| ANY TWO CARDS CAN WIN
There's a saying in poker that one hears at a table. "Any two cards can win." It's a saying often used by players who are disgusted with an opponent's
choice of a hand that beat them.
There were 610 entrants in the $2,000 Buy-In, Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool of $1,146,800. Five tables were paid, a total of 45 players.
You know it's a World Series event when you have to be a former World Champion to make it onto the Notables list. Seven former champions showed up for the $2,000 Limit Hold'em. Only one got into the money. Fifteen of the
twenty-four living WSOP Millionaires were also represented. Some field!
Freddie Deeb is not the type of player who settles for just getting into the money. With 47 players left, Freddie's decision to bet his last chips all-in under the gun may have been made easier by the fact he had pocket Aces. The
big blind didn't know this, of course, and called with Q 5. Wouldn't you know a Q 5 flopped? Two players went out on the hand and the rest were in the money.
The Final Table was setup Sunday afternoon when Henry Nguyen took two ladies up against two gentlemen held by Huck Seed. Henry had pocket Queens and Huck, pocket Kings.
THE FINAL TABLE: 43 mins left of 75. The blind were $2,000/$4,000. Playing $4,000/$8,000
Seat-- Player----- Hometown----- Chip Count
Seat 1 Peter Costa - Leicester, UK - $37,000
Seat 2 Laura Chao - West Covina CA - $18,000
Seat 3 Mike Majerus - Ottawa IL - $245,000
Seat 4 David Chiu - Rowland Hills CA - $135,000
Seat 5 Svetoslav Nechev - Memphis TN - $121,000
Seat 6 Nevio Nicolich - New York NY - $80,000
Seat 7 T J Cloutier - Richardson TX - $180,000
Seat 8 Ram Vaswani - London, UK - $126,000
Seat 9 Huck Seed - Las Vegas NV - $151,000
Seat 10 Jerry Stensrud - Long Beach CA - $127,000
When the shorter stacks kept winning, Nevio Nicolich was left to finish last at this Final Table. All-in for his case 5k and A Q, Nicolich could only watch helplessly as he got a third Queen on the river. But it was the wrong Queen, it made Jerry Stensrud a flush with the 7 4 of Diamonds.
The river was washing over the short stacks as Peter Costa went all-in for $8,000 and pocket 9's. If he'd had more money, Peter could have bet Ram Vaswani off his A 10. But without a way to bet, Ram watched a 10 fall on the river and saw it wash Peter "The Poet" Costa out in iambic pentameter.
Laura Chao is a player to be reckoned with. She was courageous and resourceful at this awesome table. Never intimidated by the legendary players, Laura was finally beaten by the high blinds. All-in with the A 7 of Spades, Chao flopped two spades but couldn't get there against pocket 9's.
It took Svetoslav Nechev (from Memphis?) the longest to win a hand. His rush didn't last long, however, as this wasn't a table were limping in was allowed and he could find very few hands to bet. When T J Cloutier raised under the gun, it was time for Nechev to make his last stand from the big blind. Svetoslav called with the 9 10 of Spades and flopped a monster gut shot straight flush draw that missed. Cloutier's A J needed the Jack that came on the end when Nechev made 10's on the turn.
All Final Tables have their own aura. It's a mystery what happens sometimes. As soon as it was announced that T J Cloutier had passed Phil Hellmuth as the all-time money winner at the WSOP, Cloutier quit winning pots. Every hand
failed. The capper was a beauty. T J pounded a pot until he was all-in. He'd flopped top pair with A 8. Mike Majerus, who played almost every hand for five hours, called from the small blind all the way down. Mike flopped second
pair, 6's, with a 5 kicker and a backdoor straight draw. When a 3 turned, for an up and down straight draw, Mike was going nowhere. With a 5 on the river, Mike Majerus had two pair and knocked the all-time money winner, who was now talking to himself, out of this event. The great T J Cloutier was 6th. Any two cards can win.
Not all days are great days for great players. Huck Seed was the only former world champion in the money. He started the Final Table third in chips and could never get going. One had to raise early to get into pots at this table,
as almost every hand would be raised and often three bet. That was the case in the hand that destroyed Seed's stack. David Chiu went to the river with pocket 10's as an overpair to the board and caught a 10 for 10's full. Huck
disgustedly mucked what probably was Aces or Kings and was never a factor after that. It was David Chiu that did the dirty. Huck went all-in with his last 3k and A 5. David had K J and flopped a King. The great Huck Seed was shucked in fifth.
