Bellagio 5Star World Poker Classic

That's a Wrap

2005-04-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-04-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2005-04-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

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

2005-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

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!

How Many Rivers Has This Guy Caught?

2005-04-24T22:59:00.000-07:00

That was Paul Maxfield's third or fourth major suckout, and it pushed more than 12M in chips to his side of the table. Tuan puffs out his cheeks, swallowing his shock. Paul struts a little, as if his miracle catch was somehow a result of... what? Prescience? Skill? Taun can't believe what happened, but the question is: Will he avoid Hasan's crash-and-burn fate? Let's see.

We Have a Winner ... NOT!

2005-04-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Flop comes 9-5-T offsut. Turn is a 7, giving Paul a straight draw. Will he pull a miracle? Yes! It's a KING! Paul has pulled off ANOTHER miracle river!

Hand 22 Forward -- Paul is All In

2005-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

hand 22

SBB Tuan: He makes a very suspicious minimum raise to 1.2M. Paul raises 2M more. Tuan reraises all-in. Paul folds. Tuan shows 5-8 offsuit! Wow! Paul had 6-4. This is some serious frivolous poker.

By the way, Tuan fumbled the bet on that one, just like he did the other day when he "fumbled" a big raise with pocket aces. Maybe Paul read his weakness for strength -- just as Tuan intended.

hand 23

SBB Paul. Unraised pot. Flop comes Ad As 7s. Check,check. Turn is 5d. Tuan checks, Paul moves all in Tuan folds.

We have a makeup break, and yeah let's revisit Tuan's min-raise a moment ago. That was the first minimum raise we've seen in, well, hours. Paul probably raised to see where he was at in the hand, planning to fold without hesitation if Tuan moved all-in. Which is exactly what happened -- exactly as if Tuan had planned it exactly that way.

hand 24

SBB Tuan. He calls. Paul goes all in. Tuan folds.

That's two all-ins in a row for Paul. Maybe he figures that the only way to keep Tuan from monkeying with him is to get his chips in first.

hand 25

SBB Paul. He raises 2M, very aggressively placing his chips out on the table, for what that's worth. Tuan folds.

hand 26

SBB Tuan. He completes. Paul checks. Flop comes Ts 6c 5c. Check, check. Turn is 5d. Check, check. River is Tc. Two tens and two fives on board. Paul checks. Tuan bets 600K. Paul fidgets and grimaces. It looks a little Hollywood to me... but I'm flat-wrong again. Paul folds.

hand 27

6 M for Paul
17 M for Tuan

SBB Paul. He raises all-in. Tuan calls. Kd-8c for Paul A-4d for Tuan. This is a 12.358M pot. Neither player is anywhere near the table. They can't bear to watch.

Hand 17 Forward

2005-04-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

hand 17

Paul, SBB, completes. Tuan checks. Flop comes Q-9-4, two spades. Check, check. Turn is another Q. Both players check. River is an offsuit A. Tuan checks. Paul bets 2M. Tuan calls. A-K of clubs for Paul. He wins the pot of almost 3m. What do you suppose Tuan had? A bad ace? Under pair?

Is this a sea change?

hand 18

Tuan, SBB, opens for a million. Paul calls. Flop 2c 4c 8s. Paul checks. Tuan bets 1.6M. Paul folds.

hand 19

One thing: Without Hasan's noisy fans in the room, it's gotten a whole lot quieter in here. Kinda like the poker room of the Imperial Palace at 3 o'clock on a Tuesday morning.

Paul, SBB, opens for a milion. Tuan calls. Flop Jh Ks 8c. Paul bets a million. Tuan folds.

hand 21

Tuan, SBB, raises. Paul folds.

hand 21

Blinds and antes are up. 75K ante, 300K and 600K blinds, so a "lap" will cost 1.05M.

Paul, 9.5 M
Tuan, 13M

Paul, SBB, completes. Tuan makes it 1.5M to go. Paul counts some chips, then calls. Just your basic 4M pot. Flop comes 3c 3d 6s. Tuan bets 3M. Paul puts his hands on his head. This is another one of those hand-of-the-match moments. If he calls or raises, the chips will swing massively in one direction or the other. But he folds, and the balance tips gently more toward Tuan.

Post!

Hand 11 Forward

2005-04-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

hand 11

Tuan, SBB, calls. Paul checks. Flop is Q-9-7, two hearts. Taun bets 700K. Paul calls for 700K. Turn is 6 of hearts. Paul checks. Tuan checks. River is 8s. Paul bets 1M. He likes his river bets. Tuan looks like he's going to call him down, maybe raise. Paul covers his mouth with his hand, like he's watching a horror movie. Tuan raises 3M. Paul folds.

hand 12

Paul, SBB, raises to 1.2M and wins without a fight.

hand 13

Tuan, SBB, calls. Paul raises an indeterminate amount, but Tuan folds before he can get his bet in. Just like we do it at the $2-5 blind tables.

hand 14

Paul, SBB, folds.

hand 15

Tuan, SBB, calls. Paul checks. Flop comes 7c Ad Kc. Paul checks. Tuan bets 500K and wins the pot.

hand 16

It's like a cooling-off period. After the fireworks of Hasan's last hands, both players seemed to need a period of pass-the-blinds for a while before they can get back to the task at hand.

