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YOUNG ’SEMI-PRO’ FACES
DOWN TABLE OF CHAMPS
Lonny Berends, a 26-year-old self-described “semi-pro” from Modesto, California, beat out an awesome final table to claim victory in event number nine of the World Poker Challenge, pot-limit hold’em. It was his first major tournament win. Runner-up Rich Korbin paid gracious tribute to him. “He was better than me,” Korbin said. “The way he moved chips was fantastic.”
The table included co-authors Tom McEvoy and T.J. Cloutier (together at the final table for the first time since they began their three-book collaberation), and Pascal Perrault, the number one ranked player in Europe, with the most final tables there as well as two WSOP finals. McEvoy has four World Series bracelets and was 1983 champ. Cloutier is the all-time leading money winner at the WSOP, has won 51 major ($500 or more) tournaments and is the only player to make Nolan Dalla’s top-five rankings all three years.
The event was hosted by Daniel Negreanu, who won the second event of WPC, 7-stud 8 or better. It took an unbelievable 185 hands, with lengthy stretches of no action whatsoever, to get through the final table. Think of a flat desert stretching for endless, barren miles, broken occasionally by a sudden, unexpected mountain peak.
Play started cautiously. The first 13 hands didn’t even get to the flop, except for one hand checked down by the blinds. Finally, on hand 14, Tr Conga raised with jacks and Korbin called with sevens. Rich put Conga all in for his last $1,100 on a flop of K-K-4, then outran and busted his opponent with a third seven on the turn, the first of two key draw-outs he would make.
Another 21 hands were dealt with no action to speak of before the next confrontation, which ended with Ron Lemco being eliminated. Lemco, Northwest champion two years running, is a salesman at the car dealership owned by Steve “Seymour Flops” Gulbelson, who won the no-limit event three days earlier. With blinds at $700 and $1,500, He raised to $5,000 with A-Q and April Gates popped it another $12,000 holding pocket 10s. April, a Montana dealer making her third final table appearance in only the third tournament she has ever played, flopped a set and put Ron in for his last $800.
Some 10 hands later, Korbin goes all in for the second time. After he raises to $5,200 with A-K, Lonny puts him in for his last $8,500, but his A-J isn’t good enough, and Rich doubles up. Three hands later, when Lonny raises with two 10s, T.J. moves in with A-9 of spades. “I remember that hand,” T.J. remarks, remembering how A-9 of spades cost him the WSOP championship when Chris Ferguson outran his A-Q with it. But this time it comes to his rescue when an ace flops.
A few hands later, Pascal raises with Q-J of spades and Tom re-raises with pocket 8s to put the Frenchman all in. Tom ices it when he flops a set of 8s
and then fills.
Later, Tom has a setback when he raises with K-K and Lonny plays back and goes all in with two 10s. “Maybe I can suck out,” Lonny says hopefully, and he does when a 10 flops. On the next hand, the Northwest champion goes all in again against T.J. He has aces to Cloutier’s A-K, and in two hands jumps from about $10,000 to $47,700, the second chip leader behind April’s $53,400. A few hands later, with blinds at $1,000-$2,000, T.J. makes a bad bluff, raising $6,000 all in with K-4 off. “Oh, God,” he laments when first April calls with 10-8 of clubs and then Rich with jacks. Rich moves in on a flop of 8-5-2 and wins when an ace and a 4 follow. Not long after, Rich knocks out the second author. Tom, all in for about $16,000, is a big favorite with pocket 10s against A-10, but Rich draws out again on a board of K-5-A-J-J. “If the cards ever broke even, I’d be screwed,” Korbin later remarks.
Four-handed, Rich leads with $67,500 while Lonny and Bruce Kipfer, making his third WPC final table, are close behind with $47,500 and $42,000, while April trails with$33,000. They make a quick deal and agree to play for $10,000. The table drdags well past the 100th hand before there’s any action. On a flop of 10-8-5 with two hearts, Lonny bets $5,000. Bruce, with a nut flush draw, raises and Lonny puts him in, losing a $62,000 pot when a heart turns. About 50 more boring hands go by before anything happens. Then, April re-raises Lonny and goes all in for about $26,000. She’s a big favorite with A-10 against Lonny’s K-10, but he flops a king to send April to the showers. Now the action finally heats up. A hand later, Bruce re-raises and puts in all his $42,500 with A-Q against Lonny’s A-K. A queen flops. “Every time!” Lonny fumes. But then a king turns to put him heads up with Korbin.
Lonny has a big lead, $140,000 to $50,000, but a few hands later, with $2,000-$4,000 blinds, Rich pulls almost even when he overpowers Lonny’s pocket kings with pocket aces. A hand later, though, Lonny raises with pocket sixes, Rich comes over the top with A-10 and Lonny puts him in. The board comes 3-5-6-9-9 and the man from Modesto, with a winning full house, picks up his globe and title.
—Max Shapiro
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