Poker Tournament Results

The 6th Jack Binion World Poker Open / WPT Event Season 3

Tony Hellman

Tournament Report

Event #4 $500 No Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys IT WAS HELL...MANN You hot shots come in here from Vegas figuring to run over us good ol' boys. HA! For pictures of this event, please check out Mark Napolitano's videos on the homepage. There were 628 entries and 869 rebuys or add-ons for a total prize pool of $697,527. 54 were paid. FINAL TABLE Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count 1 Jack Ward Gulfport MS 75,000 2 Freddy Deeb Las Vegas NV 447,000 3 Tony Hellmann Louisville KY 102,000 4 Jeremy Tinsley Houston TX 210,000 5 Zeb Strawn Charlotte NC 44,000 6 Al Katzen Memphis TN 188,000 7 Pat Heneghan Chicago IL 182,000 8 Darrell Struck Fayettville AR 123,000 9 Davood Mehrmand Frankfurt, Germany 121,000 5:56 remained in the 5,000/15,000 level with 2,000 antes. Long time tournament pro and renowned high stakes player Freddy Deeb was supposed to walk over this table on his way to the title. But Freddy got unlucky and drew a seat that was right in front of a player who was going to have the day of his life. This was billed as a showdown between Deeb and young gun Jeremy Tinsley. They were one-two in chips and reputation. Freddy, in fact, had a 2-1 chip lead on Jeremy and the field. As Herm Edwards would say, "That's why they play the game." You can't throw your cleats on the table and expect to be given $200,000. A storyline for this event presented itself on the first hand, but we weren't ready to see it. Tony Hellmann called a reraise by Al Katzen all-in. Tony had the A 7 of Spades. Katzen, a local favorite from Memphis, had A K offsuit. What turned out to be Freddy Deeb's nightmare started on the turn of that first flop when a 7 came. Katzen was crippled and Tony Hellmann got a bunch of his one-way chips. As we've done all of this week, the first orbit claims a victim. For all of you who know the name Jack Ward as an Alaskan player, this ain't him. This Jack Ward is from Gulfport MS and it's his second cash of the WPO. On hand 5, Ward went all-in on the button for 38k. The future ubiquitous Hellmann started playing Hell with this group by calling from the big blind the extra 23k with Q J off. Big slick no good again. When a Queen flopped Jack was relegated to the 9th Ward. Jeremy Tinsley is one of my preseason favorites for Young Gun of the Year in the GENERATION 20 contest. He will play a ton of tournaments, which is a basic requirement for victory. And he can play, which is a secondary requirement. Today didn't belong to the 27-year-old from Houston. He may have been in awe of Freddy as he mentioned several times to Deeb how big the hands he mucked for Freddy were. Against everyone else, Jeremy almost acted disdainful. When Zeb Strawn went all-in on hand 6 for 48k under the gun, Tinsley called from the big blind for the added 28k with J 10 off. This time big slick was good. Jeremy got a hint that this wasn't going to be his day. One crushing card sent Al Katzen out in 8th. It wasn't the Jack on the river for Darrell Struck. It was the 7 on the turn for Tony Hellmann. Al was all-in on the button in hand 10 for his last 26k. This time Katzen didn't have the best hand. His K 9 offsuit was a big dog to Struck's A J off in the big blind. Al was drawing especially thin with a flop of J 8 8. But his miracle card, the King, came on the turn. (Please don't say it, Mike!) Then lightening Struck on the river with another Jack. (I couldn't help myself) But lightening doesn't strike twice in the same spot. (Oh, god, it's getting worse) On hand 12, Darrell Struck made a move with 80k on the button. Freddy Deeb flat called from the big blind. This seemed to scare Darrell more than a raise. Deeb made a reputation bet of 50k on the flop of J 8 7. Darrell seemed Struck dumb by this bet and couldn't call, rapping the table and repeatedly saying to Freddy what a good bet it was. Actually it was a typical pro bet in that spot. It meant nothing. Many