| WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002
EVENT #23 S.H.O.E.
Friday, May 10, 2002
$2,000 BUY-IN
$2,000 in chips
WALKING ON WATER
You can already forget the IVEY League, Phil Ivey is now playing in the CELESTIAL League with other non-mortals like Layne Flack. If Chris Ferguson is 'Jesus,' then Phil Ivey must be 'The Messiah' for the miracles he's continuing to perform. Co-Tournament Director Matt Savage said it well,
Phil's "walking on water." It's not supposed to be this easy. Phil seems destined to tear up the WSOP record book. Ivey has THREE gold bracelets already this year (tying the record held by Phil Hellmuth and Ted Forrest for wins in a single year). He has FIVE Final Tables in 23 events. These
accomplishments have the old dogs of the WSOP in awe. And he still has NINE more events he could enter. Phil's put the professional tour on life support and is putting poison in their IVEY.
There were 143 entrants in the $2,000 Buy-In, S.H.O.E. (Stud, Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo) for a total prize pool of $268,840. Two tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
Prior to the Final Table, Diego Cordovez was having a Phil Ivey tournament. He busted everyone. Included were the 'one out of the money,' and Englishman Ian Murphy in 9th. Diego seemed close to a lock for this bracelet with 2 1/2
times the chips of his closest competitor, Vince Burgio, and well over three times the starting chips of that guy way back in the pack, Phil Ivey. The 'D Train,' Diego Cordovez, had over one third of all the chips on the table.
Just give the first place money to Cordovez, right? Everyone's playing for second, right?
THE FINAL TABLE: 2 mins left of 45. The game is Hold'em. $1,000/$1,500 blinds
Seat 1 Vince Burgio West Hills CA $ 44,600
Seat 2 Chris Ferguson Pacific Palisades CA $ 25,800
Seat 3 Chris Grigorian Los Angeles CA $ 8,200
Seat 4 Phil Ivey Atlantic City NJ $ 33,100
Seat 5 Perry Friedman Monterey CA $ 25,800
Seat 6 Brian Nadell Las Vegas NV $ 38,600
Seat 7 Christina Hung San Francisco CA $ 9,800
Seat 8 Diego Cordovez Palo Alto CA $107,300
But that's why we play the game. No one knows what's going to happen.
Even with an obviously burning competitive spirit added to a charming personality, Christina Hung was still out to dry. On her fourth all-in she didn't get any money back and had to leave in 8th. Playing Omaha Hi-Lo now, Christina would, on each all-in, get either the high or the low to stay alive for one more hand. It was too much to ask that the diminutive Hung could continue this high-wire act. In the hand that defined the success or failure of both initial short stacks at this Final Table, Chris Grigorian succeeded and Christina Hung failed. First Christina went all-in for $1,800 then Chris followed for $2,600. Brian Nadell was also in the hand, covering both all-ins, and representing the hopes of the other five players that neither short stack would survive. Christina Hung on her ability to get either high or low. Instead her low missed and she made 6's and 5's for high. No good. Goodbye Christina, hope to see your smiling face again. Chris Grigorian made Aces up to charge out of the shortest stack category and leave Brian Nadell grasping the lint with his 8's and 6's.
A family intervention has been called to keep sharp objects away from Brian Nadell. It's hard to feel too sorry for Brian, though. Most would be very happy with his results. Nadell has three Final Tables in four events played, with a 2nd, 4th and now a 7th. He's made a couple of bucks. He has a loving wife and three beautiful daughters. If Brian didn't care so much and show his anguish so clearly, we might overlook his pain. It's not THAT he goes out, it's HOW he goes out that is so dramatic.