We see a flop in an unraised pot. Flop comes T-8-8. Tuan bets 1.2M. Paul goes all-in. Tuan folds.

Post!

Heads Up -- Hand 6 Forward

2005-04-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

hand 6

Paul makes a small raise from the SBB. Tuan reraises a million or so and wins the pot.

hand 7

Tuan, SBB, raises 750K to 1.25M. Paul raises 3M. Tuan folds.

hand 8

Paul SBB, calls. Tuan goes all in and takes the pot.

Chip count:

Paul: 8.3M
Tuan: 15.0M

hand 9

Tuan SBB, raises and wins

hand 10

Paul SBB, calls. Tuan checks. Family pot? Flop is 7-4-J rainbow. Check/check. Turn is a 3. Tuan bets half a million and wins.

We are Heads Up

2005-04-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

hand 1 of heads up play

Paul Maxfield has put on his dark sunglasses. Tuan makes it a million to go on the button. Paul raises three million more. We could have a very short final confrontation. Tuan contemplates the situation... sniffs... counts his chips... counts Pauls chips... and mucks.

hand 2

Maxfield has SBB (small blind on the button). Blinds are 250K and 500K. Paul folds.

hand 3

Antes are 50K, so there's 850K in the pot on every hand. Tuan, SBB, makes it 1.1M. Paul folds. Is his strategy to fold every hand he can't push? If so, he'd better hope for hands he can push, and quick.

hand 4

Paul SBB, flat-calls (so much for my assesment of strategy). Tuan checks. Flop is Ah 9s 7s. Tuan checks. Paul bets 800K. Tuan raises 2M. Paul folds. So far you have to give the nod to Tuan. He is quickly taking control of this heads up battle. When you think of how far down he was at one point, he's got to be feeling inspired... maybe even destined to win.

hand 5

Tuan SBB, calls 250K. Paul checks. Flop comes A-Q-2, two spades. Check, check. Turn is a 6h. Tuan bets 1M. Paul goes all-in and takes the pot.

Post!

Explosive Decompression!

2005-04-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen anything like it? You won't believe it when you see it on TV. Hasan Habib was ONE CARD AWAY from virtually locking up the WPT championship that eluded him last year. Rivered by Paul, he then experienced the most astounding explosive decompression I've ever seen in my life (including my own episodes of meta-tilt, which believe me, are nightmares to behold.) It happened so fast I couldn't even phrase the idea that it was time for Hasan to prove his patience and find his feet again.

He had the best hand with pocket sevens... but not by much, and as we've seen, he'd folded much better hands to the dangerous Tuan before that. He certainly didn't have the best hand with Qc-8c. I don't know you can spin it as anything but a steam raise.

That's hold'em, folks. You can play flawless poker for a solid week, but let a bad beat rattle you and you can be standing on the sideline shaking your head before you even knew what hit you. It can happen to anyone, even one of the greats like Hasan Habib.

Oh, by the way, we still have a poker tournament to finish.

Now that the scantily clad women have made the obligatory WPT cash presentation we can get down to the final battle between Paul Maxfield and a surprising, exultant Tuan Le.

7.7 M for Paul
14.9 M for Tuan

50K ante, 250K-500K blinds. Small blind has the button.

Let's play poker!

Gut Check Time for Hasan Habib

2005-04-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Tuan on the button opens for 950K. Paul folds. Hasan goes all in. Tuan folds. I think Hasan is lucky Tuan didn't have half a hand there, because that looked like a steam raise if ever there was one. Of course, there's nothing to say that Hasan didn't pick up a real hand there himself, in which case he had the perfect opportunity to make it look like a steam raise.

But...
On the next hand, Hasan goes all in again.
And this time Tuan calls!

Qc 8c for Hasan
Kc Jd for Tuan

Flop comes 2-7-9 with one club.
Turn is another 2.

Now HASAN is down to his final card. Will he get it or will he get out?

It's a 3! Hasan is OUT IN THIRD!

POST! POST! FRICKING POST!

If He Wasn't Before, He Must Be Now!

2005-04-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

In the space of three hands, Hasan has gone from dominating chip leader to third place! My reporting on that last hand was kind of ragged, but I wanted to get it to you right away. Here's what matters: Hasan called without a thought on a hand he probably would have folded before. He's been folding to Tuan's raises all day. But it looks like he wanted to "get well quick," as they say. Instead, Tuan flopped a flush draw, turned the nut flush, and now stands as our NEW CHIP LEADER! More lives than a cat. More bullets dodged. More hands, please.

Is Hasan on Tilt?

2005-04-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

On the button, Hasan raised to a million
Tuan raise all in 4.187,
Looking frustrated, Hasan calls with pocket sevens
As-8s for Tuan.
Flop 3d ks ts
Turn 9s
A flush for Tuan! A ROAR FROM THE CROWD!
A stunned Hasan can not believe what happened!

POST!

Rough Numbers as we Resume

2005-04-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

8.29 M for Hasan
9.27 M for Paul
3,9 M for Tuan

Deja vu all over again all over again.

And don't forget:

3rd place wins $896,375. 2nd wins $1,698,390. First wins $2,856, 150. So Paul's miracle river cost Tuan a guaranteed bump of $800,000. Man, that's some pricey river!

