The Four Queens Poker Classic
September 19, 2001
$1,000 No Limit Hold'EM
The Two Johns Take the Field
By Andrew N.S. Glazer
LAS VEGAS-At about 10:00 p.m. this evening, a little less than three hours into the final table of the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit hold'em event at the Four Queens Poker Classic, we hit a ten-minute break, and as the seven remaining players rose from their seats, I chatted a little with one of the participants, "Miami" John Cernuto.
"Tell you what," I said to "MJ," as I call him in my notes (Miami John), "I got a bet for you, I'll take the two Johns (there was another John in the field, John Juanda) and give you the rest of the field."
MJ smiled and we chatted a bit about the strengths and chip positions of the remaining players. It wasn't exactly like I was going way, way out on a limb with this pick: between them, the two Johns had about $43,000 in chips at this point (25k for JJ and 18k for MJ), and there was only $90,000 in play at the table. Nostradamus' record for prognostication is safe, but when we were down to only two players, my bet was a lock, as we had MJ vs. JJ for all the marbles.
I'll leave a little suspense, i.e., which John won, for the end. When we began play, the seats and chip positions were:
Seat Player Chip Count
1 Tony Hartman $12,000
2 Stan Schrier $12,500
3 John Juanda $5,800
4 Daniel Negreanu $14,000
5 Maureen Feduniak $10,300
6 Mohamed Ibrahim $9,500
7 Melissa Hayden $8,000
8 Dan McGuire $3,600
9 Miami John Cernuto $16,500
The players had barely settled into their seats when, playing with $200-$400 blinds and $50 antes, Hayden took out McGuire. Several players, including Hayden, had limped in, and then McGuire made an all-in move for the pot. Everyone folded around to Hayden, at her second final table in three days, and she decided to call with K-Q. McGuire showed 5-5, and Hayden hit a queen to make us eight-handed in a hurry.
Schrier, an Omaha, Nebraska native who now makes his home in Las Vegas, and who made a big poker name for himself by finishing third in the Big One at the World Series this year, took over the chip lead a little while later, hurting Negreanu in the process. Negreanu limped in, Schrier made it $2,000 to go from the small blind, and Negreanu called.
THE PLAYERS ASK, SCHRIER COMPLIES
The flop came 5c-Ad-9c, and Negreanu called Schrier's $3,000 bet. Both players checked when the 6d hit the turn, but when a queen hit the river, Schrier immediately moved in. Negreanu mucked, and after much pleading by several players ("We showed you, now you show us!"), Schrier showed A-Q.
Far be it from me to argue with someone who finishes third in the Big One, but I like to make them pay for that kind of information. Schrier had the chips, but his opponents knew a bit more about how he played. I made a margin note to see if this came back to haunt him.
When he hit the dinner break, the chip positions had shifted to roughly:
Hartman, $9,500
Schrier, $17,500
Juanda, $8,500
Negreanu, $9,000
Feduniak, $12,500
Ibrahim, $5,000
Hayden, $10,000
Cernuto, $18,000
With the new blinds of $300-$600 and $75 antes, there was $1,500 in dead money for a raiser to shoot at in an eight-handed game. Cernuto lost some chips when he raised a pot to $2,400 and Hartman came over him for $7,000 more, but then really got tangled up a while later.
With the pot folded around to Hayden in the small blind, she made it $2,400 to go, and Cernuto raised her back another $4,300 more from the big blind. Hayden moved all-in, a raise of $4,400 more, and with so much money already invested, Cernuto decided to call, leaving only $1,400 in front of him.
THE DEUCE WAS LOOSE
Ac-5c for Hayden, 6-6 for Miami John, who was a big favorite with Hayden owning only one overcard. The flop came 3-10-4, leaving MJ in the lead, but a deuce got loose on the turn, and Hayden had made a gutshot straight. A nine on the end left matters unchanged, and suddenly MJ had taken the elevator to the basement, while Hayden took over the chip lead. It was 9:00 p.m.
The very next hand, Negreanu raised it to $2,000, and MJ decided to call with 4-4. Daniel had A-K, but no high cards ever hit the board, and MJ had tripled up immediately.
Ten minutes later, the tournament took a major swing in a different direction. In the cut off seat, Hartman accidentally flashed an ace, and then Schrier raised it to $2,000 from the button. Juanda, a great player who has been very hot lately-he just won the All-Around title at the Legends of Poker, accumulating enough points to beat Stan Goldstein even though Stan won three different events-moved all-in.
Schrier called like a shot, and turned over K-K. Juanda showed A-10, a classic "I know that you know that I know" move. The flashed ace made it unlikely that Schrier was raising with a stronger ace, and the re-raise was likely to push a small pair out of the way, because the small pair would figure Juanda for a non-ace hand, too.
