Poker Tournament Results

Jack Binion World Poker Open 4th Year - WPT Season 1

Mark Seif

Tournament Report

Mark Seif, a Los Angeles-based criminal attorney and regular on the poker tournament circuit , blistered through the final table in record time to capture his first World Poker Open title. Seif took just 77 minutes to personally knock-out seven of his eight opponents at the final table in the $500 buy-in No-Limit Holdem event. It was the second-largest field in World Poker Open history, with a whopping 555 entries. Play started with a $500 ante and blinds at $2K-$4K. Play was tight early, until an absolutely stunning hand developed. Mickey Baldwyn made a $10K pre-flop raise with Q-Q. Barry Shulman looked down and saw 10-10 and re-raised all-in. Everyone else folded around to Mark Seif in the big blind. Amazingly, Seif woke up with A-A and also moved all-in. Baldwyn called and both players were mortified to be left staring at Seif's pocket aces. "No funny stuff," Seif shouted out as the dealer tabled the flop. Five low cards fell and Seif had not only increased his chip position up to $250K, but he had also taken out two of the biggest stacks. "When I looked at my hole cards, I said to myself -- give me two aces!" Seif said later. It took several minutes for the buzz in the room to quiet down after the hand. Mickey Baldwyn, from Tupelo, Mississippi collected $4,307 for 9th place. Barry Shulman, the owner and publisher of Card Player magazine and a former bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker, took $5,384 for 8th place. Jody Simon came in lowest on chips, but still managed to move up the money ladder. He was down to his final $10K and decided to make his final stand of the night with A-2 of hearts. Wendell Teets faded the all-in bet with K-J and was delighted to see a king come out on the flop. The final board, K-7-3-Q-3, gave Teets two-pair and put Simon out in 7th place. Simon, an auctioneer from Houston who plays poker four nights a week and specializes primarily in single-table satellites, collected $6,729. Next, it was John Womack to make an unwanted exit. Womack caught 10-9 suited in the blind and called a raise enough to go all-in. Unfortunately, Mark Seif was sitting on top of A-K which held up and knocked out Womack in 6th place. Womack, who is a retired former government attorney, said afterward, "That's the best hand I had at the final table. I had to go in with something." Nevertheless, Womack took $9,421 back to Florida. Wendell Teets won his seat in this event a few months earlier by playing in an online tournament sponsored by the Internet site, PokerPages.Com. Teets, who is a student at the PokerSchool Online, outlasted 500 other players and made the final table. However, Teets took the worst of it when he moved all-in with Q-J suited, which was called immediately by (you guessed it) Mark Seif with Q-Q. It was an awful predicament for Teets, who failed to catch a much-needed miracle. Teets, an Chief Petty Officer on active duty for the U.S. Navy, was sunk in 5th place -- good for a $12,113 paycheck. A few hands later, Bill Eichel made a nice move when he doubled-up with A-Q suited against Seif's A-J. That key hand left Seif with a 2-1 chip lead over Eichel -- with Asher Derei and David Bach still in. Seif's chip position was threatened a short time later when Bach's pocket aces held up to win a $60K pot. After the flop came J-6-6, Seif moved all-in with J-10 and was quickly called by Bach with the pocket rockets. Unfortunately, Asher Derei was unable to accummulate chips late in the tournament. He tried to steal the blinds and antes with A-4 and was called by Seif with A-7. Both players flopped a pair, with Seif's 7s as the better hand. Derei, a native of Israel who now lives in Southern California and has made the money in several big tournaments, took $16,151 for 4th place. Seif was now comfortably in the lead with $240K. Bill Eichel had a chance to cut into that lead when he was dealt 4-4, a slight favorite versus Seif's A-K. Eichel was willing to take the chance to double through, but when the final board showed K-9-2-Q-5, he was knocked out of the tournament. Of the close to 50-50 proposition Eichel later said, "I won a lot of coin flips to get here, but lost that one." Eichel, who is a South Dakota farmer as well as a highly respected poker player amongst his peers, finished in 3rd place -- good for $25,572. Heads-up play began with Seif holding a dominant 6-1 chip lead over David Bach. But Bach wasn't quite willing to accept second-prize just yet. Bach doubled-up when he moved all-in with J-3 after the flop came J-6-3. Seif called with J-8, but failed to catch an 8 or pair the board for a split pot. The hand put Bach to within one big pot of drawing even, as the chip counts stood at approximately $300K for Seif and $140K for Bach. But that's as close as Bach would get on this night. Bach's final concerto was played out when he moved all-in with A-K and was called by Seif with 5-5. The board was dealt, which ultimately showed 9-9-7-6-2 giving Seif two pair. More important, the final hand gave Seif his first World Poker Open victory. The second-place finisher, David Bach is a professional bowler. In recent years, he has traveled around the country on the pro bowling tour. Bach noted that there are "striking" similarities between poker and bowling. Both involve lots of pressure, although Bach says the pressure in bowling is both mental and physical -- whereas with poker it's mostly mental. He won $51,143 for playing poker in his "spare" time. Mark Seif is a true poker champion who has earned his victory by spending the last several years playing tournament poker. Seif also worked for many years before that as a highly-successful criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles. As evidenced by his impressive victory, the final verdict on Seif as a great poker player is "guilty as charged." The final verdict amounted to $99,595. -- by Nolan Dalla