WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2000
EVENT #6 OMAHA (Pot Limit)
$1,500 BUY-IN
$1,500 in chips
SIXTH SENSE
By Mike Paulle
In the history of poker there are only a very few players who seem to be so far
into the game that they are looking out at the rest of us from the inside of
it. How do you beat those players? You usually don't.
There were 156 entrants and 143 rebuys in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha for a
total prize pool of $448,500. 2 tables were paid, a total of 18 players.
Talk about your all-star cast! The player who finished one off the Final Table,
Chris Bjorin, has 22 cashes in the WSOP and a bracelet. Chau Giang in 11th has
two bracelets and O'Neil Longson in 12th has one. So how tough was THIS final
nine lineup?
THE FINAL TABLE:
49 mins left of 80. The blinds are $800/$1,500
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Greg Hopkins (Redondo Beach, CA) | $68,600 |
| Seat 2: Frederic Wrang (Stockholm, Sweden) | $27,700 |
| Seat 3: Willie Tann (Bovingdon, UK) | $51,400 |
| Seat 4: Jim Lester (Cincinnati, OH) | $35,100 |
| Seat 5: Jack Duncan (Las Vegas, NV) | $9,600 |
| Seat 6: Johnny Chan (Las Vegas, NV) | $54,400 |
| Seat 7: Josh Arieh (Atlanta, GA) | $44,500 |
| Seat 8: Howard Greenspan (Minneapolis, MN) | $57,700 |
| Seat 9: Jim Bechtel (Gilbert, AZ) | $100,100 |
Pot Limit Omaha is a game where you flop the nuts and pray. Even heads up, with
only one other player in the hand, your made hand probably is only a slight
favorite against a nut draw held by your opponent.
Jim Lester won his first all-in when his two Aces found another on the board.
The second all-in Lester wasn't so lucky. Again he flopped the best hand with
his pocket Kings. Jim had trip Kings on the flop, but this time the draw
against him got there. Howard Greenspan had two Aces with the A 10 of Diamonds
and got a third diamond on the turn to give Lester 9th place.
In one of the biggest hands of his poker life, Greg Hopkins got a surprise.
Hopkins has won everywhere he's played but this was his first WSOP cash.
Starting 2nd in chips, Greg didn't have to gamble at such low blind levels but
he chose to and paid for it. When Howard Greenspan raised on the button,
Hopkins reraised from the big blind with A A K T. Greenspan had plenty of chips
and flat called with Q J 9 8. The flop came Q 10 9. Hopkins didn't want to give
Greenspan a free card with such a dangerous flop for two Aces. Greg bet
$32,000. Howard came over the top all-in. Hopkins felt the need to call when he
could have been drawing dead to a K J. The surprise to Hopkins was that
Greenspan would call with only two pair. Greenspan rivered a straight with the
Jack as the key card Hopkins didn't have. Greg's once formidable stack was down
to $600. Raising all-in later with $7,000 under the gun with the A 9 of Spades,
Hopkins went out a disappointed 8th when Johnny Chan showed him Jacks.
Former World Champion Jim Bechtel couldn't catch a cold this afternoon.
Repeatedly, Jim would take a shot at a pot only to have someone else flop a big
hand on him. Infrequently could Bechtel even call a bet after raising before
the flop. His chips in freefall from the outset, Bechtel took his last beating
when he raised with two Kings and an Ace. Josh Arieh had two Queens and called.
This time Bechtel flopped an overpair to the board. But Arieh had a flush draw
and a backdoor straight draw with his high wrap.
The board came perfect perfect for Arieh and sent a stunned Jim Bechtel
straight out in 7th.
What are the odds of a player with $9,600 outlasting a former World Champ with
$100,100. Not good, probably. But that's what happened. 'Cactus' Jack Duncan
was as prickly as his name. No one could get near him. Either he'd bet and on
one would call or he'd flop a monster all-in and stay alive. Finally all-in
once again, in the big blind with Aces of course, Johnny Chan had the courage
to call Jack and Chan rivered the nut flush to play Mac Beth to Duncan in 6th.
Another player with such a tight table image no one wanted to call him was
Frederic Wrang. The poor guy could get no action on his bets. But since he was
so disciplined a player he wouldn't bluff enough to get any chips. It took
another player having Aces to get Wrang all-in. Frederic had Aces, to no one's
surprise. Amazingly, Wrang's 7 was a good kicker on the turn with his Aces but
Arieh caught a trey on the river for a wheel. Almost any other card would have
given them a split pot at least. Wrang moved up to 5th on a strong performance.
With four players left, a deal was agreed to that gave Howard Greenspan a
slight premium over the other three. $10,000 was given to the dealers, $13,000
and change would go to 1st and $10,000 to second. The play had been tight until
the deal. Now with most of the money gone, it got real loose. Willie Tann was
the first to gamble. Tann went all-in with flopped Aces. Johnny Chan had the
nut flush draw that got there on the river.
Now it was Howard Greenspan's turn to have his Aces rivered. Josh Arieh needed
perfect perfect for his straight with a 10 8. That's what came and we were two.
Head up The Kid (Josh Arieh is 25) and the Champ (Johnny Chan won his first
World Championship when Josh was 12) were dead even in chips. Josh took an
early 3-1 lead when Chan's flopped set got crushed on the river. But as someone
wisely sat on the rail, the only player that can beat Johnny Chan is Johnny
Chan.
With five bracelets and the all-time lead in money winnings at the WSOP with
$2.3 million, what motivates Johnny Chan to win? "I have five bracelets and six
kids," Johnny said. "I'm serious!" He was serious. With Arieh smelling blood,
Chan turned the tables on him. "I switched gears. He's a good tight player."
Chan started "chopping him up." The last hand was a formality as Arieh went
all-in with only $12,000 more than his big blind. Johnny had completely taken
the play away from the kid with the sixth sense that only a few possess, a
sixth sense that got Johnny Chan his sixth bracelet.
Official Money Winners
| 1. Johnny Chan | $178,800 |
| 2. Josh Arieh | $89,400 |
| 3. Howard Greenspan | $44,700 |
| 4. Willie Tann | $26,820 |
| 5. Frederic Wrang | $20,115 |
| 6. Jack Duncan | $15,645 |
| 7. Jim Bechtel | $11,175 |
| 8. Greg Hopkins | $8,940 |
| 9. Jim Lester | $7,155 |
10th-12th received $5,365
Chris Bjorin, Chau Giang and O'Neil Longson
13th-15th received $4,915
Jon Brody, Roger Easterday and Chris Truby
16th-18th received $4,470
Paul Sheer, Erik Seidel and Roy Thung
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