SO MUCH FOR FOURTH-LEVEL THINKING
The pocket kings made that kind of fourth-level thinking irrelevant, but the flop didn't: A-8-Q. As if for emphasis, Juanda also hit a ten on the turn, and another queen hit the river. Schrier had to ship $8,000 more to Juanda, who had in two hours gone from second-lowest chip total at the table to the chip lead.
"The thought was good," said observer T.J. Cloutier to Juanda, "but the timing was bad, and then suddenly it was good again." Schrier had only $4,500 left, and looked about as glum as most of us do when the seemingly inevitable ace hits the board when we have pocket kings.
So much for my theory that Schrier had given away important information when he showed his raises with A-Q were backed up by the goods. He got his money in here with the best of it, and while Juanda has to be given credit for creative thinking on the raise, Schrier got crippled through sheer bad luck.
Schrier almost doubled through Hayden when he moved over the top of her raise and she called with A-6 to Stan's A-9, but the 5-J-8-8-K board made it a split pot.
NEGREANU ALL-IN MOVES WORK… FOR A WHILE
Negreanu picked up a few pots worth $1,500 with all-in moves that no one wanted to oppose, but then tried it once too often and Cernuto called Daniel's bet in the big blind with pocket jacks. Daniel could produce only pocket fours, and shipped $4,350 more to Cernuto, who had now turned that little $1,400 stack of his into about ten grand. Daniel had about $4,500 left, and it was 9:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, Cernuto kept firing, and picked up some uncontested pots. When he'd raised for the fifth time in eight hands, Negreanu had seen enough, and called with 7-7. Miami John turned over A-J, and while the 2-4-6 flop was harmless enough, an ace hit the turn, and the likeable young Canadian pro was out eighth at 9:40. MJ, meanwhile, had increased that $1,400 stack by a full order of magnitude.
When we hit the break a few minutes later-the break at which I'd told Cernuto I liked the two Johns-the chip positions were
Hartman, $7,500
Schrier, $7,000
Juanda, $25,000
Feduniak, $9,500
Ibrahim, $5,000
Hayden, $18,000
Cernuto, $18,000
It had taken nearly three hours to eliminate two players, but that slow pace was about to change. The players returned with $100 antes and $500-$1,000 blinds, putting $2,200 in dead money out seven-handed when we started back at 10:25.
WE INTERRUPT THIS TOURNAMENT TALE FOR AN EDITORIAL
On the very first hand after the break, Mohamed Ibrahim, a terrific money and tournament player who received, as far as I could tell, no stupid glares or comments about his name or background from his fellow players-rather the reverse, actually-pushed his short stack all-in from the small blind, and Hayden called quickly from the big blind. Kd-10d for Ibrahim, Ad-Jd for Hayden, and an ace on the flop ended Ibrahim's day.
Sorry for the non-poker editorializing, but the stories I've been reading about hate crimes committed by Americans against Arab-Americans since September 11 have me more than a little pissed off. Hate is what sent the World Trade Center down, folks, we don't need any more of it, with an exception allowed for the people who committed the acts, and not for everyone who shares their religion or happens to look like they might be from the same part of the world.
Just call me an anti-bigot bigot. The above comments represent the opinion of this writer and not necessarily those of any of the websites running it, although I sure hope it does. We now return to some totally terrific poker action.
Miami John raised a pot to $4,000 a few minutes later and Juanda played back with a $12,000 bet from the small blind. MJ let the hand go, JJ showed QQ, and the rich got richer.
A couple of hands later, Hartman-whom I'd overheard on the break tell friends he thought he was playing too tight and planned to open it up a bit-opened a hand for $2,500 two off the button, and Schrier moved all-in right behind him, a raise of only $1,800. Given the comment I'd heard, I assumed Hartman had made a move, but was going to have to call for the pot odds.
Assuming is a dangerous thing, as I'd already known, because Hartman called quickly and turned over K-K. Schrier showed A-K, but nothing higher than a nine ever hit the board, and Schrier was out, the second victim in less than nine minutes, and on the sidelines because he could neither win with K-K nor beat K-K.
SUDDENLY, SHORTHANDED POKER
Suddenly we had a five-handed game, and that calls for a different brand of poker than does a full ring game. We were about to see who was up to it.
Hayden understands the need for shorthanded aggression, and raised a pot to $4,000, only to have chip leader Juanda ask Melissa for a count on what she had left. "$16,000," came the answer, and Juanda moved all-in. Hayden threw her hand away, and Juanda, although certainly not lacking for hands, was putting on a clinic, alternating big re-raises with small blind & ante-stealing raises, and accumulating chips faster than he could stack them. At 10:45, my new chip estimate was
Hartman, $13,500
Juanda, $36,500
Feduniak, $9,000
Hayden, $14,000
Cernuto, $17,000
Feduniak had been playing a cagey waiting game, getting involved in fewer hands than anyone at the table, and when she did raise, no one ever called her. Cloutier was sitting next to me, and I'd mentioned this to him a bit earlier, when we were still seven-handed.
