Paul Phillips Leads Final 6
“I played as good as I could, everything went right and knocking out someone like Huck Seed at the end was like a gift from God.” So exulted Paul Phillips, a 31-year-old former computer programmer and currently a self-styled “dilettante,” who will come to the third-day final table of the Legends of Poker Championship/WPT with an enormous chip lead of $657,000, twice that of anyone else. It will be an intriguing final table, too, featuring the likes of T.J.Cloutier, Mel Judah, Chip Jett, Farzad “Fred” Bonyadi…and a student from Ireland.
Second-day play resumed at 4:15 p.m., with antes of $200 and limits of 6-12k. Though it had been decided to redraw for seats, a number of players said they wanted to stay where they were, so it was back to Plan A, with unchanged seating from the night before.
Chip leader was the aptly named Chip Jett with $99,900, which he had steadily accumulated during the nine hours of play on day one. Jett, a Vegas pro originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, won the championship event and $214,700 at the Commerce Casino’s California State Poker Championship two months ago. At the 6:30 race-off, Jett was still in front with $155,000, closely followed by Cloutier.with $146,500 and Phil Laak, the Irish student, with about $135,000. The most spectacular performance, however, was turned in by Huck Seed, who started the day with $19,400 and had zoomed at that point to around $100,000.
After about 15 minutes of hand-for-hand dealing, Ernie Sebastian ended in 28th place, one out of the money. He had A-K in the big blind, and Bob Stupak put him away with pocket aces, bringing his own chip count up to just below 100k. As play progressed, Stupak was less interested in playing than in watching his boxer, heavyweight Tyson Fields, who was fighting on TV. (He won in a 12-round decision.) Jim Miller, tournament director at Hustler Casino, also had a nice comeback, doubling up at the start of the day when his A-Q held up againt A-8. However, he went out in 25th place shortly after blinds went to $1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes.
The field got down to two tables after “Miami John” Cernuto busted out in 19th place. Blinds were now 2-4k, with $500 antes, and Cloutier at that point had grabbed a big chip lead with $259,000. Trailing him were Judah, Phi Nguyen, Seed, Laak and Jett, all in the 100k range.
Soon after, Fred Bonyadi, an Iranian-born poker player with a bracelet in limit hold’em, did major damage twice with A-Q. The first time he was all in against Jett, flopped two pair and left the one-time chip leader with only about 50k. The second time he went against Jim Bechtel, who was all in with pocket deuces. This time Bonyadi caught an ace to break the 1994 WSOP champ and run his chip count up to about 190k.
By the next break we were down to 13 players. Laak had taken over the lead with 231k, followed by Bonyadi, 209k; Judah, 195k; T.J., $165k; and Phi Nguyen, 152k.
Players returned to $1,000 antes, $3,000-$6,000 blinds. Toto Leonidas finished 13th. After Jett raised to 20k with pocket sixes, Leonidas moved in for 46k with K-J. Chip flopped a set and Leonidas was left with $6,500. Four hands later, Leonidas’ last $2,500 went in with A-6. Phi Nguyen had A-5 and caught a five on the river. Next out was Stan Goldstein, who suffered a truly horrendous beat. He was all in with pocket 10s against Seed’s A-J. After the flop came 10-7-2, Goldstein, close to a 97 percent favorite, watched in disbelief as Seed made a runner-runner straight.
The last 10 players were moved to a single table after Scott Lundberg finished 11th. Without looking, he moved in for 23k. He should have looked: he had 7-5 offsuit. “Gotta call,” Seed said. He had K-10 and flopped a king.
The players and chip counts, starting from seat one, were: (1)Chris Ferguson, 66.5k; (2) Bonyadi, 184k; (3)Laak, 192.5k (4)Stupak, 75k; (5)Cloutier, 210k; (6)Phillips, 155.5; (7)Seed, 241k; (8)Jett, 92k (9)Nguyen, 138k; and (10)Judah, 191.5. Playing with $1,500 antes and 4-8k blinds, Stupak was the first to leave the table. After Phillips made a trap raise to 20k with pocket aces, Stupak moved in for about 50k with pocket kings and couldn’t improve. T.J. made a play a few hands later designed to throw the other players off stride. He raised from the button to 30k pre-flop and was called by Seed and Jett. When the flop came K-10-9 he moved in for 104k. His opponents folded and he showed J-6 offsuit.
Ferguson departed soon after that. In the big blind with K-8, he called when Nguyen raised to 30k. When Nguyen, holding Q-J, bet the Q-6-3 flop, Ferguson put in his last 6k, busting out and leaving Seed as the last remaining world champion.
With antes now at $2,000 and blinds of 6-12k, Nguyen became the next player out. Cloutier raised to 30k with pocket nines and Nguyen moved in for 89k with Ks-10s. T.J. called and Nguyen ended up in eighth place when the board came Q-J-J-2-5.
There was one more player to go before the table was set for the World Poker Tour finale. And that player was Huck Seed. After Phillips raised to 40k with a pair of queens, Seed moved in for more than 100k with K-J. A flop of Q-4-4 gave Phillips a full house and a huge chip lead, and the stage was set for the Championship finale, with all the color, drama and theatrics that the World Poker Tour has brought to the game. –Max Shapiro
Prize Pool for top 6
1st 579,375
2nd 293,550
3rd 146,775
4th 100,425
5th 69,525
6th 54,075
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