WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2000
EVENT #21 OMAHA HI-LO SPLIT
$5,000 BUY-IN
$5,000 in chips
LUCKY THIRTEEN
By Mike Paulle
We've seen several first time players to the Final Table win on their first
attempt at a gold bracelet. So with one player making his lucky 13th
appearance and the other his first, there was no reason to feel that
experience would win the day. Even with a 2-1 chip lead for the wizened
veteran, anything could happen.
There were 99 entrants in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo for a total prize pool of
$495,000. One table was paid, a total of 9 players.
Hemish Shah caught a couple bad brakes. If one more player signed up for this
event, they would have paid two tables and Shah's 10th place finish would
have been deeply in the money. The next bad brake came when no one would go
out for an hour and a half of 10-handed play. Shah went all-in with his last
few shekels when the board came 8 8 5. Allen Cunningham had pocket 6's which
were enough to end the long evening.
Coming back Saturday afternoon, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson had only a
slight lead over a tightly packed field of mostly well-known players.
THE FINAL TABLE
23 mins left of 80. The blinds are $1,500/$3,000
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Mel Judah (London, UK) | $50,500 |
| Seat 2: Danny Dang (Los Angeles, CA) | $63,500 |
| Seat 3: Layne Flack (Las Vegas, NV) | $40,500 |
| Seat 4: Mark Wilds (Gulfport, MS) | $39,500 |
| Seat 5: Vince Oliver (Las Vegas, NV) | $34,500 |
| Seat 6: Chris Ferguson (Pacific Palisades, CA) | $76,000 |
| Seat 7: Howard Lederer (Las Vegas, NV) | $77,000 |
| Seat 8: Allen Cunningham (Bloomington, CA) | $59,500 |
| Seat 9: Jack Culp (Phoenix, AZ) | $54,000 |
On one of the first hands of the day, Mark Wilds got cold decked out of most
of his chips. In the small blind with A's against only the big blind, Wilds
had the nut flush draw with his overpair. Vince Oliver picked up A B C D in
the big blind, turned two pair and rivered the nut low. Damaged beyond repair
all-in, Mark was sent to the Wilds of the rail in 9th by Jack Culp and Jacks
full of Aces.
The curse of the one seat continued as even Mel Judah couldn't find a hand
there. "I take this over a random hand," Mel said as he went all-in in front
of his blind. Mel had a K 5 4 2. The board came Q J 6 10 Q. Layne Flack's two
Aces were good enough to put Judah down under in 8th.
No Picasso today, Chris Ferguson couldn't draw flies. From one thousand
dollars short of the chip lead to the felt with barely a split to show for
it. The next-day syndrome whupped up on Chris, hot one day cold the next.
Ferguson was making his third Final Table appearance in WSOP 2000. He won an
earlier event, which may take the sting out of his last hand today. Chris
flopped two pair with top pair, top kicker, nut low and nut flush with A Q 2
7. Nothing serious. For this he got to put in all his chips and get 7th place
in return. When a deuce hit the turn, it killed his low. Then a King came on
the river giving Layne Flack a full house.
Near the chip lead early for about a minute and a half, Danny Dang's stack
went south from then on. He couldn't hit a flop and ran out of donations.
All-in for his last $7k and A K 6 3, Danny couldn't scare Jack Culp, in the
big blind, out of the pot with his one extra chip. Danny was robbed as Culp
played I Spy when he flopped the nut flush and rivered a low with K 7 3 2.
What could the cause be, Danny must have thought, as he was presented the
bill for 6th.
Getting a lot of great hands early got Vince Oliver all the way to 5th. Then
Vince saw the hands disappear like more porridge in an orphanage. In a cruel
twist of fate, Vince wasn't put all-in for his last chip on a big pot and had
to wait to see who would buy it. He doubled up to two chips before Allen
Cunningham put him out of his misery with the nut straight.
It wasn't Jack's fault he was 4th. He wasn't Culp-able in doing that to
himself. Jack went all-in with K K 5 4. The two meanies who chopped up Culp's
last few chips were Allen Cunningham with 6's full and Howard Lederer with
nut low.
No one plays faster than Layne Flack. Every bet is splashed out of his hands
like he's got a taxi waiting. This puts a lot of pressure on some players to
speed up with Layne. Flack was running with the wrong two dogs three-handed,
though, as you won't find too many more deliberative players than Howard
Lederer and Allen Cunningham. They refused to be intimidated by Layne's act.
"Do you guys play live action," Flack kept asking Howard and Allen
factitiously as they turned over monster hand after monster hand on him.
Finally, Layne could speed to the rail in 3rd and Howard Lederer cracked his
Aces with a middle wrap straight.
It wasn't the last hand that got Howard 'Bubba' Lederer his first bracelet on
his 13th Final Table, it was the hand before the last one. This was The Kid,
24-year-old Allen Cunningham's first Final Table and he took the chip lead
briefly at one point. But a failed nut nut draw nearly wiped him out. Then
all-in before the flop, a nut low draw and a double belly-buster failed to
hit for Cunningham and Howard Lederer finally got his bracelet on the 13th
try.
Official Money Winners
| 1. Howard Lederer | $198,000 |
| 2. Allen Cunningham | $113,850 |
| 3. Layne Flack | $59,400 |
| 4. Jack Culp | $34,650 |
| 5. Vince Oliver | $27,225 |
| 6. Danny Dang | $22,275 |
| 7. Chris Ferguson | $17,325 |
| 8. Mel Judah | $12,375 |
| 9. Mark Wilds | $9,900 |
Recent Super Satellite winners for the $10,000 Championship Final are: Rudy
Custer (repeat), Samuel Arzion, Robert Cooke, Joanne Bortner, Chris Bjorin,
Barney Boatman, Al Krux, David Cohoon, Thomas Wolf, Andre Hidi, Christian
Jensen, Gary Haubelt (repeat), Barbara Enright (repeat), Ron McMillan
(repeat), Debbie Burkhead, Matthew Glantz, Billy Williford, Marvin Lang,
Johan Storaakers (repeat), Richard Tatalovich (repeat), Doyle Kizzire,
Anthony Hamilton, Finn Kristiansen, Tony Truyen, Adeeb Harb, Jeff Rothstein,
Glynn Beebi, Don Barton, Randall Skaggs, Harry Thomas (repeat), Jan Backstrom
(repeat), Liam Flood (repeat).
Recent Women's Super Satellite winners to the $1,000 Women's Championship
Final are: Susan Abraham (Alameda CA), Colette Doherty (Ireland), Marie
Gabert (Incline Village CA), Shellie Gray, Barbara Enright (Hollywood CA) and
Vivian Dinh.
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