Poker can’t get much more exciting than this. Twenty bracelets at the $3,000 no-limit hold’em final table. Johnny Chan needing a win to pass T.J. Cloutier as the all-time money winner at the World Series. Heads-up in a re-match with Erik Seidel, whom he beat in 1988 to win the second of his back-to back championships, clips of which were used in the movie Rounders. A $900,000 to $200,000 chip lead by Chan when they faced off. Three hours of masterful, flawless play by two of the greatest players alive. A $460,000 pot that turned everything around. Nine all-in moves by Chan forcing Seidel to fold. And finally, a fatal tenth all-in bluff when Seidel had a big hand!
Of the 20 bracelets, Chan and Jay Heimowitz each owned six, Seidel four, Hilbert Shirey three and Jim Lester one. Blinds started at $2,000 and $4,000. The very first hand was one that Larry Wood, a 76-year-old Osage Indian, will never forget if he lives to be 176. Dealt pocket eights, he raised to $25,000. Chan called. The flop was Q-8-4 and Wood, with a set, bet his remaining $31,000. Chan had just A-10, but a lot of chips, and called. A king and then a jack were turned up, giving Chan a straight and Wood apoplexy.
The second hand dealt was less dramatic but just as deadly for Heimowitz. He bet all in with A-3 and Elie “Rocky” Marciano called and beat him with A-Q
“Let’s play tight for a while, guys,” someone said, and they did, for a while at least. On the 18th hand, Lester, making his fourth final table appearance, made it $20,000 to go. Stan Goldstein moved all in for $122,500 total. It was Jim’s queens against Stan’s A-K. An ace and a king hit the board and Jim was left with about $24,000. He later said against anyone else he would have mucked, but he knew that Goldstein liked to gamble. Ninety minutes into the final table, Lester moved all in a couple of times with no call. The third time he tried it, for $19,000, he had A-7 offsuit. Bob Feduniak, a retired Wall Street executive, called with Q-7 of spades and won when a queen flopped.
Along about the 80th hand, Goldstein raised $25,000 with A-J of diamonds and Elie “Rocky” Marciano of France moved all in for about $65,000 more with Q-Q. Two diamonds flopped, a third hit the turn and Marciano hit the canvas and took the count. A few hands later, on a flop of K-Q-6 and two diamonds, Shirey, with a J-8 flush draw, bet $20,000 and Chan, with K-5, moved him in. No diamonds came and a river five, which gave Chan two pair, was the last card that Hilbert got to see.
With four players left, Seidel, who started with a $267,000 chip lead, had moved up to more than $600,000. Chan had roughly $260,000, Stan about $150,000 and Feduniak about $75,000. Soon after, with blinds at $5,000 and $10,000 and a $2,000 ante, Bob doubled up when his K-Q outdrew Erik’s A-9. But then he quickly lost all but $20,000 of it when he moved in with A-10 and got picked off by Goldstein’s A-K. A couple of hands later he again bet all in with A-4. Goldstein called with A-8. When the board came 6-9-3-8, Bob was dead.
Chan then took over the chip lead in a big way after a confrontation with Seidel. Johnny raised to $35,000 before the flop and Erik, with A-K, came over the top for $105,000 more. On a flop of Q-5-2, Erik moved in and Chan, holding his trademark good-luck orange, called. His pocket sixes won a pot of about $520,000, leaving Seidel with perhaps $240,000.
A few hands later the Orient Express ran over Goldstein. He made a standard raise of $35,000 and Stan called. On a flop of Q-10-2 and two hearts, Goldstein bet $35,000 and Chan moved in. Stan shrugged and called with a 9h, 6h, flush draw, but Johnny had a bigger one with Ah, Kh. Nobody helped and Chan’s A-high left Goldstein in third place.
The stage was set for a near-faultless contest that few of the hundred or so onlookers would soon forget. Chan drew first blood when Seidel raised $35,000, then bet $55,000 into a board of 9-8-2. Chan moved all in for the first time and Erik withdrew, left with perhaps $125,000. But then Erik began chopping, chopping away with small raises and re-raises, though careful to never go all in. After outrunning Chan’s pocket fives by pairing an ace on the river, he had climbed back to about $370,000, then $475,000, then back down to about $270,000 after Chan moved in twice more and he folded. The turning point came when Chan made the usual $30,000 raise with As, Qs. On a flop of J-6-5 and two clubs, he bet $100,000 and Seidel, with Ac, 3c, finally made an all-in move. Chan called, a nine of clubs gave Erik a flush and he picked up a pot of about $460,000. Soon after, he made three sixes and now had about $620,000.
The struggle continued. At 9 p.m. Erik had amassed about $700,000, but it was far from over. Several more times Chan would move in or raise $100,000, only to have Seidel refuse to get involved. Finally, on the 221st hand of the evening, Erik raised to $40,000 with K-2 and Chan called. The flop was K-J-5. Erik bet $35,000 and Chan came over the top for $100,000 more. This time Seidel called. When a deuce turned, Chan, later saying he sensed weakness, made an all-in stone-cold bluff of about $300,000 with Q-7 of clubs. Erik called and won with his two pair, collecting $411,300, his fifth bracelet and a small measure of satisfaction in avenging his loss of 13 years ago.
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