We're on a Break. We Need a Break

2005-04-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

While they take a break to change tape in the camera, let's pause to catch our breath and contemplate this sudden reversal of fortune. Hasan must have felt he was living large when Paul Maxfield first didn't, then couldn't, bet his flopped straight. But on the very next hand, he got all his money in with the best of it... very much the best of it... A-J versus K-T... and then, when it looked like he was about to move into an insurmountable lead... the poker gods laughed. "We're not done with you yet," they said. "Let's give Paul another chance." So here we are: Paul Maxfield just picked up four million of Hasan's chips. Tuan Le probably would like to have seen Paul go home, leaving him with second place money. Hasan certainly wanted to see the end of Paul. But the end is not here. From where I sit, the end is not in sight.

It's 9:48 PM. Suddenly my midnight "over" bet is starting to look good again.

A Few Hands Where Nothing Happened... and Then!

2005-04-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

Some hands where nothing happened have just been played. Some foldouts. Some chips changed hands. Some time spent admiring the tower of power that Hasan is building with his chips. Next case.

Hasan on the button calls 400K
Tuan calls 200K from the small blind.
Paul raps. We have a family pot. This family again.
Flp is 6-5-4 with two clubs.
All check.
Turn is a 4d.
All check.
Another four.
Paul shows 7-8 to win the pot.

Yikes! He flopped a straight and didn't bet it! Then when a second four came he didn't bet it again, hoping Hasan would. Then when a third four came, he couldn't bet it, for fear of someone having an accidental full house. Well, that's that with that. Next case!

Tuan folds.
Paul completes in the small blind.
Hasan raises 1.4M
Paul goes all-in with 3.625M
K-T for Paul
A-J for Hasan
Flop comes 7c 3d 8c
Turn is the 6s
Paul is down to his last gasp.
Habib fans are actually chanting, "Pair the board, pair the board!"
River is a KING! Paul Maxfield stays alive!

Tuan = Neo

2005-04-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Right now, Tuan Le is dodging more bullets than Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.

We have a family pot, with Hasan as daddy on the button. Flop comes Jh Th 5h. Tuan bets 500K. Wins without a fight.

A chip count:

3.3 M for Paul
4.9 M for Tuan
And Hasan is right back in the driver's seat with 13.9 M. It's deja vu all over again.

A Tuan Song? NO!

2005-04-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tuan is all in for 1.96M with Th-Td versus Hasan's Qh-6c offsuit. A-2-3 on the flop, with two clubs. Turn is a 9, giving Hasan four to a flush. The river is the jack of spades, and Tuan doubles through again. More lives than a cat, friends, more lives than a cat.

Tuan in the Hunt

2005-04-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

Tuan Le now has more than 4M in chips, a big enough stack to do some damage with so now we're back to a real three-way match again. He raises from the small blind. Paul has no stomach to call. Next case.

Hasan opens for 1.2M on the button. Fold. Fold. Next case.

Tuan has the button. He folds. Paul folds. Next case.

Paul's puck. He folds. Hasan folds. Tuan wins in a walk. Next case.

Hasan opens for 1.2M. Tuan calls. Paul folds. Flop comes Kh 6h Qd. Tuan goes all in for 3M and change. This seems to be his favorite strategy: Call Hasan's raise, then movein on the flop. So far he's tried it four or five times, and Hasan hasn't seen fit to call. Will this time be different? Nope. Hasan folds two tens. Next case.

Tuan calls 400 on the button. Paul folds, Hasan checks. Flop is T-6-3, two hearts. Hasan checks. Tuan bets 600. Hasan raises 1.2M. Tuan reraises 2M. We've got ourselves a shootout! You can't see Hasan laying the hand down now. Nope, he calls. He's got to have the best hand. I think he's trying to suck the last of Tuan's chips into the pot. Sure enough, he goes all-in on a deuce turn card. But Tuan folds, leaving himself crippled again, but still alive.

Let's post.

I Missed a Hand or Two

2005-04-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

While musing about Hasan's slowplayed set, I missed a couple of hands, but rest assured we still have three players in the game.

But maybe not for long. Tuan has gone all-in again, this time for 1.7m. Hasan is already out of the pot, but Paul is considering a call. Yep. He calls.

Kc-9h for Tuan
Js-Td for Paul

Both players are on their feet, waiting for the flop. Paul walks away from the table, but Tuan stays close to watch.

Flop comes 4h 3c 9s. Turn is an ace. River is an 3, and Tuan has doubled through!

Contemplating That Last Hand

2005-04-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

Let's go to school on that last hand: Hasan flopped a set, checked behind Paul on the flop, bet a measly 400K on the turn, and called a million dollar bet on the river (when he could be facing either a flush or a straight.) You or I might have raised on the turn to protect our hand, but Hasan evidently figured that Paul would bet at a scare-card on the river, without the hand he was representing, and he was right.

Another Family Pot and Some More Hands After That

2005-04-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

We have another three-way pot, with Paul on the button. Flop is K-Q-8, two hearts. Hasan leads from the small blind and takes the pot.

Now Hasan has the button. He folds. Tuan moves all in. Paul folds. Next case.

Tuan on the button: He goes all in.
Paul folds.
Hasan folds. Next case.