at the table would have loved to have called that one. A few hands later the obviously discombobulated Struck was out in 7th. He had 20 of his remaining 25k in the big blind and called blind. His 7 2 of Hearts couldn't beat a dry Jack in the small blind. The sad part for the males in the crowd was that when Darrell left, his friend the beautiful Clonie Gowen left as well. On his way out, Darrell complimented Freddy again on that one bet. Two hands later reality arrived for the short stacked Zeb Strawn. Strawn got a bad beat on the river, but it wasn't a surprise. Zeb went all-in for 34k with A 6. Davood Mehrmand was in the big blind and called the peanut raise without looking. Mehrmand had a career year in Europe in 2004. He's exceptionally volatile at times and basically unreadable, I'd think, for these players who've never seen him before. In the ‘who-didn't-know-that' department, Davood turned over 5 3 offsuit. Sure enough, a trey came on the river to give Zeb a nice payday in 6th. As the saying goes, you can't win a tournament without some luck. But this is ridiculous. Tony Hellmann is a mild-mannered Tax Accountant by day and a crazed bandit poker player by night. With the blinds so high, Tony stopped fooling around. He went all-in as often as he could. In the small blind with K 4 off, Hellmann shoved in his whole stack to take the big blind and antes. 190,000 for a 45k pot. This was exactly what Jeremy Tinsley was hoping for. Young gun called immediately with pocket Jacks in the big blind. The flop came 4 3 2 all spades for a big Uh Oh. Tony had the King of Spades. It says in my poker books that 12 outs isn't a bad beat. But you couldn't convince Jeremy of that. With a spade on the river, Tony Hellmann doubled up and Jeremy was close to getting up. Seven hands later, Tinsley did get a dominating hand beaten. Tony Hellmann was this entire table's nemesis, but none worse than for Jeremy Tinsley. Tony raised from the cutoff seat 65k to go. Jeremy reraised from the button all-in for another 68k. Hellmann called with A J. Tinsley was delighted with his A Q until a Jack windowed on the flop. How could he have been surprised? Age and luck beat youth and talent sometimes, don't they? Tinsley's $41,662 for 5th temporarily put him in first for the young gun title passing Kevin Kelly. But Jeremy was passed later in the day by Greg Debora in the Bahamas with $91,700. Exotic-looking and more exotic-acting Davood Mehrmand must look like a brother from another planet in Mississippi. He gets especially upset by blind steals and pledges to fight them. He just couldn't with the cards he had. Tony Hellmann is going all-in repeatedly and stomping this table to smithereens. Finally, Davood has had enough and goes all-in for 146k on hand 55. Speeding is mandatory with the blinds this high. Mehrmand has A 6 off. Tony Hellmann picks up yet another big hand in the small blind, A J off. The Jack is good and Mehrmand is talking to himself in 4th. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, Freddy Deeb didn't win this event. In fact, Deeb was completely dominated by the guy immediately behind him, Tony Hellmann. Freddy bets, Tony goes all-in, Freddy folds. This went on long enough to get Freddy to the felt on hand 69 with an all-in raise of 58k. But it wasn't Tony who shot the last arrow into Deeb. Pat Heneghan had sat as quietly as possible while everyone else gave him more money by leaving. Pat called Freddy's A 2 with a 10 3 of Diamonds. The 10 rivered and washed Deeb out in 3rd. Heads up Hellmann had a 3-1 chip lead on Heneghan. They made a deal and played it out. Heneghan is way too tight to compete heads up and it's over quickly when Tony wins with Queen high. Hellmann made mayonnaise of a very good starting group. He's a funny guy who looks remarkably like Leon Trotsky (Thank you, Nolan). After he won he pinned a button on his sweater that had a YES crossed out. "I have trouble saying no," Tony quipped "to people who ask for money." Now all he has to do is point to the button. Mike Paulle