| 2002 Jack Binion World Poker Open
Event #4
Limit Texas Hold’em ($500)
1/9/02
Entries: 463
Total Prize Money: $224,565
In one of the most dramatic tournament final tables in recent memory, the chip lead changed a staggering 13 times before the winner was finally determined. Randy “Dream Crusher” Jensen -- a big money cash game player who travels frequently around the country to play at most major poker tournaments -- won first-place and $83,085. True to his name, the Dream Crusher made things into a nightmare for his opponents. Talking confidently throughout the five hours of play at the final table, Jensen baited and teased his opponents -- trying to gain what he called “every conceivable advantage” in an atmosphere where the competition was extremely intense. “Part of my game is talking while I play,” explained a beaming Jensen afterward, as he accepted his first World Poker Open gold bracelet.
Jensen arrived at the final table with a slight chip-advantage over rival Chris “the Cincinnati Piranha” Kenik. Fittingly, the two early chip leaders with the intimidating nicknames would end the night playing head-up for all the chips. But before the final duel however, there would be plenty of drama.
Things started-off very well for the perilously short-stacked Chris O’Rourke. Almost instantly, he turned a tiny $7K stack into $42K mountain of chips with three successive double-ups. That left Brett Jungblut, from White House Station, NJ as the player short-stacked and the first to hit the rail. Desperately low on chips, Jungblut went all-in on the big blind with a J-4 of diamonds, but was eliminated when poker professional Doug Saab held K-9. A final board of A-8-2-3-K meant Jungblut was out in 9th place with $3,596.
Next to exit was Gary Starrett, from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Things went cold for Starrett, who ran into pocket queens two hands in a row. He was frozen in his tracks the second time when his J-J failed to improve. Nevertheless, Starrett collected $4,491 for 8th place.
In one key hand, Dream Crusher Jensen faced-off against Tom Lee, from Denver. Both players fired-off several raises with a board of A-A-8-7-9. $56K later, Jensen showed down A-K to Lee’s A-Q. Jensen’s better kicker (with the king) gave him 150K and what seemed like a commanding chip lead.
Things only got worse for Lee. Playing in only his second poker tournament ever, Lee – who is a full-time real estate broker – went all-in with A-J. Jenson called quickly with J-J and crushed another dream when an ace failed to hit the board. Lee took home a nice paycheck of $5,614 for two-day’s of poker playing.
Soon thereafter, Chris O’Rourke went out. O’Rourke had built a nice stack early but failed to accumulate any more chips. O’Rourke was delighted to move his remaining chips into the pot with A-K against Angela Tscheiner’s A-3. A flop of 3-3-2 followed by two blanks dashed any hopes of O’Rourke’s miracle comeback. O’Rourke who is a professional poker player from Tampa joined a large entourage of supporters attending from Florida and collected $7,859.
With the betting limits up to $4K-8K, Travis Jonas started to make his move. Jensen was on the button and instead of raising, simply called with his pocket aces. Doug Saab and Travis Jonas saw the flop cheaply. With a flop of 3-6-7, Jonas (with 4-7) and Jensen (with A-A) went to war. After driving out Saab with a raise, Jensen was stunned to see a 5 fall on the turn – giving Jonas a straight. The river was no factor as Jonas was suddenly a new threat with $82K in chips.
Angela Tscheiner would not be so fortunate. Playing at her second final table at this year’s World Poker Open, Tscheiner went in with her remaining chips with pocket 6s. Jensen called with K-8 and knocked Tscheiner out when the final board read J-5-8-J-J. Tscheiner, who started playing poker seriously 12 years ago when she was only 17, collected her second big prize of the tournament -- $10,105 for 5th place.
The next player to hit the felt was popular poker professional Doug Saab. A former World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Saab fell victim to several instances of misfortune at the final table. Although he came into the day third in chips, he lost the first significant hand of the day just five minutes into the finale. Saab called a raise with pocket jacks and lost to 3-3 when the board came A-4-6-7-5 (making the other player a straight). Three hours later, Saab was still hanging on low on chips, but finally ran out of gas when his 9-9 lost to Jensen’s Q-J of clubs. A final board of A-J-6-J-A put Saab on the side of the road in 4th place with $13,473.
A battle of epic proportions was about to begin. Down to the final three players and with chips counts at about 200K for Jensen, 100K for Kenik, and 80K for Jonas – the triumvirate would trade-off the chip lead five times before the next player was eliminated. With limits at $6K-12K, Kenik was the first player to seize the chip lead when he made a stunning decision to call Jensen’s bluff. Jensen had been the aggressor throughout the hand with his A-J, but Kenik read his opponent perfectly. Staring at a board made up totally of blanks (low cards), Kenik called a series of bets with A-Q, getting the best of Jensen’s A-J with a better kicker.
Travis Jonas was the next player to temporarily take control of the final table. He made a full house on the turn with pocket 7s against Kenik, winning a massive $140K pot. A short time later, Jonas ran into Jensen who was holding pocket aces and lost nearly half of his stack. The chip lead belonged to the Dream Crusher – yet again.
With limits raised again to $10K-20K that meant one or two losing hands would be enough to put any player on the rail. Jonas was now short on chips and went in with his last $10K on A-7 off-suit. Jensen called with 10-8 of spades and made a flush – knocking Jonas out in 3rd place. Jonas, a poker dealer and semi-pro player on the tournament circuit from Corona, CA, played a magnificently – earning a well-deserved $21,333 for his effort.
Playing head-up the Dream Crusher tried to intimidate his opponent. “I’m the best head-up player, so you better pray for some good cards,” Jensen joked as the last chapter was about to begin. But the Piranha wasn’t impressed. Kenik dismissed Jensen’s taunts and dueled back and forth, taking the chip lead at least three times before succumbing on the final hand of the night. After losing a series of big pots to Jensen, Kenik decided to make a stand with 8-5 when the flop came J-9-5. Jensen held K-9 and was happy to continue betting. A 10 on the turn gave Kenik some hope with a straight draw, but his dreams were ultimately crushed when a Q fell on the river giving Jensen the higher straight. The Cincinnati Piranha, a poker professional as well as a successful sports handicapper, collected $42,665 for 2nd place.
After his win, Jensen was gracious about his good fortunate. “It was a very tough final table,” he admitted. He also noted that the main reason he is here is because all WPO tournament events are now non-smoking and he feels a special gratitude to Jack Binion for hosting such a terrific poker tournament. He also wished to thank his loving wife Stephanie who has been very supportive of his poker career. For the Dream Crusher, it was the thing that dreams are made of.
-- Written by Nolan Dalla
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