It's almost like haiku:

Tuan on the button
Hopeful shot to double through
Sad for Tuan. No call.

Paul on the button opens for 1.2M and takes the pot

Hasan on the button calls for 400K. Tuan folds, Paul checks. Flop K-8-2 two hearts. Check/check. Turn is a 9s, the second spade. Paul checks. Hasan bets 400. Paul raises a million.
"Here we go again," thinks Hasan. But calls without much hesitation. River is the ace of spades. That's a real hold'em card. Paul checks. Hasan shows a pair of eights to win the pot.

Let's post.

Tuan's All In

2005-04-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tuan moves all-in on the button.
Paul folds.
Hasan asks for a chip count.
It's 1.54M.
Hasan ponders, ponders, says he "should call you," and throws away K-J of clubs.
I have a feeling Tuan would have preferred to play that hand. The more times he goes all-in, the greater the odds of one of the others waking up with a real hand.

Next Next Case

2005-04-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Paul calls 400
Tuan checks
K-8-3, two clubs
check/check
turn is an 8
Tuan moves all in, takes the pot

Hasan calls 400
Tuan completes for 200
Paul checks -- 3 way action
Flop: Q-J-6, two diamonds
Tuan checks, Paul checks, Hasan bets 500, both fold

Next case.

Next Case

2005-04-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

Is this working for you, me posting the hands as they happen? I hope it makes for riveting reading but I suspect it won't make for much in the archives.

Tuan folds on the button
Paul completes
Hasan raises
Paul folds

Next case

How Will Hasan Respond?

2005-04-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is the first time all day that Hasan hasn't been the chip leader or the BIG chip leader. How will he deal with adversity? (If you can call "only" 9M in chips "adversity".

He opens this pot for 900K. Tuan calls in the small blind. Paul folds. We see a flop.
Ad-4s-Qc
Hasan quickly bets 900. Tuan folds.

Okay, that's how Hasan will respond: by picking on the little guy. Once again, though, you wonder what Tuan Le is up to, suddenly shifting into Cally Wally mode. I guess he figures A) he needs to see some flops and B) three-handed if he hits any piece of the flop it's probably good and C) he can count on the big stacks to bully-bet into him.

Or, you know, not.

On the next hand he goes all-in, and captures the pot without a fight. Okay, that's called mixing it up.

Speaking of up, blinds and antes are up. Antes are 40K, blinds are 200K and 400K, so it's 720K for every (short) lap around the felt.

Another Family Pot

2005-04-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Though this time the pot is unraised. Flop comes T-9-8, one diamond. Check, check, check. Turn is a Qd. Check, check, Paul bets 300. Hasan raises to 900. Tuan folds. Paul calls. River is an A of diamonds, putting three diamonds on board. Paul checks. Hasan bets 2M into a pot of almost 3M, then sits back to fan himself with his new best friend, his battery-powered fan. One wonders how the icepacks in his pants are doing, but one does well not to wonder too much. Paul cauls, shows a J for a straight and captures the pot. Folks, that is a major reversal: over three million of Hasan's chips just shifted to Paul, and that's the first major reversal Hasan has suffered since we sat down today.

Chip count:

Hasan 9M
Paul 11M
Tuan 2M

And they're calling for the hundred-thousand chips. Apparently the chip stacks are just getting unwieldy. Man, wouldn't we like to have problems like that?

Now THAT's a Family Pot

2005-04-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Paul opens for 800K. Both Hasan and Tuan call. (And I wonder about Tuan's call here for more than a quarter of his stack.) Flop comes Q-4-3. Check-check-check. Turn is a K. Paul bets 1.7M and captures the pot. It was the first time all three players were in a raised pot, and it didn't go well for Tuan, who can ill afford to lose large percentages of his stack right now.

You Cannot Win if You Will Not Bet

2005-04-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

We recreational players all too often make the mistake of playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. Trust me, that mistake is not being made here. Though he's short stacked, Tuan is not afraid to make probing bets if he thinks they can capture the pot. Just now he bet 300 on the turn, got a call from Paul and laid down to Paul's million dollar bet on the river. But on the very next hand, he called on the button, and then, after Paul completed and Hassan checked, bet the flop and captured the pot. No guts, no glory.

No shortage of guts here.

And Right Back Atcha

2005-04-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Two hands later, Hasan and Paul mixed it up again.

Paul opened for 1.2M
Hasan called
Tuan folded
The flop came 4-4-A with two hearts
Hasan bet 800
Paul called
The turn was a seven
Hasan bet 1.4M
Paul folded

So that's two million back to Hasan's side of the table.

Tuan Le, meanwhile, is short-stacked with just (!) 2.1M. Look for him to make a big move soon.

Or, you know, not.

On the very next hand...

Tuan calls 300 from the button
Paul completes
Hasan checks
K-8-3, two hearts
Check, check, check
8 on the turn
Tuan bets 700K to win it

Without risking his whole stack, he picked up another 600K in chips. That's the kind of move you have to make -- and have to make work -- when your back is to the wall.

Limpy Limperson

2005-04-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Not much of a hand in terms of chips, but it says much about the treacherous playground we're on. Paul just completed the small blind. Hasan checked. The flop came 6-K-8. Two checks later, a 7 came on the turn. Hasan bet 300, and Paul called. The river was a jack. Paul bet 500K. Hasan called. Paul turned over big slick, that's all. There's slow-playing to be had out there, friends. These are not friendly waters.

