WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2000
EVENT #18 TEXAS HOLD'EM (pot limit)
$3,000 BUY-IN
$3,000 in chips
WORKING MAN
By Mike Paulle
Ho-hum, another $600,000 prize pool. We must be at the World Series of Poker.
This is a record for a $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em, as many Europeans arrived to
play and two made it to the Final Table.
There were 200 entrants in the $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em for a total prize
pool of $600,000. 3 tables were paid, a total of 27 players.
Bruce Yamron was the short stack with about $24,000 left when he took his A 7
suited up against Matt Lefkowitz and pocket Aces. We were done for Tuesday
night.
Coming back Wednesday afternoon, Mike Carson had a definitive chip lead over
poker legend T J Cloutier. Matt Lefkowitz was a distant 3rd.
THE FINAL TABLE
64 mins left of 80. The blinds are $1,500/$3,000
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Hieu "Tony" Ma (S. El Monte, CA) | $65,000 |
| Seat 2: Mads Andersen (Hellerop, Denmark) | $48,500 |
| Seat 3: Greg Hopkins (Redondo Beach, CA) | $37,000 |
| Seat 4: Jack Ward (Anchorage, AK) | $39,500 |
| Seat 5: John Manchon (Grayslake, IL) | $45,500 |
| Seat 6: Matt Lefkowitz (Brookline, MA) | $74,000 |
| Seat 7: Mike Carson (Laguna Beach, CA) | $142,500 |
| Seat 8: Daniel Studer (Steinhausen, Switzerland) | $54,500 |
| Seat 9: T.J. Cloutier (Richardson, TX) | $94,000 |
As we've seen repeatedly, great players continue to get great cards. Tony Ma
raised to 8K from second button. Tony had an A Q. John Manchon was in his
first major event and didn't know what terrible things can happen to pocket
Kings in the big blind. The 'Ace Magnets' did it again. John bet the pot
putting himself all-in. Ma called and saw the first card off the deck was an
Ace. John became the Manchon-ian candidate for 9th.
It could be worse, he might not get here at all. But a disappointed Greg
Hopkins has 8th locked up at this year's WSOP. This is his second 8th in as
many visits to the Final Table. Greg had the misfortune of having Mike Carson
find pocket Aces on the button. Hopkins called Mike's reraise all-in with
pocket 7's. Fire the laser, Hopkins is ejected.
Incredibly, this was the 26th Final Table for T J Cloutier in his storied
WSOP career. Cloutier has cashed over $1.7 million in the World Series,
alone. This is a poker player par excellance. One of the many aspects of
Cloutier's game that makes him great is his insistence on going for the
tournament win, not just a high money finish. T J had over $100k in chips at
the start of his last hand. He could have waited for more players to go out.
But that's not the way he plays the game. Mike Carson raised before the flop
with pocket Queens. Cloutier called with the A 9 of Clubs. The flop came 10
high with two clubs. When Carson bet $30k, T J came over the top all-in for
$90k. Mike Carson had to commit almost his entire stack to those Queens. He
did and they held up. No club or Ace came to save Cloutier from 7th place.
It's a cruel game as Daniel Studer found out. Daniel's story is about three
bets. Studer took the chip lead early on the first. He won a giant pot from
Mike Carson when he went all-in on the river with the K Q of Diamonds. There
were two pair on the board, so it was a gutsy bet. Studer had the nut flush
which was good. Next, Studer gave the chip lead to Jack Ward when he called
Ward's all-in with only an A K of Spades, no pair or flush draw. Ward had
pocket Kings. Then Daniel went all-in himself with pocket Queens against a
button raise by Matt Lefkowitz with A 3. With an Ace on the river, Studer's
hopes were Swiss cheese in 6th.
There are so many new, young European players coming over for the pot limit
games especially. Mads Andersen was very disciplined for a long time. He
finally felt he had to make a move. Mads raised before the flop and went
all-in for $35k when Mike Carson reraised on the button. Andersen had pocket
4's, Carson pocket Kings. Andersen's game is no Danish pastry. He won't get
Mads, he'll get even the next time.
Desperate for chips, Matt Lefkowitz went all-in from the small blind against
Mike Carson's big blind. Matt turned over A J. Mike had the A K of Spades to
give Matt the door in 4th.
Mike Carson had two thirds of the chips. Tony Ma and Jack Ward had slightly
over $100k each. Ma couldn't find a deal that he could live with so he
insisted that play resume. When an 8 high flop hit, both Ma and Carson went
for it. Tony came out second best on the hand with Q 8 to Mike's K 8, and 3rd
best in the tournament.
Head up, Carson had a 5-1 chip lead over Jack Ward. It looked to be no
contest and it wasn't. Jack, who is the younger brother of longtime Alaskan
player Jim Ward, made a valiant attempt to win. He got his chips up to $200k,
but the weight of Carson's enormous chip lead finally wore Ward down. It 's
too hard to have to keep doubling up. Jack took the best hand on the flop
all-in against Mike. Ward flopped Kings with a 6, Carson 5's with a 9. The
working man's hand, 9's and 5's, got there with a 9 on the river. Mike
Carson, a hard-working professional poker player, nearly lost this event with
some poor play early. "I got lucky on my first all-in," Carson said. "Then I
played very well."
Official Money Winners
| 1. Mike Carson | $222,000 |
| 2. Jack Ward | $114,000 |
| 3. Hieu "Tony" Ma | $57,000 |
| 4. Matt Lefkowitz | $36,000 |
| 5. Mads Andersen | $27,000 |
| 6. Daniel Studer | $21,000 |
| 7. T.J. Cloutier | $15,000 |
| 8. Greg Hopkins | $12,000 |
| 9. John Manchon | $9,600 |
10th-12th received $7,200
Bruce Yamron, Paul Evans and Jens Sjogren
13th-15th received $6,000
Marc-Jean Baptiste, Howard Lederer and Phyllis Meyers
16th-18th received $4,800
Bernard Grassier, Alex Brenes and Emile Cohen
19ty-27th received $3,600
Mike Hart, Tam Duong, Mike Minor, John McIntosh, David Simon,
Berry Johnston, Pierre Peretti, Phillip Gordon and Constantine Mousakis
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