"I can't really tell what she's playing," I said, "because no one has ever called her raises."
"That means she's playing good," Cloutier said. "It's hard to win one of these final tables if you're mixing it up every single hand."
Shorthanded, though, the speedier arrival of the blinds started getting Feduniak into trouble, and she had slipped down to $5,000, thanks mostly to Juanda raising her big blind virtually every time from his small blind.
I'd no sooner made a note about this than Feduniak moved all-in from under the gun, but even with her tight style, her stack was too small to scare Hayden out of moving all-in after her, shutting out the rest of the field. 3-3 for Feduniak, A-Q for Hayden, but nothing higher than a jack ever hit the board, and Feduniak had some chips again.
JUANDA STAYS ON THE OFFENSIVE
Juanda continued his pattern of attacking Feduniak's big blind, but Maureen decided she'd had enough of that, and finally played back at Juanda, raising his $2,500 bet another $9,400.
Timing is everything in this game, though. Juanda couldn't possibly have had a big hand ever time he'd raised Feduniak, but had had one this time, A-K, and Maureen was in trouble with A-10. She managed to hit her kicker on the flop, but so did Juanda: K-10-7. She couldn't hit one of the two remaining tens on the turn or river, and exited fifth, giving Juanda another big chunk of change in the bargain; his stack was approaching $50,000, just as we passed 11:00.
Hayden was now the short stack, at $7,100, and Juanda proved he was an equal opportunity small blind attacker, betting just that at Melissa in the big blind. She called with the best of it: A-10 for Hayden, A-8 for Juanda. It was starting to look like Juanda was on an unstoppable roll when the flop came 4-K-8, and the turn another 4, but just as Jim "Cincinnati Kid" Lester yelled "ten" from the crowd, that's exactly what the dealer peeled off, and Juanda had finally lost a hand.
HE'D WON SO MANY POTS, HE COULD SMILE AFTER LOSING ONE
Realizing that he had been on quite a hot streak, Juanda just smiled and asked the dealer playfully, "Are you sure you burned before the river card?" Cernuto laughed and said, "Maybe you should ask if he burned before the flop!"
"Who was that who yelled for the ten from the crowd?" Hayden asked. "Was that Jim Lester?" Informed she was right, Hayden left her seat to hug "The Kid," and told him, I believe, that he now had to stick around as a good luck charm.
I did another chip estimate a couple of minutes later, and saw:
Hartman, $12,000
Juanda, $48,000
Hayden, $12,000
Cernuto, $18,000
At 11:30, Juanda popped Hayden's big blind again, a $2,500 bet, and Hayden decided to flat call. The flop came 2-2-8, Juanda bet $2,800, Hayden moved all-in for her last $10,700, and after some hesitation, Juanda called. "You got me if you can call me," said Hayden, turning over her A-7.
Juanda turned over J-8, top pair, and no ace arrived to save Hayden, who exited fourth and got Juanda near the $60,000 mark. The play was mostly cautious until we hit the next scheduled break, right near midnight, when the chips now stood at
Hartman, $14,000
Juanda, $57,000
Cernuto, $19,000
The blinds moved to $800-$1,600, and the antes to $200, and you already know we lost Hartman next. A-7 proved to be a bad hand late in this tournament: That's what Hartman held when Cernuto moved all-in from the small blind, and Hartman called.
Miami John turned over 4d-6d. "You caught me stealing," MJ said, but the situation wasn't near as bad as if he'd had, say, A-6. MJ had, at least, two live cards, and once the flop came 3h-5h-Qh, we had a virtual coin flip situation, because MJ had 13 outs twice with his open-ended straight draw (Hartman's A-7 was black).
"I WANNA BE JUST LIKE SCOTTY"
"C'mon, just like Scotty," MJ said, referring to a Tournament of Champions hand where Scotty Nguyen had been caught stealing with 4-6, flopped a straight draw and made it.
"Just like Scotty" it was, too, because the seven hit immediately, and with #2 taking out #3, we had a tournament again. Cernuto had just about half as many chips as Juanda, and that meant he could enjoy exactly the same kind of lead if he could double through just once.
The heads-up battle began at 12:15, and for a moment, looked like it might have a quick ending. On the third hand, Cernuto limped in from the small blind on the button (SBB), and Juanda checked. The flop came Kc-7c-8s, Juanda checked, Cernuto bet $6,000, and Juanda moved all-in.
Cernuto thought about it for a while, but then muttered, "I guess you have a king," and threw his hand away.
