| WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002
EVENT #3 OMAHA HI-LO
Sunday, April 21, 2002
$1,500 BUY-IN
$1,500 in chips
IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING
When one player is dealt a super abundance of huge starting hands, the proceedings take on the formality of a coronation. No offense intended. This is not to say our winner isn't a great player, but objectively it can be stated categorically that he was "run over by the deck." Unusual for a WSOP Final Table, this event had all the drama of a Royal Tea at the Palace. But then how does one know what's truly exciting without its opposite sometimes?
There were 339 entrants in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo for a total prize pool of $477,990. Three tables were paid, a total of 27 players.
There was high drama in this event prior to the Final Table, however. It came during the prolonged battle to get into the money. 28 players for 27 spots. Multiple all-ins by several players. Breathtaking survival stories. On rushing blinds. Critical errors. This battle had it all. Lenny St. Germain had three miracles to move on with his all-ins for the blinds. Ken Flaton would have been gone but for a bet by Lindy Chambers that forced Steve Hohn to muck the best low. John Juanda throwing away hand after hand until he had only a chip and a prayer. Oddly it was none of these players, all hanging on by a thread, that finished out of the money. Jim Bucci put out the 28th player who had plenty of chips but thought that a pair of Kings was a good high. Jim made a straight and a low on the turn and six guys could take a breath for the first time in an hour.
Co-Tournament Director Steve Morrow thought that a little overtime Sunday night could get us to a Final Table. The new structure this year at the World Series is to play until the 12th level or 2 am. Then return the next fternoon at 2 pm for the completion of the event. Simply put, this is one of the great ideas of the 21st Century. The wear and tear saved on players and staff by avoiding those numbing all night marathons has been tremendous. Sunday night, however,there was only one player to eliminate at 2 pm. Steve said, "play on." Three short stakes were endangered. Ken Cui and Phil Ivey survived. Ralph Perry did
not. Now everyone could go to bed.
THE FINAL TABLE: 62 mins left of 75. The blinds were $1,500/$3,000. Playing $3,000/$6,000
Seat 1 Greg Mascio Fullerton CA $113,500
Seat 2 Jim Bucci Hollywood MD $ 44,500
Seat 3 Chad Brown New York, NY $ 86,000
Seat 4 Dan Heimiller Las Vegas NV $ 94,500
Seat 5 Ken Cui San Jose CA $ 7,000
Seat 6 Perry Friedman Monterey CA $ 66,500
Seat 7 Hans Pfister Zurich, Switzerland $ 40,500
Seat 8 Paul Rowe Coronado CA $ 26,500
Seat 9 Paul Ivey Atlantic City NJ $ 3,500
Seat 10 Dan Kim Laguna Niguel CA $ 26,500
Phil Ivey may have made an extra $1,790 by where the initial button was placed. With the button in the two seat, Ken Cui was under the gun on the first hand.He picked up A 2 6 8 and logically raised to go all-in. Dan Heimiller was in the big blind and called the $3,000 raise with K Q 6 6 heads up. Cui got all his chips in on a low draw that didn't come. Dan won with 7's and 6's. Ken was out in 10th before Phil Ivey could play a hand.,p>
Turning down a chance for some equity in his big blind hand, Ivey now had one chip for his small blind. Phil may not have had high expectations for this Final Table for when Chad Brown made a flush, Phil went back to the No Limit
tournament he'd entered at 12 noon.
Jim Bucci was a printer at the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal. When asked about what was memorable about that time, ever the joker, Jim answered "Lots of overtime." There was nothing funny about Bucci's cards,
though. Three times he was scooped as he couldn't even turn his hand over on the river. That's how bad he was running. All-in on the button with his last $4k and A 2 7 8, Jim could only laugh derisively as his day was ended in 8th by
Paul Rowe's K's and 5's and no low.
As bad as Jim Bucci was running, Dan Heimiller's luck was even worse. Nobody has made more WSOP Final Tables over the last four years than Dan Heimiller. He's gotten here in every game, under every circumstance. It can only be said
that Dan is one of the greatest all-around players in WSOP history. That is, until he reaches the Final Table. Then, inexplicably, something awful always happens to Heimiller. Today that something awful was Perry Friedman. Dan does
have a slight red tint to his hair. Maybe he is Perry's step-child, because Friedman sure gave him a beating. Dan started the day 2nd in chips with $94,000. In less than 90 minutes, most of those chips had moved into Perry
Friedman's stack. As the players say, Perry showed Dan "the World's Fair." Perry Friedman was just starting a day of saying, "Nut, nut." Dan Heimiller threw in his last chip from the big blind on the hand that Jim Bucci went
all-in on. With that one chip, Dan was guaranteed the higher place over Jim if they both went out together. Paul Rowe's K's and 5's also put Dan Heimiller out of his misery in 7th.
Dr. Dan Kim's nemesis wasn't Perry Friedman, it was Chad Brown. The good doctor had his Final Table practice terminated in two hands with Brown. Dan lost most of his chips on the first hand when the flop came 5 5 3. Kim had A 2 5 10. He raised and was reraised by Chad Brown. It was too late to slow down. Kim had to pay Brown off even though two bricks, Jack and 9, came on the turn and river to
deny Dan a nut low. Brown turned over 5 3 for a full house. Kim soon went all-in from the small blind with A Q 4 4. It was Chad Brown who finished Kim off in 6th with A K 4 4 and a King on the flop.
Chad Brown continued on a heater and smoked Paul Rowe in the process. Paul was the only Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet holder at the table, but was shown no respect for it. First Paul's stack was decimated by a nut nut from Greg Mascio. Then with
15k left Paul raised on the button with only an A 2 4 5. Chopped Liver it turned out. Chad Brown made Paul Rowe is boat out to sea in 5th with 10's and 5's and no low.
Of the many European players that come every year to the WSOP, Hans Pfister has been on of the most consistent winners. With mechanics as precise as a Swiss watch, Hans knows where everyone's at and what his chances are. But even great players need some cards. And all the cards were going to the Golden Trio of Perry Friedman, Greg Mascio and Chad Brown. Meanwhile, Pfister's nut nut draws were going Pfist! All-in on the blind with Q 10 5 4, Hans couldn't even beat a pair of 7's by Chad Brown and knifed his way through the crowd in 4th.
With the last three stacks fairly close, Perry Friedman may have made the costliest mistake of the day by allowing a save off 1st place money. For immediately after the deal, he went on another of his insane rushes where he has every card in the deck. In only a few minutes it was obvious that Greg Mascio and Chad Brown were playing for 2nd place. Not a bad thing! $90,000. Greg Mascio won that race when Chad Brown went out to yet another nut hand by Perry Friedman.
With over a 4-1 chip lead, Perry Friedman soon made it 10-1 then 100-1. It was awesome. You've never seen so many magnificent Omaha Hi-Lo hands. The last hand was like so many others. Friedman had A 3 4 5, Mascio had K K 7 6. The flop was 3 3 2. When no King arrives on the turn or river, it's good to be the King.
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