Master Classics of Poker Tournament Report
By PokerPages columnist and Poker School Online teacher Rolf “Ace” Slotboom
November 8, 2002
EUR 820 no-limit hold’em (1 optional rebuy)
Day # 7: Young Swede comes out on top again in exciting coin flip contest
In contrast to yesterday’s final where there was tension all over and the action was rather slow, today’s no-limit hold’em event had fast and furious action, with a highly attractive final table. Three of the most dangerous Dutch big-bet players were present, we had the beautiful Isabelle Mercier from the equally beautiful Aviation Club in Paris, we had young Swede and previous no-limit hold’em winner Koray Saka, and in addition to them tournament stars Mickey Finn and Jeff Shulman, my very own boss at Card Player magazine. Because of the tournament’s fast structure (with quick limit increases, and a rather high blind and ante pressure), there was not much maneuverability for the players, and even the chipleader couldn’t afford to keep waiting very long. Because one or two losses would almost certainly mean exit, and one or two wins would be enough to propel one into the lead, there was a lot of luck involved today- which made things very exciting for the spectators, and for everybody who loves a good gamble.
With two tables, or about 14 players left, it was Mickey Finn who was fortunate enough to survive two all-in situations, to arrive at the final table in decent chip position. One of those all-in confrontations was against one of Holland’s top tournament players, Rob “The Chief” Hollink. Another Dutch casualty was the –even for the regular players- relatively unknown Johan Koops, who had made such a great showing at yesterday’s Main Event. Favorite to win the trophy was undoubtedly Jeff Shulman, who had been very dominant on his way to the final table, and who had a close but comfortable chip lead. However, he had to proceed with care, having the second chip leader on his immediate left: the young, aggressive and confident Koray from Sweden.
Final table line-up / chip counts:
Seat # 1: Koray Saka, Sweden, 134,600
Seat # 2: Mickey Finn, Ireland, 100,000
Seat # 3: Isabelle Mercier, France, 84,700
Seat # 4: Peter Dekker, Netherlands, 78,500
Seat # 5: Ian McDonald, England, 45,400
Seat # 6: Jan Fredriks, Netherlands, 111,400
Seat # 7: Torstein Iversen, Norway, 63,700
Seat # 8: Palermo, Netherlands, 90,900
Seat # 9: Jeff Shulman, U.S.A., 138,500
Total chips in play: 847,500 (approx.)
Furious action by hometown players- but foreigners rule in coin flips
With an average stack of only 94,000, antes of 2,000 and blinds of 5,000 and 10,000, fast action could be expected- even more so considering today’s line-up. With Jeff Shulman in the lead only by a fraction and no very short or very big stacks, the Dutch lived up to their reputation of Action Men. On the first hand, it was Peter Dekker who did a grab for the dead money, and on the next three hands it was Jan Fredriks who was doing the raising (each time to 30,000). After having succeeded twice in a row, the young Torstein was fed up and played back at him by going all-in for 55,000, holding nothing more than king-queen of spades. With no picture cards on the board and an eight on the turn, things looked rather good for Jan’s wired eights, but when a third spade came on the river, it was the Norwegian who managed to survive by making a flush. Jan held the same eights again when he came over the top of a raise by Koray, and got busted as a result. In his second coin flip, he lost again when Koray’s king-jack received help from the board. In another lucky shot, we lost our second hometown player, as Palermo’s AK stayed unimproved against Koray’s QQ. Koray also finished off the short-stacked Ian McDonald, when he (correctly) called from the big blind with 53 offsuit to make a straight. Two hands later, we also lost our third Dutchman, Peter Dekker. Raising all-in with pocket nines, Isabelle called him with queen-ten to bust him out, and the Dutch had been unlucky to lose all four of their 50-50 confrontations.
With no Dutch players left, our next victim was, surprisingly enough, Jeff Shulman. He had lost his chip lead when on two occasions his opponents had played back at him, and the aggressive American decided to lay down his hand. Things looked good for him though, when he called Thorstein’s all-in move with ace-king suited against the Norwegian’s ace-ten, only to see Isabelle in the big blind waking up with the two remaining aces. Having a few more chips than Isabelle, Thorstein lasted one hand longer than Jeff. On the very next hand it was the dangerous Mickey Finn, who had been lucky in two all-in situations already, who busted out the Scandinavian in fourth place. After only 24 hands, we were down to three-handed, and I estimated the chip counts as follows:
Isabelle 300,000
Mickey 120,000
Koray 440,000
No time for maneuvering- let’s stick it in and see who wins
With antes of 4,000 and the blinds at 10,000 and 20,000, there was 42,000 in dead money up for grabs every hand, or about 5 percent of the total chips in play. Mickey realized this when he raised all-in from the big blind with queen-jack suited against a raise by Isabelle, and he was in better shape than he could have imagined, with her holding jack-ten. But he lost these same chips back to her again, when she called his all-in button raise, and her AT had his A8 dominated. With Mickey short-stacked again, it was Koray who finished him off holding AJ for top pair / top kicker, which stood up against Mickey’s flush draw. Koray had played four big pots and won them all- and he won the fifth, and last one, too. In what proved to be the final hand, Isabelle found a big hand on the small blind / button: ace-king. Instead of raising big, she raised to 50,000, thereby inducing a call from big blind Koray. Holding JT, he checked the T82 rainbow flop. When she pushed in all her chips into the middle, he called instantly, and his pair of tens stood up. Because she had a few more chips than her opponent, she was not out immediately, but two hands later it was all over for her anyway. Koray Saka was ecstatic for his second tournament win this week, thereby giving himself a prominent place in the Master Classics tournament history. Congratulations to the young Swede, who played well and got lucky- a pretty effective combination, if you ask me.
Some final words
Tomorrow will be the final day of this year’s Master Classics, with a EUR 320 pot-limit Omaha tournament (unlimited rebuys). It is also the last chance for Holland to capture a title, because so far the performance by the Dutch is way below expectation. As always, I will keep you guys posted. Take care, and good luck,
Rolf.
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