| Jack Binion World Poker Open
Event #16
($2,000 buy-in) Limit Texas Hold’em
Entries: 94
Total Prize Money: $182,360
Las Vegas pro Steve Zolotow overcame a 6 to 1 chip disadvantage mid-way through the final table of the $2,000 buy-in Limit Texas Hold’em event and went on to win his first World Poker Open championship. In what proved to be the toughest lineup of any event thus far (five of the nine finalists were former world champions with a combined 10 World Series titles between them), Zolotow remained completely focused and relaxed throughout the five hour conquest. With his victory, Zolotow adds a diamond and gold bracelet to two previous World Series of Poker titles and an impressive resume of wins at many of poker’s toughest tournaments.
This was Zolotow’s first year to attend the World Poker Open, and his first time ever to make a final table in Tunica. He arrived in third chip position, but fell further behind early when he folded to a bet on the river by Allen Cunningham, convinced that his top pair (aces) was no good. Zolotow’s ability to make good lay downs saved him precious chips early which would later enable him to rebuild his stack again.
First out was T.J. Coutier, widely acknowledged as one of the best tournament players in history. Cloutier knew he had to catch a hand early -- and to his delight, he picked up pocket kings on very first hand in the big blind. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a caller, and Cloutier only managed to pick up a couple of chips. A few hands later, Cloutier was dealt A-Q suited. Talk about bad timing. Huck Seed put Cloutier all-in with pocket kings. An ace failed to come for Cloutier, which meant an early exit for the longtime pro from Dallas. Cloutier took $3,647 for 9th place.
Harry Thomas went out next. Thomas, who was making his second final table appearance at this year’s tournament, rolled his last four chips into the pot with K-Q suited. Aaron Katz, the chip-leader, called and showed A-2. The final board – A-10-7-9-A – was overkill for Katz, which meant the graceful Ohioan and former World Series of Poker winner was out in 8th place with $4,559.
Minh Nguyen arrived at the final table low on chips, and managed to build his chip count up to $25K at one point. But two successive beats busted Nguyen from the game. The fateful hand for Nguyen came when he raised pre-flop with A-10, which was called by Zolotow in the blind. Both players hit an ace on the turn. The final board, 9-6-4-A-2 meant Zolotow’s jack played as the better kicker and Nguyen was out in 7th place with $6,383. Nguyen, a Los Angeles-based pro, has made many final tables at poker tournaments over the years and now adds a World Poker Open final table to his record.
The next 60 minutes might as well have been called “The Aaron Katz Hour.” He steadily increased his chip lead from $42K to over $120K at one point mid-way into the final table. During Katz’s run, Huck Seed lost two pots, which sealed his fate as the 6th place finisher. First, Seed tried to make a move at the pot with A-K (no pair), but was called down on every round of betting by Fred Brown with a pair of 3’s. Brown’s read on Seed was perfect. A few minutes later, Seed went all-in with his remaining chips on K-10. Steve Zolotow, who was all the way down to $10K in chips, matched Seed’s last bet and showed K-Q. Seed desperately needed a 10 to survive, but was disappointed to see the final board come A-Q-8-4-A. The 1996 World Champion went out in 6th place with $8,206.
Allen Cunningham was the next former champion to hit the rail. Cunningham lost a key hand to Jay Stephenson, and then put his last $10K into the pot with A-K suited. Once again, Stephenson was happy to mix it up with Cunningham – this time with pocket kings. Cunningham failed to catch an ace on the board, which meant the California pro was out in 5th place with $10,030.
All five players had busted sequentially in order of their early chip counts. That was bad news for Fred Brown. As the limits increased to $2K-4K, Brown -- dressed in his trademark black western wear and cowboy hat with his supporting wife cheering him on -- made a nice run and took his stack up to over 60K. Then, Steve Zolotow’s comeback began when he hit trip 4’s against Brown, costing him nearly a third of his stack. Twenty minutes later, Katz took another $10K from Brown’s stack and he was now down to his last $8K.
Brown’s final hand of the night came when he was dealt A-J, raised, and was called by Katz in the big blind with Q-2. The flop helped neither player. However, the board came runner-runner spades, which meant Katz had won the pot with his queen of spades playing as the fifth flush card. In his second World Poker Open final table, Brown took $12,765 back to Michigan for 4th place.
Zolotow’s comeback continued, but it was not without a major setback. First, Zolotow pounded Katz with a club flush versus two pair. Zolotow was dealt 8-9 of clubs against Katz’s A-8. The flop came A-8-J (with two clubs). By the turn a huge pot had developed, and Zolotow was pleased to see a club arrive on 4th street. The river failed to improve Katz’s two pair, and Zolotow was now up to $65K. Just as quickly, Katz won a $40K pot when he showed K-8 to a final board of K-7-7-6-K against Zolotow. A few hands later, Zolotow was down to only $25K to Katz’s $150K. Jay Stephenson was alive on life support at $10K.
But Zolotow never gave in. He surely and steadily build his stack up again, helped no doubt by a couple of near-miracle river cards that frustrated Katz. On one key hand, Zolotow made a straight against Katz’s top pair. On another hand, Zolotow made trip 7’s on Katz and drew nearly even in chips. However, Jay Stephenson could not make a move. He lost his final hand of the night when he failed to double through in the big blind – giving Stephenson 3rd place prize money of $21,883. Interestingly, this was Stephenson first major poker tournament. He entered the event because he won a single table satellite. Not a bad pay-off for a $220 investment.
Head-up play began with the final two players close to equal in chips – Katz’s $95K to Zolotow’s $90K. From that moment forward, Zolotow became the aggressor, consistently betting and raising no matter what the flop brought. Katz sensed that Zolotow was stealing, but had often completely missed the flop himself – leaving him in a quandary. Thirty minutes after head-up play started, Zolotow was ahead by a 2 to 1 chip count. Katz managed to stop the flow of chips from his stack on one hand when he out-kicked Zolotow with his A-10 versus Zolotow’s 10-7 when the final board showed J-10-3-2-5. But Zolotow took the chips back again when he hit a pair of deuces on the river and took down a huge pot as Katz bet his ace-picture card the entire way.
As limits increased to $4K-8K, Katz managed to stage a couple of late flurries where his stack went back up to $40K. But the end was drawing closer. The final hand of the night came when Katz was dealt A-Q. Zolotow looked down to see A-K. Katz needed a miracle to survive. However, the much-needed queen failed to appear as the final board showed 7-5-4-10-10.
Katz, a professional poker player who plays in big cash games in the Los Angeles area, took second prize money of $41,943. “There were four times late where the river card broke me,” Katz said afterward -- referring to a number of key pots where he had the best of it on the turn only to lose to a devastating river card. But Zolotow won not merely because of good timing and a few breaks. Zolotow won because, quite simply – he’s one of the best all-around poker players in the world. Zolotow is a consistent winner in big cash games and major tournaments, a rare talent who is capable of beating any game in the world at any limit.
-- Nolan Dalla
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