WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2000
EVENT #2 TEXAS HOLD'EM (limit)
$2,000 BUY-IN
$2,000 in chips
LET'S GET IT ON!
By Mike Paulle
It's been eleven long months coming. Ever since Noel Furlong turned over
those pocket 5's last May to win the World Championship, poker players have
had to wait for a real tournament to begin. It's here, it's now. The World
Series of Poker is back. All that waiting is over. Let's play for some REAL
money, let's make some REAL poker history. Let's Get It On!
There were 496 entrants in the $2,000 Buy-In, Limit Hold'em for a total prize
pool of $992,000. 3 tables were paid, a total of 27 players.
You know it's a World Series event when you have to be a former World
Champion to make it onto the Notables list. Nine former champions showed up
for the $2,000 Limit Hold'em. Only one got into the money. Jim Bechtel was
one card away from this Final Table. Bechtel had pocket Queens, an overpair
to the board, and shoved nearly all his stack into the pot. Bechtel slammed
his handful of chips on the table when Hung Tran, with pocket Jacks, spiked a
Jack on the river. Hung Tran could now take a substantial chip lead into
Tuesday's Final Table action.
THE FINAL TABLE:
3 mins left of 1 hr. The blinds are $4,000 and $8,000
| Seat Position/Player | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: David Stearns (Grover Beach, CA) | $118,000 |
| Seat 2: Roman Abinsay (Stockton, CA) | $103,500 |
| Seat 3: Jimmy Athanas (St Louis, MO) | $102,000 |
| Seat 4: Scott Brayer (Tucson, AZ) | $53,500 |
| Seat 5: Schmitt Rienhold (Pforzheim, Germany) | $36,000 |
| Seat 6: Ray Dehkharghahi (Las Vegas, NV) | $144,000 |
| Seat 7: Kevin Lewis (Auburn, CA) | $51,500 |
| Seat 8: Hung Ka Tran (Inglewood, CA) | $244,000 |
| Seat 9: Hieu "Tony" Ma (S El Monte, CA) | $143,500 |
The tension is palpable as the Tournament Director Bob Thompson introduces
the nine players one by one and they stride past the barrier protected my a
burly security guard into the Final Table area. Only one player is missing.
Where is Kevin Lewis? Minutes go by until a sheepish-acting Lewis walks in
and jokes, "I thought it was tomorrow." The laugh the gag line got broke the
tension and we could begin to play poker.
There are three relatively short stacks as we start. One of these three is
almost sure to be the first one out. The chip leaders aren't going to let
these guys breath, if they can help it. Scott Brayer is the most active of
the three. This can be good, it can be bad. In the early stages the prize
money doesn't go up that much with each place, so it's definitely the time to
gamble. After folding a couple of hands after seeing the flop, Scott's break
looks like it's arrived when he goes all-in with pocket Queens and is called
by Jimmy Athanas with pocket 8's. The Queens hold up for Brayer and Scott can
last for a while. But instead, Scott takes his new chips and tries to buy
Tony Ma off a pot with A J. Brayer chooses the wrong guy to try to bluff. Ma
maybe the best reader of player's hands in the game at the moment. Tony
shows no hesitation in calling Scott all the way down to the river with A K
and a King on board. Brayer's stack is decimated. Scott goes all-in from the
small blind with his last $9,000 and an A 7. $9k is pocket change to the chip
leader Hung Tran. Tran calls with A 9 and the 9 plays. Scott is a Brayer
without a prayer in 9th.
A journalist from Germany, Reinhold Schmitt came over to cover the tournament
for German media and ended up at the Final Table. Only by the grace of the
poker gods was Reinhold here. On Monday night he had to go all-in repeatedly
to survive. Usually, Schmitt had an Ace rag and an Ace hit the board. Today,
Schmitt was getting the rags but not the Aces. In a desperate last attempt to
get some chips, Reinhold goes all-in with the best hand he's seen, the K Q of
Spades. Hung Tran is having no trouble finding big hands. Tran three-bets
with the A K of Hearts to get head up with Schmitt. There are two hearts and
a spade flop, all small cards. A spade hits the turn and suddenly Reinhold
Schmitt is poised for yet another miracle survival. One more spade or a Queen
on the river and Reinhold becomes a force in this game. The dealer lays down
a blank on the river to send Schmitt back out into the media pool in 8th.
There are amazing coincidences in every tournament, but in the World Series
they become incredibly magnified.
Kevin Lewis is a salesman for a small company in Auburn CA. Of the 496
players that started this event, one is Kevin's boss in this small company.
