Master Classics of Poker Report Day 7
No-Limit Hold em, buy-in $620 (1540 guilders), one optional rebuy
Entrants: 196
Rebuys: 100
Prize pool: $180,000 (440,000 guilders)
Excellent display of poker by English superstars
The dominance of the British players in the biggest tournaments continued on day # 7. While the hometown players managed to do very well in the smaller buy-in and freeroll tournaments, they stood no chance when the real money was at stake. Today was no exception, the final table consisting of four English, two German, one French, one Norwegian and one American player. We had two poker superstars in Surinder Sunar and Benjamin "Sailor" Roberts, who suffered from a very unlucky draw by having Surinder to his left, who not only had position on him but was the chipleader as well.
Final table (players / country / chip count):
Seat # 1: Benjamin Roberts, England, 74,000
Seat # 2: Surinder Sunar, England, 136,000
Seat # 3: Mr. David, Germany, 24,000
Seat # 4: Carlo Citrone, England, 55,000
Seat # 5: Michel Baccar, France, 11,000
Seat # 6: Rudy Schmidl, Germany, 57,000
Seat # 7: Nils Paulsen, Norway, 37,000
Seat # 8: Nicky Katz, England, 135,000
Seat # 9: Constantine Ivals, U.S.A, 61,000
Blinds: 3,000-6,000, ante 1,000 (after hand # 6 blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 2,000)
A little bit of MASH once again
According to good Master Classics of Poker tradition, some final table players had already been eliminated before the waitresses had delivered their drinks. The extremely short-stacked Michel stayed alive on his all-in coup in the first hand, but Holland Casino regular Rudy Schmidl wasn't that lucky. Nicky Katz had no trouble calling his all-in raise with AK. Rudy's pocket sevens were still good on the flop and turn, but not on the river, when the board showed T53JQ. Nils was the next victim when his all-in raise from the big blind got called by the under-the-gun limping Nicky: AT vs. 88. Nicky was able to also win his second coin flip and we were seven-handed. After one narrow escape when AJ and J7 somehow managed to split the pot, we lost David in yet another coin flip: AJ vs. David's 44. On hand # 12, we went down to five-handed when Carlo went all-in with QT and Nicky and Constantine checked the hand down; Nicky found a four in his hand and Carlo, a true gentleman from Newcastle, was out. We lost another nice guy, the only American Constantine, who went all-in with A6s from the button, but Benjamin woke up with a big hand in the small blind (AQ). The young Michel had been short-stacked from hand # 1 on and must have been very happy to finish in fourth place for a nice payday. After only sixteen hand, we had the final three we more or less expected, and once again it was an exclusively British affair. Estimated chip count:
Nicky 260,000
Surinder 200,000
Benjamin 130,000
The blinds were now 5,000-15,000 with a 3,000 ante.
Three-handed with two superstars and the chipleader: can things get more interesting?
At the start of the final table, Surinder had gotten a lot of respect from his fellow players. He was able to win uncontested on two occasions, one time by coming over the top of Benjamin's raise before the flop. The same thing happened to Benjamin on hand # 19 when he (as the short stack) raised to 35,000 and chipleader Nicky came over the top. Once again, Benjamin was forced to lay down his hand and he was in serious trouble. However, the same Nicky helped him back in the saddle when he could have finished him off. Ben had the 15,000 big blind, Surinder let go from the button and Nicky called 10,000 more from the small blind, rather than raise or fold. The Sailor tapped the table and we saw the flop AK6. When Nicky checked, Ben bet 65,000 all-in and Nicky folded. Of course, Benjamin was bluffing- what hand could he possibly hold that he was suddenly so proud of? With an ace or maybe even a king he would probable have raised all-in before the flop and even if he held one, would he then overbet the pot on the flop with no apparent draws on the board? Anyway, he gained some valuable chips and fought his way back into the tournament by going all-in three times in a row. When Nicky called his third all-in raise, we had another coin flip (Ben TT, Nicky AJ). A jack came on the flop that seemed to pave the way for a heads up duel between Surinder and Nicky, but a ten came on the turn to not just keep Ben alive, but to make him the chipleader, holding 50% of the chips in play. Nicky then went all-in on hand # 30 when he raised with A8, but once again, Benjamin woke up with a big hand in the blind: KK. The final board confused the audience a bit, but not the Sailor. The 97TQJ on the table improved Nicky's hand to a straight, but made Benjamin an even bigger one. We were heads up with two superstars, Ben having a 370,000 to 220,000 chip lead over Surinder.
Clash of the titans?
It seemed likely the two titans would opt for some kind of deal, as the difference between first and second place would be more than $35,000 (87,912 guilders), but they played on in a very concentrated manner. Benjamin was again able to win valuable chips by bluffing his opponent out of the pot, when on hand # 42 he bet 60,000 on the river against a AT7K3 board. Surinder decided to let his A2 go, but the Sailor excited the crowd by showing 65, a six-high. The two stars were about even in chips now (300,000 vs. 290,000). They finally decided for a short break, and back at the table they quickly found a reason to go all-in before the flop: JTs vs. 99. Yet another coin flip, and it was the lucky Benjamin who was able to collect the $70,000 first prize money -if not all of it then still a big part-, and the trophy and the golden money clip for the winner as well. The 2001 Master Classics had another big name tournament winner in Ben Roberts, with the outstanding Surinder Sunar finishing second.
Final results:
1. Benjamin "Sailor" Roberts, England, 175,824
2. Surinder Sunar, England, 87,912
3. Nicky Katz, England
4. Michel Baccar, France
5. Constantine Ivals, U.S.A.
Tomorrow we'll have our last tournament this week, the $180 (440 guilder) buy-in pot-limit Omaha event with unlimited rebuys. I'll keep you all posted. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf "Ace" Slotboom.
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