| WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002
EVENT #15 POT-LIMIT OMAHA w/REBUYS
Thursday, May 2, 2002
$2,500 BUY-IN
$2,500 Rebuys
WAITING FOR ACES
Nobody told this Final Table that gambling was legal in Nevada. This was only supposed to be a TWO-day event.
There were 89 entrants, 73 Rebuys and 32 Add-Ons in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha for a total prize pool of $471,650. One table was paid, a total of 10 players.
The unknown Englishman, Bruce Colman, had pocket Queens. Brent Carter had pocket 3's and flopped a set. Colman went all-in on the flop. Carter gladly called to send Bruce to the land of Ronald Colman. Not only were the remaining players in the money, they were at the Final Table as well.
THE FINAL TABLE 34 mins left of 75. The blinds were $600/$1,200.
Seat 1 Ricky Byrd Mobile AL $ 22,900
Seat 2 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa Rica $ 20,500
Seat 3 Marciano Elie Boulogne, France $ 69,800
Seat 4 Phillip Marmonstein Munich, Germany $ 19,400
Seat 5 Bill Gazes Los Angeles CA $ 25,700
Seat 6 Brent Carter Oak Park IL $ 67,300
Seat 7 Surinder Sunar London, UK $ 18,100
Seat 8 Allen Cunningham Marina del Rey CA $ 43,600
Seat 9 Chau Giang Las Vegas NV $ 25,400
Seat 10 Jan Hansen Langeskov, Denmark $172,500
Actually there was one gambler at the table, the daring Dane--Jan Hansen. Midway through the first day (seems so long ago now), Hansen was the event's chip leader over runner-up Phil Ivey. The two of them were well clear of
anyone else. Since Ivey always has lots of chips, he's where you'd go if you want more. In a spectacular call on the river with pocket Kings, Hansen took every one of Phil Ivey's chips. Now Jan was the prohibitive chip leader and
he kept going. As the Final Table commenced, Hansen held a mathematical improbable $102,700 chip lead over second place.
Normally tournament Pot-Limit Omaha can take forever to play, but with this crew it was sure to be especially lengthy. Almost half the field was made up of 'ironpants' Europeans. These guys play Pot-Limit Omaha all day every day, several of them for a living. They could wait until the end of the world for a hand. The six Americans, which included Central American Humberto Brenes, were just as patient. At $600/$1,200 the blinds were a concern to only a few. It was a setup to tax the stamina of players and staff.
It took nearly two hours for the first player to crack. For the second Final Table in a row, Bill Gazes didn't win a hand. This is his second 10th place finish this year. Left with only $6,000 when he couldn't call Chau Giang on the river in a proceeding hand, Bill Gazes out the window and goes all-in from the small blind with 7 7 3 2. Jan Hansen does the honors with A K 10 3 and the top three pair.
It was almost two hours more for the 9th place finisher to reveal himself. Allen Cunningham went all-in when he flopped two pair. Brent Carter loves gifts from other players. Brent flopped two higher pair and rivered the nut
flush.
Now we sped up from a snail's pace to a turtle's. That's because the pocket Aces, these players all wait for, were suddenly being trashed. In an especially cruel hand, top European player Surinder Sunar picked up the beloved bullets and then picked up his body to head for the exit. Both Sunar and Chau Giang were all-in before the flop. Giang had pocket Kings. As sometimes happens in Omaha, it's not the Aces or Kings that win the hand it's the other two cards. Giang held K K 8 4, Sunar A A K 6. Without chips Sunar was unable to stop Giang from winning with a 4 on the flop and an 8 on the river for two small pair.
Something that seldom happens in Omaha happened to Ricky Byrd. Ricky had pocket Aces, also, and he followed Surinder Sunar out the door with them. Losing with pocket Aces isn't what seldom happens though, rare as it is. What was unusual was that Jan Hansen flopped the nut straight and it held up! Three players saw the river, Chau Giang, Jan Hansen and the all-in Byrd. The board was Q 10 9 8 5. All three had straights, but Hansen had the nuts with the K J. Byrd flew the coop in 7th.
