| THE WORST PLAY IN POKER HISTORY
Poker players love to argue about almost everything. What was best or worst?
The winner last night in the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha was the beneficiary in arguably the worst single play in poker history.
Two of the four major participants were here, Glenn Cozen and Jack McClelland, as the winnner's photo was being taken. So Cozen sat for yet another interview about 'the worst play in poker history.'
It was the Championship Final of the World Series of Poker in 1993. There were three players left. Let Glenn Cozen tell it.
"Jim Bechtel and John Bonetti both had over one million in chips. I had 60,000. I picked up a pocket pair on the button." Jack McClelland was tournament director then, for the WSOP, as he is now at the Bellagio for this event.
What were the blinds? Jack remembers them being "5,000/10,000."
The key to the hand was that Glenn didn't go all-in when Jim Bechtel raised to 30,000. "I don't know why I didn't go all-in with my pair, but I just called." The second key to the hand was that John Bonetti also just called. If John had reraised pre-flop, Glenn probably would have called all-in and we wouldn't have a story.
"The flop came K 6 x," Glenn remembers. Bechtel and Bonetti both went all-in Cozen mucked his pocket pair. Bechtel had pocket 6's for a set and had Bonetti covered. John had A K. Suddenly Glenn Cozen was second, not an inevitable third, and he was the beneficiary of John Bonetti's gift of an extra $210,000 in prize money.
McClelland kidded, "Then Glenn went on to win the next 25 hands and the World Championship."
Where have been many hands where more money was lost on a bad play, but none more memorable because of the circumstances.
So the point of all this is that Glenn Cozen is used to being a big dog and coming through. The 4-1 chip lead that Dale Morrow had on Glenn heads up seemed insignificant in comparison to what Cozen has experienced.
Maybe that's why Glenn Cozen won this tournament tonight. Certainly he got some help from Dale Morrow.
Let's start at the beginning.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count
1 Vic Butler Memphis TN 25,500
2 Toran Nicholls London, England 101,000
3 Jason Mubarak Las Vegas NV 40,000
4 Sam Farha Houston TX 22,000
5 Kirill Gerasimov Moscow, Russia 50,000
6 Craig Natte Hudsonville MI 90,000
7 John Bradley San Antonio TX 34,000
8 Dale Morrow Tunica MS 128,500
9 Glen Cozen So. Pasadena CA 53,000
The blinds were 1,500 and 3,000 for 38 more minutes.
Any Final Table with Sammy Farha at it will be entertaining. I was disappointed though that the poster boy for not smoking had lit the end of his famous cigarette.
It seems strange to see Sammy at a table were he can only win $100,000. That's one bet normally for him. But he was here, chatting away and betting like the wild man he is.
After being knocked out in ninth and last place, John Bradley wasn't as upset by the trip 5's that Farha caught to beat Bradley's nut straight wrap all-in on hand 22, but at the flush Sammy caught on him in a hand earlier to take most of John's chips.
The intense Kirill Gerasimov was also at this table. You may remember his second place finish to Alan Goehring in the initial WPT Championship two years ago. When Vic Butler went all-in on hand 43, Kirill joined him with A K K 4 with clubs. Butler's all-in bet was covered by Gerasimov and Vic had A Q Q 9 with diamonds. Two diamonds flopped with a King. Vic got a diamond he needed for a flush on the river, but it was a four that paired the board to give Gerasimov a full house. Butler gave a damn, but finished 8th anyway.
If you want to talk about intensity at a poker table, there's Toran Nicholls. The Englishman destroyed the field yesterday with the biggest stack early we've seen in these events. Yesterday wasn't today however. The magic disappeared. Starting second in chips, a stunned and frustrated Nicholls left in 7th after barely winning one hand. He got Nicholls ($9,251) when Toran had every reason to expect dollars ($105,729). Dale Morrow was running over the table at the time and did the dirty to Toran by raising him all-in heads up on the flop. Nicholls had a pretty strong hand that would have won easily yesterday. Toran held 6 5 4 3 on a board of 10 4 2 for an up and down low wrap and a pair. Nicholls sailed his cards toward the dealer when he couldn't make the straight or anything else. Morrow won with an A 4 for a pair of fours with a better kicker. I have a feeling Mr. Nicholls may be back. Should we ask Elaine?
It was a mystery to the audience, who came to see the famous Sammy Farha, what would hold his interest for two days at such low stakes. He obviously was goofing around with some of his bets. On hand 58, the goofing was stopped in 6th place by chip leader Dale Morrow. Sammy went all-in for his last 26k with close to nothing in Pot Limit Omaha, 8 7 5 3. Morrow had a real hand A K 10 5 and Dale flopped two pair, 10's and 5's. Jack McClelland couldn't resist a joke as usual, "Sammy flopped a wrap straight draw." Sammy laughingly said in response, "I thought it was a straight wrap." In fact it was a gutshot straight draw as McClelland knew. On the river Farha made three pair--8's 7's and 5's, none of which could beat Morrow's two pair. Sammy made about $4,000 a day for his efforts in this event. Hardly worth his time, but we enjoyed watching him. He's a magnetic personality.
Glenn Cozen started well back of the leaders in chips. He started to make his move on hand 63. Craig Natte from Michigan must have played all night because he was obviously tired today. That wouldn't be an excuse just an observation. Craig played well, it's hard to beat the nuts. Natte only had 16 chips left when Glenn Cozen raised to get heads up. Glenn had the A 10 of Diamonds and flopped the nut flush to give Natte a chance to get some sleep in 5th.
The tightest player at the table, Jason Mubarak, lasted to 4th. Jason's one way chips were finally used up when he raised under the gun with A J 10 10. Kirill Gerasimov had K K 8 4 and put Jason all-in for his extra three chips. The board came 6 5 4 A 4. Trips on the river ended Mubarak's trip up denial.
(It's no fun if I have to explain this stuff to you.)
Kirill Gerasimov was severely outchipped by the other two players so he reluctantly called a raise by Dale Morrow all-in. Kirill had A 10 8 6. Morrow had A 8 7 3 with a club draw. The nut clubs got there on the river to send the Moscow native out into the cold in 3rd.
You Aren't There. I keep waiting for the Trivial Pursuit people to respond to my nonsense, but no! This is Dale Morrow's second trip to a Final Table in the Five-Diamond tournament. On the first I joked that only someone very old would get the "You Are There' reference about Morrow. For those few of us left born in the first half of the 20th Century, Edward R. Morrow had a TV interview show in the mid-50's called 'You Are There.' A wonderful show with something you'd never see today, the host smoking on air! As usual I got no email for this fine piece of writing. But that never stopped me before.
Dale Morrow had another chance to win a tournament. This time he had a 4-1 chip lead on Glenn Cozen heads up. On two staight rather strange hands, Morrow wasn't there. Dale doubles up Glenn when Cozen flops two pair. Now it's 3-2 Morrow.
Then on a startling hand 97, Dale couldn't put Glenn on a seven when the flop came J 7 7 and Cozen moved all-in. Dale called 200k immediately with a middle straight draw. Huh? Now Glenn now has a 4-1 chip lead.
The last hand Cozen pairs the board for a full house on the river after Dale Morrow made a flush.
Glenn Cozen phones home.
This may not have been as exciting to Cozen as a 2nd in 1983, but Glenn was anxious to phone home. All he had to do was to get his 5-year-old to give up the phone to his wife. That turned out to be harder than winning the tournament.
Mike Paulle
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