The Numbers Now

2005-04-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

8.025M Paul
11.455M Hasan
3.5M Tuan

A Chip Here, a Million Chips There

2005-04-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

Hasan Habib just took more than a million in chips off Paul Maxfield by calling on the river with A-2. He had flopped an ace and patiently checked until Paul bet on the river, and calmly called to take the pot. On the next hand, he completed in the small blind, and Tuan Le raised 700K in the big. Hasan was having none of that. He reraised another 2.6M, putting Tuan all in. Tuan folded, and just like that, Hasan had grabbed almost a million from Tuan as well.

Then again...

On the next hand, Hasan makes it 900 to go. Paul calls. Flop comes A 3 T. Hasan bets 800. Paul senses weakness, bets all-in. Hasan folds. And the chips flow back the other way.

Still, you can't help feeling that we're just moments away from a major confrontation. Nobody seems inclined to wait all that long for an outcome.

Oh, and not for nothing, but we've just had our first groundskimmer in I don't know how long.

When You're Hot You're (Too) Hot

2005-04-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

No detail is spared when I bring you the blogs, people. Hasan Habib just shoved two ice packs into his two front pockets. More information than you needed, perhaps, but still...

Here's some information: The price of poker just went up.

30K ante
150K and 300K blinds

A lap costs 540K

Chip counts:

Tuan 4M
Hasan 14M
Paul 4M

All the Action is Pre-flop

2005-04-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

And no one seems all that interested in playing once there are cards on the board. Just now Hasan completed in the small blind, Tuan checked, and the two of them checked the hand all the way down. Quite uneventful. And quite uncharacteristic. A few hands later, Paul opened for 700K, Tuan called, they both checked the flop, and Tuan folded without a fuss when Paul bet the turn. Well, why wouldn't they. If I were these guys, I would be scared to death of massive hidden holdings and unexpected traps. Well, if I were these guys I would be scared to death of the dealer button... the cameras... the pile of fake money... Linda Johnson's microphone... pretty much everything.

Once again, we see another raise-call-check/check- check/check - check/check sequence. That pot went to Paul, with a king high. Did someone say something about changing gears?

I Got Your Reraise Right Here!

2005-04-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

Tuan Le in particular has had some luck reraising Hasan Habib, but just now Hasan put the shoe on the other foot. Tuan opened for 520. Paul called. Hasan, in the big blind, stood, counted Tuan Le's chip stack, then sat down and raised 1.5M, sending both Tuan and Paul into the think tank. While they weighed their options, Hasan cooled himself with a battery-powered fan and kibbitzed with Jack McClelland, speculating on the price of "Hasan Habib sweatbands" in the Bellagio gift shop ($89.95, they say.) Finally, Tuan and Paul both folded.

Current chip count:

4.8M Paul
4.1M Tuan
13.6M Hasan

Now Hasan is right where he's wanted to be: holding almost half the chips, and more than twice as much as either of his competitors. Even if Paul busted Tuan right now, Hasan would still be the chip leader.

Hand Caught in Cookie Jar - John Phan out in 4th

2005-04-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

Annie Duke said, "If you don't get caught with your hand in the cookie jar every now and then, you're not playing poker right." Well, John Phan just got caught in a big way, and it cost him his tournament life. Playing in the small blind, John Phan pushed all-in, no doubt expecting Paul Maxfield to fold in the big blind. But Maxfield sniffed something, and called with a weakish A-5 offsuit. His hand was a monster, though, compared to John Phan's 8-3.

8-3!

So much for everyone always showing a quality hand.

Phan partisans in the crowd were calling for a snowman, but no eight came. Instead, the flop came A-5-Q, and when the board bricked out, John Phan was out in 4th.

Phan played a carefree, wide-open style all week, and his aggressive play rewared him with a big money finish of more than half a million dollars. But... "live by the raise, die by the raise," and the top prize eludes him this time.

What Was That?

2005-04-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

An uncharacteristic hand for this crew: Hasan opened for 500K. Tuan flat-called, and Paul flat-called behind him. How many times have we seen this pattern today? Answer: zero times.

The flop came 9-A-Q. Paul checked, Hasan bet 1.2M and the others both folded. So Hasan picked up another million in chips, just for betting the flop. I don't think the players suddenly got loose and cally; rather, I think they're looking to switch gears from raisy to trappy, and a couple of them switched gears on the same hand. We'll see if this pattern of bet-call continues. I'm betting not. It's not in the nature of any of the four to play slow.

As I Was Saying about Groundskimmers

2005-04-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

A groundskimmer, if you don't know, is a hand where everyone, including the small blind, folds to the big blind. It's also known as "winning in a walk," and it's something you see quite frequently in typically tight no-limit cash games and tournaments. But like I said, if we've seen it once today, we certainly haven't seen it twice. This means that someone's getting playable cards every hand, or else someone is representing a playable hand every deal. The sheer math of the situation tells us that the latter is likely. It speaks to the skill of these players, and their mutual respect for one another's skill: They each know that the other is a lying sack of cheese, but no one's willing to get involved casually... and no one's turning over bad hands when they do get involved. This is top shelf poker in every respect. Though it looks to the casual observer that there's not much going on when yet another hand is raise-folded, there are wheels within wheels, and these wheels are SPINNING.

