BATTLE OF THE BRACELETS
Unlike yesterday, this time two hotshots from Vegas took on the good ol' boys and finished first and second. HA!
For pictures of this event, please check out Mark Napolitano's videos on the homepage.
There were 244 entries for a total prize pool of $115,463. 16 were paid.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count
1 Brian Taylor Macon GA 6,000
2 Maria Stern Las Vegas NV 16,500
3 Mike Purdy Chesapeake VA 39,000
4 Avner Levy Las Vegas NV 58,500
5 Mickey Sisskind Detroit MI 5,500
6 Michael Bernstein Cherry Hill NJ 68,500
7 Randy Lowery Macon GA 15,000
8 Dan Smith Corydon IN 35,000
39:41 remained in the 3,000/6,000 level with 500 antes and 1,000 low card.
The hand of death grasped another victim today. It's been impossible for the table to get past hand number 4 each day without losing one of its own. When Mickey Sisskind made 6's full of 5's on hand 3, Brian Taylor was left with only 2,500 for the fourth hand. He'd made 4's full of 8's for second best. Beginning chip leader Michael Bernstein got to trip Aces to give him a hint as to what was in store for him today. On the deadly next hand, Brian Taylor made it 2,500 to go all-in and caught air in 8th against Maria Stern's 7's full.
Hand 13 was bad luck for Randy Lowery. Randy and Avner Levy raised and reraised each other on third street with Aces showing until Lowery was all-in. As expected, both players had the big units, split Aces. But the infamous Avner had the important mystery card, a six as a kicker. When Levy paired his sixes, the resulting Aces up lowered Lowery's position to 7th. Oddly, the two players from Macon Georgia were the first two to leave. I never got to ask them if they knew each other before today. They must have, don't you think?
Seven hands later, the WSOP 1995 Razz bracelet holder, Mickey Sisskind was canned in 6th all-in for his case 2,500 when his threes were no good against Stern-er stuff K's and Q's held by the WSOP 1997 Stud bracelet holder Maria. Razz players don't know how to play high only.
Five handed, we got to play for a while without loss of a face. The most interesting hand, before the next bust out, coupled 25-year-old Michael Bernstein of Bluff magazine against Maria Stern. Maybe Michael thought he was up against some girl. Maria is the first female to make a Final Table in this year's WPO. That might have given Bernstein a clue that this wasn't just some girl. Anyway, Michael was wearing a BLUFF t-shirt so, of course, he got called to the river as he tried to blow Stern off the hand. Maria made trip 6's on fourth street and was never going anywhere. Michael bet for her all the way to the river where he fell in. He's an aggressive young player, however, and I'll have to add him to my Young Guns list. He's going to do well.
On hand 34, though, the first half of the equation, eight divided by two, was solved. Purdy good wasn't good enough. Mike Purdy made his last move for 6k all-in and could't best Avner Levy's split Kings. Starting third in chips, Mike probably thinks 5th was Purdy bad. We don't agree. This was a very tough table.
The first division quartet didn't last long without further division. Hand 43 brought the untimely demise of unlucky Dan Smith. There are few experiences in life more frustrating than getting to a Final Table and having your cards go dead. Dan didn't have enough chips against a player like Maria Stern to protect his draw. All-in for 4k, Smith needed a cough drop full of strychnine when his split Aces and flush draw bricked on him in 4th. Stern was able to hold on with pocket 3's until her trips arrived on sixth street.
The jury is still way out, as far as I'm concerned, on whether we have a 'new' Avner Levy in poker. In the video interview after the event, which you can see from Mark Napolitano, Avner talks about how he's changed his table demeanor. There is no doubt that he was polite and courteous today. We'll have to see if this kinder, gentler Levy holds up. He certainly has never played better than he did today.
For sure, this wasn't Michael Bernstein's day in 3rd. The only question was which player was going to get Michael's last chips, Avner or Maria, on hand 49. Avner won the race to eliminate Bernstein with an A 7 in the hole, 7 as a door card and an Ace on sixth street to crack Michael's pocket 10's and 10's up. The symphony isn't over for young Bernstein though, it's just beginning.
Heads up Maria had a 131-112 chip lead. They both wanted the bracelet and that's what they played for.
Even trying to be nice, Avner can be very irritating. And he certainly bothered Maria. She couldn't get going heads up and was soon behind 2-1, then 3-1. Levy was playing lights out. He read every hand, every street better than I've ever seen him do. He seemed to be dedicating today's performance to his dear friend, another prince at the poker table, John Bonetti, who is ailing.
As happens occasionally when two tough players collide, it took more hands to find a winner than it took to get to heads up play. 49 hands dumped six players to the rail. It took 63 more hands to declare a winner. We had to go to the 6k/12k level with 1k antes and 2k low cards to get the job done.
Some memorable hands, on the way to the winner's circle, were hand 61 where Avner tried to buy the pot and Maria called him down with only a pair of 9's. Shockingly, the new Avner merely tapped the table and said "nice hand."
Maria fought back for the last time and took the chip lead with trip 2's on hand 82 and Jacks up on hand 84. Then her cards went dead. Avner seemed to sense this and moved in for the kill by raising as often as possible.
Even the nice Avner Levy still does something that drives other players nuts. When he wins a big pot, Avner yells his signature "Send it to Papa, baby!" several times. It was pretty easy to see Maria Stern's skin crawl when he did this.
On hand 102 Avner got his chance to yell when he correctly judged that his split Queens were good against a dangerous looking board from Stern.
Then five hands later, the real nail in the coffin. Avner took a lot of heat with only a pair of tens. How he knew that Maria was on a flush draw, without a pair, is a mystery that only great players can solve, not poker writers. But he knew and he was right. Stern was left with about 20k.
A few hands more and the Battle of the Bracelets was over. Avner wore his WPO No Limit bracelet from 2003. Maria wore her WSOP bracelet. Now Avner's got one for each wrist when his Kings were good against another failed flush draw and deuces.
The pride of Las Vegas has been reinstated in Tunica. That battle is far from over.
Mike Paulle
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