Master Classics of Poker Report- final day
Day 8: Pot-limit Omaha buy-in $180 (440 guilders), unlimited rebuys
Entrants: 220
Rebuys: 353
Total prize pool: $92,000 (229,300 guilders)
"Chief" Rob Hollink eats Devilfish alive
Today's final table consisted of players you would expect in a pot-limit Omaha tournament. We had Rob Hollink, one of Europe's best tournament players, Paul Testud, a big name player from France, the extremely aggressive Asian Jin Caillin, owner of the Poker World casino in Vienna and last but not least Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, former WSOP bracelet winner and five times runner up. Dave and Rob were in good shape as the chip leaders, although Rob had been lucky to get there by cracking the aces of "Holy Man" Moses with AQ66 double-suited.
Final table (players / country / chip count):
Seat # 1: Rob "The Chief" Hollink, The Netherlands, 92,300
Seat # 2: Mr. Schmidt, Germany, 20,600
Seat # 3: Warren Coleman, England, 48,900
Seat # 4: Sally, The Netherlands, 90,100
Seat # 5: Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, 128,000
Seat # 6: David Mehrmand, Germany, 53,700
Seat # 7: Nicky Katz, England, 51,700
Seat # 8: Paul Testud, France, 29,900
Seat # 9: Jin Caillin, Austria, 60,100
Blinds: 2,500-5,000 (no antes)
Early stage- Devilfish in complete control
Unlike many of the other final tables this week when the action started off fast and furious, the "raise-and-take-it" attitude seemed to prevail today. On one of the few times we saw a flop, we also had our first casualty as Mr. Schmidt got knocked out by the Devilfish. On hand # 10, in the only multiway pot of the evening, he broke hometown player Sally in a huge pot. Sally held top set on a Q95 rainbow flop, but the charismatic Brit had a wraparound straight draw -JT86-, which got there. (For those of you who are not familiar with pot-limit Omaha, a wrap is more than just an open-ended straight draw; as in this case, any king, jack, ten, eight or seven would have made the Devilfish a straight, so he had a big hand against this particular flop). Dave also finished off Warren, who made the mistake of just calling before the flop with his premium QQ98 double-suited in late position. Now Devilfish made a move by raising with Ac6c3c5 and caught a lucky flop, whereas he might just have folded against a raise. The man from Hull, England was the big chipleader now and seemed well positioned to win the tournament.
The Chief and The Devilfish prepare for the Big Clash
Dave finally lost a pot when he re-raised Paul Testud with As8s93. Paul showed the quality hand AJT8 double-suited, and made the nut flush with his diamonds. Dave also lost a second pot against Nicky, who had his second consecutive final table. Dave made the first limp of the evening, got raised pot by Nicky on the button, and called. Dave bet all-in on the 9h7h5 flop with what proved to be 765h4h, bottom two-pair, flush- and straight draw, a nice combination hand. However, Nicky had a big hand as well (KhQhKJ, an overpair + bigger flush draw) and won by making his flush. With the Devilfish severely crippled, "Chief" Rob Hollink took over by knocking Jin out (AKQT vs. KK85). Dave found his composure again when he knocked out Nicky with aces against kings on hand # 26, and he and Rob started preparing for a Great Battle. They were now the big stacks with David and Paul in serious trouble, but that didn't stop Rob from putting pressure on Dave, betting pot against the only guy who could break him on the flop and turn. It seemed Rob was aiming for first place and if that meant busting out against the other big stack, so be it. Paul went out with QQA5 against David's AT73 single-suited and we were now three-handed. Rob tried to finish off the famous Devilfish on hand # 40, when he got his money all-in before the flop with T987 against Dave's AT65 single-suited. The Chief was only one card from an almost certain victory when the board showed QQ72, but an ace on the river made the Devil sing, giving him a massive pot. Even though this rundown hand had cost Rob dearly, he hadn't lost faith in them, as only a couple of minutes later he cracked David's aces with the same type of hand (9865). We were heads up now with the charismatic and famous Dave Ulliott from Hull, England and the calm, not-easily-impressed Rob Hollink from Groningen, The Netherlands.
