CLIFF CANTOR MAKES BIG COMEBACK IN POT-LIMIT
Down to only $6,000 late at the final table, Los Angeles night club owner Cliff Cantor made a remarkable comeback to take the 13th event of World Poker Challenge, pot-limit hold'em. A pot-limit specialist, he had a win at Commerce's Heavenly Hold'em, and a couple of chops at Legends of Poker.
His final opponent was Bruce Corman, owner of a men's clothing store in Nottingham, England. Corman, with a second in limit hold'em at WPC 2001, prefers to play major tournaments in this country to avoid the smoke and late-hour starts of European events.
Mike Caro hosted. He was critical of recent "squabbling" in poker over issues such as cheating allegations and magazine against magazine. "One thing we have in common is our love for poker," he said, "so let's talk to each other, laugh and have fun." (Right. Go tell bitter rivals Card Player and Poker Digest to laugh and have fun with each other.)
Only five players made it to the final table. At the second table, Chris Bjorin, winner of the 11th event, stud hi-lo, had a very big chip lead until he got into a huge confrontation with Corman. Chris, with pocket sixes to Bruce's A-Q, was crippled when a queen flopped. He finished on the bubble when he had top pair and draws to a flush and open-end straight, but missed and broke against "Canadian Tom" Cawley, who made an eight-high straight.
The five finalists voted to play it out rather than returning the next day, and they assembled at about 9 p.m. Corman and Cawley, making his third final table at this year's CPC, were nearly tied for the lead with roughly $30,000 each, while Cantor and James Hoeppner trailed badly. Last year Hoeppner, a CPA, won the Legends championship, took second at the TOC and fifth in the WSOP deuce to seven. But he said his greatest thrill came when he chopped a Mirage tournament with Max Shapiro.
Blinds started at $300-$600, 41:26 remaining. On the 13th hand, a big problem arose. Ho opened for $4,000 and Corman raised to $11,800. "I call," Ho said. Thinking Ho had said "All in," Corman turned up pocket aces. Tournament director Steve Morrow, who's had some tough calls in this tournament, now had his biggest puzzlement yet. He finally ruled that even though Corman's act was obviously accidental and not designed to induce or discourage action, it still affected everyone at the table, so he ordered the hand played out, after which Bruce would have to take a 20-minute penalty. The flop was 10-7-3. Bruce bet and Tam folded pocket queens. Had he not seen the aces, he probably would have gone all in on such a rag flop and busted out.
Instead, it was Hoeppner who busted out, on hand 29. He button raised, Bruce, back from exile, called from the small blind, Cliff re-raised to $3,900 and James called all in. James had A-4 to Cliff's A-J. Hoeppner got no help from a board of 8-8-6-2-7, and cashed out fifth.
At 9:58 blinds went to $400-$800. Just four hands later, Ho brought it in for $2,200, Corman made a big raise and Ho put in his last $2,500. Corman had him, A-K to A-6 and Ho couldn't catch up. Now the game settled down to raise and fold, raise and fold. A dealer observed that she might set a new record by never having to put out a flop during her 20-minutes in the box. She missed her record when a single hand went all the way to the turn!
When blinds moved up to $500 and $1,000, Cliff and Bruce were virtually dead even with about $4,000 each, while Canadian Tom had about $17,000. Then things turned after Cliff lost a big pot against Bruce. Holding J-10, Cliff flopped an open-end straight on a board of 9-8-4. He missed and Bruce, with Q-8, made a third eight on the turn. Down to $6,000, Cliff went all in a couple of times but won, kept grabbing more pots and in 10 hands had jumped up to about $30,000. A few hands later, Bruce busted Tom, pocket queens against pocket nines.
It was 11:35 and Cliff now had $37,000 to Bruce's $60,000. The key hand came after Cliff had climbed to near even. On a flop of Q-Q-7. Bruce bet the pot, $9,000, holding A-7. Cliff smooth-called with Q-8. When a six turned, Corman made an all-in gesture. He had no outs, and was suddenly down to $4,500. That went in on the next hand, just as midnight was about to strike. Cliff put him in, 10-10 to Bruce's J-8. A K-7-3-Q was dealt out, and Cliff the comeback kid was the new pot-limit champ. -Max Shapiro
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