Poker Tournament Results

3rd Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open

Andrew Bloch

Tournament Report

Jack Binion World Poker Open Event #19 ($10,000 buy-in) No-Limit Texas Hold'em Entries: 140 Total Prize Money: $1,358,000 Report From Day Two On Day Two of the World Poker Open $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold’em championship event, the number of players was reduced from 80 down to 27. All 27 remaining players are now “in the money.” The top finishers will divide $1,358,000 in total prize money – with over half a million dollars guaranteed to the winner. The chip leader at the conclusion of Day Two is Andy Bloch, an MIT and Harvard Law School graduate, who has been playing in poker tournaments for the last six years. Bloch has won at the Hall of Fame tournament, and has several final table appearances at the World Series of Poker and other top events. At the moment, he is one of only five players with over $100K in chips. Bloch has a $28K chip lead over Barry Shulman, the Publisher of Card Player magazine. Shulman, who is second in chips, has previously won at the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Open (in 2000). Shulman, who always looks calm and relaxed whenever he plays, has $128K in chips going into Day Three. Third in the chip count is Erik Seidel, who was the chip leader after Day One. Seidel came in with $46K and increased his stack to almost $117K. Seidel is one of poker’s most talented and widely respected players – with many top tournament wins in his 15-year poker career. Humberto Brenes is fourth in chips. The always-dangerous Brenes has been steadily increasing his stack size throughout the tournament. The clever Costa Rican has won many tournaments in the United States and overseas – and made the final table in the main event at the World Series several years ago. Coming in fifth is David “DevilFish” Ulliott, who has already won an event at this year’s World Poker Open. DevilFish is widely regarded as one of poker’s most dangerous no-limit players. Anytime he gets chips, his opponents are bound to be pressured with a ceaseless bombardment of raises. Ulliot, from England, has won at the World Series and many other top events in Europe. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from Day Two: --- Poker legends Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese getting busted-out early in the day. This was the first tournament either has attended in nearly three years. It was great to see these two players, who have meant so much to poker’s past, also want to be part of the game’s present and its future – as demonstrated by their attendance at the 2002 World Poker Open. --- Nick Salameh, from Houston, starting-out with only $4,750 in chips after the first day (78th out of 80 players overall), and increasing his position to where he is now ranked 13th in chips with $38,100. Salameh is another great example of how patience in a poker tournament can ultimately pay-off. Salameh is now in decent position to make a run at the final table. That would have been unthinkable just 24-hours ago. --- Tournament pro Tony Cousineau getting busted with K-K, which lost to A-K when the final board showed four hearts. Cousineau had the king of hearts, but Robert Dreyfuss had the ace of hearts. Tough break. --- Men “the Master” Nguyen joking with the cocktail waitress. The 5’ 5” Men looked up sheepishly at the 6-foot tall waitress in high heels and tried to order another Corona beer. As Men tried desperately to get her attention, she turned to him and said, “You’re about as big as one of my husband’s legs.” That line cracked up two tables full of players. --- Chip leader Andy Bloch’s amazing surge from about $40K in chips with 32 players remaining, up to $155K. Bloch must have played extremely aggressively as the bubble (prize money line) approached and picked-up a lot of chips with good hands that held up. --- All six chip leaders from yesterday survived to play another day. Henry Nowakowski, from Frankfurt, Germany came in 7th in chips, but busted out very late in the afternoon. Of the 80 players that came into Day Two, only six of the bottom half of the field (lowest 40) managed to make it into the money. --- Barry Shulman drew the same table as his son, Jeff Shulman – Editor at Card Player. Down to just about 40 players, Shulman tried to make a move at the blinds with A-J on the button and moved all-in. Barry Shulman (his father) looked down in the blind and saw pocket aces. “When I saw that I nearly got sick,” Shulman said later. Shulman called and the aces held up. --- Bad Beat of the Day: Of course, pocket rockets don’t always hold up. In the middle of the day, Erik Seidel was dealt 2-2 against Bob Beck’s A-A. The flop came 2-4-7 and Beck lost his $30K in chips and was knocked-out in 48th place. --- Funny Line of the Day: With blinds at $500-$1000, Andy Glazer was in the small blind. It was folded around and Glazer raised $2K. The player in the big blind thought for a moment and said “I think you’re stealing,” as he put in a $5K re-raise. Glazer silently jammed the pot with another re-raise, this time about $20K. “Well, maybe not,” the player said as his cards were thrown into the muck. --- Young Phan, after losing three key pots in a row where he was the overwhelming favorite against a small stack, finally managed to win a pot when his big cards held up. The normally quiet and reserved Phan stood up and began jumping up and down while an astonished gallery watched. “I won a pot! I finally won a pot!” Phan screamed in delight. --- The $8,148 card (guaranteed): Down to the last 28 players (27 places paid, which means one player gets nothing), Tony Hartman was short-stacked and went all-in with 6-6. He was horrified to get called by Men “the Master” Nguyen with Q-Q. Hartman got up and was ready to walk away when the flop failed to produce a 6. The turn also was no help to Hartman’s hand. Then, the river brought a miracle. A club fell on the final card – as the board showed four clubs. Men tossed his two red queens in the muck as the 6 of clubs won a nice pot for Hartman and guaranteed him a payout of at least $8,148 – and a chance to make the final table. Howard Lederer ended up busting-out 28th. Day Three is set to begin on Friday at noon. The field will be reduced from the 27 remaining players down to the final six – which will constitute the final table of the World Poker Open championship. -- by Nolan Dalla List of Prize money 1st = $502,460 2nd = $258.020 3rd = $129,010 4th = $ 81,480 5th = $ 61,110 6th = $ 47,530 7th = $ 33,950 8th = $ 27,160 9th = $ 21,728 10th thru 12th = $16,296 13th thru 15th = $13,580 16th thru 18th = $10,864 19th thru 27th = $ 8,148