EVENT #19 POT-LIMIT OMAHA
Thursday, September 12, 2002
$1,500 Buy-in /w Rebuys
$1,500 in chips
THE POWER OF TILT
Normally players who lose their composure are endangered species at a
poker table. Tonight, though, our winner's anger translated into
victory.
There were 36 entrants and 50 rebuys in the $1,500 Buy-In, Pot-Limit
Omaha for a total prize pool of $125,760. Five players were paid.
To setup the Final Table, eleventh and twelfth went out on the same
hand at the two different tables. Last night's winner Daniel Negreanu
had his all-in pocket Aces cracked by Chris Bjorin's flopped two pair
then a flush. Tony Cousineau, at the other table with a high wrap,
lost to trip 10's held by Hertzel Zalewski.
THE FINAL TABLE: 7 mins. left of 60. The blinds were $100/$200
Player Hometown Chip Count
Seat 1) Ron Rose Dayton OH - $12,000
Seat 2) Hertzel Zalewski Houston TX - $22,400
Seat 3) Steve Zolotow Las Vegas NV - $23,300
Seat 4) Humberto Brenes San Jose, Costa Rica - $13,600
Seat 5) Peter Vilandos Houston TX - $10,800
Seat 6) Scotty Nguyen Henderson NV - $18,900
Seat 7) Chris Bjorin London, UK $7,700
Seat 8) Jake Naumer DuQuoin IL - $8,700
Seat 9) Erik Seidel Las Vegas NV - $8,500
Seat 10) Charlie Shoten Glendale CA - $2,900
Think there are no soft spots at the above table? Here are another ten
starting players that didn't get near it. Alan Betson, Eskimo Clark,
T J Cloutier, Peter Costa, Ken Flaton, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, O'Neil
Longson, Rafael Perry, David Ulliott.
As we see often in Omaha, the big cards cancel each other out and it's
left to the small cards to decide the winner. You'd think the Peter
Vilandos would split with Ron Rose on a hand where Peter had A K J 6
and Ron A K J 4. BUT NO! Peter 'Absorba the Greek' Vilandos took yet
another vicious hit in 10th when Rose made J's and 4's on him.
Steve Zolotow is among a handful of the best Pot-Limit Omaha players
in the world. For him to start with the chip lead and finish 9th is a
shock. To lose $23,300 in the first half-hour is unprecedented. Maybe
that's why Steve called Scotty Nguyen all-in on the flop from the
small blind with A Q J 2 and no flush draw. The board came Q 9 3.
Scotty had raised under the gun. Nguyen could very well have had Aces.
Anyway, the famous Steve Z went all-in. Scotty did have Aces.
The ten seat has been good to the shortest stack two nights in a row.
Last night Danny Negreanu went from worst to first in the ten seat.
Tonight Charlie Shoten, a.k.a.Scotty Warbuck, was the shortest and got
out of the hole quickly. Charlie sent Chris Bjorin out 8th with 7 7 6
6 making an 8 high straight on the turn, and a flush on the river.
Incidentally, Chris Bjorin is Swedish by birth not Norwegian as
previously reported. Sorry! Evidently to a Swede, being called a
Norwegian is a great insult. Chris was threatening to sue.
It was a difficult night for Humberto Brenes, two-time winner in this
year's Hall of Fame. He'd gotten used to imposing his will on these
Final Tables. But the cards weren't cooperating and Brenes failed to
cash for once. Typical of his frustration was Humberto's last hand.
Brenes went all-in from his big blind with A J 9 6 and the A J of
Hearts. He had about 100 outs on the turn with the nut straight and
flush draw. But since he had no chips, Humberto couldn't bet on the
come to try and get Hertzel Zalewski off his flopped trip 10's.as if
that would have been possible.
