2001 FIRST-EVENT WINNER
RUSS FLOYD WINS NO-LIMIT
Russ Floyd, winner of the first event of last year's World Poker Challenge, returned to town and this time captured event four, no-limit hold'em. The victory for Floyd, who splits his time between dealing and working for the Fox Sports network, was worth $24,944.
The most amazing performance, though, was turned in by runner-up Movachi Ly. Soon after it got three-handed, Floyd and "John Smith" eachhad over $100,000 in chips, and Ly only $18,000. "David" then proceeded to go all against the two Goliaths an astonishing 20 times before John Smith finally busted out. Movachi seemed to have an uncanny ability to pick his spots to bluff. The three times he was called, he won twice and split once.
There were several similarities with yesterday's marathon, which lasted five hours with three players. Today's three-handed battle went three hours and more than 100 hands. Yesterday, Gary Sergo was also also massively outchipped by two opponents and also managed to finish second. The difference was that today, Movachi picked up $6,386 by moving up a notch. Yesterday, a deal had been made, with $2,000 more going just to the winner, so all Sergo accomplished by his tenacity was to keep people awake a very long time.
Movachi also got a very lucky break one hand when Russ made a premature call. On about the 90th three-way hand, Movachi, who by then had accumulated a lot more chips, was heads-up with Floyd in a $30,000 pot with a board of Q-10-9-5-4. After Floyd checked,Movachi said something and made a pushing-in-chips motion. Russ, thinking he had moved in, immediately said, "I call."
Movachi protested that he never said "all in," and hadn't bet. All he said, he insisted, was "Now I…" Since no one else was sure of what Movachi said, Steve Morrow had to rule that his action was not definitive enough to constitute a bet. The cards were turned up. Russ won the pot, Q-6 versus Q-3, but Movachi was still alive. Russ was gracious. "I've played with 'Moochie' all week and he never made a move," he conceded.
Host for this event was Brian Saltus, winner of the $5,000 championship event at the 2001 Tournament of Champions. He praised all the "wonderful" support personnel at WPC and singled out tournament director David Lamb for being efficient and fair.
The final table started with $150 antes and $400-800 blinds, 47:19 remaining. On the first hand, Smith lost more than half his starting stack of $48,000 by calling with A-10 of diamonds after Toto moved in for $25,000 with K-K. Three hands later it was attorney Dan Steward who had the A-10 of diamonds. He put in his $2,300 and John took it with pocket sevens.
Six hands later, the other short stack went out when Robert Wasmund moved in for $3,450 with K-Q. Toto, an L.A. pro, beat him with A-7. A short time later, John got his chips back from Toto by winning with K-K against 8-8. Maurice Sova, a retired businessman, finished seventh. Down to $5,000, he moved in with pocket deuces. Chaim Halpern, who just won the $1,000 limit hold'em event at the Taj, picked him off with Q-Q.
Shortly after blinds went to $500 and $1,500, construction inspector Larry Nicholas picked up the same A-10 of diamonds that had been so disastrous for Steward and Smith. Not realizing the danger, he moved in for about $11,000 after Smith had raised to $4,500 with K-6 of spades. A six on fourth street left Larry in sixth place.
An hour into final-table play, Russ, holding K-Q, made it $5,000 to go. Toto had pocket queens and moved in for about $20,000. The board came 10-8-5-K-6, and Toto got totaled. The three-handed saga got underway after Halpern suffered a bad beat. After a flop of K-9-8, he checked, John bet and Chaim check-raised all in for $22,000. He had the lead, K-J to K-7, but a seven on the turn gave John a winning two pair.
At the next break, Russ had about $109,000, John $104,000 and Movachi was below the radar screen with $19,000. Play resumed with $1,000-$2,000 limits and $300 antes.
As the hands played out, Movachi steadily moved up the ladder as his opponents tried not to double him up, repeatedly folding when he moved in. One time Russ did call his $21,000 bet with Q-8 and did double him up when Mochavi showed two kings. Another time, John had him, 6-6 against A-Q, but Mochavi won again by flopping a queen. By the time blinds were $2,000 and $4,000, the Merced, California pro had risen to $68,000. Meanwhile, Smith had taken some hits and was now perilously low when he got into a final confrontation with Ly. Holding A-J, Movachi raised $20,000 and John called for his last $17,500 with K-10. John took the lead on a flop of K-6-3. But then a ten and a queen hit to give Movachi a straight.
On the first heads-up hand, Movachi moved in again and Russ abandoned a $30,000 pot. Movachi now had about $100,000 to Russ' $130,000, but a few hands later it was all over. On a flop of 9-5-3 with two spades, Movachi moved in for the last time with K-3. Russ called with a flush draw of A-7 of spades. He missed, but a seven on the river squashed his pesky opponent and brought him the title. -Max Shapiro |