There are countries that didn't get two players into the money today, but
Kevin's little company did. Lewis' boss finished 21st. Kevin goes all-in from
the small blind with Q J. He becomes pretty hopeful when a Q J flop. Not much
to worry about when Hung Tran shows an A 8. But wait! When you are running
as good as Tran is, anything can happen and does. There was an 8 on the flop
with that Q J and wouldn't you know another 8 comes on the turn to turn Lewis
loose in 7th.
When Jimmy Athanas lost with those pocket 8's to the all-in Scott Brayer's
pocket Queens it didn't seem that big a deal. It was. Athanas never
recovered. Jimmy's only significant win afterward was against Hung Tran when
Athanas got Hung to hang up on a hand for a change and fold. With his chips
nearly gone, Athanas goes all-in under the gun with A 8. When Roman Abinsay
sees an A K in his big blind it's an easy call. An Ace flops and Roman's King
kicks Jimmy Athanas out of the tournament in 6th.
'Steamroller' is David Stearns' nickname. Today he was a little of both.
Steamed and Rolled. Taking beats at the Final Table of a World Series event
can play on a man's mind. Perhaps because he was steamed Stearns raises and
reraises the chip leader Hung Tran from under the gun with pocket 6's. Tran
is in the small blind with yet another A K and isn't going anywhere. Stearns
is right he had the best hand before the flop, but David doesn't count on
Hung Tran dreaming cards all day. When an Ace turns, Stearns is rolled out in
6th.
With four players left, a deal is agreed to that gives Hung Tran the most
money. Normally with the money spoken for, this would end a regular
tournament. But not the World Series of Poker. There is something very
special that can't be negotiated in a deal. Money comes and goes, but a World
Series bracelet is forever. Of the four players, only Tony Ma had one. And
the other three wanted their first. For over three hours the fighting for the
bracelet was as fierce as for millions of dollars. In a series of hands that
included quads, full houses, nut flushes and straights, each of the four
players took over the chip lead at one time or the other.
"I was very confident," Tony Ma said "even when I was low in chips." Tony Ma
is the 1999 Player of the Year according to Card Player Magazine. It would be
hard to dispute that he's the best player in tournament poker at the moment.
When all the others fell by the wayside, it was Tony Ma who prevailed. At the
start of heads up play with Roman Abinsay, Tony was down 3-1 in chips, but
the outcome seemed inevitable. Tony just wears you down. By the end, Roman
Abinsay was so tired he could barely see straight and actually seemed
relieved when the last hand was played out. After 21 hours over two days,
Tony Ma was as fresh as when he started and all the others were dragging. "I
love tournaments." Tony Ma wrote in his bio for this event. And tournaments
love Tony Ma.
Tomorrow, 7-Card Stud. This is the World Series, baby. Let's get it on,
again!
Official Money Winners
1. Hieu 'Tony' Ma $367,040
2. Roman Abinsay $188,480
3. Hung Tran $92,240
4. Ray Dehkharghani $59,520
5. David Stearns $44,640
6. Jimmy Athanas $34,720
7. Kevin Lewis $24,800
8. Reinhold Schmitt $19,840
9. Scott Brayer $15,875
10th-12th received $11,905
Michael Wu Ma, Jim Bechtel and Victoriano Perches
13th-15th received $9,920
Yoshio Nakano, Jonathan Lemone and Sunny Yi
16th-18th received $7,940
Steve Zolotow, Robert Wasmund and Matti Kourtti
19th-27th received $5,950
Jan Murray Stein, Stanley Singer, Geno Davis, Paul Eggers, Kirk Schneider
Skip Wilson, George Rohme, Rafael Perry and Mohammad Gomrokchi
The third Super Satellite at the WSOP for the $10,000 Final Event on Sunday
was won by: Jerri Thomas (Hamilton OH), Mark Ervin (Las Vegas NV), JC Pearson
(Nashville TN) and Steve Meyerson (Poquoson VA).
Monday, four more players won their Super Satellite: Raymond Beck (Tulsa OK),
Richard Tatalovich (Scottsdale AZ), Allen Cunningham (Rialto CA) and Hassan
Kamoei (Indio CA).
The two-a-day Super Satellite schedule started on Tuesday. In the early
Super, Alex Papachatzakis (Torrance CA) and Bob Walker (Las Vegas NV) got
into the Big Dance. In the late one, four players won seats. They were Louis
Asmo (Columbus OH), Anastassios Lazarou (Las Vegas), Capt. Tom Franklin
(Gulfport MS) and George Bartlett (Clinton MD).
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