Coming to the felt with a massive chip lead, Josh Hale rode that stack (albeit with a little adversity) to defeat a difficult final table to take down the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker championship last night at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens (Los Angeles), CA.
Hale had been a force on the tables throughout the final two days of the tournament. Building up a 7.325 million stack during play on Tuesday, he had more than double the chips of the second place stack, Greg “FBT” Mueller. Top pros Ali Eslami and Jeff Madsen were a part of the mix, with Raouf Malek and a short stacked Max Steinberg rounding out the six finalists.
The players wasted little time in getting to business as, only eight hands into the final table, Hale would extend his lead. After a raise from Malek, Hale three bet the action and Malek made the call. An A-6-3 flop looked fairly innocent but, after Malek checked his option, Hale fired out a bet that Malek called. On the five turn, both players slowed down a bit (with the potential straight draw on the board) by checking and the river six brought another round of checks. Malek showed pocket nines for two pair, but Hale topped him with pocket Jacks for a better two pair to push his stack over eight million.
Twelve hands later, the first elimination would occur. In a blind versus blind situation, Steinberg filled out his small blind and Madsen would move all in. Steinberg nearly beat Madsen into the pot with the call, spiking pocket Aces on the table against Madsen’s woeful A♦ 3♦. After the board ran Queen high and with no diamonds, Madsen finished his first ever WPT final table as the sixth place finisher.
Hale continued to steamroll the field as, over the next 20 hands, he would push his stack over the ten million mark (or more than half of the chips in play). He watched as, on Hand 56, Mueller found a spot to commit his remaining short stack of chips. It looked as if the Canadian pro would get his steal, but Steinberg (holding slightly more chips than Mueller) decided to look him up from the small blind.
Mueller was ahead pre-flop, his pocket sevens racing against Steinberg’s A-K, and the flop cooperated with Mueller. The 10-8-5 flop kept the two time World Series of Poker bracelet winner ahead, but the King on the turn switched the advantage to Steinberg. Looking for one of two outs to retake the hand, Mueller could only watch as a four hit the felt, knocking him from the tournament in fifth place.
The final notable name on the table, Eslami, would be the next to go. After getting knocked down to only 120K in chips after a clash with Malek, Eslami would valiantly battle to get his stack back over the four million mark. Just as quickly, however, Eslami would slide back down and found himself with only 1.455 million when he pushed all in after a Hale limp. Steinberg called from the big blind and, after Hale folded, another race was on.
Steinberg’s K♦ J♦ was nearly an even money chance against Eslami’s pocket deuces and, once the flop came with a King, he had taken the lead in the hand. Looking for a two outer to salvage the hand, Eslami instead saw an Ace and a five come on the turn and river to walk out of “The Bike” with the fourth place slot.
With the knockout of Eslami, Steinberg moved into the lead with 8.6 million chips, while Hale had faded a bit back to second (5.65 million) and Malek held on in third (4.45 million). Malek would make a run at the Legends title in taking a big pot of almost three million chips off of Steinberg (and pull him back to the field a bit), but Hale would prove to be hardy enough to make a comeback. Over the span of four hands, Hale was able to move from the basement to the penthouse to once again take the chip lead but would face another challenge in reaching heads up play.
Malek and Steinberg were the combatants in a huge hand that switched the chip lead again. After Steinberg called a Malek raise to see a 10-9-2 flop, Steinberg would once again check-call a Malek bet. On the King turn, both players would check to see the river card, which came with a Queen. At this point, the fireworks exploded as Steinberg moved all in and, after a brief deliberation, Malek made the call. He turned up a J-6 for the King high straight but Steinberg topped him with an A-J for the nut Broadway straight. After the chips were counted down, Steinberg would have Malek covered and eliminate him in third place.
Going to heads up play, Steinberg held a 14:4 lead over Hale and the crowd was prepared for an exciting fight. Twelve hands into heads up, Hale would find a double up when he spiked a flush on the river against Steinberg and, five hands later, took the lead with an all-in move over a Steinberg three bet. On the 25th hand of heads up play, Hale would make a bet and saw Steinberg move all in. Hale quickly made the call, showing his pocket Jacks, and Steinberg opened up Big Slick for battle. The 9-8-8-5-J board gave Hale and unnecessary boat on the river and earned him the championship of the WPT Legends of Poker.
1. Josh Hale, $500,000
2. Max Steinberg, $293,490
3. Raouf Malek, $192,400
4. Ali Eslami, $133,700
5. Greg Mueller, $97,100
6. Jeff Madsen, $75,400
The wrap on the Legends of Poker kicks off what is going to be a hectic month for the WPT. Two stops await players in Europe, the Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club in France is September 10-15 (a televised tournament), with the WPT Malta action starting immediately after that from September 16-20 (non-televised). The next American event will begin at the same time as the WPT Malta (and conclude one day later) as the tour heads to Atlantic City, NJ, and the WPT Borgata Poker Open.