| EUR 220 Limit Hold'em (1 optional rebuy)
November 2, 2003: Major upset in packed Holland Casino
At today's limit hold'em event, it seemed quite easy to predict the winner when the final table started. We had an experienced and highly aggressive player holding a huge chip lead, who would get an even bigger chip lead a few hands into the final… but then he just couldn’t hold on to it when it mattered most. He lost the chip lead to another big name player… who then lost it back to a total unknown, who had been low on chips all along. So, what did we witness here? We witnessed a major upset, the eventual winner not just coming back from a huge chip deficit, but also beating up some famous and experienced tournament pros – while playing his first ever Master Classics himself.
What had happened earlier
With about eleven or twelve players left, one could feel the tension in today's packed arena. We had two tables going, and everyone was desperate to reach the final table - which would consist of nine players only. With blinds of 2,000-4,000 and no player having more than 50,000 in chips, basically everyone was in immediate danger – especially with the blinds coming up so fast. On one table, we had the only three hometown players left in this event, and they decided to play a very big pot amongst them. Chinese Dutchman Xiang Dong Yang held queen-ten of hearts, Gilbert de Bouvère held AK and short-stacked Hans Mulder was all-in with an eight-five. Gilbert had three-bet before the flop and could not get away from his hand anymore with all that money in the middle, even though the turn had given Xiang top pair. But Gilbert was ecstatic to catch a beautiful ace on the river for top pair / top kicker, busting Hans and leaving Xiang severely crippled. But credit to the Asian, who kept his nerves even after this serious drawback, and who would manage to crawl back his way into the tournament from way behind… as we shall see later.
While on table 23 Gilbert was still in ecstasy about his lucky river, we lost our tenth player on table 22. It was Robert Binelli, whose queen-nine of hearts couldn't improve over David Turnbull's AJ - the Scot being almost as ecstatic about reaching the final as his Dutch counterpart. Of course, David had reason to be happy, making yet another final table after his good performance yesterday.
Final table line-up / chip counts:
Seat # 1: Paul Parker, England, 17,500
Seat # 2: Alexander Tarasenko, Russia, 72,000
Seat # 3: Marcus Neuhöffer, Germany, 62,000
Seat # 4: Joseph Noujeim, Germany, 12,500
Seat # 5: Luo Shi Guang, Austria, 14,000
Seat # 6: Erich Kollmann, Austria, 114,000
Seat # 7: Xiang Dong Yang, Netherlands, 23,000
Seat # 8: Gilbert de Bouvère, Netherlands, 41,000
Seat # 9: David Turnbull, Scotland, 30,000
Total chips in play: 386,000 (approx.)
Short stacks dropping like flies
According to good Master Classics tradition, we lost a player on the very first hand of the final table. Luo Shi Guang held the dead man's hand (ace-eight of spades), and unfortunately for him it meant just that, as he couldn't improve over Erich Kollmann's pocket nines. Erich, an experienced tournament player who is known for his highly aggressive play, used his chip lead to bully the table further, but faced a little adversity for the first time when the strong Paul Parker doubled through him (JJ vs. A7). In the meantime, Russian Alexander Tarasenko was catching up with the Austrian, even though he needed a fair share of luck to get there. First, he sent out David. Holding ace-five of spades with two spades on the board, he won the pot by catching a five on the river. (David must have smelled weakness, as he called Alexander's turn and river bets with ace-jack high only). Alexander, a regular at Moscow's Cosmos Casino and Petersburg's Taleon Club, also sent home Joseph Noujeim. Joseph, who already had some bad luck yesterday, three-bet before the flop with sevens against the pocket sixes of his Russian opponent… who caught not just one, but two sixes to bust out the capable German. Our next victim was Gilbert, a relatively new regular player at the Holland Casinos, who had his first ever Master Classics appearance today. Raising from the small blind with king-ten, Paul called him from the big blind with an eight-seven. When the flop came A84, the man from Sussex sensed that the Gilbert had no ace, and raised the Dutchman all in on the flop with middle pair only. He even made a second pair on the turn and we were five-handed, with the chip count estimated at:
Paul: 47,000
Alexander: 146,000
Marcus: 26,000
Erich: 140,000
Xiang: 36,000
An unexpected turnaround
Knowing Erich’s love for aggressive play, I expected him to keep bullying the table, especially with the three small stacks who simply couldn't afford losing a pot against him. But things turned sour for him when Paul survived an all-in with pocket nines against Erich's ace-queen, and with the blinds at 4,000-8,000 it was clear that losing one big pot would make a tremendous difference for everyone. Marcus stayed alive with ace-five offsuit versus Alexander's QQ, despite the fact that the Russian actually flopped a set. But with four hearts on the board, Marcus' seemingly useless five of hearts was good enough to win a decent-sized pot, and to be back in contention.
For whatever reason, the action then slowed down considerably. We had thirteen hands in a row without even seeing a flop - unheard of for a Master Classics limit hold'em event, but probably caused by the blinds accounting for such a substantial portion of everyone's stack. Just when some people started to think that today's final table was not so much fun after all, we saw firework on hand # 49, a hand that would completely turn things around. Xiang, who had been short-stacked ever since he lost that pot against Gilbert, was in the big blind and got raised by the chip leader -Alexander-. The second chip leader -Erich- called from the small blind, and then Xiang decided to three-bet from the big blind with pocket queens. With a flop six-five-deuce, the Asian came out betting, Alexander called and Erich folded (showing ace-queen offsuit). On the turn, Xiang bet all-in, and with no improvement for anyone, he won a monster pot against the Russian's A2 (who had flopped bottom pair / top kicker). When the Chinese Dutchman also busted out Paul (holding king-seven of hearts against the Englishman's pocket sixes, only to see a seven flop), the situation suddenly looked like this:
Alexander: 92,000
Marcus: 36,000
Erich: 90,000
Xiang: 155,000
Xiang does the unthinkable
When Alexander's ace-king busted out the short-stacked Marcus, we were three-handed and the chip leader at the beginning of the final table (and also the favorite to win, Erich Kollmann) was now the shortest stack. And on the first time on the entire day that he went all-in, it was immediately over for him. When Alexander three-bet him before the flop with ace-nine, things looked good for the flashy Austrian who was holding ace-jack, but not anymore when he saw a nine on the flop. With Erich out, Xiang and Alexander were now heads up with about even stacks, and after a short break they quickly found a reason to get all their money in. In a pro-forma pot, it was Xiang who came out on top because a queen in his hand and the two queens on the board matched perfectly. Xiang Dong Yang had done the unthinkable by coming back from a serious chip deficit to beat some of the toughest and most experienced opponents, in only his first ever appearance in the Holland Casinos. Congratulations to the Chinese Dutchman, who managed to parlay his 220 buy-in into more than 30,000 Euros.
[Our thanks to Rolf Slotbloom, PokerSchool Online teacher, for providing us with this report from Amsterdam] |
