Young Chinese captures Main Event after tense final table
When I arrived at the poker tables yesterday evening at 8 p.m., all players were just about to return from their dinner break. With only two tables left and quite a few players short-stacked, we all thought today's tournament might very well be a 'quickie'. How wrong could we be. At 2.45 the next morning, fifteen minutes until the casino's closing time, we were still three-handed, with no one in immediate danger of busting out. In addition to that, we had been witnessing a regular pattern of 'all-in stays in', with no signs that this pattern was about to be broken. Luckily for the staff, the spectators and of course for you visitors of this site, the tournament DID reach its conclusion, and we had a winner- a young guy, born in China, playing in Vienna, and living in Palermo, Sicily. It was Angelo Yu Zuoping who got lucky in the end and was able to collect the trophy, the honor- and yes, an astonishing 235,000 Euros as well.
What had happened earlier
Having started our second day with still 56 competitors, we had come down to two tables, or the final seventeen players. The three biggest stacks (Johan Storakers, Paul Magrill and chipleader Angelo Yu Zuoping) were all sitting on table 25, with Angelo having position on both of them. To be precise, at 8 p.m. things looked like this:
Table 23:
Seat # 1: Sigi Stockinger, 66,900
Seat # 2: Rino Mathis, 179,100 (button)
Seat # 3: Scott Gray, 87,300
Seat # 4: Paul Samuel, 76,700
Seat # 5: Chister Johansson, 135,200
Seat # 6: Martin Pollak, 99,700
Seat # 7: Nic Szeremeta, 49,800
Seat # 8: Simon Hennessey, 79,400
Seat # 9: -
Table # 25:
Seat # 1: Johan Koops, 37,100
Seat # 2: Espen Saltnes, 162,500
Seat # 3: Harry Casagrande, 131,200
Seat # 4: Paul Magrill, 205,300
Seat # 5: David Mehrmand, 50,200
Seat # 6: Johan Storakers, 182,500
Seat # 7: Angelo Yu Zuoping, 328,400
Seat # 8: Patrice Boudet, 77,800
Seat # 9: Erich Kollmann jr., 39,100 (button)
Total chips in play: 1,980,000 (approx.)
Quickly on our way to the final table
Despite being the second chipleader, it was Paul Magrill who busted out first, simply because he ran into the first chipleader, Angelo, who was holding AK. We quickly lost Paul, Erich, Scott and Espen as well, all starting out with the worst hand before the flop and receiving no help. Then it was Frenchman Patrice Boudet who got busted, when he got all-in before the flop with aces, but lost against Johan Storakers' A6 suited for a straight. Our next victim was David Mehrmand, who had stayed alive by catching some premium hands at the right time, but lost with KJ against Harry Casagrande's J8, who caught an eight on the river. When Angelo did the same -improving on the last card-, to beat the top pair of the only hometown player left, Johan Koops, we had the following final table:
Seat # 1: Martin Pollak, Austria, 201,000
Seat # 2: Nic Szeremeta, England, 71,000
Seat # 3: Sigi Stockinger, Austria, 71,000
Seat # 4: Simon Hennessey, England, 63,000
Seat # 5: Chister Johansson, Sweden, 236,000
Seat # 6: Johan Storakers, Sweden, 234,000
Seat # 7: Rino Mathis, Switzerland, 130,000
Seat # 8: Harry Casagrande, Austria, 293,000
Seat # 9: Angelo Yu Zuoping, Italy, 692,000
Three short stacks, with Martin, Johan and Simon dominating the action
With antes of 2,000 and blinds of 5,000 and 10,000, we had three players in immediate danger- and they were all forced to put up the blinds on the first three hands. It was master-of-the-short-stack Nic Szeremeta (friends of his claim that that he is ALWAYS short-stacked) who busted out first, when Nic's steal raise got called by Johan holding K9, and who needed no help to win. The next one to depart was Sigi Stockinger, who faced two opponents checking their hands down to the river, and it was Martin who busted him out by making a straight. The Austrian won even more chips when he sent home the good and solid Chister Johansson. Martin had previously made a big 100,000 raise before the flop (uncalled), and when on the very next hand he raised to 45,000, Chister read him for weakness and came over the top for 140,000 total. Martin made a dubious call with KQ offsuit, but was in very good shape, dominating his opponent's KJ, and busting out Chister in sixth place.
