Day # 2: Excellent display of poker by Russian youngster
On the first actual tournament day of the 2002 Master Classics, it was a Russian youngster, Matt Damon look-a-like and poker's World Heads Up Champion, who came back from way behind to capture the title. And not for the first time in his career: just a couple of days ago I witnessed him holding only one (!) single chip at the final table of a stud tournament, just enough to pay the ante, and I saw him build this single chip into a small stack, then into an average stack, into the chip lead and eventually into an impressive win. His 'I simply just don't give up' attitude, combined with the knowledge and ability o play excellent poker, make Kirill Gerasimov one of the biggest stars in today's poker- as he showed last night.
What had happened earlier.
With two tables left, Kirill was unfortunate to be sitting at a tough table with Eddie Scharf from Germany and Marcel Lüske from Holland, and in addition to that he was short on chips. He was playing five-handed against good and aggressive opponents, while there was looser, less aggressive action on the other, six-handed, table. On that table, it was hometown player Kees de Korte who first got lucky by beating the dangerous Alex Kravchenko's A9 with KQ, and who then won a massive pot with top set against chipleader Tammy Ehrhart's bottom set on a KT8 flop. On Kirill's table, it was Marcel Lüske who managed to win with Q8 against a position play by Eddie, to stay alive and in fairly good shape. Both Marcel and Eddie had bigger than average stacks going into the final table and looked like favorites to lift the trophy, even though they were way behind the chipleader, the only lady player Tammy Ehrhart.
Final table line-up / chip counts:
Seat # 1: Brock Parker, U.S.A, 37,400
Seat # 2: Eric Sagström, Sweden, 34,300
Seat # 3: Eddie Biber, England, 12,200
Seat # 4: Tammy Ehrhart, U.S.A., 88,300
Seat # 5: Kees de Korte, Netherlands, 54,400
Seat # 6: Antony Lellouche, France, 48,000
Seat # 7: Marcel Lüske, Netherlands, 51,000
Seat # 8: Eddie Scharf, Germany, 44,600
Seat # 9: Kirill Gerasimov, Russia, 15,400
Total chips in play: 386,000 (approx).
Fast action by chipleader, and redistribution of wealth
With about 386,000 in chips, and the blinds at 2,000 and 4,000, Kirill didn't have much maneuverability, even though he had a lucky draw starting on the button. During the first hour it was chipleader Tammy who was doing a lot of betting, raising and even check-raising. She finished off short-stacked Eddie Biber, when her ace-ten beat his wired queens. Tammy kept on bullying the table, but she lost quite a few confrontations: against Eddie, Kees, Marcel and Antony in only the first seven hands of play. She recovered somewhat on hand # 11, when she countered Marcel's position play by check-raising on a three-suited flop, but lost her chip lead to Eddie who beat her out of a huge pot on hand # 12. But on the very next hand, she regained some chips when she sent out Antony in seventh place when her KQ beat his QJ for top pair / better kicker. Marcel, who seemed very comfortable and was looking sharp, became short-stacked when he lost a pot against Eddie. Having called from the big blind with Q6 against his neighbor's under-the-gun raise, he check-called when the flop came QQT. Eddie, smelling a rat, chose to check it back on the turn and when a jack fell on the river he simply called Marcel's bet, showing AK for the nut straight, against Marcel's three queens. Marcel was in trouble having the large stack Eddie and the short-stacked but capable Kirill on his immediate left. He lost even more chips when Kirill's KK beat his J8 against a T93K6 board, and he was lucky that Kirill thought he had gone all-in. Because the Russian had opened his hand prematurely, he wasn't allowed to bet anymore, and Marcel was able to save one yellow 100-chip, with the blinds at 3,000-6,000. (For those of you who think holding onto one single chip is irrelevant, I would refer to Kirill's showing at the European Nations Cup Challenge, where he captured the stud title after having been down to only one single chip). With the dangerous Marcel this short-stacked, the action slowed down considerably, and after having escaped two all-in situations, it was Kees who busted out his fellow countryman on hand # 28. Kees also won a big pot against Tammy when he smooth-called with pocket rockets to beat her ace-king, and he got lucky when he overplayed his king-jack against Brock's pocket fours, but received help on the river. A pity for Brock, who had been playing well but never got enough ammunition to scare off the bigger stacks. Tammy was crippled by Kirill when his A8 stood up against her QT in an all-in coup. On hand # 36, it was all over for our former chip leader when her A3 suited proved no good against Eddie's A6 suited, and we were down to four-handed.
Down to four-handed: action slows down, level of play stays high.
With only four players left, it was Eddie who was given a lot of respect by his fellow players, and who tried to take advantage from this on various occasions. Kees played a lot more aggressively than he usually does. His Rock-image paid off well when he won a few pots uncontested to gain the chip lead. Young Eric Sagström from Sweden, one of the better limit hold'em players on the Internet, generally played his hands well but sometimes failed to take advantage of situations where the pot seemed up for grabs, and therefore he stayed short-stacked basically all of the time. In the meantime, Kirill was slowly gaining ground, and after he won with 95 in a three-way pot against Eddie's KQ, he had suddenly become a force to be reckoned with. On hand # 47, I estimated the chip counts as follows:
Eric 70,000
Kees 160,000
Eddie 90,000
Kirill 65,000
Eddie and Kirill were stealing pots very skillfully, and slowly but surely they were taking away Kees’ and Eric's chips. Just when it seemed Eric was going to bust out, he flopped a straight and was able to trap Kees, holding top pair / decent kicker. Kirill won yet another showdown on hand # 67 when he came over the top of Eddie's button raise, and his wired fours proved good in a showdown against his opponent's AJ. It was clear that Kirill was lucky when it came down to showdowns, but he had built his stack in a rather impressive manner, and therefore you might argue that he had given himself the chance to get lucky. Kees, who had not taken enough advantage of his chip lead and was losing ground fast, lost two big pots in a row against Eddie, and was busted out on hand # 70. Two hands later it was also over for Eric. Despite having a flush draw and a pair, he couldn't beat Kirill's big slick for top pair / top kicker, and the young Swede was out. We were heads up with the experienced Eddie and the young and capable Kirill, who were both holding close to 200,000 in chips. After a short break, they quickly found a reason to get all the money in, and it was now Kirill holding almost all the chips. On hand # 78 it was all over when, once again, he got lucky in a showdown. But he had played like a true champion, coming back from way behind, and it was his mentality, his ability and a bit of luck that gave him the well-deserved title.
Some final words.
Tomorrow the focus will shift to pot-limit Omaha, buy-in 500 Euros with one optional rebuy. I will keep you guys posted. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf.
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