| Marcel Sabag Terminates Field to
Run Away with Pot-Limit Victory
He started lowest chipped with a puny $3,800, quickly went all in with A-K against Richard Tatalovich's pocket queens and proceeded to make a full house and double up. After that explosive start there was no stopping Marcel Sabag as he repeatedly drew out to terminate five of seven players, steadily worked his way into the chip lead and ran off with the 12th event of Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker, $300 pot-limit hold'em.
When the field got down to three, Sabag had about $54,000 to 32k for Martin Corpuz and 25k for Grady Talbot, and a deal was made. Although he's made his share of final tables, this is the first tournament win for Sabag, who owns a cellular phone store.
Starting blinds at the final table were $200 and $400 with 13:38 remaining. Except for Sabag's all-in escape with a full house, there wasn't much action until hand 21.
With blinds now at $300-$600 and three limpers in the pot, Hassan Kamoei raised to $3,900 with A-Q. Talbot, who had held the chip lead for the last three hours, popped it 8k more with Kd-Qd and Kamoei called all in for about 7k. Talbot flopped a king to put Hassan out in tenth place and increase his chip lead.
Six hands later the board showed Ah-9s-2h-2d. Mel Wiener bet $1,500. Given Wiener's reputation as an action player, Tatalovich, who held 9-5, figured that Wiener would have bet the flop if he had an ace, deuce or pocket nines, so he moved in for $4,700. Surprise: poker player Lance Tahata had the pocket nines for a full house, and Tatalovich, making his fourth final table, busted out in ninth place.
Screenwriter Corey Mandell was cut out of the script right after blinds increased to 4-8k. First, Sabag, all in a second time, flopped a set of sevens to outrun Mandell's pocket kings and leave him with $3,500. He took the rest on the next hand when his A-J held up against Mandell's Q-J. This was to be the first of five consecutive terminations.
At the final table was businesswoman Sharon Goldman, and rooting for her from the sidelines was husband Dan Goldman, VP of marketing for PokerStars, the Internet site where Chris Moneymaker won his WSOP seat. But to Sabag she was just victim number two.
In the small blind with Q-7, she raised all in for $1,700. Sabag called from the big blind with Ac-6c, flopped an ace and climbed up to $11,500. After taking several more pots, Sabag inched into the lead with about 28k, $2,000 more than Talbott.
On hand 60, with $600-$1,200 blinds, Sabag pulled off another big draw-out and took down a third consecutive player. He raised with pocket sixes and was up against pocket 10s when Will Walsh went all in with a $2,400 re-raise. Sabag flopped a third six and once again exuberantly leaped out of his seat as his chip count rose to about 36k.
Five hands later, same story. Once again Sabag was an underdog, though a slight one, with A-K against an all-in Tahata, who had pocket queens. And once again, Sabag wasted no time drawing out as he flopped an ace to leave Tahata in fifth place.
It was the fourth straight kill for the Terminator, who had now gone from $3,800 to about $60,000. Trailing him were Wiener with 23k, Talbot, the beginning chip leader who had now dipped down to 19k; and Corpuz, with around 11k.
After blinds went to 1-2k, Sabag proved he was a human, not a machine, by finally losing a hand. He raised 16k with A-Q. Talbot raised all in for 10k more with 10c-9c, made a straight on the turn and then a flush on the river. Sabag's problem probably was that he was not used to starting with the best hand.
On hand 74, Corpuz had all his chips in with Kc-Qc against Wiener's Ah-9h. A king and two hearts flopped. Wiener missed his straight, and Corpuz doubled up to about 32k while Wiener dropped to 15k.
Six hands later the dramatic finish unfolded. Sabag raised the pot to 7k with pocket queens. Wiener re-raised all in another 5k and turned over … pocket aces. The bullets were better than a 4-1 favorite, but Sabag pulled one final rabbit out of his Hustler Casino cap by flopping a set of queens. When the board showed Q-8-6-4-J, Wiener was out, Sabag's fifth straight victim, and now three were left.
After considerable negotiating, they agreed on a deal and Sabag could claim a truly remarkable victory. --Max Shapiro
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