lunchmeat
11-18-2003, 12:54 AM
I also posted this in the B&M fourm... but I want my posts to become ubiquitous. Anyway, here's what happened at the Final Table of the World Poker Finals today as best as I can remember them.
1 Holt Corkins Going to final table with 1,207,500 chips
2 Mohammed Ibraham Going to final table with 376,500 chips
3 Brian Haveson Going to final table with 135,000 chips
4 Christopher Ackerman Going to final table with 333,000 chips
5 V Senthil Kumar Going to final table with 245,000 chips
6 Phil Hellmuth Jr Going to final table with 840,000 chips
Haveson was the first to go. It happened before I got there, so I'm not exactly sure how he was eliminated, but I was told Haveson was doing a lot of raising and was busted by a huge suckout from Ibraham. Next out was a nervous looking Kumar, who called a pre flop all-in bet from Ibraham with KK. Ibraham had ace, rag and caught an ace on the river, ending Kumar’s day. Ackerman, a local college student who was getting tons of support from the crowd, went all in with KT and was called by Hellmuth with AQs. Neither hand improved and Ackerman finished 4th.
After that, Hoyt Corkins started going all-in before the flop on over half the hands. After about a dozen of these he was finally called by Ibraham. Ibraham had 44, Corkins had 8,3. Ibraham flopped a set to stay alive. Shortly thereafter Ibraham went all-in pre-flop with JT and was called by Hellmuth with A6. I think Hellmuth flopped an ace, but Ibraham rivered a straight... but I can't remember for sure. However it went down, Hellmuth managed to bust out third without acting like an ass once- a remarkable feat to go down in the annals of poker history.
Unfortunately, some tournament pros on the rail made up for Hellmuth's unexpected self-control. The Douchebag of the Day award belonged to Daniel Negreanu for mocking the tribal dancers who brought out the prize money with his own dance, blatantly plagiarized for a seven year old's game of cowboys and Indians.
When Ibraham and Corkins sat back down to battle heads-up, Corkins, decked out like a country & western singer, had about a 4 to 1 chip lead. But Mohammed Ibraham had the crowd. His support started from the clique of tourney pros (Negreanu, Ted Forrest, the guy who won the Aruba WPT event, and some others) who started yelling out sarcastic support for "Mo" once his suckout streak started going. But soon everyone was rooting for Mohammed after he started going over to the rail and giving high-fives to the tourney pros whenever he won a pot. Hoyt had almost no support, his incessant all-ins aggravating just about everybody.
The heads-up duel began, but Corkins’ game plan stayed the same, going all-in about 50% of the time. After a number of these Mohammed finally called, turning over AJ against Corkins' QT. The AJ held up and Mohammed was still alive. One or two all-ins later, Mohammed called again. This time he had A8s, and it was good enough to withstand Corkins' A3. The chips were now even, Ibraham had 1.4 million, Corkins 1.6. The very next hand was a huge pot. After smallish betting both before and on the flop, Mohammed put in 250K on the turn, and was raised all in by Corkins. There were straight possibilities on the board, and after much thought Ibraham laid down his hand, showing two pair. After that burst of action the two settled into a rut of playing uber passive, piss-poor poker. For nearly an hour almost every hand was called and checked pre-flop, and then checked through to the showdown. Ibraham dwindled down to about 700,000 chips when Corkins started pushing the all-in button again. When Ibraham finally called he had, I think, queen high against Corkins ace high. The suckout didn't come this time and Hoyt Corkins won the main event of the World Poker Finals.
I think the real story of the tournament was not so much what was going on at the final table, but rather what was going on in the stands around it. The place was packed to capacity, with an overflow room showing the tournament on a movie screen mostly full as well. Inside, the crowd was as electric as you would find at any major sporting event, although it did quiet down during the heads-up check-a-thon. Still, the crowd was on their feet during every big pot. Most amazing to me was that the place was full of poker fans, rooting for their favorite player... even Hellmuth had his own (small) cheering section. People who don't even play poker were watching the event, and local papers were covering it as both a feature and as hard news. Perhaps interest in poker is a fad, or maybe it will last forever. But at least for now, poker has arrived.