If you can't draw pocket Aces, sometimes split Aces on the flop are just as good. Sometimes they aren't as good. Marciano "Rocky" Elie started the table 2nd in chips and could never get going. In fact Elie had to win a few all-in
hands to avoid finishing 9th. Betting all-in again with his last $19k, Rocky looked strong when an Ace flopped. He had A J 8 8. Humberto Brenes needed help with Q Q J 7. Rocky Marciano may have retired as undefeated heavyweight
champion, but "Rocky" Elie took it on the chin in 6th when two running Clubs came for Brenes with a Queen high flush.
It had taken six grueling hours to eliminate only half the field. The players and staff were looking at a long day's journey into morning, so they took a dinner break.
Chau Giang is widely considered to be the best live action poker player in the world. He was lamenting this Final Table being on a Friday night, because he would miss his real money $4,000/$8,000 game with Doyle Brunson, Chip
Reese, Lyle Berman et al. Chau regularly rakes that game for tens of thousands of dollars. Can you imagine? So here he is, stuck playing for only $185,000 and another Gold Bracelet on his real poker night. Giang might have been able to get over to the other game in time. It was only a little after 9 pm when he busted out in 5th. This time the power of the single Ace was on display. Chau bet his last $31k all-in with J J 4 2. Jan Hansen called with a rag A 9 8 3. No problem. When you're hot…An Ace came on the flop, of course. And Chau Giang had to settle for only $25,940 for two days work. Poor Chau.
The main reason this Final Table took so long was because the All-ins kept winning. (There were dozens of intensely dramatic hands that this report hasn't got space to write about. Please watch the video to see them all. Of course, you'll have to allow 11 hours to get through the whole thing.) The player with the most all-in saves was Humberto Brenes. He pulled several rabbits out of several hats. But miracles do come to and end sometime. And Humberto's did in 4th. Again, the single Ace muscled Brenes to the rail.
Humberto was all-in with pocket Queens. Phil Marmorstein covered him and held A Q 5 3. An Ace windowed on the flop.
Oddly, it was the elimination of the 27th WSOP Millionaire (Brenes) that created the 28th. With at least a third place finish, Brent Carter passed over the magic line to seven figures at the WSOP. But Brent Carter wasn't done, Phillip Marmorstein was. In a fantastic climb from 9th in chips at the start, Phillip had the chip lead for much of this Final Table. It would have been the greatest accomplishment so far this year for someone to go from 9th to 1st. Just taking the chip lead with only $19,400 over Jan Hansen with
$172,500 was phenomenal. Phillip hit the wall in his personal marathon, however, and finished 3rd when the least likely card in the deck appeared on the river. Phillip was all-in with A Q 8 5. Jan Hansen had Q Q 9 7. Marmorstein needed an Ace to stay alive. Instead the case Queen came to end Phillip's improbable run.
Heads up, Jan Hansen had a better than 2-1 chip lead over Brent Carter. But Carter is the ultimate gamesman. Before the WSOP poker events even started, Brent came in 2nd in the World Hearts Championship held at the Horseshoe.
Carter is famous among the players as a 'nit.' He will use any slight edge to his advantage including his exhaustive knowledge of all the rules. Cleverly, Brent used the only chip lead he had against Jan Hansen (about one hand) to
make a favorable deal for himself. Hansen was so disgusted by his backer's acceptance of the deal, Jan refused to shake Carter's hand on it. Although it would take more than another hour to finish this awesome test of poker stamina, Hansen finally prevailed when he trapped Carter into calling all-in with flopped Aces. Jan, the only Dane ever to win a Gold Bracelet, had flopped a wheel with a 2 3.
This event started at 12 noon on Thursday and ended at 1:08 am on Saturday morning. What was supposed to be a two-day event became a three-day event. Gratefully, everyone was finally allowed to go home. The wait for Aces was
over.
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