WSOP Main Event 2005 (Spoilers)

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Matusow is effin funny.

His bit last year about how he had really big ones and Raymer had tiny little ones was pretty funny up until the moment Raymer capped his ass and busted him. Then it was REALLY funny.

I don't know how I feel about Matusow. He's "entertaining" but not exactly likable. He seems to have friends, but he's got some enemies too. In a competition like this, personality is a big factor in determining whether or not I like a player or not. Matusow seems like a bully. He might just be an insecure momma's boy who acts out at personal deficiencies, but those folks are pretty much jerks too.

[rkmsuf]

either way it's good tv

[MJ4H]

It seems to me like he just wears his heart on his sleeve. As long as you realize you have to take his bad emotions with his good emotions in that deal, it is not too bad and he comes across as pretty likeable to me. I have watched him in other events before and read some things about him that all made me want to like him and root for him, but his outbursts can make it difficult. I still root for the guy this year, and have since he has been among the leaders. Of course, I root for him now, if for no other reason than I don't know who else to root for.

[MrHaroldG]

Tiffany Williamsen finished 15th—the highest place by a female since Annie Duke finished 10th, one spot short of the final table, in 2000 (this while she was 8 months pregnant with her third child!).

[vtbub]

Final table starts 7 ET/4PT/Midnight BST

[vtbub]

Cardplayer.com will do live audio

[vtbub]

Day seven, 3:30 am (PST):
Rank Name Chip count
1 Aaron Kanter 10,700,000
2 John Barch 9,330,000
3 Andrew Black 8,140,000
4 Mike Matusow 7,410,000
5 Steven Dannenmann 5,460,000
6 Joseph Hachem 5,420,000
7 Daniel Bergsdorf 5,270,000
8 Scott Lazar 3,370,000
9 Brad Kondracki 1,180,000

[vtbub]

Next year's WSOP Final will be at the Rio.

[vtbub]

Players are being introduced. Phill Hellmuth is doing live pbp.

[vtbub]

Hand 2 - Mike Matusow has the button in seat 5, Dannenmann raises to $250,000 from under the gun, Lazar reraises to $1,250,000, and Matusow moves all in. The action is coming fast and furious here early, as these players are ready to gamble for first place.

The action is back on Dannenmann, who folds, but then Lazar quickly calls. Matusow shows pocket kings (Kc-Kh), and Lazar has pocket aces (Ah-Ad). Amazing. Matusow is gonna have to improve here.

The flop comes Kd-Qh-6h, and the crowd explodes in a cheer as Matusow makes a set to take a strong lead. Dannenmann needs to catch an ace or a runner-runner flush to stay alive.

The turn card is the 2h, giving Dannenmann a heart flush draw. Dannenmann can now win on any ace or any heart. The crowd oohs and aahs at the turn of events.

The river card is the Jh, and Dannenmann makes a runner-runner heart flush on the river to pull victory out of the grasp of Mike Matusow, who walks off the stage, wandering around with his hands on his head. He's still alive, but he would have been the chip leader at the final table.

[kcchief19]

Wow. That's usually the kind of hand that will put Matusow on tilt. He's shortstacked now, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts.

[MJ4H]

Anyone listening to the cardplayer audio? This is wonderful. I've been listening since they came on and it is great. Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu have been going at it a lot, good naturedly. Raymer has been on a few times.

The AA-KK hand was riveting to listen to. If you aren't listening to it and have the time and capability, I recommend it. www.cardplayer.com/audio

[vtbub]

great stuff

[vtbub]

World Series of Poker 1973 Champion Puggy Pearson is introduced between hands to applause from the crowd.

Hand 15 - Scott Lazar has the button in seat 9, Matusow raises to $280,000, and Black tosses his chips on the table to call. The flop comes Jc-6c-5h, Black checks, Matusow bets $350,000, and Black immediately calls. The turn card is the 10h, Black bets out for $1,000,000, Matusow raises to $2,000,000, and Black immediately says, "All in."

Matusow stops to consider this life-or-death decision, putting his elbow on the table, and resting his head as he studies his chips and his opponent. He's very calm and collected and he carefully moves his chips into a row, and it's unclear if he's counting them out or moving them in. He stares at Black for a moment to get a reaction, and then studies the cards and all the possibilities. He reaches for his water bottle to take a drink, still studying the cards on the board. Matusow is nothing like his reputation -- he looks like his heart rate hasn't even gone up.

Matusow asks with a smile, "Do you want me to call?" Black just smiles back, and doesn't speak. Matusow puts his hands behind his chips, ready to push, but stalls, trying to get a reaction. He must not like what he sees, or he must not like what he holds, because he folds his cards.

[MJ4H]

hahaha

John Juanda: "How do you guys like the new venue" (referring to moving the event to the Rio from Binion's)

Jennifer Harman: "What does that mean?"

[Toddzilla]

From Mike Paulle over on pokerpages:

"I talked to Aiden Bennett at the break. He knows Andy Black well. Aiden says Black definately had a hand. "He called too fast, he has either an overpair or three Jacks." If so, Mike Matusow made a nice laydown."