1 Holt Corkins Going to final table with 1,207,500 chips
2 Mohammed Ibraham Going to final table with 376,500 chips
3 Brian Haveson Going to final table with 135,000 chips
4 Christopher Ackerman Going to final table with 333,000 chips
5 V Senthil Kumar Going to final table with 245,000 chips
6 Phil Hellmuth Jr Going to final table with 840,000 chips
Haveson was the first to go. It happened before I got there, so I'm not exactly sure how he was eliminated, but I was told Haveson was doing a lot of raising and was busted by a huge suckout from Ibraham. Next out was a nervous looking Kumar, who called a pre flop all-in bet from Ibraham with KK. Ibraham had ace, rag and caught an ace on the river, ending Kumar’s day. Ackerman, a local college student who was getting tons of support from the crowd, went all in with KT and was called by Hellmuth with AQs. Neither hand improved and Ackerman finished 4th.
After that, Hoyt Corkins started going all-in before the flop on over half the hands. After about a dozen of these he was finally called by Ibraham. Ibraham had 44, Corkins had 8,3. Ibraham flopped a set to stay alive. Shortly thereafter Ibraham went all-in pre-flop with JT and was called by Hellmuth with A6. I think Hellmuth flopped an ace, but Ibraham rivered a straight... but I can't remember for sure. However it went down, Hellmuth managed to bust out third without acting like an ass once- a remarkable feat to go down in the annals of poker history.
Unfortunately, some tournament pros on the rail made up for Hellmuth's unexpected self-control. The Douchebag of the Day award belonged to Daniel Negreanu for mocking the tribal dancers who brought out the prize money with his own dance, blatantly plagiarized for a seven year old's game of cowboys and Indians.
When Ibraham and Corkins sat back down to battle heads-up, Corkins, decked out like a country & western singer, had about a 4 to 1 chip lead. But Mohammed Ibraham had the crowd. His support started from the clique of tourney pros (Negreanu, Ted Forrest, the guy who won the Aruba WPT event, and some others) who started yelling out sarcastic support for "Mo" once his suckout streak started going. But soon everyone was rooting for Mohammed after he started going over to the rail and giving high-fives to the tourney pros whenever he won a pot. Hoyt had almost no support, his incessant all-ins aggravating just about everybody.
The heads-up duel began, but Corkins’ game plan stayed the same, going all-in about 50% of the time. After a number of these Mohammed finally called, turning over AJ against Corkins' QT. The AJ held up and Mohammed was still alive. One or two all-ins later, Mohammed called again. This time he had A8s, and it was good enough to withstand Corkins' A3. The chips were now even, Ibraham had 1.4 million, Corkins 1.6. The very next hand was a huge pot. After smallish betting both before and on the flop, Mohammed put in 250K on the turn, and was raised all in by Corkins. There were straight possibilities on the board, and after much thought Ibraham laid down his hand, showing two pair. After that burst of action the two settled into a rut of playing uber passive, piss-poor poker. For nearly an hour almost every hand was called and checked pre-flop, and then checked through to the showdown. Ibraham dwindled down to about 700,000 chips when Corkins started pushing the all-in button again. When Ibraham finally called he had, I think, queen high against Corkins ace high. The suckout didn't come this time and Hoyt Corkins won the main event of the World Poker Finals.
I think the real story of the tournament was not so much what was going on at the final table, but rather what was going on in the stands around it. The place was packed to capacity, with an overflow room showing the tournament on a movie screen mostly full as well. Inside, the crowd was as electric as you would find at any major sporting event, although it did quiet down during the heads-up check-a-thon. Still, the crowd was on their feet during every big pot. Most amazing to me was that the place was full of poker fans, rooting for their favorite player... even Hellmuth had his own (small) cheering section. People who don't even play poker were watching the event, and local papers were covering it as both a feature and as hard news. Perhaps interest in poker is a fad, or maybe it will last forever. But at least for now, poker has arrived.