EVENT #33 THE SENIOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP
NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM
Saturday, May 18, 2002
$1,000 BUY-IN
$1,000 in chips
THE GEEZER'S OPEN
With scheduled nap times every second level, this event took almost three days to finish. Matt Savage, co-Tournament Director, had the best line. Coming back from the one-hour dinner break, Matt asked the players over the
loudspeaker, "For those of you who may have forgotten where you were sitting, we'll be glad to help."
There were 396 entrants in the $1,000 Senior's for a total prize pool of $372,240. Four tables were paid, a total of 36 players.
Kilgore was here. But so was the American, Buffalo. Two guys went out on the same hand at different tables to avoid getting the dreaded booby prize. Bill Kilgore, who's everywhere, and Charles Buffalo, who's disappeared, shared
36th place and a couple bucks over the buy-in.
To setup the Final Table Sunday afternoon, John Biebel waited until Mike Sexton had the stone-cold nuts before John went all-in. The only card that could beat Biebel was a Queen on the river to give Sexton the nut straight
with his A K. Biebel slow-played his pocket Kings into oblivion before betting them and got 11th place for it.
THE FINAL TABLE 42 mins left of 75. $300 ante. The blinds were $1,000/$2,000
Player Hometown Chip Count
Seat 1 Pat Callahan Las Vegas NV $33,500
Seat 2 David Troyer Fredericksburg VA $10,600
Seat 3 Mike Sexton Henderson NV $85,000
Seat 4 Fred Brown Howell MI $43,300
Seat 5 Johnny Davis Mesa AZ $17,000
Seat 6 Chris Wunderlich Higley AZ $58,800
Seat 7 Bill Swan Wichita Falls TX $21,900
Seat 8 Dennis Lane Corte Madera CA $43,700
Seat 9 Bill Bertram Reno NV $14,200
Seat 10 Ben Battle London, UK $70,600
It was nice to see some NEW faces at the Final Table, even if the faces were OLD. It didn't take very long for the jello to be served. In the classic poker hand, A K against pocket Queens, Dennis Lane had raised and short-stacked Bill Bertram reraised all-in on the button with the Queens. No waiting, the King windowed sending Bertram off and to his rocker in 10th.
On the poker internet newsgroup: rec.gambling.poker, pocket 5's have a name. They are called "Presto" and the hand seems to have magical powers. Repeatedly, Presto has been known to crack far more powerful hands. Not today, however. Today, Presto dominated two weaker hands. Chris Wunderlich raised under the gun with the pocket 5's. Johnny Davis only had a few chips over his big blind and "didn't look" before tossing them in. Davis had A 4 and was miles ahead on his way out the door in 9th.
On the very next hand, Wunderlich picked up Presto again, and found a new way to win with the pocket 5's. Chris flopped a set and let 'Fast' Freddy Brown go all-in against him. Brown had outs, but they were Brown outs. You know what I mean? Freddy had J 9 for a flopped up and down straight draw. He needed a King or an 8 to stay alive. There was a power failure for Freddy and he went downtown into 8th.
Veteran tournament warrior Pat Callahan made a move on the blinds with his last $20k and the K J of Clubs. The incredibly hot Chris Wunderlich had a brainstorm. Chris picked up pocket Aces in the big blind and decided to call.
Such bravado for an oldster!Chris's bravery was rewarded immediately as Pat Callahan in 7th was drawing dead on the flop that came A 3 3.
If you can win with pocket Aces once, you can lose to them twice. Chris Wunderlich was only playing the rush that had brought him to the clear chip lead when the paradigm shifted. (Poker Definition: paradigm=$2,000). After being unable to lose a hand for the first hour, Chris had to wonder where his luck went from then on. It seemed inconceivable that Chris could be the next one out, but that's what happened. He ran into pocket Aces twice, once he had pocket 10's and then pocket Queens. All-in now for his last $4.5k and an A 8, Wunderlich got to test his wanderlust as he wandered toward the door in 6th.
Ben Battle had K J and made trips.
The Battle of Britian was won by a few incredibly brave young pilots. Ben Battle of Britian only had a proven loser on his side, A 8 all-in. Mike Sexton shot Ben out of the sky in 5th with an A K that played.
Shortness has nothing to do with age. Shortness is usually fatal, age inevitable. David Troyer came in 10th in chips with only $10,600. That he lasted to 4th is a testament to David's grittiness. Troyer finally surrendered to shortness and went all-in with A Q. Bill Swan called with A K and didn't need the King that came.
"This is a bad call," Mike Sexton said and shoved in his stacks. Turned out Sexton was correct, just premature. After several minutes of contemplation, Mike called the preflop $35k reraise all-in bet of Dennis Lane. Sexton had A J. Lane had pocket 7's. It wasn't as bad as Mike had feared, this time. Mike had two overcards, and the Ace flopped to give Dennis more than a penny in 3rd. Lois would have been proud of Lane's super performance.
"37 cashes and only one bracelet, that's pretty bad," Mike Sexton was making fun of his WSOP frustration. But he might be second guessing two calls that he made heads up that probably cost him another bracelet. It seemed clear
that Mike, the tournament veteran, could chip away at Bill Swan. Sexton didn't need to make any 'coin toss-type' calls.
"I think I played the hand well, he could only put me on a bluff," Bill Swan said of the first of two pivotal hands. Swan had slow-played pocket Aces to the river. What could have been a disastrous mistake, turned golden. Bill bet
$81k all-in with the board Q 9 4 6 8. With pocket Jacks, a bluff was about the only hand Mike Sexton could beat. Mike called and Swan turned over his Aces.
Still, Sexton was the clearly superior heads up player. He clipped Swan's stack repeatedly until the fateful hand arrived. Mike flopped two pair with 7's and 5's. Sexton may have gotten greedy, only he knows. In any case, Mike
let Bill Swan see the turn card cheaply. The board was 7 5 3 8 K. Bill went from an ugly duckling on the flop to a Swan on the turn when his 9 6 hit the paydirt, gutshot straight. Bill went all-in and, again, Mike Sexton called
when he didn’t have to.
There is nothing in this world easier than playing a tournament from the sidelines. No one but Mike Sexton can know what his thinking processes were on those two calls. He may have made the correct play on both of them. It
sure didn't look like it from the stands. Mike Sexton is a great player, a gentleman and a credit to poker. But may have let 'The Geezer's Open' bracelet slip off his wrist, today.
Official Money Winners
1. Bill Swan $134,000
2. Mike Sexton $ 68,860
3. Dennis Lane $ 36,360
4. David Troyer $ 20,480
5. Ben Battle $ 14,880
6. Chris Wunderlich $ 11,920
7. Pat Callahan $ 8,940
8. Fred Brown $ 6,700
9. Johnny Davis $ 5,220
10. Bill Bertram $ 4,100
11th-12th received $4,100
John Biebel, Vince Burgio
13th-15th received $3,720
Martin Corpuz, Andre Boyer, Mickey Arden
16th-18th received $2,980
George Geros, Steve Meyerson, Morris Simmerman,
19th-27th received $2,240
Glenn Schott, Patty Pfeil, Berry Johnston, George Bartlett, James Ferrel, Frank Okasaki Jr, Brad Daugherty, Gregg Turk, Joe Sherman
28th-36th received $1,480
Glenn Neal, Tom Schmit, Phil Goatz, Stephen O'Shaughnessy, Tom McEvoy, David Dressner, Jim Weatherby, Harry Thomas Jr, (Tie) Charles Buffalo and William Kilgore.
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