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Leading 3-1, Daniel Larsson Says
No to Deal, Loses to Lee Nelson
When they got heads up in tonight’s no-limit hold’em event, Daniel Larsson had 472,000 in chips to 154,000 for Lee Nelson. Larson suggested a deal, Larsson said no. Six hands later, Nelson had pulled nearly even. “That’s why you make deals, Dan,” he gently chided his young Swedish opponent. Ten hands later, Nelson had all the chips and a victory in the 12h event of the 2004 St. Maarten Open.
Nelson, whose nickname is “Final Table” (he made five out of seven in Barcelona) is a former doctor from New Zealand who gave up his practice about 15 years ago to play poker and handle his commodities and real estate investments.
He has numerous wins in Australian tournaments, his biggest being $70,000 in an Aussie Million event. He also just wrote a book on prostate cancer prevention and cure. .
Tonight’s event broke all St. Maarten records with an astounding 199 entrants and a prize pool of $117,985. Meanwhile, Paul Hersleth, the all-around points leader going into this final points event, locked up his win by making the final table.
When the final table assembled, we were playing with $500 antes and blinds of $1,500-$3,000. Brian Joseph, a New York financial analyst, was chip leader with $109,500, followed by Larsson with $80,500. The line-up, which sounded like a vaudeville act, included a Nelson, Nilsson, Larsson and Persson. But the action was real, with dramatic draw-outs and reversals of fortune galore. For most of tonight’s tournament, Larsson battered the table and seemed like a sure winner. His first victim was Hersleth. On hand eight, with $2,000-$4,000 blinds, he raised to $9,000 with pocket jacks. Hersleth called with Q-10. When a flop of J-10-5 gave him top set, Larsson made a moderate bet of 15k and lured Hersleth into moving in, then made jacks-full.
New Hampshire family practitioner Bruce Kater went broke on the next hand. All in with A-Q to Morten Tvergaard’s A-K, he missed his only out, a jack for a gut-shot when the board showed 10-9-6-K.
After picking up a lot of chips from Joesph, who folded on the turn, Larsson had hit the 200k mark, while Joseph had dropped down to about 80k.
John Persson of Sweden finished eighth. With blinds now at $3,000-$6,000 and $1,000 antes, he raised all in with A-6. After long hesitation, Larsson called with A-9 and won yet again when the board came Q-9-4-7-J.
The next hand was dramatic. Martin Pollek, a shareholder in Pokerforever.com, pushed in for 25k. Rob Nillson, a Canadian project manager, just called. Then Morton Tvergaard, winner of the Omaha/8 event, moved in for 40k with pocket kings. “You’re not going to like this,” Nilsson said, calling and turning up pocket aces. “This is the winner,” joked Pollek, turning over pocket 5s. Nobody hit anything, Pollek finished seventh, and a jubilant Nilsson now had about $195,000 to Larsson’s $235,000. “I’ve been waiting for this all my life,” Nilsson smiled. This makes up for a lot of bad beats.”
Tvergaard was left with a few chips, which he lost on the next hand with K-9 against the A-7 held by Willie Tan, who is currently the #1 ranked player in Europe.
By the time blinds had jumped up two levels to 6k-12k, with 2k antes, the approximate count was Larsson, 272k, Joseph, 111k; Nelson, 95k; Tan, 82k; and Nilsson, 62k.
On the first hand at the new levels, Larsson climbed up to 360k after he tried an all-in steal with Jc-5c. Tan called with Kd-Qd and finished fifth when Larsson made a flush on the river.
Another bad beat left Nilsson in fourth place. On hand 46 the Canadian called with K-9 after Joseph moved in with A-2. Nilsson took the lead with kings when the flop came K-4-3. A five on the turn gave Joseph a wheel, and we were down to three.
A couple of hands later, Nelson got very lucky. He moved in with 9-8 and got an instant call from Joseph, who had him covered with pocket 10s. The board came J-6-6-7. Nelson now had an open end straight, but if he closed it with a 10, it would fill Joseph. His only out was a 5 — and he got it!
Nelson now had about 160k while Joseph, the starting chip leader, was down to 16k. Eight more hands went by, and then Joseph found himself all in with Ad-5d to pocket 6s for Larsson. The board came Q-4-3-9-9, and this match was heads-up.
Nelson was now out-chipped better than 3-1. He preposed a deal, but Larsson wasn’t interested. A few hands later, Nelson moved in with A-6 and faced Larsson’s pocket 7s. The board came Q-6-5-10. Needing a 6 or an ace to survive, Nelson got a bullet on the river to win with two pair and come close to even.
After they had exchanged several uncalled raises the next few hands, limits went to $10,000-$20,000 with $3,000 antes. The climactic hand came on the 75th deal. Nelson raised to 60k with Q-J and Larsson called with 4-3. A flop of Q-J-8 gave Nelson top two, but he slowed-played it and both men checked. When a trey turned, Nelson bet 75k and Larsson, with his paired trey, moved in and lost.
Down to the cloth, Larsson posted his last chips in the blind on the next hand. He had 10-2 and lost to Nelson’s pocket 5s on a board of 6-6-6-J-3.
His next assignment will be to study the TV show called “Let’s Make a Deal.” —Max Shapiro |
