As another weekend of play at the 2012 World Series of Poker looms, two tournaments went about their final table action on Thursday. While one of the events was able to determine a champion, the other lasted well into Friday morning and was unable to crown a victor.
Event #36 – $3000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout
Ten men came back on Thursday to determine the champion of Event #36 with two former WSOP bracelet winners in the field. Antonio Esfandiari, whose bracelet win came back in 2004, was positioned well to try for his second and the consonant-bereft Athanasios Polychronopoulos (who seized his first bracelet last year) was also in the mix. Add in Joe Tehan and Roberto Romanello (looking to take down poker’s “Triple Crown”) and the promise of an exciting final table wafted around the Amazon Room.
With the players virtually equal in chips from the Shootout format (chip leader Craig McCorkell and short stack Jonathan Lane were separated by only 30K in chips), the battle was on from the start. The first salvo of what would eventually be a ten hour war was fired only an hour into play when Lane was able to knock out Sardor Gaziev in tenth after his 6-5 was able to catch on a 7-5-5 flop against Gaziev’s pocket tens. Lane, who snatched the lead with that hand, only extended it when he dispatched Tehan from the felt when Tehan’s Big Slick failed to hit against Lane’s pocket Jacks.
Lane would attempt to keep the pressure on his opponents but it would end up costing him the lead. After a Lane raise, Esfandiari three bet the action to 102K and Lane made the call to see a 4-7-6 flop. Esfandiari made a continuation bet, only to see Lane push out enough chips to put “The Magician” all in. Mulling his options, Esfandiari decided to make his stand, calling and revealing his pocket Kings. It turned out to be the right move as Lane tabled his pocket eights (as Esfandiari has reasoned, saying “what, a pair and a draw,” while thinking about calling) and, once the board ran out with an Ace and a ten, Esfandiari was the new chip leader.
Although knocked down, Lane would not be knocked out. He rebuilt his chip stack up to a greater level than previously, taking chips from Jeremiah Fitzpatrick and Romanello before knocking off Thiago Nishijima in eighth to regain the lead. The rollercoaster ride would continue for Lane, however, as he quickly gave that lead up by doubling up Fitzpatrick but got chips back from Esfandiari.
The “Esfandiari & Lane” show was the highlight of the table, for the most part, as the twosome would be responsible for much of the action. Lane denied Romanello’s dream of a “Triple Crown” (for the moment, anyway) by eliminating him in seventh, the got Longobardi to commit his final chips pre-flop (holding A-J) against Lane’s Big Slick to hit the two million mark. Esfandiari would keep pace by knocking off Polychronopoulos in fifth and, by the dinner break, held an 800K chip lead over Lane.
The dinner break brought a change about the ESPN Main Stage. Prior to the pause, the raucous British rail, there in support of McCorkell, was raising such a ruckus that it began to not only impact the play of the Shootout final table but also began to affect other tournaments in the Amazon Room. WSOP security escorted several of the more boisterous railbirds from the tournament arena, but it seemed they came back even more vociferously following some food (or maybe some more to drink) as the Shootout continued.
It was inevitable that Esfandiari and Lane would clash and, when they did, one wouldn’t survive the altercation. On an 8-7-9 board, Lane bet out only to get re-raised by Esfandiari. Lane didn’t back down, pushing out a three bet and seeing Esfandiari move all in. Lane made the call, tabling a 6-5 for the straight, only to see Esfandiari show him it was the sucker end with a J-10. Two Queens would finish out the board, knocking Lane out in fourth and giving Esfandiari almost 80% of the chips in play.
Against McCorkell and Fitzpatrick, Esfandiari was expecting to mow their short stacks down, but it didn’t work out that way. McCorkell would first double through Esfandiari before McCorkell sent some chips to Fitzpatrick, pulling the short stacks closer to Esfandiari. As the threesome continued the match, another bizarre occurrence reared its head.
