OMAHA-HA
You want a real bad beat story? We've got one. You have to laugh or cry in Omaha-ha.
There were 35 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Omaha Hi-Lo Split for a total prize pool of $49,350. Five players were paid
To setup the Final Table, in the battle of the Daniels, Daniel won and Daniel lost. Daniel Teitelbaum had $300 left. Daniel Negreanu had $400. At stake was a Hall of Fame jacket because neither of them was getting to the money. Negreanu sat out the hand. Teitelbaum played his 2 3 3 4 and was beaten both ways for 11th.
THE FINAL TABLE: 17 mins. left of 60. The blinds were $150/$300 with a $25 ante.
Player Hometown Chip Count
Seat 1 Brent Carter Oak Park IL $ 2,500
Seat 2 Phil Ivey Atlantic City NJ $ 4,600
Seat 3 Layne Flack Las Vegas NV $ 3,800
Seat 4 Maureen Feduniak Las Vegas NV $12,000
Seat 5 Daniel Negreanu Las Vegas NV $ 400
Seat 6 Tom Franklin Gulfport MS $ 5,000
Seat 7 Jerry Howe Cashmere WA $ 6,400
Seat 8 Max Stern San Jose, Costa Rica $10,600
Seat 9 Chris Bjorin London, UK $ 1,800
Seat 10 Mel Patton Modesto CA $ 5,600
Just what Daniel Negreanu needs is another jacket, but that's all he got. He'd have had to win about five scoops in a row to be competitive. As it turned out Mel ‘General' Patton hit Dan high with Q's and 2's and Maureen Feduniak knocked Dan out in 10th with a better low.
The Hall of Fame isn't turning out to be what the World Series was for Phil Ivey. Along with Layne Flack, also at this table, Ivey won three events in this year's WSOP. In all three he was completely dominant. It's funny to see Phil actually be human and lose once in a while. He was that invincible earlier in the year. Phil took his last shot with A 10 6 3 all-in. Mel Patton trimmed Ivey both ways with 4's full of Aces and a better low.
Also having a tough tournament is Chris Bjorin. Chris is getting close, but not there. Bjorin's all-in was A J 7 5. Brent Carter scooped Chris out in 8th with A K 6 3, A's and 6's with a live Trey.
Have you complained about a bad beat lately? Well here's one you can't top. Mel Patton liked the turn. The King fell giving him Quad Kings. Only one card could possibly beat his hand, and only if Brent Carter had pocket Aces in his hand. The flop had come with an A K, then the King on the turn, then an Ace on the river. Many reraises later Patton showed his Quad Kings and Brent Carter turned over his two Aces for Quad Aces on the river. Patton, like a good soldier, only said he should have saved the last two bets. He didn't whine, curse or throw anything. Next hand!
Max Stern said later when Patton was eliminated. "I have great respect for your game, sir. 98% of the players in poker, after the beat you took, would have been gone in three hands." Mel Patton is a poker hero.
An hour later we still had seven players until Captain Tom Franklin tangled with the chip leader Maureen Feduniak. Maureen had been making two pair stand up all day. And not even the top two pair, which are hands that usually gets crushed in Omaha Hi-Lo. With Tom all-in on his last $200 call, Maureen turned over A's and 3's, first and fifth pair. That left Captain Tom high and dry with A K Q 2.
One of the great survivors in tournament history, it was surprising to see Brent Carter go out 6th. One out of the money. But when Mel Patton showed him nut nut, Carter was down to his last few pills. All-in on the next hand with a terrible Q 7 5 3, Brent got a big gulp when he could only make two Treys which lost to trip Deuces.
The pressure was finally off. Everyone left was getting paid. Maybe that's why Jerry Howe tossed in his remaining $600 when he had to know he was beat in 5th. The board came 6 3 2 4 6. Jerry made trip 6's on the river, but he was drawing dead by then under Layne Flack's wheel.
After one of the worst beats possible, Mel Patton had less than $1,000 left. Maybe because he's a poker dealer (unemployed) he was undisturbed by how horrific the beat was, since he's dealt so many of them himself. At the time it looked like a big financial swing for an unemployed person. To pay a $1,500 buy-in and miss the money by one out? Well, the General didn't miss the money. He played superbly. The blinds and a couple failed draws were his Waterloo, however. All-in with Q 6 4 4, Patton crossed the river Styx when Layne Flack made Kings up on him. An impressive performance. Too bad a lot of poker's crybabies weren't watching.
"Wizards," Layne Flack called them. Those are the people who sucked out on him to put Flack in his 3rd place. Layne bets so fast and aggressively, its impossible to tell if he's bluffing or not. So, for better or worse, he gets a lot of extra calls. Most of the time it's for better. That's why Layne leads the current ‘Player of the Year' standings. But sometimes it's for worse. Flack was pounding the pot as he usually does. This time he had a hand, pocket Aces. Maureen Feduniak had a low draw when she was counterfeited. She made a pair of Deuces on the flop. And a second pair, of 3's, on the turn. Unbelievably, Maureen wiped the voluable Layne Flack out with yet another two pair that held up. The fourth and fifth pair--3's and 2's.
Heads up, English-born Maureen had a 3-2 chip lead on the American. Central American. Dr. Max Stern is not only a world-class player, one of his nicknames is ‘El Bandito' So Feduniak was in trouble with this matchup from the outset. Max was going to be able to bet Maureen off hands, and she wouldn't be able to do likewise.
This was a confrontation from two of the best poker families in the world. The Sterns and Feduniaks are great poker-playing husbands and wives. All four have won many individual titles.
But with the two spouses anxiously sitting on the side, Maria Stern and Bob Feduniak, the joke was that Maureen and Max married the wrong people or they would already have the prize pool locked up.
The key hand in the matchup came when Maureen uncharacteristically raised before the river. A third Heart came on the turn. Feduniak is such a solid player, it must have been hard for Stern to call an obvious flush with only the third best one—Jack high. But he did it. Maureen had only a 4 3 of Hearts. (This was Max's second outstanding call of the night. He'd called a raise from Mel Patton when a third Deuce came on the river. Max only had A Q. Mel had A J. Only the great players know these things.)
The end was inevitable as Max refused to double the short-stacked Maureen up. Eventually, after several all-ins that were chopped, Maureen turned over a full house all-in---3's full of 5's. But the good doctor had a higher full house 5's full of Queens.
What else can you do but laugh at Omaha-ha? The Sterns and Feduniaks were going to dinner. Max said "I'm buying."
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