pro from Oslo, Norway, moved him in with pocket sixes. A board of Q-J-10-3-10 didn't change anything but the number of remaining players.
Shortly after the blinds went up, two more players went out. Stan Goldstein, older half of the poker-playing Goldstein brothers, raised to $15,000, Hellmuth popped it another $15,000 and Goldstein moved in with A-Q. Phil had much the best of it with A-K and gathered in the chips when the board came all babies. Options trader John Farley ran out of options when he got into an even worse match-up. Stoff raised to $16,000, Farley moved in with A-10 offsuit for about $45,000, Jeff called with A-K of hearts and won going away when he made a flush.
An hour into the final table, Sjavik played his last hand. Holding pocket fours, he raised to $9,000. T.J. came over the top, making it $50,000 to go and the Norwegian moved all in for about $90,000. T.J. held queens. "I call," he said quietly, winning with a set on the turn.
In later action, after Hellmuth got Stoff to fold by betting $50,000 into a board of 7-7-J-2, Flack revealed that he folded a J-7. "Phil would have gone crazy," he laughed. On the next hand he did call. In three-way action, the pot was raised to $15,000 by T.J. and another $25,000 by Stoff. On a flop of J-5-4, Jeff moved in and Flack went for it, calling all in for more than $100,000 with pocket sevens. Jeff had just A-4 of spades and didn't help. Layne moved into a big lead with about $330,000 and Jeff was left with $3,000. "I took a shot," he later shrugged.
On the next hand Jeff was all in with three-way action. "I have a feeling I'm going to be checked down," he predicted. He was, but won with A-J to triple up. By 6 p.m., he had struggled up to $30,000, still small change against Flack's $360,000, Hellmuth's $270,000 and Cloutier's $220,000. On his final hand, down to $15,000, he had almost no chance with J-9 after Flack raised him in with pocket jacks.
Flack later missed a bullet - two bullets, in fact - when he re-raised Cloutier to $40,000 with A-10, then laid it down when T.J. came over the top and showed pocket aces. But he was less fortunate later on. On a board of Q-2-6-9, Hellmuth bet $25,000 and Flack raised $50,000. Layne then bet $140,00 all in on a river six. Hellmuth, who had gambled with an A-6, quickly called with trips to bust the young pro. Flack didn't show his cards, but later disclosed that he had pocket kings.
Heads-up, Hellmuth had nearly a 3-1 edge, $582,000 to $300,000. Later, someone asked for a chip count. "Slightly lop-sided," replied T.J., who had dipped to $230,000. As play continued, there was very little of the fireworks which the spectators expected. It was largely limp, limp, check, check, with a few small bets along the way. Only twice did anyone move in, both times by Hellmuth with no call.
"When two great players are heads-up, they have too much respect for money to want to play unless they flop something," Hellmuth later commented. Down to $140,000, T.J. finally moved in with As, 5c. Hellmuth called with sevens. "I don't like it, but I had to make a move." T.J. said. The board came K-J-9 with two spades, and then two running spades arrived to save him. "Back where we started," T.J. noted.
The struggle came to an end at exactly 8 p.m. T.J. raised to $18,000 with his sixes, Phil made it $35,000 with his Ah, Kh and T.J. moved in. The board came K-8-2-10-A and Hellmuth collected $316,550 and a seventh bracelet. Afterwards, he said that when he had lost half his chips with pocket aces with about 12 tables left, he had commanded himself: "No more (bad beat) stories about being unlucky." Tonight, there were none.
Max Shapiro
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