WSOP officials pulled both Fitzpatrick and McCorkell away from the tables and, according to the WSOP reports, something the gentlemen said between each other over the live streaming of the tournament didn’t make “the powers that be” very pleased. To be honest, the situation could be anything (an agreement to split money, “whipsaw” Esfandiari, etc.), but the duo was given a reminder about the rules of tournament poker and the match continued.
Following this tournament etiquette lesson, the match completely changed. Fitzpatrick and Esfandiari would get their chips to the center with Esfandiari in a dominant position with his pocket nines over Fitzpatrick’s pocket sevens. The flop was a cruel mistress for “The Magician,” coming with a seven and, once Esfandiari couldn’t materialize a nine on the turn or river, he was out of the lead and the short stack. McCorkell would finish off Fitzpatrick’s handiwork over the next two hands, knocking Esfandiari out in third place.
Fitzpatrick held the lead to begin the heads up action, but McCorkell went on the offensive almost immediately. He worked his way back to nearly even and would cripple Fitzpatrick when McCorkell’s pocket eights withstood Fitzpatrick’s A-8. On the very next hand, McCorkell would dominate Fitzpatrick (8-5 versus 5-2) and the board kept McCorkell in front, running out 8-A-Q-K-A to seal the victory.
1. Craig McCorkell (West Sussex, the United Kingdom), $368,593
2. Jeremiah Fitzpatrick (Charlotte, NC), $228,261
3. Antonio Esfandiari (Las Vegas, NV), $151,613
4. Jonathan Lane (Menasha, WI), $112,512
5. Athanasios Polychronopoulos (Springs, NY), $84,436
6. Alessandro Longobardi (Napoli, Italy), $63,988
7. Roberto Romanello (Gorseinon, the United Kingdom), $48,924
8. Thiago Nishijima (Sao Paulo, Brazil), $37,707
9. Joe Tehan (Las Vegas, NV), $29,277
10. Sardor Gaziev (New Brunswick, NJ), $22,899
Event #37 – $2500 Eight Game Mixed
What was supposed to be the final day of Event #37 will reconvene on Friday afternoon after the final two players played until nearly 4AM (Pacific Time), unable to determine a champion.
27 players came back on Thursday for Day Three action and, almost immediately, the shorter stacked players started heading out the door. Cory Zeidman, Jeff Madsen, Steve Zolotow and Chris McClung would leave in the first hour, joined soon after that by Steve Sung, Tim Burt, Barry Greenstein and the 2009 champion of the tournament, Jerrod Ankenman. By the time the first three hours of Day Three play were completed, the field was at the final two eight handed tables.
Jennifer Harman would be the first to bow out after the redraw, followed out the doors of the Amazon Room by Scott Seiver and Matt Hawrilenko. More players were eliminated in the first six hours of action (19) than would be over the next eight hours of final table play, which began with Joseph Couden holding a slim lead over Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea. During those eight hours, two men would make their mark to coming back today to determine the champion.
Two time WSOP bracelet winner Greg Mueller was one of those men getting in gear once the final table was determined. He would pop his stack into the lead in Limit Hold’em, breaking the 900K mark, and continue to stampede the field as they worked through the eight games. David Baker was the other man making an impact on the final table, but he had a significantly tougher time garnering chips than did Mueller.
After Mueller eliminated Kevin Calenzo in third place, he and Baker would battle it out for the bracelet. Although they had hit the WSOP Ten Level Rule, the option was given to the players to play one more level, which they accepted. Over that span of the eight games, neither player really seized the night as they ended up with virtually the same chip stacks they started the level with. With the exercised additional level completed, WSOP officials suspended play until 3PM this afternoon, with Mueller (2.655 million) holding a dominant edge over the canny Baker (925K).
The champion – when he is determined today – will take the WSOP bracelet (the potential third for Mueller, potentially Baker’s first) and the $271,312 first place prize.