Maxfield On and Off the Brink

2005-04-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Paul Maxfield just doubled his 2.4M in chips when he caught a jack on the river to make a straight and double through John Phan.

John opened for 800K
Paul raised all-in
John called
A-K for Paul
K-Q for John
Flop came 6-T-Q, putting Paul on life support
A ten on the turn helped him not at all
But a jack on the river gave him a straight, and a second life.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Wish I could be more articulate, but I can't. Just... wow.

the count:

hasan 10M
tuan 7M
john 1.5M
paul 5M

Can I Get a Witness?

2005-04-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Though play was slow for the first hour or so, when it got fast, it got VERY fast, with five playable hands in a row, including two A-J versus Q-Q confrontations, three hands with pocket queens, and two bustouts in the space of just a couple of hands. Maybe these guys weren't playing cat-and-mouse after all. Maybe it was just cat-and-crap-hand, because when they finally got some tickets, they weren't shy about playing them. Don't expect to see too many "great laydowns" in this final four. They all like to play, and there's simply no fear anywhere.

Case in point: Hasan just opened for 550J, John Phan raised him back a cool 1.5M, driving Hasan off the pot. Can I get a witness? These boys came to play.

Current chip counts, according to Jack McClelland:

Hasan 10M
Paul 2.3M
John 4M
Tuan 6M

Chip Counts, Blinds and Antes

2005-04-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

Current chip counts as we start the next round of play:

Paul Maxfield 3.28M
Hasan Habib 11.25M
Tuan Le 3.8M
John Phan 4.989M

Antes are 20K, blinds are 100K and 200K, so that's 380K per lap.

And away we go...!

Phil Ivey Out in Sixth! Rob Hollink Out in Fifth!

2005-04-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

In a surprisng outcome, Phil Ivey is out in 6th place. He took the exact same hand he took against Hollink, Ac-Js, into the exact same hand Hollink held, pocket queens. Only this time, it was Hasan with the ladies, and he easily covered Phil's last 935K. The board brought no help, and Phil was a surprising, almost shocking, sixth place finisher. He must indeed have gone card-dead today, because A-J offsuit is not a hand to get excited about -- twice in the space of three hands -- unless you feel your chip stack dwindling and your situation getting desperate. Hammered by queens, then hammered again, Phil was done for the day.

On the very next hand -- before I could even post Ivey's bustout -- Rob Hollink reraised Tuan Le all-in. Tuan called with pocket jacks. Rob's K-J offsuit was in serious trouble, and though he might have cried, "a king, a king, my horsedom for a king," no king came, and Rob was out in fifth.

Well, I guess the under-for-midnight is a good looking bet after all. We're on a break now, and the question everyone is asking is: Can anyone catch Hasan? -jv

Hollink Survives One All-in, then Another

2005-04-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

Rob goes all-in for 320
Hasan calls
Phil Ivey reraises all-in... just the sort of situation he was waiting for, no doubt -- a chance to get some of Hasan's chips for free... however...
A-J for Phil
Q-Q for Rob
No help from the board, and Hollink doubles through.

A few deals later, Tuan Le opens for 360, and Hollink goes all-in again. Tuan folds, Hollink wins -- and shows pocket queens again.

The Man with the X-ray Eyes

2005-04-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

This hand happened a few minutes ago, before the big Rob/Tuan confrontation, but I didn't get a chance to post it then. Into a pot of 800K, John Phan bet a suspiciously small 150K. You or I might have smelt a hoover bet, a tiny bet designed to suck me in with pot odds. Hasan Habib smelt weakness, raised 300, and got John to lay down. Make no mistake about it: That's why he's there and we're here.

Tuan is Double-Liscious

2005-04-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Tuan Le doubles through Rob Hollink, leaving Hollink crippled with just 330K in chips.

Tuan opens for 375
Rob raises all-in
Tuan calls
Ac-Kd for Tuan
Qd-Td for Rob
Board comes 7h-3s-2s-Ah-3d

Both Rob and Tuan are dangerous with a lot of chips, though Tuan, the more flamboyant player is possibly a bit more unpredictible, and therefore a bit more formidable, with a big stack. In any case, Rob's back is to the wall. Look for him to make an all-in push-and-pray with his first decent holding.

Where's Phil?

2005-04-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

In the last dozen hands or so, everyone has taken their turn stealing the blinds and antes except Phil Ivey, who as he has for long stretches of this tournament, seems almost not to be here. He's sitting to the left of Hasan, which leaves him a bit on the outside looking in, but still, you can't imagine that it's by accident or timidity that he's withdrawn from the fray. Maybe he's card dead. Maybe he's just waiting for a chance to strike. I think he envisions his likeliest route to victory as letting Hasan bully everyone until it's just Phil versus Hasan, with Phil hopefully still holding enough chips to make it a fight.

An interim chip count.

3.3 m paul
1.5 m phil
1.7 m tuan
2 m rob
3 m john
10.6 m hasan

2005-04-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

Let's take a quick screen-shot tour of the final table. Seat one, Paul Maxfield...

