JACK BINION WORLD POKER OPEN
WISH YOU WERE HERE
For pictures of this event, please check out Mark Napolitano's videos
on the homepage.
There were 369 entries for a total prize pool of $687,539. 36 were paid.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count
1 Tony Cousineau Daytona Beach FL 65,500
2 John Hoang Alhambra CA 68,500
3 Martin Vallo Copenhagen, Denmark 75,000
4 Gavin Griffin Darien IL 36,000
5 Tony Seunsom Houston TX 205,000
6 Davood Mehrmand Frankfurt, Germany 123,500
7 John Bolten Overland Park KS 77,500
8 Dale Hackney Durand MI 39,000
9 Bob Hume Orland FL 46,000
36:29 remained in the 3,000/6,000 level. 500 Ante.
What a completely fabulous night. The poker tournament? No, the Joe Cocker
concert.
I've been waiting for this night for two long weeks. I've never seen
Joe Cocker live before and I am, seriously, one of his biggest fans. After tonight,
Nolan Dalla will attest to how much I love Joe Cocker.
Anyway, when I came to Tunica on the 5th of January, I saw that Cocker was
going to be performing on the 21st next door at the Horseshoe Casino's
Bluesville Theater. Immediately the begging began.
I HAD to get tickets.
Nolan Dalla, now my dearest friend in the world, came through with the coveted
ducats.
We speak glibly about professional poker players. Most people would be shocked
at how few of these creatures there really are. You want to see professionalism,
see Joe Cocker in concert. If you google his name, there will be websites that
will tell you his schedule. I missed Joe Cocker at Woodstock 35 years ago. I
wasn't missing him last night if I had to walk out on the Final Table.
Luckily, proceedings culminated at 8:35, 25 minutes before curtain next door.
Cocker performed 16 songs and two encores. He did everything I love. He was
in great voice. He gave it everything he had for two hours beginning with 'Chain
of Fools.' Later he did 'You Can Keep Your Hat On,' 'Because
Your Mine,' 'The Letter,' 'Unchain My Heart,' 'With
a Little Help From My Friends,' With encores of 'She Came In Through
The Bathroom Window,' and ending naturally with 'You Are So Beautiful
To Me.” By that time, the fanatics had rushed the stage and I was five
feet away from him.
In between he sang some McCartney and U2, which I'd never heard him do
before on record, and some songs from his new album.
If you like Joe Cocker or think you might like him, you will love him after
seeing one of his concerts. The five piece band was awesome. And the back-up
singers were recording studio quality. Gene Black on lead guitar could be a
solo performer if he wanted to be. Brilliant.
Oh, we had a poker tournament?
Actually, we had a helluva poker tournament. Since I had between 10 and 15
drinks, I can't really remember it. Just kidding! I have my notes.
But be kind if you see a typo today. As I write this at 3 am, my eyes are a
little blurry.
Here we go.
You know, there is no sugar-coating it. John Bolten had a bummer of a Final
Table. Starting third in chips, Bolten fell to 9th and he was the first one
out. It hurts and will hurt for a long time. I've had it happen to me in
major events and it will break your heart. Two things have to happen to fall
that far. One, the all-in hands must win every time. This alone shouldn't
happen. Two, you must lose every hand you play. For these two experiences to
happen simultaneously is rare. Unless you are John Bolten, today. There was
a third factor that worked in Bolten's disfavor. No one would call the
all-in bets. After Dale Hackney survived a 38k all-in with pocket Queens on
hand two, it was as if everyone was afraid to call any big bets. In one of the
most amazing run of hands I've ever seen, someone went all-in nine of the
next 18 times without callers. No one wanted to be the first one out. While
all this funny business is going on, John Bolten's stack was evaporating.
Sure, everyone else can go all-in and they pick up the 13,500 blinds and antes.
But let John Bolten go all-in on hand 30 and he gets called by a slightly better
hand. John shoved 23,500 with pocket 9's. Bolton got called by Tony Cousineau
with the really big boys, pocket Aces. Bye, John, we hardly knew ya.
