That's a Wrap

You can't fault Paul Maxfield for moving all-in with K-5. With the blinds and antes as high as they were, almost any paint was playable. He was just unfortunate to run into Tuan Le with a dominating hand.

For a championship event, and season-ending struggle, this match had it all: magnificent bluffs, gutsy calls, suckouts, re-suckouts, gut checks, meltdowns, tests of will, drama, excitement... folks, nouns escape me. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE ON TV ON JUNE 29TH! It will blow your fricking mind.

Mine is blown now.

They're interviewing Paul Maxfield and he tells us... uhm.... "I don't know what to say." Guess he let his play speak for him in the end. As for Tuan Le, this is his second WPT victory this season, and he looks like he's about to cry. "They're all champions," he says of his opponents. "They played really hard and really tough." One thing the young pro has mastered is the art of interview-speak.

In any case, there's no denying that this was the most exciting, see-saw final table the WPT has yet to see. This was a hell of a capper to season three. I don't know how season four can top it.

Not for nothing, but Tuan Le is now the all-time leading money winner on the WPT, and in addition to winning more than two million bucks today, he also gets a free pass to next year's championship event. He says he'll be back to defend. Yeah, I guess.

Well, folks, that's a wrap for this blog of the Bellagio 5Star World Poker Classic. I'll be back in July for the main event of the World Series of Poker. I'd say that after this it must be an anti-climax, but with a field of entrants projected to top out somewhere north of 5000, it should be anything but dull.

More later, -jv

NOW IT'S OVER! TUAN LE WINS IT!

The river was a harmless 7, giving Tuan Le a pair of jacks, and a well, well, well deserved victory over the game Paul Maxfield. Maxfield got very lucky. Tuan Le got very lucky, too. In the end, you'd have to say that the luck evened out, though as the last bit of luck went Tuan's way, he is our WPT champion.

It Ain't Over Till It's Over, and it May Never be Over

hand 42

SBB Paul. Paul makes it 2.4M. Tuan calls. J-9-3 flop. Check, check. Turn is a 9. Tuan goes all in. Paul folds.

hand 43

SBB Tuan. Raise to 2M. Paul goes all in. Tuan mucks.

hand 44

SBB Paul. He's all in. Tuan calls. Kd JD for Tuan, K-5 offsuit for Paul. Will the King of Kings survive this one? He'll have to be the King of Fives if he's going to. 9.7M in the pot. Flop comes J-T-3! Paul is dead to running fives, or runner-runner straight cards for a split pot. Turn is a queen of hearts. This gives Paul some outs. An ace or a 9 will give him a split pot. He has eight outs... and doesn't get one!

The River Giveth, the River Taketh Away!

The river gods are just having us on now. Once again, a miracle river card -- this time a seven to give Tuan a straight (when he had MUCH the worst of it) has put Tuan right back in the game. Paul Maxfield, the king of river kings, is on the receiving end of the suckout this time. The crowd, highly partisan for Tuan, is buzzing. Paul and Tuan are just... you know... hanging. And on we go.

Hand 33 Forward -- An All-in Party

hand 33

Tuan in the SBB pushes all in for 4.7 M. Paul folds. Here we go again.

hand 34

Paul in SBB. He's all in. Tuan folds.

hand 35

Tuan in SBB. Calls 400K. Paul checks. Flop comes T 9 4, two hearts. Paul checks. Tuan wins the pot with an 800K bet.

hand 36

Paul SBB. Folds.

hand 37

Tuan SBB. He's all -in. Paul mucks 2-8.

hand 38

Paul SBB. He calls. Tuan checks. Flop comes 2d 6s 4d. Tuan checks, and folds to Paul's bet.

hand 39

Tuan SBB.

6.5M for Tuan
16M for Paul

Tuan goes all in. Paul folds.

hand 40

SBB Paul. Paul forcefully raises to 2M. Tuan forcefully folds.

hand 41

SBB Tuan. Tuan raises to 2M. Paul calls the 1.2M raise. Flop comes 6h 5h 3c. Paul checks, Tuan goes all in, Paul calls. 5-6 diamonds for Paul. 8-9 offsuit for Tuan. Turn is a deuce. Tuan needs a 7 or a 4 to stay alive. He gets it!

Paul Maxfield -- King of Kings

Every time Paul has needed a king so far, he's gotten one. He got another one just now, and it has really put Tuan in a bind.

Tuan got into that pot because it was unraised preflop. At least I assume he'd have folded that 8-5 suited to a raise. But when he flopped a flush draw and faced an all-in call... well... I'm not sure I would have made it. Then again, my game is built on nostrums like, "Draws are death in no-limit." Tuan has shown nothing but absolute control over his game. We can only assume that he knows exactly what he's doing.

Right now, though, he's going to have to do some voodoo, because he's back where he was about two hours ago: Short stacked, and with his back to the wall.

4.8 for Tuan
17.8 for Paul

Shuffle up and deal.

Hand 28 Forward - This Could be It

hand 28

SBB Paul. He calls. Tuan moves all in. Paul folds. Pretty soon we'll be back in the situation where Paul's only move is to move all-in. He doesn't seem to have a betting strategy to contend with Tuan's bob-and-weave

hand 29

SBB Tuan, an unraised pot. Q 5 4, two diamonds, check, check. Turn is another queen. River is a 3d. Paul wins the pot with queens and fours.

hand 30

SBB Paul. Paul raises 2M. Tuan calls. Flop comes Kh 4c 8d. Tuan checks. Paul moves all in. Tuan folds. Next case

hand 31

SBB Tuan. There's a dizzying sameness to the action now, or maybe that's just the annoying disco-light lighting scheme the WPT insists on using for its set. Tuan raises 1.6M. Paul folds.

hand 32

SBB Paul. Not that anybody cares, but I've been typing so long I think I feel carpal tunnel setting in. Unraised pot. K-Q-Q, two clubs. Tuan checks. Paul bets 2M. Tuan raises 3M more. Paul goes all in. Tuan calls. One way or another, this will be it

K-3s for Paul
8-5c for Tuan. He needs a club to win.

Turn is the 5 of spades. It's small help to Taun, giving him two extra outs.

River is another king. Geez, we haven't seen a king on the river for a while, have we?

Hand 23 Forward

hand 23

Tuan in SBB. He wins without a fight.

hand 24

Paul has SBB. He raises. Tuan folds (showing a little disgust). Next case.

hand 25

Tuan SBB. He calls. Paul checks. Flop comes T-9-4 offsut. Tuan bets 800K. Paul calls. Turn is another T, a second diamond. Paul checks. Tuan bets 3M. Paul folds.

hand 26

Given that their last all-in confrontation featured hands of, let's say, "indifferent quality," it shouldn't be too long before these two get their money in the middle again.

Paul SBB raises to 1.4M. Tuan calls. Flop comes 5-6-7, two hearts. Tuan moves all in. Paul gives the situation a good, long mull. He flups up his sunglasses. No need for stealth now. He folds.

hand 27

Tuan SBB

Credit Tuan with staying tough and firing away. He has the SBB now. He makes it 1.2M to go. Paul calls. Flop comes T-6-5, two diamonds. Paul checks, Tuan goes all in, Paul folds.

POST!