MURDER'S ROW
It would be difficult to find a more famous Final Table in a major. Nine of the ten players are household names, if you happen to live in a poker household.
There were 30 entrants and 50 rebuys in the $1,000 Buy-In, Pot-Limit Omaha for a total prize pool of $78,200. Five players were paid
To setup the Final Table, again one of the last eleven players was going to be denied a Hall of Fame jacket. The jacket was the prize for the sixth through tenth place finishers. Eleventh got nada. K U Davis only wanted to make the Final Table three days in a row. He flopped trip 10's, but couldn't get the board to pair. John McIntosh had flopped the nut flush.
THE FINAL TABLE: 60 mins. left of 60. The blinds were $100/$200
Player Hometown Chip Count
Seat 1 O'Neil Longson Salt Lake City UT $ 5,525
Seat 2 David Ulliott Hull, UK $ 8,275
Seat 3 John McIntosh Baltimore MD $ 5,975
Seat 4 Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa Rica $ 8,875
Seat 5 Peter Costa Leicester UK $ 3,375
Seat 6 Eric Holum Las Vegas NV $ 6,500
Seat 7 Ayaz Mahmood Houston TX $12,025
Seat 8 John Juanda Alhambra CA $ 6,925
Seat 9 Russ Hamilton Las Vegas NV $14,025
Seat 10 Chris Bjorin London, UK $ 8,100
Yesterday, only one of the bottom five short stacks made it into the money. Today, three did. Which meant that the starting stacks were basically stood on their head.
The poet, Peter Costa, made his third Final Table in a row but failed to bring many chips with him. It was poetic justice that the shortest stack should be first to leave. Peter didn't even wait for his first blind. He raised under the gun and called a reraise by O'Neil Longson all-in. Costa had a great hand for Hi-Lo with A J 9 2 but was missing a little power for high only. Longson, also English, flopped trip 8's to send the Cyprus-born Brit packing.
We knew we were in for a long night when the only action player at the table was the second one out. David "Devilfish" Ulliott didn't win a hand, blowing off $8,275 in record time. In a three-way showdown David needed a Diamond on the river to stay alive. Chris Bjorin had pocket Kings but flopped two pair with his 4 2. John McIntosh was drawing dead with worse Diamonds, but he caught a Jack on the turn for a higher two pair. "The desert is dry for the Fish," David said before leaving in 9th place.
"I don't like to sit in the middle," Eric Holum said. They made him anyway, when two players to his right exited. Eric was right about moving. While in that middle seat, Eric got the dirty end of the stick on a classic Omaha High confrontation. Holum had pocket Aces. Former World Champion Russ Hamilton had pocket Kings. Eric went all-in on the flop which was fine with Russ. Hamilton had flopped trip Kings to send Eric Hold'em…er…Holum back to No-Limit in 8th.
The only non-famous player at this table was Ayaz Mahmood. He was in a crocodile pit and may not have know it. All the things that worked earlier against lesser players failed at the Final Table. Starting second in chips, Ayaz was clearly upset by his ill fortune. With all those chips at the start, Mahmood couldn't even make it to the money. In desperation, Ayaz went all-in with the A K of Spades. Chris Bjorin had pocket Aces. Now we'll find out if Mahmood is a flash in the pan or a real player, by seeing if he can return to a Final Table.
It wasn't just the non-famous who cracked amongst these tough nuts. In the shock of the night, former World Champ and starting chip leader Russ Hamilton missed the money as well diving to 6th. And no one appeared more shocked than Russ himself. Outside of spiking that King against Eric Holum, Hamilton was in a steady chip downdraft that all his talent and cunning couldn't turn around. Since the average rebuy was over $1,500, it was an expensive and frustrating day to miss the cut with so much ammunition. Just like us mere mortals, the Champ went hours where he couldn't make a hand. Typical of his night, Hamilton's few chip last hand had him raising all-in with higher starters. Russ had A 9 7 4 against John McIntosh in the big blind with J 10 7 6. The Ace flopped but so did two Jacks.
There was a collective sigh of relief was Hamilton left. The surviving five would be paid some money for their long hours of toil against one of the toughest lineups ever. O'Neil Longson and John McIntosh especially had climbed a high peak starting 9th and 8th respectively.
The new chip count had Humberto Brenes at $20,300, Longson at $18,600, John Juanda at $17,000,Chris Bjorin at $13,500 and John McIntosh in fifth with $10,600.
The blinds were just starting to get high enough where the guys were going all-in if they liked the flop. Chris Bjorin thought enough of his A K Q overcards to the flop to bet out. Humberto Brenes had a pair of 10's on the flop and called. The turn card was a Jack giving Brenes two pair and Bjorin the nut straight wrap. Chris became unwrapped in 5th when his nut draw drew a blank.
O'Neil Longson seldom speaks at a poker table, but he was catching so many cards he urged his tablemates to "gamble" several times. They were too smart for that. Longson had more than tripled up in the hours of this Final Table. No one wanted any part of the high stakes live-play gambler. O'Neil can be found in the biggest game being played in any side-action game at any tournament. He knows how to play a rush. O'Neil knew it wouldn't last forever and he wanted to get as much as he could while it did. The rush got him to 4th. Thirteen hours of success were destroyed in two consecutive hands against John McIntosh. In both hands John made a Spade flush to bury O'Neil's dreams. The first hand took most of Longson's hard earned bounty. On the second, O'Neil flopped two pair against John's pocket Aces, Longson turned two higher pair but by then McIntosh was home with the nut flush. It was a sudden and startling ending to a fabulous Final Table performance.
But in Omaha High the motto might be 'Live by the flush draw, die by the flush draw.' Someone else's flush draw that is. The third huge pot in a row was won by a Spade flush. But this time Johm McIntosh was on the wrong end of it. Mac got all his chips in the pot with pocket Kings. Brenes had only flopped Queens but with a Queen high Spade flush draw and two Spades on board. Humberto continued to catch cards as he has all this year. With a 7 on the turn, Brenes had two pair and then a Spade came on the river. McIntosh had climbed from 8th to 3rd and got a decent payday for his terrific work.
Heads up it was the human card rack, Brenes, against the Zen master John Juanda. There's a running gag on the pro tour that if you want to win a tournament you have to beat John Juanda. John has far more second place finishes than whoever is runnerup. No one is crying for Juanda, though. He's making a fortune with his seconds. The two started out with Brenes having a 2-1 chip lead. These two would never discuss a deal, so they would play it out.
Even after 14 hours of play, both guys looked incredibly fresh. The chips washed back and forth for an hour with Juanda taking a slight lead until the deciding hand came down. As usual Juanda put all his chip in with the best of it. John had the awesome A A Q Q double suited. Brenes was all-in preflop with A K 10 4 and three Spades. As often happens when the big cards tangle, it's the little ones that get the job done. Humberto had only a pair of fours on the flop, but turned 10's and 4's for the lead. The four on the river gave Brenes a full house.
Again, John Juanda would finish second. With only $6,500 left, John wanted Humberto to call his all-in blind. Brenes ignored him until he looked at his hand and found A A Q 7. John had Q 10 5 4. Humberto only flopped a royal draw with his A Q of Diamonds. Juanda's only out was a third 10 that never came.
After finishing second himself two days ago, Humberto Brenes murdered Murderer's Row tonight.
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