Seif in Wire-to-Wire Win
Top pro Mark Seif, who has a clutch of major titles, picked up his third Legends win with a final table wire-to-wire victory in the 24th event of Legends 2004, $1,500 no-limit hold'em, which ended in a six-way chip-count deal. He arrived with the most chips, but pledged he would play easier and not "explode," as he did in a prior tournament at the Hustler Casino, when he also was chip leader and tried to force a win.
This was an extremely tough final table, in line with the adage that the longer the rounds (an hour) the more that skill comes into play. Seif was very much in control, making big laydowns and great calls as his chips rose steadily. Perhaps the key hand came when there was $78,000 in the pot and a board of 8-8-6-2-4. Seif, with only K-9, bet $16,000 and Atlantic City pro John DeFrancis raised to $32,000. After long thought, Seif made a tremendous call to beat DeFrancis’ Q-J!
This tournament attracted 245 players who generated a prize pool of $367,500.
On day 1, action continued until the tournament got down to three tables, with all
players in the money. Some of the better-known players who did not make the money
were T.J. Cloutier, "Miami" John Cernuto, Randy Holland, Scott Fischman, Amir
Vahedi, Mel Weiner, Peter Costa, Allen Cunningham, Kathy Liebert, Kathy Kolbert,
and Melissa Hayden.
The tournament got down to three tables at midnight the first day when Sirous Baghchehsaraie went all in with Ah-6h and David Tran, with A-Q, left him on the bubble The 27 finalists returned at noon the next day. Gioi Luong led with $84,700, while DeFrancis had $75,900 and Seif, $52,800. Short-chipped Tobey “Spiderman” Maguire was the first of the 27 to leave. By final table time, Seif had $157,900, closely followed by DeFrancis with $151,900, and John Hoang third with $104,000. Seif said he built his chips primarily through “timely bluffs.” Action started with $300 antes and blinds of $1,000-$2,000, 46 minutes remaining.
In the first 16 hands there was only one flop, fewer than the Coronas that Men “The Master” Nguyen had. Hasan Habib, starting with only $22,000, was first out. On hand 20 he was two away from the button when he raised all in for $9,000 with Q-4. DeFrancis called with A-10 and left Habib in 10th place when the board came K-10-7-J-7.
Veteran pro and bracelet holder Tommy Hufnagle was making one of his rare tournament appearances and was short-chipped. With blinds of $1,500-$3,000, he doubled up by taking most of the chips held by police detective Richard Little. Little moved in with A-J and Hufnagle won $18,000 with pocket aces.
Hand 31, where Seif made his great K-9 call, saw him take a commanding lead with about $215,000. A few hands later, Hieu “Tony” Ma lifted $53,000 from DeFrancis and moved into second chip position by carefully playing his pocket jacks. He made a small $5,000 raise pre-flop, then bet $10,000 on a flop of 10-8-3. DeFrancis, with A-10, moved in and lost.
After two hours of play, blinds went to $2,000-$4,000. Seif, with pocket 9s, raised $7,000. Hufnagle once again had pocket aces and moved in for $17,000. But this time four diamonds came and Seif, holding the only diamond, left Hufnagle in ninth place. He now had about $270,000 in chips.
Dr. Scott Aigner, a physician/poker player who operates an online poker forum, was under the gun with pocket 9s and $34,000 left. He later said he had to either fold or move in, and he moved in. After very long thought, Hoang called the big bet with pocket jacks and broke Aigner. Hand 75 was the final one. Little moved in for $20,000 with As-3s and Seif won with pocket deuces.
The chip count now read: Seif, $291,000; Hoang, $147,000; Ma, $90,000; Nguyen, $74,000; DeFrancis, $71,000; and Luong, $63,000. After some negotiation, the deal was accepted to end the tournament. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Mark Seif has been playing casino poker for 17 years. Besides his three Legends wins, he holds titles from the World Poker Open, Borgota, the Bellagio, LAPC, Winnin’ o’ the Green, Cal State and Foxwoods. It’s his fourth six-figure cash. He said he holds a record for the shortest final-table win (77 minutes at Tunica), which led him to be overly aggressive at the Hustler, a mistake he didn’t care to repeat. How did he make that great call with K-9? He studied DeFrancis for a long time, asked him if he missed a draw, and detected the faintest involuntary nod.
Seif says he prefers no-limit because it rewards aggressiveness and punishes mistakes, and with so much experience he feels he makes very few. He curbed his aggressiveness tonight because the table was so strong, but felt he had very good reads and made laydowns against 10s, jacks and 6s where he would have lost each time.
|
