The Four Queens Poker Classic
September 18, 2001
$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Rebuys)
Would That All Battles Ended This Quickly
By Andrew N.S. Glazer
LAS VEGAS-If every conflict in the world could end as quickly and painlessly as today's $1,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event at the Four Queens Poker Classic did, we could all sleep a lot easier.
That's not likely to happen, of course, and the consolation prize isn't much consolation: today's poker participants got to go to sleep earlier. Sleeping easier will have to remain a different problem.
With only 42 entrants, tournament rules called for a five-player final table, although the 55 rebuys created the tournament's largest prize pool to date, $94,090. The prize pool would have been $97,000 but 3% of the pool is being withheld for dealer and tournament personnel tips.
When Marlon Santos got knocked out "on the bubble" (qualifying him for Tournament Producer Bonnie Damiano's invention, the "bubble tournament," an event scheduled for the end of the week where everyone who finishes one out of the money in a Four Queens event competes in a freeroll tournament for a shot at a weeklong Card Player Cruises cruise), the final table was set:
Seat Player Chip Count
1 Chris Bjorin $21,500
2 Mike Cook $43,400
3 Michael Danino $13,500
4 Jim Lester $6,400
5 Tony Cousineau $13,200
Cousineau had pulled of quite a feat in reaching this final table, because it was his third in two days. He finished eighth in yesterday's $1,000 limit hold'em event, and in doing so got knocked out early enough to enter the evening $200 buy-in event, a half Omaha eight-or-better, half seven-card stud eight-or-better event, where he also made the final table.
Although no one doubts that there is a great deal of skill involved in final table poker, many tournament veterans believe that there is often more skill involved in reaching the final table than in winning the event, because high blinds and antes sometimes create too high a luck factor. The relatively slow structures used here at the Four Queens have given the players plenty of play, but even so, three final tables in two days is quite a run.
Cousineau, a tournament circuit pro who resides in Daytona Beach, Florida, had another important goal in his sights: If he could finish third or higher, he would move into first place in Card Player columnist Nolan Dalla's yearlong rankings for Omaha high events, and today's tournament, Cousineau informed me, was the final event of the year.
"They don't believe in pot-limit Omaha out east," Cousineau told me, alluding to upcoming events at Foxwoods and possibly the Taj. "This is my shot, right here, right now."
QUICK ENDING FOR THE CINCINNATI KID
Another contender for first place on that same list was sitting right next to Cousineau at the table, Jim "Cincinnati Kid" Lester (he's from Cincinnati and was playing very high stakes poker at a very tender age), but Lester's chances for both the night and the Dalla rankings ended on the very last hand before the dinner break.
With the blinds at $300-$600, Lester raised a pot from the button, and Bjorin called from the big blind. Each player checked the flop, Bjorin checked the turn, and Lester moved all-in with his short stack and a straight. Bjorin had been trapping, though, having flopped a full house, and had an easy call that left the table four-handed.
After the dinner break, they raced off the $100 chips, leaving the new chip counts at
Bjorin, $29,000
Cook, $43,000
Danino, $12,000
Cousineau, $13,000
Danino, an Israeli pro, quickly grabbed a pot from Cook, a pro from London who usually plies his trade at "the Vic," (the Victoria Casino in London), and then Bjorin, a Swede who now also calls London home (two Londoners among the final five, do you think they might know a little something about pot-limit Omaha in England?) did the same. In less than ten minutes, the equities had swung wildly:
Bjorin, $40,000
Cook, $20,000
Danino, $29,000
Cousineau, $8,000
Cousineau found a hand he liked on the button, A-Qs-10s-5, and made the maximum bet of $3,500. Bjorin popped Cousineau back for his remaining $4,500.
"I felt pretty much pot-committed there," Cousineau told me. "I'm pretty sure he had something, but unless it's aces my hand has a pretty good chance."
Cousineau called, and Bjorin turned over K-K-7-8. The flop came down A-A-K, giving Cousineau trips but Bjorin kings full of aces. Cousineau still wasn't in horrible shape, because he had ten outs twice: any of the three queens, three tens, three fives, or the lone remaining ace would double him through. Even staring into a full house, he was only slightly less than a 3-2 underdog.
A four on the turn didn't help, but Cousineau spiked a ten on the river to double through the chip leader, and now the tournament was anyone's for the taking, with four relatively even stacks.
DOUBLE SUITED KINGS ON THE BUTTON HARD TO RESIST
The very next time Cousineau had the button, he looked down and found an even stronger hand: Kh-Kd-10h-9d. Double suited kings are pretty strong four-handed. He made the maximum bet, but Cook re-raised the maximum from the big blind, pushing $10,000 into the pot.
Cousineau pushed the rest of his chips in almost immediately ("He'd been making moves all day," he told me later, "he doesn't have to have aces in the big blind"), and Cook called even faster.
He didn't "have" to have aces in the big blind, but that's exactly what he did have, A-A-10-5, with one of the aces suited in hearts, a fact not lost on Cousineau.
"Oh, great," Cousineau exclaimed, "he's even got my hearts blocked! King!"
"King" was a cry for help, not a shout of delight. Cousineau never even got a chance to have his hopes lifted by a face card, because the board came down a rainbow 2-6-6-7-6. When they counted the two stacks down, they found the Cousineau had exactly one $500 chip left. He threw that into the next pot under the gun, Cook called from the small blind, and then he and Danino quickly checked the hand down to the river. Danino made a straight, we were three-handed, and Cousineau's hopes of both first place money and a first place ranking were gone.
HEY GUYS, WE ALL HAVE JUST ABOUT THE SAME NUMBER OF CHIPS!
Not only were we three-handed, but the three remaining players took a look at their almost identical stack sizes and in a matter of moments had agreed to a completely equal split of the remaining prize money, $26,659 each, which meant that all of them were collecting better than the official prize money for second place.
They played one hand of all-in "showdown" to determine the official finishers, and all three made two pair, with Cook's kings and sevens giving him the title and the nice inscribed leather bag awarded to the winner. Bjorin's two pair were higher than Danino's sevens and sixes, so in an irrelevant statistic, was listed as the second place finisher.
In case you're not familiar with deals, and this sort of split seems unusual or wrong to you, understand that the players in this event are playing entirely on their own money. It's not like the PGA tour where players are competing for money put up by sponsors. If and when sponsor money comes in, dealmaking will have to go out, but until then, players have the right to take some of the gamble out the wild equity swings that can occur in high limit shorthanded games.
It did make for a rather quick and anticlimactic finish, which is why televised events can't allow dealmaking either.
Many clear-thinking and forward-thinking industry professionals believe dealmaking has to stop before sponsorship or TV will come in, because the potential sponsors won't understand dealmaking. My sense is that if sponsorship is to arrive in any significant amount, it will have to arrive simultaneously with television, because sponsors will want more than just a few poker players seeing their advertisements.
SOME VERY REASONABLE MINDS DISAGREE
Many other clear-thinking industry professionals believe dealmaking should not be reported in the media, because it might scare off potential sponsors, and they have a valid argument, but I think potential sponsors have the right to know what the true state of the industry is, so they can make their decisions based on the facts, and not a not-so-well-kept industry secret.
Unless you're a spectator, there's nothing wrong with dealmaking when the players are competing for money they have put up themselves. Poker might well be better off without dealmaking, but if it is to happen, here's one vote for it to happen in the light, instead of off in a dark corner.
Final Official Results, $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
1. Mike Cook, $42,340
2. Chris Bjorin, $23,523
3. Mike Danino, $14,114
4. Tony Cousineau, $9,409
5. Jim Lester, $4,704
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