Two final tables were in action on Thursday at the 2012 World Series of Poker. In one corner of the Amazon Room, the $3000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha tournament came to a close while, in another area of the cavernous poker arena, the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event determined its champion.
Event #3 – $3000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha
The Elite Eight returned to determine a champion on Thursday, the survivors of a 317 player field that took on the challenge of this unique first time event. In the mix were Andy Frankenberger and Annette Obrestad, both looking for their second WSOP bracelets, while the remainder of the gang was striving for its first.
Jason Koon vs. Annette Obrestad
Simeon Naydenov vs. David Benefield
Julian Powell vs. Gregg Merkow
Leif Force vs. Andy Frankenberger
In the Elite Eight matches, there were the possibilities of some of the recognizable names moving on to the semi-finals of the event. Those hopes were quickly dashed, however, when Koon derailed Obrestad’s run at Bracelet #2, Force vanquished Frankenberger, Powell eliminated Merkow and Naydenov upended Benefield. A first time WSOP bracelet winner would be crowned between these four men:
Jason Koon vs. Simeon Naydenov
Julian Powell vs. Leif Force
The Koon/Naydenov match was a rapid one, as the players forced the pace of the action pre-flop rather than see flops. The Powell/Force battle was a much more leisurely pace, with the players jabbing at each other as the board played out. But it was the latter battle that ended first, with Force knocking off Powell, before Koon could eliminate Naydenov to set up the final showdown.
On the ESPN Main Stage, Force went on an offensive that Koon couldn’t keep up with. He used the NLHE segment to establish a decent lead, then extended it during the PLO part. When the players switched back to Hold’em, Force had, well, “forced” Koon to cash in one of his rebuy chips just to get back in the match.
An undaunted Koon now found his stride and was able to draw even in the match when his K-10 held up over Force’s K-5, leading Force to cash in one of his rebuys. Force would get back to even in the next PLO part when he rivered a flush, then put Koon on his last rebuy by hitting another flush against a made straight. Force would make quick work of that last rebuy when, on a 7-8-5 rainbow flop, Koon (5-9-8-10, two pair) called all-in against Force (J-A-K-8, pair of eights). The ten of clubs gave Force a shot at topping Koon with another one on the river for a flush, which is exactly what happened. The river Queen of clubs knocked out Koon in second place, while Force became the newest WSOP champion.
1. Leif Force (Tallahassee, FL), $207,708
2. Jason Koon (Las Vegas, NV), $128,660
3. Simeon Naydenov (Paxton, MA), $73, 655
Julian Powell (Emerald, Australia), $73,655
5. Gregg Merkow (Plano, TX), $28,409
Andy Frankenberger (New York, NY), $28,409
David Benefield (Arlington, TX), $28,409
Annette Obrestad (Sandnes, Norway), $28,409
Event #4 – $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo
As the battle for the Heads Up championship continued, the 23 players left in Event #4 came back to the tables to also determine a champion. Canada’s Xuan Liu was at the head of the table at the start of action on Thursday, but a host of dangerous players – including last year’s runner up in the event, Mike Sexton, Chris Bjorin, Linda Johnson, Frank Kassela and Michael Mizrachi – were ready to take down the diminutive Canadian should she falter.
With 23 players left, it was thought that the action would go deep into the night at the Rio. From the onset, however, the players looked as if they had a plane to catch, with eight players eliminated before an hour of play had elapsed. For the most part, they were the shorter stacks in the tournament so, once they were eliminated, the glacial pace of Seven Card (and especially the Hi/Lo version) began to be reestablished.
Liu still led at this point, with Bjorin and Chris Tryba mounting an offensive against her, while the dreams of taking the “next step up” for Sexton in the 2012 version of this event fell by the wayside. Mizrachi’s gated Jacks (one exposed, one down) were able to withstand Sexton’s hidden sevens (both down) by Seventh Street, eliminating the Poker Hall of Famer in fifteenth place for his second cash of the 2012 WSOP.
Following Sexton’s knockout, new contenders would emerge from the pack for the Event #4 bracelet. Sanjay Pandya would step up to take over the lead as Liu dispatched some chips to John Monnette to drop down the leaderboard. After Mizrachi took out Kassela (oddly enough, the twosome were 1-2 in 2010 for the WSOP Player of the Year race that Kassela won) in fourteenth, another member of the 2011 final table in this event had emerged as the front-runner.
Cory Zeidman, who finished in sixth place in 2011 in this tournament after coming to the final table as the chip leader, moved atop the ladder in 2012 with his elimination of Johnson in thirteenth place. He continued the onslaught as the twelve players worked their way to the final table. By the time the final table “bubble” was burst with the elimination of Marsha Waggoner in ninth, Zeidman’s lead was more than 300K in chips over Mizrachi and Brandon Shack-Harris.
Zeidman would continue to bedevil the table, first taking some chips from Liu and then cutting some from Yarron Bendor’s stack. Mizrachi would take out the other lady at the final table, Bonnie Rossi, in eighth to attempt to keep pace and with Liu’s elimination of Todd Brunson in seventh to get some chips back, the table was at six handed fairly quickly (for Stud, at least).
That was to be the exception, though. Over the next seven hours, the champion was determined. After an unfortunate read of her hand, Liu was knocked out in sixth place as the remaining five players went to dinner. Following that break, Mizrachi exited the Amazon Room at the hands of Bjorin, who took over the chip lead with the hand. The veteran Bjorin maintained his lead by knocking out Bendor in fourth as the clock hit the midnight hour.
Down to three handed play, Zeidman now began to assert himself on his opponents. He would work his way out to a million chip lead over Bjorin at 1AM and extend that lead with the elimination of Shack-Harris in third place. Down to heads up, Zeidman had a comfortable 3:1 lead over Bjorin.
Over the two hour heads up battle, Bjorin was able to grind out some chips from Zeidman’s stack, but could never mount any prolonged attack to wrest the chip lead away. Much of the play between the duo was done by the time Fourth Street was dealt and, ever so slowly, Zeidman began to retake his advantage. On the final hand of the tournament (and after he had lost a huge stack of chips to Zeidman’s rivered flush), Bjorin committed his final chips with a (Q-8) J showing. Zeidman was vastly ahead with his hidden Kings, (K-K) 8, and Bjorin couldn’t find any cards to connect to defeat them, crowning Zeidman the champion.
1. Cory Zeidman (Coral Springs, FL), $201,559
2. Chris Bjorin (London, the United Kingdom), $124,838
3. Brandon Shack-Harris (Chicago, IL), $84,415
4. Yarron Bendor (Scottsdale, AZ), $58,518
5. Michael Mizrachi (Miramar, FL), $41,447
6. Xuan Liu (Mississauga, Ontario), $29,985
7. Todd Brunson (Las Vegas, NV), $22,142
8. Bonnie Rossi (Federal Way, WA), $16,648