THE DUEL BEGINS WITH A CAREFUL PROBE FOR WEAKNESS
With Juanda now leading about $68,000-$22,000, both players grew a bit cautious, and it seemed that each was confident he could outplay the other after the flop, because we saw a lot of limping in from the button and looking at cheap flops. Juanda didn't want to give his foe an easy chance to double up, and Cernuto didn't want to hand over his smaller stack with a silly move.
The duo engaged in some relevant but eventually inconsequential small encounters up until the 21st heads-up hand, when Cernuto limped in from the SBB, Juanda raised $3,500, and Cernuto called. The flop came Jh-5c-8h, and both players checked, as they did again when the 6d hit the turn. The 7d hit the river, a scary card on the face of it, because with 5-6-7-8 on the board, it became pretty easy for either player to have a straight, but the pre-flop raising made the presence of a four or nine a bit less likely, perhaps.
Juanda checked, Cernuto bet $5,000, and after thinking it over for a bit, Juanda called. Cernuto knew he was dead with his K-10, and Juanda showed A-6. "You should have bet more," Juanda said in a friendly way.
"I didn't have a lot more," replied Cernuto, who was down to his last $12,000 or so, meaning Juanda was up near $78,000.
On the very next hand, Juanda made it $3,500 from the SBB, and Miami John moved all-in. Juanda called, and was in big trouble: A-7 (once again an unlucky hand at the end of this tournament) against Cernuto's A-8. The flop and turn missed everyone, and Cernuto made a pair of eights he didn't need on the end to double through, as Juanda shipped $11,700 to Cernuto.
AND JUST FOR YOU "CASABLANCA" FANS…
I could almost hear Paul Henreid (Victor Laslow) telling Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine) "Welcome back to the fight, monsieur." Cernuto had $23,800, and a fighting chance.
On the 27th heads-up hand, Cernuto moved his roughly $20,000 all-in from the SBB, and Juanda looked down at his cards and said, a bit unevenly, "Wow." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Call," and turned over A-J.
Miami John was in big trouble, turning over A-10, but a ten hit the flop, and monsieur was most definitely back in the fight, trailing about $40,000-$50,000.
Two hands later, we got a hand that Hollywood would have loved, either in Casablanca's time or today, because it was one of those impossible ones that seems to turn up only in the movies.
Miami John raised it to $3,800 from the SBB, and Juanda raised back another $7,500 more. Miami John announced, "Raise," and then pushed the rest of his stack in.
WHEN YA GOTTA, YA GOTTA
The always engaging Juanda almost looked embarrassed as he said, "I have to call … I have the best hand." When Miami John Cernuto puts in two raises and John Juanda says he knows he has the best hand, there's only one possibility, and I didn't have to see the hand to know what it was: A-A.
Miami John shook his head and turned over K-K. The board came 3-5-7-7-9, and John Juanda, who had come to this tournament as one of the hottest players in poker and started the final table in eighth chip position, was our champion.
Cernuto was disappointed, but as the two shook hands and Juanda said, "You got unlucky, the betting goes the same way if I have the kings and you have the aces," Cernuto shrugged and said, "Yeah, but I got a miracle with the A-10 against the A-J."
The two continued to exchange mutually respectful comments, and Cernuto told me it was the first time he'd ever played a heads-up match with Juanda. "I enjoyed it, John," were the last words I heard Cernuto say.
T'WAS WELL DONE BY ALL
I have to say, gentlemen, that I enjoyed it too. Cernuto had come back from an almost impossibly short stack, and Juanda, although the chip monster ever since his A-10 knocked off Schrier's K-K, had made a strong comeback of his own, each playing his way into position against a talented final table. My call of "I'll take the two Johns against the field" was much more a sign of respect for these two stars than it was any doubt about the ability of the others.
I haven't felt ready to play poker myself ever since September 11, but I think watching this fine exhibition finally has me ready to get back into the game. Under other conditions I'd have played this event, but I just didn't feel up to, and now I do again. Life has to go on, and we all have to keep fighting the good fight. The nine finalists all did just that.
John Juanda walked off with the most money, but everyone at this final table was able to walk off knowing he or she had given it his or her best, and that's what will win the world's eventual triumph over the evils of terrorism, too.
Final Official Results, $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
90 Entrants, Prize Pool $87,300
1. John Juanda, Alhambra, CA, $34,920
2. "Miami" John Cernuto, Las Vegas, NV, $20,079
3. Tony Hartman, Minneapolis, MN, $10,476
4. Melissa Hayden, Las Vegas, NV, $6,111
5. Maureen Feduniak, Las Vegas, NV $4,802
6. Stan Schrier, Omaha, Nebraska, $3,929
7. Mohamed Ibrahim, Long Beach, CA, $3,055
8. Daniel Negreanu, Las Vegas, NV, $2,182
9. Dan McGuire, Las Vegas, NV, $1,746
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