Martin, who had played so well on the previous days, then lost some of his chips to Johan, who induced a bluff from his opponent by checking and calling with top pair. But Johan lost these chips right away too, to Simon Hennessey, in a memorable hand. Calling all-in before the flop with the worst hand (KQ against Johan's AK) Simon gained the lead on the flop (Q75), lost it on the turn (ace), but took it back on the river (queen) to stay alive. He got lucky against Johan a second time, this time in a coin flip where his wired deuces held up. Johan in his turn stayed very active and the busted out the dangerous-but-friendly Harry Casagrande from Austria, winning with pocket tens in a four-way pot.
Simon, who had been so lucky to stay alive, now suffered a beat holding AK against Rino Mathis' A7, only to see a seven flop. But when he picked up aces against Martin's AJ, he immediately got those chips back and he was now in pretty decent chip position. Now it was Martin who was short-stacked and who got lucky, calling all-in against Johan with J6 of hearts, only to draw out on his opponent by making a backdoor flush. Simon, who had been so close to busting out, now decided to go for gold and came over the top of Rino's 80,000 raise holding the same deuces again, but Rino caught a king to win with AK, and the sympathetic Englishman was out. On hand # 30, we were down to four-handed, and I estimated the chip counts as follows:
Rino 582,000
Johan 403,000
Angelo 856,000
Martin 161,000
Change of pace: slowly on our way to the final- and tension all over
With the final four players left and a difference of almost 200,000 Euros between first and fourth spot, play suddenly got a lot tenser, as the players seemed nervous with these amounts of money at stake. Martin stayed in when Johan couldn't complete his four-flush and the Austrian's pair of kings stood up, and Johan lost even more chips holding jack-ten against Rino's pocket queens. With the active Swede now low on chips, chip leader Angelo seemed in total control. He gained even more chips when he outdrew Martin's wired jacks to flop a set of sevens, to bust out his dangerous opponent. We were now down to three-handed.
Angelo was holding more than 50% of the chips in play and knowing his usual ultra-aggressive style, it seemed only a matter of time for the tournament to end. But for whatever reason, Angelo suddenly started to slow down, by folding to raises and by giving walks to Johan in the big blind, with all that ante money in the middle. He also threw away his cards before the flop against a 300,000 all-in raise by Johan, after having raised to 100,000 himself. He probably wanted to lie low to give Johan and Rino the chance to bust each other out, but they were only sending their money back and forth (first it was Johan winning his all-in with the worst hand, AT vs. AJ, and then it was Rino doing the same, J8 vs. QJ). When Rino, holding top pair / decent kicker, was able to trap Angelo by inducing a bluff, all of the players now suddenly held about equal stacks… and it was already 2 a.m.
Three even stacks, not much time… and a lot of money at stake
With antes of 6,000 and the blinds at 15,000 and 30,000, it was Johan who moved into the lead when for the third time already on this final table he made a successful check-raise. Having flopped top two pair from the small blind, he saw Rino from the big blind betting big with middle pair only, and the Swiss player was too committed to fold, despite being almost drawing dead. The now short-stacked Rino immediately moved all-in against Angelo from the small blind -a move he had made a couple of times before- but this time the young Chinese called, holding Q9 of diamonds against Rino's 74, and flopped a queen.
Even though it was already 2.45 a.m., and both of the remaining players (Angelo and Johan) had been playing for almost twelve hours straight, they kept on folding quite a lot, and with Angelo having a slight chip lead over his opponent, nothing much happened. Which made the final pot, on hand # 125, even more surprising. When Johan came over the top of Angelo's standard before-the-flop raise by moving all-in, the Chinese could have simply folded and still be in pretty good shape. (In seven hours of play, Angelo had folded three times already against an opponent coming over the top of his raise). However, this time he decided to call with jack-ten, and he got rewarded for this by catching a jack. The nice and friendly Johan, holding ace-ten, was out, and almost everybody was happy to have the tournament reach its conclusion. But the happiest person was undoubtedly winner Angelo Yu Zuoping- who had no intention of playing this expensive tournament, actually, but who decided to go for it only five minutes before the tournament started: as player # 198. Born in China, playing in Austria and living in Italy, he had been able to beat a record field of 197 players, including some of the toughest pros, and was rewarded with an unparalleled 235,000 Euros, for an amazing win.
Some final words
Tomorrow, another no-limit hold'em event will take place, with a buy-in of 820 Euros and one optional rebuy. As always, I will keep you guys posted. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf.
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