JOHN JUANDA GRINDS OUT A VICTORY!
7 1/2 Hours at the Final Table
A smaller than normal field of 48 players sat down at 10 AM to challenge for
the $2000 Seven Card Stud championship. The prize pool of $120,000 put the cumulative
total for the 2004 World Poker Finals over $3,000,000. The entrants in Sunday’s
event were competing for a first place prize of $41,340. Places one through five would
finish in the money and “Best Overall Player” points would be awarded for places six
through sixteen.
First to leave the final table, which began at 9:30 PM, was Louis Barkoutsis of
New York City, NY, who was the table’s short stack. He went all-in in three way action
with Pandya Sanjay, Atlantic City, NJ, and John Juanda, Alhambra, CA. When John showed K’s ,
Pandya mucked his cards and Louis took 8th place with 10’s. Paul Mangine, South Huntington,
NY, also faced John in an all-in situation. He had trip 5’s which were no match for John’s trip 9’s.
Pandya Sanjay of Atlantic City, NJ, had J’s but was unable to get another a pair and he claimed 6th
place when Joseph Bove, Jr, Dayville, CT, revealed two pair.
In an early confrontation, Joseph had
three 6’s showing and Vassilios Maniotis, Hilton Head Island, SC, with trip K’s, felt pretty good
until Joseph revealed a straight. Joseph then relegated Vassilios to 5th place with another straight.
Kailash Tandrian, Jamaica, NY, was all-in on more than one occasion; the last time was with A’s,
but John Juanda had 6’s full of Q’s in five cards and Kailash settled for 4th place.
The final three players, John Juanda, Joseph Bove and Willard Noyes, Thompson, PA,
struggled for over two hours before John Juanda emerged as the victor. Willard, at his third final
table in the WPF 2004 (he finished 7th in $1000 Stud and 8th in the Seniors), finished in the third
place and was the winner of $16,960. Joseph’s trip 7’s were more than enough when Willard was
not able to complete a straight draw.
In the heads up action between Joseph and John, Joseph ,who started the table with the
third shortest stack, had the early advantage. In fact, he had John all-in at one point but John caught
a 3 on the river to give him 3’s to go with his 9’s which eclipsed Joseph’s 6’s and 5’s.
John did not
look back from then on. The coup de grace was delivered shortly after 4:30 AM to leave Joseph
with second place money of $25,440. Joseph had gone all-in with J’s and 5’s but John came
through with 3’s full of 6’s to take home the first place crystal trophy, leather jacket and $41,340.
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