EVENT #8 NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM
September 4, 2002
$1,500 BUY-IN /w One Rebuy
$1,500 in chips
THE GREATEST FINAL TABLE EVER?
There were nearly 20 WSOP bracelets and one World Champion at today's Final Table for what one veteran Binion's dealer said was the best lineup he'd ever seen. Since this dealer has been involved in the World Series and the Hall of Fame for 40 years, it's worth noting. However, maybe an even better group started and didn't get there. How's this for a nightmare table:
In seat 1)Huck Seed 2) Carlos Mortenson 3) T J Cloutier 4) Men Nguyen 5)
Kathy Liebert 6) Layne Flack 7) Ken Flaton 8) Ted Forrest 9) David
Phan 10) Ron Stanley. And none of this crew got near the money. The "NAMES" of poker have turned out for this year's
Hall of Fame.
There were 56 entrants and 27 rebuys in the $1,500 Buy-In, No-Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool of $119,460. Nine players were paid
To setup the Final Table, Tony Cousineau had pocket Kings and got it all in against Burt Boutin with A Q. When a King flopped we were down to ten.
THE FINAL TABLE: 17 mins. left of 60. The blinds were $150/$300 with a $25 ante.
Player--- Hometown--------------- Chip Count
Seat 1 Jennifer Harman Las Vegas NV - $ 7,375
Seat 2 John McIntosh Baltimore MD - $ 9,650
Seat 3 Tony Cousineau Dayton Beach FL - $11,525
Seat 4 David Ulliott Hull, UK $ 7,225 -
Seat 5 Kevin X Somewhere MI $ - 8,400
Seat 6 David Plastik Las Vegas NV - $8,725
Seat 7 Erik Seidel Las Vegas NV - $19,650
Seat 8 Daniel Negreanu Las Vegas NV $ - 9,275
Seat 9 Humbeerto Brenes San Jose, Costa Rica - $9,075
Seat 10 Scotty Nguyen Henderson NV - $33,600
There were no short stacks but it only took a few minutes to decide which nine would be in the money. Scotty Nguyen was as hot as it's possible to be. He'd already made quads three times in the first seven hours of the event.
With a gigantic chip lead on this all-star table, Scotty was saying he was the best of the best.
Well, you need to be lucky to be the best in poker. And Scotty got real lucky against John McIntosh. Nguyen raised to $800. McIntosh reraised to $3,500. Scotty went all-in with a dominated hand, pocket Queens versus pocket Kings for John. Don't worry, a Queen flopped. That took a fatal bite out of McIntosh in 10th.
Scotty's already enormous chip lead just got $9,600 bigger.
It was like the best players in the world had decided the only way to beat Daniel Negreanu was to reraise him pre-flop. Three times in a row Danny raised. Each time he was reraised. And by enough to make him believe his strong Ace hands were at best a coin-toss proposition. He showed one A K that he threw away. He said he had other big Aces. The winner of a previous event at the Hall of Fame this year was undaunted, however. "I'm going to keep doing it, because it's fun," Danny said about raising. Finally disgusted about being run over repeatedly, Dan made the mistake of playing one of his A K's against his very good friend Jennifer Harman. Jen plays big pairs. Danny knows that. He got his last $5,500 in and was covered by Harmon with pocket Kings. "It will be on the Internet that I lost $720 today," Negreanu joked.
"I never bluff," Huberto Brenes will tell you. Then he'll give you that sly smile with the eyes twinkling. Brenes has already won one of this year's events and cashed in a couple others. But sitting just in front of a mountain of chips cramped much of what Humberto likes to do. It was almost two hours since anyone had left. The blinds still weren't high but some of the stacks were running low. When Brenes got down to $5,500 he raised all-in from middle position with Q 7. The computer hand crashed as Tony Cousineau raised all-in for $600 more with A K. When an Ace showed up, it was adios, muchacho in 8th.
One of the favorite tricks of the wily David "Devilfish"
Ulliott is to show an outrageous bluff early, then only turn over big hands from then on. Jennifer Harman wasn't fooled by this ploy, but she was stuck with pocket Queens and had to call Ulliott's all-in reraise with A K. Of course, a King flopped and Jen was left with only $1,600. That's what she pitched into the next pot with the Q J of Spades calling David Plastik's raise of $1,700 under the gun. Plastik may not be wrapped too tight, but he's become an outstanding player. His A 9 caught an A on the flop and a 9 on the river for overkill. That sent the prettiest world-class tournament player to the rail in 7th.