Zalewski has been destroying the live Pot-Limit game for weeks, so the
tournament was like a busman's holiday. Hertzel has been known to bet
more than the total prize pool on the turn of one card. Erik Seidel on
the other hand couldn't find a card worth betting anything on for
hours. You know how tough a table is when Erik Seidel is your bubble
boy. Erik finally had no choice but to commit to one of the pieces of
garbage he'd been dealt all night. All-in with A 10 8 6, Seidel never
led with his flopped 8's. Hertzel Zalewski had pocket 9's that held up
to deny the great Erik Seidel payment for his ten hours of labor.
In rebuy events, making the money can still be a loser. It depends on
how many rebuys a player makes. A player as tight as Charlie Shoten
(who prefers to be called 'Scotty Warbuck,' but there would have been
a confusing two Scottys at the table) probably managed to make a few
bucks with the $6,290 given for 5th. When Hertzel Zalewski flopped top
set with his pocket Queens from his big blind, Charlie was drawing
dead to perfect perfect.
It was now time for the hand of the night, when the loser won and the
winner lost.
When the flop came 6 2 2, all heck broke loose. Jake Naumer was in the
big blind with A Q 6 2. It's safe to say Jake liked the flop. Ron Rose
was under the gun with A K 3 2. Fortunately for him, Ron liked the
flop as well because he would lose the hand.
Huh?
When the tournament rookie--Jake Naumer--bet the pot with his second
nut full house, the Rose from Dayton took a flyer coming over the top
with trip Deuces and an Ace. This was a no-brainer call all-in for
Naumer who, understandably, often agonized over what to do in
different situations. He was a tournament baby playing with the
heaviest weight adults on the planet. The loss of the hand busted Ron
Rose down to a paltry $1,800. Within an hour and a half, Rose would
have $80,000.
In one of the most spectacular bull rushes in memory, Ron Rose used
his anger at the loss of almost all his chips to fuel a non-stop
winning streak. "No one can beat him," Jake Naumer lamented. If anyone
would have had an idea that this rush was going to last, they could
have put a stop to it early when Rose was still climbing out of the
pit he dug for himself. Instead the table let Ron go 'pot' on every
hand, obviously on severe tilt. There is no question that Rose was
bluffing or semi-bluffing on several hands. But the other three
players were more afraid of each other to contest the small battles.
Suddenly Ron had risen up to a respectful $20,000 and was a player
once again.
The first casualty to Rose's guns was the other two-time event winner
at the starting table, Scotty Nguyen. Scotty knew all about fantastic
comebacks. He fought back from $500 three-handed to win an earlier
event. The former World Champion was all-in from the big blind with
his last $800. Nguyen is so dangerous all the other three players
checked to the river. Something they should have done with Ron Rose
when he was short-stacked. But who knew? Scotty flopped a straight
with his 4 4 3 2. But a Spade on the river gave Hertzel Zalewski a
King high flush and Nguyen 4th place.
Now three-handed at $600/$1,200 blinds, Jake Naumer had $60k, Hertzel
Zalewski $50k and Ron Rose $20k.
But Jake wasn't winning squat and was soon passed by Rose as second
chip leader to Zalewski. It didn't take long for the streaking Rose to
get all his chips back from Naumer. The 'Power of Tilt' was on full
display. Rose WILLED his chips to return to him and they did. On a
hand that Naumer was a clear favorite, he bet out from the small blind
when he flopped second set with pocket 9's. Rose went all-in on a nut
flush draw and nothing else. Ron had A 2 4 5 with Ace-suited Clubs. A
great hand for Omaha.Hi-Lo. The flop was K 9 7 with two Clubs. Jake's
Q 9 9 8 made him call all-in. The Trey of Clubs on the turn ended
Naumer's fabulous two-night run of consecutive 3rd places. Not bad for
someone whose first live tournament was yesterday.
Now with an $80k/$50 chip lead, it was over in minutes. The 'Power of
Tilt' paid off for Ron Rose as the players got it all-in before the
flop. Rose's A K 9 3 was a winner over Hertzel Zalewski's A Q 6 2.
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