2005-04-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Seat two, Hasan Habib

2005-04-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Seat three, Phil Ivey

2005-04-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Seat four, Tuan Le

2005-04-24T18:00:00.001-07:00

Seat five, John Phan

2005-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Seat six, Rob Hollink

The Over/Under is Midnight

2005-04-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

With John Phan climbing back up over a million dollars and thus no one being particularly short-stacked, we have fallen into the doldroms of fold-fold-raise-fold-fold-fold poker, a game Jack McClelland describes as, "A high-stakes game of cat and mouse." It's 6pm just now, and at the rate we're going, there's no telling how late we could be watching all six combatants still playing cat, still playing mouse. I'm setting the over/under at midnight... but I'm not eager to take the under.

The 900 Pound Gorilla

2005-04-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

The trouble with raising, if your anyone except Hasan Habib, is you have Habib to deal with. Rob Hollink just tried it, opening for 260, and Hasan shut him down by reraising 600K. Where does a 900 pound gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants.

Antes and blinds are up. Antes are 15K, blinds are 60 and 120, so each lap around the table will cost 270K. Opening raises should be in the neighborhood of 380K. And by the way, it's worth noting that we haven't seen anyone limp into a pot today, not even the small blind completing. Nor will we. A limp is either a sign of weakness or paramount strength, but in any case it's such a red flag that you're not likely to see it.

Hasan just opened the pot for, yep, 380K. No callers. The 900 pound gorilla lumbers on.

Anybody Thirsty?

2005-04-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

How about a cool, refreshing "180 Energy" from Anheiser Busch, a company with no particular expertise in energy drinks but enough marketing acumen to grab the Red Bull by the tail while the grbbing's good.

Meanwhile, John Phan just took half a million off Rob Hollink, like this:

Rob opened for 250
John called
Flop came 6-8-2 with 2 hearts
John led out for 250
Rob called
Turn was the 8s
John bet 300
Rob folded

And that's how we play poker... at least till the 180 Energy kicks in and we tilt away all our chips in a frenzy of caffeine and guarana

The Count Right Now

2005-04-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

All numbers in millions(!)

Paul 3.6
Hasan 9.21
Phil 2.52
Tuan 1.84
John 1.485
Rob 3.82

15 minutes left at antes of 10K and blinds of 40K and 80K

The 8, Now Almost 9 Million Dollar Man

2005-04-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hasan opens for 260K. Tuan raises 600K more. Hasan asks for a chip count. 1.5M more for Tuan. Hasan raises him all in. Tuan folds. Hasan shows pocket jacks. They say that there's three ways to play pocket jacks, all wrong. But Hasan just found a way to play them correctly, to the tune of almost a million in chips. He is now the 9 Million Dollar Man.

Tenish, anyone?

The 8 Million Dollar Man

2005-04-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Phan opens for 260K. Hasan reraises all-in for 8 million. Yes he has John covered. He's got people in three counties covered. Phan folds. Can't say for sure, but it looked like two picture cards for Phan, and a black ace-little for Hasan. Next case.

When Ivey's Eyes Aren't Smiling

2005-04-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hasan opens for 260K from the button. Phil Ivey reraises 750K. Hasan folds. "Go pick on some blinds your own size," Phil seems to be saying. Of course, Phil is actually saying nothing at all, as is his wont. He just stares at the center of the table, with those wide-open Ivey eyes. It's a from-the-bleachers observation, of course, but it seems to me that trying to get a read on Phil Ivey is like trying to get a read on the dark side of the moon. You just can't get there from here.

We're seeing a lot of raise-and-foldout hands, and I won't bother recounting them all, but I will tell you this, 'cause Jack McClelland just told us all: The interim chip counts after half an hour of play are...

Paul 4M
Hasan 8M
Phil 2.5M
Tuan 2.5M
John 1.5M
Rob 3.8M

Maxfield's Silver Hammer, and an All-in Confrontation

2005-04-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

We saw it yesterday: Paul Maxfield going all in against John Phan, and getting Phan to lay down his top pair, good kicker, to a naked bluff. The question is: Did we see it again just now?

Phan opened for 260K
Maxfield called in the big blind
Flop came Kh-9h-6h
Paul checked, Phan bet 270K
Maxfield asked for a chip count: John has 685K left
The turn was the 5c
Maxfield went all in
Phan thought and thought (and possibly thought about yesterday's clash) and then folded

Was Maxfield bluffing again? Tune into the Travel Channel on June 29th to find out.

ON THE VERY NEXT HAND...

Phil Ivey opens fo 230K
Phan goes all in for another 440K
Ivey CALLS!
Kc-Jd for Phan
A-Q hearts for Ivey
Flop is Kh-5c-9h
Turn is Js
Two pair for Phan, but flush draw, straight draw for Ivey
River is 2c
Phan doubles up

And so it goes...

They Bob, They Weave, They Dodge, They Duck

2005-04-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

And they raise...usually about 280K...into pots containing six 5K antes and blinds of 30K and 60K... but through the first half dozen hands, no one seems much inclined to call. Clearly they're getting settled, feeling each other out, trying to get a sense of how each other plans to play today. Or maybe they're all getting crap hands except the raiser. Nah, that's not likely. At this level, the quality of your cards doesn't matter nearly so much as the quality of your reads, and everyone seems to have an accurate read on everyone else: So far, no one has stomach for a fight.