A player who's come out of nowhere the last few years to deserve to sit with this group is Tony Cousineau. Now a consistent moneymaker, Tony couldn't wait any longer. He raised all-in with his case $3,500. His J 9 of Diamonds might steal the blinds, or the hand might even win a showdown. Actually neither happened for Tony in 6th. Erik Seidel called with the Q 10 of Hearts. The ten on the flop was enough.
This was an outstanding table even with the X factor. Kevin X from "Michigan" didn't want his name used. Maybe he was supposed to be somewhere else. It's doubtful Kevin knew who he was playing with. He may have known Scotty. Nevertheless, X played great out of his mind, actually, considering the competition. But he wasn't getting a lot of hands. Kevin was the low man and thought he might have caught Devilfish Ulliott with a subpar hand. David raised and Kevin came over the top all-in with A 10 and an extra $3,900. X grabbed his head in agony when Ulliott called and turned over A J. X marked the spot and the spot was 5th.
What made this Final Table so fascinating, besides the outstanding play, were the personalities involved. It was a shame that this one wasn't videotaped. A thousand word recap couldn't begin to do justice to what became a six-hour marathon between some of the more
interesting players in the game.
Englishman 'Devilfish' Ulliott can be hilarious when he starts feeling the cards are coming his way. This is a family publication so his scatological interplay with the audience can't be repeated here. David went on a rush, with four players left, that took him all the way to the chip lead. It didn't seem possible that anyone was going to touch Scotty Nguyen tonight, but the former Champ was self-destructing for a spell by doubling everyone up. Three times Scotty covered all-ins with K Q offsuit. All three times he lost. Suddenly, Scotty found a way to plug his leak. He played A Q instead of K Q.
"I was cold-decked," Ulliott said, which wasn't true. David made a calculated call of an all-in Scotty and lost. The flop came K Q 10. David had Q J. Scotty's A Q shut Ulliott out when no straight came for the Devilfish. Nguyen was now back in charge with the chip lead. Then David went all-in with A 4 and $7,600. The other David (Plastik) called with A 9 and the higher kicker played. Just when it looked like Ulliott would pull off a major upset, in only a few hands he was gone in 4th.
Erik Seidel may have gotten a new nickname tonight. The players were calling him, "Nine Lives" for all the worst hand all-in showdowns he was winning. One of the great players in the game for over a quarter of a century, Erik is hard to beat even when he doesn't have good cards. He's so deliberative on every bet, it would be wonderful to hear his mind at work. It would make the best poker book in history. It wasn't until the blinds went up to $1k/2k with a $300 ante that Seidel finally lost an all-in bet. Erik went all-in for maybe the 10th time of the night from the small blind and the K 2 of Diamonds. The bet of $7,100 didn't bother Scotty Nguyen in the big blind, he just wanted a hand that might be able to bust Seidel at last.
In a reversal of his famous last words to Kevin McBride the year he won the World Championship Scotty said, "If I call, it's all over." Another prediction came true. Scotty found an A 9, and it was all over for Erik Seidel in 3rd as Ace high won.
Heads up, Scotty had a 6 -5 chip lead on David Plastik. The Champ refused to discuss a save with a player he'd never been one-on-one with before. That's often a mistake for the chip leader. And it looked like it might be a mistake again, as Plastik hit a three-outer on Scotty to take a 3-1 chip lead. Nguyen had put Plastik all-in with his pocket 10's. Oddly, the ultra-careful Plastik had called with A 7. With an Ace on the turn, it looked like curtains for the Champ.
But Scotty remained the aggressor, so he kept picking up the blinds and antes. Nguyen is nothing if not self-confident. Even after almost losing everything with three blown K Q's, Nguyen played the hand again, all-in. This time it was Plastik who had pocket 10's. When a Queen flopped, Scotty was back in business.
After six hours of stellar play by some of the world's best, the prohibitive beginning chip leader finally prevailed for the title when David Plastik exploded all-in with the A 8 of Spades. Scotty didn'thesitate to call with pocket 7's which held up.
In one of the greatest Final Tables ever, what started with Scotty Nguyen have the most chips ended with him having them all.
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