Two hands later, Dale Hackney exited his second Final Table of this year's
WPO quickly. Just like the last time. Earlier, Dale was crippled when he turned
over an A J suited on hand 8 only to lose most of his chips to Martin Vallo
with A Q offsuit. It was obvious that Dale was furious. Some cows are going
to get some hard squeezing next week by the Michigan diary farmer. All-in on
hand 32, Hackney had a chance to triple up and he took it. Good for him. First,
WSOP 2004 bracelet winner Gavin Griffin bet out 25k in the cutoff spot. Davood
Mehrmand raised 46,500 all-in. Then Dale Hackney tossed in his case 19k for
pot odds. Davood had pocket 10's that walked. Hackney's K 9 offsuit
lost to both the others for 8th.
The new blind structure of 1k ante, 5k/15k busted three players in the next
ten hands. If you are ever curious about whom the greatest player in the world
is, ask Davood Mehrmand. He'll be happy to tell you for as long as you'll
listen. As Gavin Griffin is forced to leave in 7th, Davood is gracious enough
to tell Gavin that only a great player like himself could make the K J of Spades
flop and river a King. While Griffin's lowly A J offsuit had no chance.
This guy is bizarre. He's coming to a town near you. Watching Davood is
worth the price of admission. It's an understatement to say Mehrmand is
confident.
Four hands later the trash collector, as Tony Cousineau lists his occupation
in his bio, collects an untrash-like $34,225 for 6th. Tony C. was all-in for
his trash-like stack of 12k with A 7 offsuit. Mehrmand gave Tony protection
by raising with the 10 7 of Hearts. Everyone who wanted to knuckle the dangerous
Cousineau had to fold. Heads up against Davood, Tony was dominant preflop, but
a 10 windowed to end Tony's day.
No one said poker is fair. Five hands later Bob Hume did everything right and
was punished for it, of course. Only a great player can take pocket 5's
against pocket 10's and win. Ask Davood Mehrmand. Like a few days ago,
presto beat double presto to make Bob Hume disappear in 5th.
Four handed the beginning chip leader, Tony Seunsom maintained a slight chip
lead over Davood Mehrmand. But the Houston native was going to take two bad
beats in a row to finish 4th. You have fairness issues, we have fragrant tissues?
On hand 65, Tony won the initial tossup when he called the all-in bet of Martin
Vallo. Tony had A Q offsuit. Martin had pocket 6's and 61,500 all-in. Tony
got a Queen on the flop for a tiny suckout. Martin got a 6 on the river for
a giant 2-out re-suckout. Four hands later, same two players. This time Tony
Seunsom caught Martin Vallo with his hand in the cookie jar, again. As Mike
Sexton would say. Tony sailed in about 200k all-in with clearly the best hand
this time. A 9 on the button for Martin, A Q in the small blind for Tony. Because
of the last disaster for Seunsom, Martin had Tony covered. This would be it
for someone. When a 9 flopped, that someone was an incredulous Tony Seunsom
in 4th. Tony had an 82k beginning chip lead over second place. If he'd
held his first place position to the end, he would have made $212,187. Because
of the revolting developments, however, Tony had to settle for $47,914. The
difference between those two numbers is about what the three players split after
Seunsom left.
The Dane Martin Vallo got the lion's share at $155,000. They played for
the bracelet and the $10k entry. Usually, when the money is gone, the game gets
wild. It did get wild today as well, but in a different way than usual.
This WPO has been the year of the comeback. We had the record that will never
be broken, an 85-1 chip comeback. Just kidding, Gary. Then we had a 10-1 comeback
a few days later.
At one point after the money deal, John Hoang had so few chips they were difficult
to see let alone count. He went all-in for 9,500. Davood Mehrmand had over 550,000
and called. What's that? Over 50 times the chips of John Hoang? Since there
was no money involved, only the bracelet and the seat, you may not be surprising
that John Hoang won this event. Well, it surprised the life out of me. With
a giant chip lead on the two other players, the greatest player in the world
finished 3rd. Unbelievable. Like John Bolten at the start, John Hoang won each
of his all-in bets. Several times Hoang went all-in and wasn't called.
And lastly, Davood Mehrmand didn't win a hand.
Heads up, with Hoang slightly ahead in chips, the deciding hand 128 came down.
Both Vallo and Hoang got all their chips in the pot. Hoang went in first with
pocket Jacks. Martin Vallo had A K offsuit and called off all his chips. The
Jacks held up and another impossible finish was recorded. I thought this stuff
only happened on the Internet.
Long after I've completely forgotten this poker tournament result, I will
remember perfectly my Joe Cocker concert.
I wish you'd been here to see it with me. Good night and peace be with
you.
Love,
Mike |