[MJ4H]

Mike is out after taking a beat allin post flop with TT vs AJ on a 235 flop. Rough beat when the 4 comes on the turn.

[Toddzilla]

Again, from Paulle:

Dannenmann 300k. Matusow calls. Heads up flop 5 3 2 two spades. Mike makes it 600k to go. Dannenmann goes all-in quickly. Again, Mike's covered if he calls. This table has been gunning for Mattusow from the get go. Mike calls all-in for 1.74 million. Pocket 10's for Matusow. A J offsuit for Dannenmann. Steve needs an A J or for. 4 on the turn for a Dannenmann straight. Mike is drawing for a tie. He can't win the hand. River:9 Mike Matusow is 9th.

[kcchief19]

The CardPlayer audio has been surprisingly good. I was afraid it might a bit "dorky," but Phil and Daniel have been pretty entertaining and very informative. Raymer was nice, but as noted above, it's a good thing Jen Harman is pretty.

Matusow sounded pretty broke up, and while Daniel and Phil have taken turns consoling him, they've also been making fun of him at the same time. Sweet.

[Toddzilla]

Paulle

Chip counts at the break

Seat 1 Joseph Hachem 6.3mm
Seat 2 Andrew Black 10.55mm
Seat 3 Tex Barch 9.1mm
Seat 4 Daniel Bergsdorf 4.59mm
Seat 6 Aaron Kanter 11.21mm
Seat 7 Brad Kondracki 1.97mm
Seat 8 Steve Dannenmann 5.81mm
Seat 9 Scott Lazar 6.74mm

$1.15 million for the next one out in 8th

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by vtbub

Next year's WSOP Final will be at the Rio.

That sucks. The WSOP (at least the final table) should always be at Binion's

[MrHaroldG]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

That sucks. The WSOP (at least the final table) should always be at Binion's

I agree - the "Gallery of Champions" is, after all, at Binion's.

[MJ4H]

We're down to 6 by the way. Daniel Bergsdorf just busted out in 7th with Jacks against Tens that spiked a set on the flop.

[MJ4H]

Now 5 after Scott Lazar self-destructs in back to back hands, spewing 5 million chips CALLING all-ins with K9s and QTo.

[Esquared1]

I recommend the live audio feed on cardplayer.com. Top notch.

[MJ4H]

Biggest pot of the tournament and we have a new chip leader. Aaron Kanter flops a set of kings and gets raised by Andy Black who was the chip leader. Turn gives Kanter a boat, and they both check. Kanter gets paid off for 2 mill on the river and wins a 15 million chip pot.

Kanter now leads with 22 million, 5 left.

[digamma]

Still going at it. Down to three: Dannenman, Hachem and Barch, who is short stacked.

[Comey]

Barch is out. Down to heads up.

[Comey]

Six hands later, it's over.

::Hand 232 - Steve Dannenmann has the button, he raises to $700,000, and Hachem calls. The flop comes 6h-5d-4d, Hachem checks, Dannenmann bets $700,000, Hachem raises to $1,700,000, and Dannenmann calls. The turn card is the As, Hachem bets $2,000,000, and Dannenmann slowly raises to $5,000,000, Hachem reraises all in, and Dannenmann immediately calls. Hachem shows 7c-3s (seven-high straight), while Dannenman has Ad-3c (top pair). Dannenmann needs to catch a seven on the river to chop the pot with equal straights.


The entire crowd is on their feet as the river card comes. There are only three cards that can keep Hachem from becoming champion.


The river card is the 4c! Joseph Hachem has just become the 2005 World Series of Poker champion!::

[kcchief19]

Around the world, poker players have two different reactions to Hachem's winning hand:

Experienced poker players and pros: How can he call with 37o?

Internet Donkeys: VNH! Cool d00d!!!!

A lot of ways to dissect that hand. If Dannenmann had raised a bit more, Hachem may have folded. But with the chip stacks what they were and Hachem in the BB, 700k probably wasn't enough to chase Hachem off a medium-strenght or worse hand.

Once Hachem flopped the nuts, Dannenmann was hosed. The flop gives him top pair and an open-ended straight draw. Heads up, that is hard to walk away from. I think the re-raise after the flop and raised on the turn should have told Dannenmann that Hachem something -- I would have put him on a pocket pair that caught a set. But even in that case, Dannenmann would have been down to 10 outs -- but still a heavy underdog. Once he made the re-raise on the turn, he was dead. He was committed at that point.

I just can't believe the WSOP champion won with 37o. This is going to make him a god to Internet poker virgins everywhere.

[QuikSand]

Congratulations to some guy who edges out some guy in a thrilling finish, outlasting some guy and some guy in a fantastic finish for the ages!

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Congratulations to some guy who edges out some guy in a thrilling finish, outlasting some guy and some guy in a fantastic finish for the ages!

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings on this right now as well. Maybe TV will change that, but I kind of doubt it.

[MJ4H]

I feel like I've known most of them for years after listening to the final table for nearly 15 straight hours. Ugh.

