EVENT #13: POT LIMIT TEXAS HOLD'EM ($1,000)
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY: $111,550
ENTRIES IN THIS EVENT: 115
PRIZE MONEY TO DATE (3/28-4/9): $1,565,580
TOTAL ENTRIES TO DATE (3/28-4/9): 2,507
Report by Don Larrimore
Redoubtable veteran T.J. Cloutier made poker history by capturing the WPO's $1,000 Pot Limit Hold'em title, the 50th major tournament victory in his illustrious 20-year professional career. He did it at a final table full of poker improbabilities and spectacularly entertaining action.
"It feels great to take this one," Cloutier said. "I've been trying to win my 50th major for two years. No player has ever done that." The diamond and gold WPO's winner's bracelet was added to Cloutier's collection of four gold bracelets at the World Series, where the 60 year-old former pro football player is the fifth highest all-time money winner with 2nd, 3rd and 5th place finishes in the World Championship.
"I love winning at a Jack Binion tournament," Cloutier said. "Jack, Jim and Susan Albrecht and Jack McClelland put on the best tournament possible." He noted that McClelland had joked on the microphone tonight that "the price of my book on pot limit and no limit hold'em will now go up to $69.95."
Cloutier said of this rather extraordinary final table he had conquered: "I thought everybody played well. The doggedly held on and didn't give anything away."
Cloutier was heads-up for exactly one hour against Salem Helou, who began with a 5-8 chip advantage which he quickly lost when his A-9 offsuit lost to Cloutier's K-7 of diamonds which flopped two pair. Four minutes later Helou recaptured the lead with an all-in deuce on the river for aces up, to throttle Cloutier's nines and eights.
On two succeeding hands, Cloutier, back in the lead, needed but didn't catch river cards which would have given him the title. Finally, Salem was all-in with A-7 against Cloutier's K-9 of hearts which hit a marvelous flop of 9c-4h-2h. A spade 3 on the turn gave Salem six outs -- three non-heart aces or fives. The six -- of clubs fell, and Cloutier had his 50th.
Helou, 52, born in Lebanon and a U.S. resident for the last 17 years, was playing in only his third major tournament, all of them at the WPO. In six years as a professional, he has won many smaller tournaments in Louisiana. "Really, I don't think I messed up," Helou said. "I felt I could beat him sooner or later and I played to win. But I ran out of luck. Twice he caught me when I started with the best hand." Of one of the sensations earlier, in which Helou caught a two-out five on the river for trips against Chris Bigler's pocket nines, he conceded, "That was amazing luck."
Climaxing an hour of breathtaking beats and catches in which three players were eliminated, Paul Kroh was knocked out in third when his pocket tens were torpedoed on the river by Helou's A-3 with a board of 7-5-5/K-A. It was Kroh's 2nd final table in three days. Said the 55 year-old retired truck-stop owner and four-year pro, "My reputation stayed intact. I get small pairs; I had three pairs of threes and two of fives. That's what they give me, that's what I've got to play. At this final table, I probably played the best poker of my life, following my strategy." He was involved in two almost comically remarkable pots, one when his pocket fours flopped a set with a board of 5-4-3 of diamonds against Halou's 6d-6. After a seven on the turn gave Helou a straight, the six of clubs on the river brought a split pot. Ten minutes later Kroh with Q-10 flopped 10-9-6 against Cloutier's pocket threes, only to see an eight and a seven follow for a pot-splitting straight.
Fourth place went to Magdi Iskander, 52, a native Egyptian former chemical engineer who has lived in London for 30 years and won "many" major tournaments in 16 years as a poker pro on the European and U.S. circuits. "I'm surprised and shocked to finish fourth, I had no cards," he said. He was eliminated in the hand before Kroh's demise when his K-9 lost to Helou's K-Q with a board of K-6-4/4-3.
Chris Bigler, 51, owner of a computer software firm in his native Switzerland who learned poker only three years ago and finished 5th in last year's World Championship event, took fifth when his nines were nipped on the river by Helou's two-outer five for trips. "This is a terrible beat. They're going to start calling pocket nines the 'Chris Bigler hand,'" he said. "Last year at the World Series I flopped a set of nines and the Champion (Noel Furlong) flopped a straight. But I still feel good. I played the best poker I can, with no mistakes."
Sixth place went to Bill Wolfe, 23, at his second WPO final table after being runner-up in the $1,000 limit hold'em event. "I'm extremely disappointed," he said. "Before the WPO I had never played pot limit hold'em. I find I love it." Having raised, been re-raised by Cloutier and folding three times previously, Wolfe raised with pocket fours and this time called Cloutier's re-raise with pocket jacks, "since I didn't have many chips and so decided to go ahead and give it a shot." He was shot down by a board of A-A-8/2-K.
Roger Van Driesen, also at his second final table in three days, finished seventh when Iskander flopped a winning straight against his all-in 7-5 in the big blind. "I enjoyed almost every minute," quipped the 68 year-old petroleum refining consultant who has had two World Series final tables and two major wins in 38 years of serious poker.
Eighth place went to Tommy Vinas, 46, who has "done nothing except play poker for a living for 25 years, straight out of college." Vinas departed when his 9-7 of spades lost to Cloutier's Q-10 with a board of 10-7s-3/4s-Q.
First out was James Turner, 60, a used car dealer and pawn shop owner at his first major tournament final table. "I had little butterflies before it started, but since I didn't have any chips I was under no pressure. I enjoyed it." He left on his third all-in foray, his A-6 losing to Van Driesen's pocket sevens with a board which helped neither player.
The Final Table Chip Standings & Seat Positions:
| Seat Position/Player | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Tommy Vinas (Houston, TX) | $24,800 |
| Seat 2: T.J. Cloutier (Dallas, TX) | $12,700 |
| Seat 3: Magdi Iskander (London, England) | $19,500 |
| Seat 4: Roger Van Driesen (Titasville, NJ) | $14,300 |
| Seat 5: James Turner (Ganado, TX) | $3,100 |
| Seat 6: Paul Kroh (Logandale, NV) | $23,900 |
| Seat 7: Salem Helou (Lafayette, LA) | $3,600 |
| Seat 8: Bill Wolfe (Athens, OH) | $10,900 |
| Seat 9: Chris Bigler (Fislisbach, Switzerland) | $2,200 |
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