Two formidable players, two even stacks and an electric atmosphere
Right from the beginning, Rob started chopping away at his opponent and got to a 340,000 to 240,000 chip lead. However, the Englishman struck back by winning two small pots to get things even again. On hand # 47, Rob regained his lead when he check-raised Dave on a 632 flop to make him lay down his hand. But on the next hand he lost those chips again when he paid off 15,000 on the river against his opponent's queen-high flush. Every time Rob was up, Dave seemed to give just a little bit extra to even the score. He got lucky on hand # 60, when Rob decided not to slowplay his QJ on a QsJsQ flop. He raised his opponent's 20,000 flop bet to 40,000, with the Englishman calling. When the turn came 7s, the Devilfish checked, the Chief bet and Dave decided to let his KJT9 (no spades) go. That third spade on the board might have saved him a lot of money, as he held a hand that might have been hard to get away from had a blank come up. On the next hand, Rob flopped the nuts again and decided to trap-check rather than bet out. Rob had top set, JJ, on a JT4 rainbow flop and checked the flop, turn and river to induce a bluff, but his experienced opponent, who had raised before the flop on the small blind / button, didn't fall for the trap and simply checked it back. Rob won again on hand # 64 when he snapped off a bluff and he now had more than 65 percent of the chips in play. But once again, the Devilfish came back immediately and made Rob lay down his hand after having bet 40,000. Rob then made a big score on hand # 73, when he made it 90,000 to go before the flop with JJ55. The Chief checked the hand down three times, but with an ace on the board, Dave smelled a rat that wasn't there and he gave away a pot that was up for grabs (obviously, he was afraid his opponent might be trap-checking again, his preflop raise strongly indicating aces). But again, the Devilfish came back by winning the immediate next hand.
Finally, the Chief goes for the Kill
While our home town favorite was in front almost all of the time, he just couldn't seem to get rid of his famous opponent. Then, on hand # 78, it seemed like the Devilfish would turn things around, when he came over the top of Rob's 75,000 raise to make him lay down his hand. However, the Chief wasn't going to give up, not on this particular night. First, he check-raised his opponent out of the pot on a Q32 flop and then he showed balls by raising a 40,000 bet by Dave on a AJ2 flop with almost nothing (9887). He snapped off another bluff by the Devilfish, when he called a 40,000 bet on the turn with just middle pair on a board with three spades and a pair, and the Devilfish refrained from continuing his bluff on the river. Two hands later it was finally over when they got all the money in before the flop and Rob's hand proved to be good. Dave's Ah3hT2 had a lot of outs when on the turn the board showed 9754 with two hearts, but a blank came on the river to give Rob, with A973 single-suited and two pair, the trophy. He also received more than $36,000 (90,763 guilders), a golden money clip and a free stay at the Reno Hilton for the 2nd Annual Poker Challenge. We had witnessed a great battle between two top players, the charismatic showman Dave Ulliott and the calm and capable Rob Hollink. The audience had thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic display of poker and were ecstatic to see their favorite lift the trophy. The Devilfish had been beaten in the final stages of a tournament like so many times before, and had to settle for second place again, with Rob being our well-deserved champion.
Final results.
1. Rob "The Chief" Hollink, The Netherlands, $36,000 (90,763 guilders)
2. Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, England, $18,000 (45,381 guilders)
3. David Mehrmand, Germany, $9,000 (22,690 guilders)
4. Paul Testud, France, $6,000 (14,749 guilders)
5. Nicky Katz, England, $4,500 (11,345 guilders)
A few last words.
This year's Master Classics of Poker has set new record once again, both in attendance as in prize money, and we have seen some fantastic poker during the past eight days. Two of the best Dutch players, today's winner Rob Hollink and European Player of the Year Marcel Luske captured two trophies for Holland in a dominated-by-the-Brits tournament week. Marcel and Rob will be two of the spearheads in the Dutch national poker team, that will try to win the European Poker Championship for Countries in St. Petersburg, Russia, next year (other members of the team include Ed de Haas, Kosta Anastyadis, Rolf Schreuder and myself). As always, I will keep you posted. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf "Ace" Slotboom.
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