Jerry Stensrud and David Chiu might have thought this was just another day at the office. Jerry is the high stakes host at the Commerce Club in LA where David is a regular player. They play big money together almost everyday. High stakes experience doesn't always translate into playable hands, however. Jerry Stensrud doesn't play many hands and with the blinds at $10,000/$15,000 it doesn't take long to head down. Stensrud got crushed late by yet another Mike Majerus hand. Nobody plays Q 8 offsuit more frequently than Mike, and today was Mike's day. In a 250k pot, Mike won with Queens. Soon thereafter Stensrud was all-in from the big blind with K 8 against Ram Vaswani's K 6. With a rude 6 on the flop, Jerry's day was over in 4th.
At one time or the other at this table each of the last four players took over the chip lead, and each looked as if they were on the way to the title. Just then Mike Majerus would come up with one of his funky hands and retake the lead.
Ram Vaswani was the next victim of the Majerus magic. Vaswani nicknamed 'Crazy Horse' found someone even crazier than he in the person of Majerus. Under the circumstances, Mike's call with 7 6 offsuit in the small blind of Ram's raise was fairly normal therefore uncharacteristic. Mike flopped up and down when the board came 10 5 4. Ram check raised when a 5 came on the turn.
Ram had A 5 and turned trips. No worries! This was Mike's day and no one could deny him. An 8 arrived on the river as preordained. Ram was butted out right after that with a failed flush draw in 3rd.
Mike Majerus could be forgiven for thinking that he was dreaming. After a marathon 16 hours in Event #1 where he finished 3rd, Mike may of thought he went to sleep and dreamt that he won Event #2. The World Class table that he beat probably thought he was dreaming cards as well.
With a 2-1 chip lead over a someone many consider to be the best Limit Hold'em player in the world in David Chiu, Mike Majerus could not be stopped. The two men decided on a partial save. Mike flopped a set on the next hand and filled up. David reluctantly called on the end, and it was the end. Mike now had an 8-1 chip lead. Fittingly Majerus put out the latest WSOP Millionaire (a 2nd in this event) with the worst hand. David had Q 6, Mike 8 6. Three outs are no problem for Majerus. Bang came the 8 on the flop.
As someone said afterward, "This is great for poker. Mike winning." It gives hope to anyone that plays the game. Until Friday, Mike Majerus' biggest cash in a tournament was $4,300. Yesterday he won $12,140. Today he won $407,120.
It was like a Sunday golfer winning The Masters, beating Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the process. There was a lot of mumbling by the runners-up about the cards that Mike played. But those who have played with him often say this is the way Mike always plays. He didn't change his game. The game changed him. Mike Majerus always believed that 'Any two cards can win.'
Official Money Winners
1. Mike Majerus $407,120
2. David Chiu 206,420
3. Ram Vaswani 98,620
4. Jerry Stensrud 58,480
5. Huck Seed 45,880
6. T J Cloutier 34,400
7. Svetoslav Nechev 28,660
8. Laura Chao 22,940
9. Peter Costa 17,200
10. Nevio Nicolich 12,720
11th-12th received $12,720 Henry Nguyen, Paul Kim
13th-15th received $10,320 Tim Leung, Jennifer Harman Traniello, David Plastik
16th-18th received $8,020 John Pires, Andrew Smycznski, Cris Tsiprailidis
19th-27th received $6,880 Shengtao Gan, Scott Brayer, Samuel Arzoin, Joanne Bortner, Danny Allgood, Robert Williams, Martine Oules, Brandon Wong
28th-36th received $4,580 Anthony Tran, Charlie Brahmi, Greg Wynn, Allen Cunningham, Vince Caluino, Mark Lange, Roger Tanabe, Larry Weinberg, Robert Turner
37th-45th received $3,440 Ken Lim, James Roush, Young Phan, C. A. Zdangwich, Claud Mikassill, Cyndi Graflund, Don Zewin, Diego Cordovez, 'Miami' John Cernuto
More Super Satellite winners at the WSOP for the $10,000 Final Event were: Phil Hawkins (2nd), Steve Calhoun, Sam Sanusi, Mike Laing, King Kelly, Jeff Han, Alan Boston, Michael Davis, Jeannie Kim, Steve Kaufman, Quoc Vinh, Jim Rubish, Jan Sjavik (2nd) and Jeff Yoak (3rd).
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