By my count Brian Nadell has beaten Phil Ivey in only one hand of their two Final Tables together this year. We are talking ownership here. We are talking 'walking on water.' In defense of Phil Ivey's miracle card work, Brian Nadell should never have been all-in to start with. On the first hand of the day, Nadell crippled his stack by calling Ivey all the way to the river. The flop was 8 3 2. Ivey was raising. For some reason Brian couldn't put Phil on A 4. Plus, Nadell couldn't even beat Christina Hung's 6's and 2's that she made on the river for high. Later, playing Stud Hi-Lo, Brian made a low with a flush in a pot he sorely needed to scoop. Vince Burgio's jaw dropped as Ivey turned over a runner runner full house for a split. Now
all-in, Nadell had Q Q 9 against Phil Ivey's 6 8 8. Phil got to a low draw with two babies on 5th and 6th St and a gutshot straight for high. Nadell had three Queens that didn't fill. What made the river card for Ivey so dramatic
was that it was dealt up. Matt Savage had decided that he wanted to stop the time-consuming 'squeezing' of the last card. So all-in river cards were now dealt face up. Brian Nadell could only be scooped if a gutshot straight 7
came on the river for Ivey. BANG! That's what came, a seven. Phil Ivey is a tremendous card player. It's not fair for him to be this lucky, also.
This was the second Final Table of the year for Chris Ferguson. In the first, he probably would tell you he should have won his fourth bracelet. His first three beauties are clasped together as the hatband for his black Stetson. Chris is now 4th all-time in money earnings. He's the first player to win $1.5 million in the Championship Final. This event won't add much to his running total. Ferguson can be very aggressive or very patient. Today he had to be patient because he wasn't getting any cards. After the change to Stud, Chris went all-in with a King showing. Phil Ivey called with buried 4's and caught another 4 on 4th St. FORE! Former Champion being driven out of the tournament!
Doing the Grigorian chants for luck in the stands were Chris Grigorian's wife Anahit and parents. This was Chris' first Final Table in the WSOP and he was VERY excited. He wanted his family with him to share the experience. What
Chris may remember most is outlasting former World Champion Chris Ferguson,sitting immediately to his right, when Ferguson started with over three times the chips. Grigorian survived several all-ins and claimed to be happy with his 5th place finish. Starting in 8th, it was quite a climb. With split Queens in Stud, Chris didn't improve on his last all-in and lost to Diego Cordovez' two pair.
Is one bracelet a year enough for the reigning Ro Sham Po champion? Maybe. Because Perry Friedman didn't come close to getting another one today. Unlike his win a few weeks ago, the deck missed him completely down the stretch. The
only mind Perry was in today was his own in 4th. It might be a good idea for everyone in poker to fold every time Phil Ivey bets for a while. He's become unbeatable. Still in Stud, Friedman could only make 5's and 4's to Ivey's
Queens and Jacks.
"I've never seen anything like it," Vince Burgio repeated. "I remember Men (the Master) when he was going great. It's not even close." No less an authority than Burgio was talking about the hot streak that Phil Ivey is on. When asked if he'd ever seen anyone this torrid, Amarillo Slim said, "No, and it's good for poker." It may not be good for a few people's bankroll, however. Vince and Diego Cordovez were clearly stunned by the cards Ivey was
catching. It seemed like divine intervention. The poker god was sending in cooler after cooler to help out an already outstanding player. There was no defense for Ivey's force. Burgio finally had to laugh; there was nothing else to do. The capper came when the game had changed to Hold'em. Vince was in the big blind. The flop came 10 9 9. Phil bet out. Vince called to the river and mucked his hand when Ivey showed him that he had caught runner runner Aces with his A 4. Even all-in on the next hand Burgio found Ivey with a pair of 6's. It never stops.
And it didn't stop against Diego Cordovez. We aren't talking chopped liver here. The 'D Train' has already won $500,000 in a hold'em tournament this year. He's in the quarter finals of the Gold Bracelet Match Play having
beaten Humberto Brenes, Barry Shulman and Mike Laing heads up to get into the money in that event. Yet, against Phil Ivey with a 2-5 chip disadvantage it was no contest. Phil wiped Diego out in short order. Ivey showed Cordovez
everything: rivered straights, pocket pairs, higher two pair, the works. The all-in hand was anti-climatic as Ivey made a pair and Cordovez didn't.
The UltimateBet.Com people have a promotion going with the T-Shirt reading "I have 20% of Phil." Maybe they should change the wording to read: "I have 20% of the WRONG Phil." Phillip Ivey is walking on water.
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