| ALIVE AND WELL, THANK YOU
With anything as successful as the World Series of Poker has been over the years, there will always be people who'll want to tear it down. They'll say that the best is in the past. That it can never be again what it was. That this or that new tournament will be even bigger and better. Well, those naysayers were silenced today as the big news Monday wasn't the Ace To Five Final Table, it was the attendance for the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event #19. An extraordinary 528 players showed up on a Monday at noon. "If you schedule it, they will come." This was, it's obvious now, what the players wanted as nearly 400 of them were 'walk-ups.' That is to say, they didn't pre-register for the event or win a satellite to get in. Here was a chance, for $1,500, to win over $200,000 for 1st place and the coveted Gold Bracelet. That is the kind of multiple of one's buy-in and prestige award that has made the World Series of Poker so unique in tournament history.
There were 111 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Ace To Five Draw Lowball for a total prize pool of $156,510. Two tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
Layne Flack offered Tommy Reynoso some of his beer then put Tommy out of the tournament, one out of the money. If it hadn't of been Layne, it probably would have been someone else as Reynoso was the only short stack left. Tommy was drawing one card to an 8 all-in and caught a King. Flack's one card draw was a Jack.
The Final Table was setup Sunday night when David Hockstra rapped pat with 8 5. The ever-aggressive Ram Vaswani, who'd made his move with about $6,000, mucked his hand in 9th without showing it. Tom Moore with only $3,000 in chips could now breathe again.
THE FINAL TABLE: 68 mins left of 75. The blinds are $1,000/$1,500
Seat#-- Player---------- Hometown-------- Chip Count
Seat 1) Tom Moore ------ Orange, CA. ---- $3,000
Seat 2) David Hockstra - San Pedro, CA. - $25,500
Seat 3) Cary Moomjian -- Dallas, TX. -----$17,000
Seat 4) Thor Hansen ---- Oslo, Norway. -- $36,000
Seat 5) Norm Ketchum --- Rockford, IL. -- $17,500
Seat 6) Ken Coplon ----- Malibu, CA. ---- $8,000
Seat 7) Brian Nadell --- Las Vegas, NV. - $38,500
Seat 8) Tony Grand ---- Chatsworth, CA.- $21,500
The problem with reporting on Ace To Five Draw Lowball is that one seldom sees any cards. Few hands go to a showdown, as whoever pairs or catches paint on their draw throws their hand away when there is a post-draw bet. Therefore, representing a made hand is often sufficient to win the blinds and any called raises.' Stealing is Mandatory in Lowball' for survival and for victory. Nobody catches enough hands to win the tournament; they have to take whatever there is available. An air of confidence when betting a stone-cold bluff, where you catch an 8 for a pair on an 8 draw for example, is worth many wheels over the course of a seven hour Final Table. In Lowball, bluffs and steals can make up the majority of the chips won by the end of a tournament.
None of these sophisticated plays were available to Tom Moore, however. Tom was only going to get one hand to play, with only $3,000 in chips. If he didn't win that one hand, he was history. Well, Tom waited and waited then waited some Moore. Tom didn't bet through either of his first two blinds. He only had one $500 chip left. Ken Coplon held up one chip and showed it to Moore. "This is the key chip," Ken said. It was that extra chip that would get Coplon through his blinds and force Moore all-in on his next big blind. A casual observer might wonder what all this posturing is about. The difference between 7th place and 8th was only $1,560. That casual observer probably wasn't around for the agonizing hours it took to get to the Final Table. Not being the first one to leave is a big pride issue for most players.
But as soon as Ken Coplon quit chortling about his extra chip, he looked down at his big blind hand. Now came one of the most dramatic moments in a Lowball tournament. Ken Coplon picked up 6 perfect (6-4-3-2-A), the second best hand possible. What to do? It seemed impossible he would lose this hand, yet if he did, he would be 8th and Tom Moore's one remaining chip would be key. Ken Coplon raised his extra chip all-in. Norm Ketchum in the small blind called and drew two cards. They don't call Norm, Ketchum for nothing. He did catch 'em. Starting with Joker 3 4. Norm caught 'em, the 2 and the 5 for a wheel, which was probably about a 500 to 1 shot. Unbelievable! A stunned Ken Coplon staggered over to the pay window in 8th.
Now Tom had Moore money in 7th. The patience that seemed foolish had paid off. With J 9 8 7 5 in the big blind, Moore had "no where to go." So he rapped pat, hoping that Thor Hansen would miss his one card draw. Thor Hansen wouldn't miss many draws today. Hansen turned over 8 7 to turn over Tom Moore.
At every Final Table it seems there is someone with chips who doesn't win a hand. That someone today was Tony 'Not So' Grand. Before we knew it, Tony had raised all-in with his last $3k. Norm Ketchum was there in the big blind to Ketchum and throw 'em out. It was a Norm that Ketchum would turn over a 10 9 in the blinds. And it was inevitable that Tony would pair up on his draw to leave in a less than Grand 6th.
An experienced all-around SoCal tournament player, David (Never In) Hockstra might be seen at any Final Table for any game in the LA area. He's that solid. But David's one card draw 8 6 was no match for the one card 6 5 shown him by Thor Hansen in the big blind.
Now there were three big stacks and Cary Moomjian. Cary is one of a rare breed in America, a "Wildcatter," an oil well driller. Used to boom and bust cycles with sudden 'gushers,' Cary would get none of that except the bust. Cary wouldn't be granted his wish for a big all-in hand in the big blind. Moomjian made a two card draw 10. Thor Hansen was playing a Norse God at the time and pulled a one card 6 5 to gush Cary out in 4th.
For a while it was competitive three-handed. The chips were close to even at one point and Norm was still catchin' 'em. Then, inexplicably, Norm stopped catching. The magic cards that had been coming, disappeared. On an elevator stuck on 'Down,' Norm left in 3rd when his pat Jack lost to Thor Hansen's one card 8 6.
If you don't see many cards eight-handed in Lowball, you REALLY don't see cards heads up. 90% of the hands are "bet and take it." Over the next two hours, the heads up contestants went through three major swings. Whoever caught the third swing would win the tournament and the Holy Grail--the gold bracelet.
Thor Hansen had $90,000 in chips and Brian Nadell had $78,000 when they made a deal for most of the money. What motivated these two poker professionals was the bracelet. Thor had one already. Brian was desperate for his first. "I promised the bracelet, if I won, to my daughter Melodie," Brian said. Nadell kept a picture of his daughter in his breast shirt pocket, "Close to my heart" and kissed the picture a few times for increased motivation.
"Actually, I should be happy I even got here," Nadell would say afterward. "I was down to $200 at the $400/$800 level." Once you do get there, though, it's hard to take the loss. Maybe Brian wants it too much. At first it appeared that Nadell had no chance. Never has a player seemed so dead as Brian was. Coughing lint after only an hour of heads up play, Brian won his all-in hand against Thor Hansen and went on one of the most amazing reversals imaginable. Now it was Nadell who couldn't lose a hand. "How do you make EVERY hand," Hansen asked incredulously. Thor could have asked himself. That's what Hansen had been doing only minutes before.
Over the next 90 minutes, Nadell fought all the way back and actually took a 2-1 chip lead at one point. When the $3k/$6k level started, though, there were only 14 big bets on the table. It was over quickly. "He (Hansen) surprised me. He'd been taking two cards on the button all day. I thought he'd take two as he usually did so I that my Jack was a favorite." In a multi-raised pot that would decide the victor, Nadell rapped pat with his Jack. To Brian's chagrin, Thor Hansen only took one card and turned over an 8 5. Melodie is going to have to wait for her bracelet.
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