[Simms]

The blinds were $150k/$300k, and Hachem was in the big blind, so he'd already put in his $300k. He also had $40 million in chips in front of him, so calling the near-minumum raise of $400k, represented exactly 1% of his stack. In heads up play when almost any two cards can be good at any time, post-flop, I'm not sure you can argue with the call. At least I wouldn't.

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I just can't believe the WSOP champion won with 37o. This is going to make him a god to Internet poker virgins everywhere.

And this is a bad thing because....?

[TRO]

Really wish he'd have won with 92o, the website would be golden!

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I just can't believe the WSOP champion won with 37o. This is going to make him a god to Internet poker virgins everywhere.

Does this mean Moneymaker and Raymer are knocked off their perch as internet Gods or do now just have the first three heads lined up for the Mount Rushmore of internet poker players, with the 4th head likely to come next year?

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Simms

The blinds were $150k/$300k, and Hachem was in the big blind, so he'd already put in his $300k. He also had $40 million in chips in front of him, so calling the near-minumum raise of $400k, represented exactly 1% of his stack. In heads up play when almost any two cards can be good at any time, post-flop, I'm not sure you can argue with the call. At least I wouldn't.

No, I don't argue with the call at all. I think Dannenmann played the hand poorly from the get go. If you're going to keep in for a raise with a medium-weak hand, I'd raise enought to chase out a weak hand like 3-7o. Go for a blind steal of at leats 1.5 million chips. But like the guys on the CardPlayer commentary were saying, these Internet guys make a lot of calls and limp raises, whereas pros will either raise or fold in those situations. I suppose you can't necessarily argue with success.

Originally Posted by Simms

And this is a bad thing because....?

It's not bad at all. I'm learning, Simms.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Congratulations to some guy who edges out some guy in a thrilling finish, outlasting some guy and some guy in a fantastic finish for the ages!

Quik, I thought somebody ought to tell you that Tony Kornheiser is posting in this thread under your name

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Congratulations to some guy who edges out some guy in a thrilling finish, outlasting some guy and some guy in a fantastic finish for the ages!

every poker player in the world was "some guy" until they got tv exposure.

I'm sure you'll recognize they players featured from this year going forward as well and then a new group of "some guys" will emerge to be not "some guys" next year.

or something like that.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

every poker player in the world was "some guy" until they got tv exposure.

I'm sure you'll recognize they players featured from this year going forward as well and then a new group of "some guys" will emerge to be not "some guys" next year.

or something like that.

To a certain degree. But this year's final table was notable for the fact that only one "professional" player made the final table. I've seen Hachem described in some circles as an "Australian professional poker player," but I believe the more accurate portrayals describe him as an "Australian chiropractor." Maybe we'll be more excited when we see these no-names in action and see their personalities, but I don't know.

Has last year's "Tournament of Champions" been dismissed? I thought I read at one point that it was coming back, but I don't see it on the broadcast schedule. Not that it was exactly riveting television -- aside from Phil and Annie dissing each other, there was some pretty bad poker played. I assumed everyone was tired and drunk and didn't care. But with the right group of players it could be entertaining.

[MJ4H]

strange, i thought there were 5 pros at the final table

[Subby]

Only one professional that Kc has seen on television

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I've seen Hachem described in some circles as an "Australian professional poker player," but I believe the more accurate portrayals describe him as an "Australian chiropractor."

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the reports naturally (since I don't live with the guy) but I've seen 4 or 5 versions of the story which indicate he closed his practice 3 to 3.5 years ago & began playing poker full-time.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Leonidas

Does this mean Moneymaker and Raymer are knocked off their perch as internet Gods or do now just have the first three heads lined up for the Mount Rushmore of internet poker players, with the 4th head likely to come next year?

Most pros feel that the odds are against one of them ever winning the main event again. With (according to one estimate) 200 of them vs 5000 (and growing) amateurs, the relatively slim advantage (as opposed to say, the advantage Michael Jordan had vs typical casual basketball players) they have over each individual amateur, they simply face overwhelming odds against their winning.

[rkmsuf]

It was a miracle a "name" made the final table.

Someone asked me this before the event...if a name would win/make the final table. I thought it would be next to impossible but Ivey, Raymer and Matasow all made great runs.

As for the pros, they've made out in other ways...more than any amateur will ever benefit from.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Subby

Only one professional that Kc has seen on television

Maybe so. Hence why I used the word "professional" in quotation marks.

Barch and Black are former pros, so I'm assuming they are included with Matusow in any count that has five pros, even though Barch spends most of his time these days serving whisky and Black has been living in the temples with the Buddhist in Myanmar or something.

Kanter and Hachem are pros if you count people who quit their jobs to play a lot of online poker. So we may have a few pros here at FOFC.

[SirFozzie]

Thread Necromancy..

And the best part of it all?

The Aussie version of the IRS decided since he wasn't a professional poker player at the time of the WSOP win, as a hobbyist, none of the WSOP winnings are taxable.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Thread Necromancy..

And the best part of it all?

The Aussie version of the IRS decided since he wasn't a professional poker player at the time of the WSOP win, as a hobbyist, none of the WSOP winnings are taxable.