That said, here comes our first flop T-9-8 offsuit in a raised pot between Rob and Hasan. A 7 comes on the turn. Rob checks, Hasan bets 300K, Rob folds. Next case.

The Money

2005-04-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

6th place -- $264, 195
5th place -- $377,420
4th place -- $518,920
3rd place -- $896,175
2nd place -- $1,698,390
1st place -- $2,856,150 plus a seat in the 2006 WPT championship, just about a year from now.

Cards are in the air. Hasan opened the first pot and took it down without a fight.

Phinal Table Photo Essay

2005-04-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

While we have yet a couple of minutes before the start of the final table, let's take quick spin through the ol' photo gallery. Starting off, a guy with too much time on his hands..

2005-04-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

The crowd...

2005-04-24T16:08:00.001-07:00

... the cash...

2005-04-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

... the chips

2005-04-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

The WPT logo in all its big-screen glory

Your World Poker Tour TV Team

2005-04-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here's Shauna Hyatt, looking ever so lifelike.

Are you up for a news flash? Steve Lipscomb of the World Poker Tour has just announced that Shauna will not be back for season four of the WPT. So this will be Shauna's final WPT broadcast. Now you know something your friends don't know.

2005-04-24T16:04:00.001-07:00

Vince van Patten

2005-04-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Mike Sexton

2005-04-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Mike Sexton for real.

2005-04-24T16:02:00.001-07:00

My able assistants all week, Tommy Percell (l) and Alejandro Salas, without whom all of this would not have been possible.

2005-04-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Your humble scribe in his ad-hoc office.

Your Final Table

2005-04-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

The final table for the Bellagio 5Star World Poker Classic, by seat position and chip count

SEAT 1 PAUL MAXFIELD -- 2.885M
SEAT 2 HASAN HABIB -- 7.795M
SEAT 3 PHIL IVEY -- 3.365M
SEAT 4 TUAN LE -- 2.680M
SEAT 5 JOHN PHAN -- 1.405M
SEAT 6 ROB HOLLINK -- 4.430M

Cards are (almost) in the air. -jv

(Reporting From) Where It

2005-04-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Campers,

Greetings from Spa Tower Ballroom Number 5, one of about six million Ballrooms of Bellagio, each and every one about ten miles from wherever you were when you set out walking. Okay, I'm exaggerating, just like I'm exaggerating the number of people massed in Spa Tower Ballroom Number 4 to watch this big final event on closed circuit TV. Me, I have ridden my snazzy VIP pass to a ringside seat in the bleachers overlooking the final table, affording me a view, and an information stream exactly as good as that in the closed circuit melee. I say this by way of prior explanation for any hands or chip counts or crucial card-falls I miss during the next x hours of final table play.

What can I say? I like to apologize for my work before I do it.

But I've got my tiny laptop up and running, I'm wirelessly connected to the world, and I've even managed to pirate some electricity from the massive power grid that is the World Poker Tour TV machine. Just now I'm going to go sneak some pics so you can get a sense of place before we get started. The dry ice machine is on, the millions of dollars in fake prize money is laid out on a display table, all we're missing now is a dealer, some players, and Jack McClelland to say, "Shuffle up and deal!" More later, -jv

cibola.com

2005-04-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

...one from the archives to start you on your Sunday.

If money is joy,
is not more money more joy?

Back in the slick middle of the ‘90s, everyone with a flash computer and a fast modem and an itch to get rich on the internet kicked around sexy techno phrases -- “content provider” “ethernet link” -- like so many badminton birds. Plastic, magic words, they resonated of treasure in the same way that Cibola, legendary Seven Cities of Gold, once ached in the hearts of Spanish explorers. Investment bankers hemorrhaged at the checkbook in their urgency to fund any start-up shop that mentioned web presence in its marketing plan. The wild west and the Roaring Twenties and a great good gold rush all rolled into one.

Any good gold rush, it’s the shopkeepers not the prospectors who grab the cash. So it was for John Balthazar Calvin, who got in early with a phat database, cashed out to a greedy media megalith, made a shipload of dough. He was flush; he should have been happy.

But Calvin was a buzz-chaser, never happy with anything except the next thing, the new challenge, the great beguiling unknown. Ignis fatuus, they call it, will o’ the wisp. It sucked him in like Cibola sucked in Spaniards for four generations in the 16th century, until the New World was all subdued and its native Americans reduced to myth and physical shadows.

John Calvin fell into poker, pure pursuit of the buzz. Soon became a ghost, haunting the card clubs of Southern California, seeking the weak game, the soft target he could shred with his superfine mind.

Calvin played great poker, innately great. He could read opponents, parse pot odds, catalog tells, all with an unstudied ease that seemed to flow from his pores. And so won big, though the more he won the less the money moved him. He wanted a game with something full and real and scary at stake.

One night he’s ripping up a stud game in the top section of the Progress Casino when a gnomelike little man whispers in his ear, “Heard you like action.” Slips a folded piece of paper into John’s pocket. Nothing but a date and a time and a place; a map just the same, delusive ticket to the Seven Cities of Gold.

As conquistadors would, armed with their muskets and their Jesuit justification, John Calvin followed the map to a home high in the Hollymont Hills. Found there a game that was no limit in the truest sense: What you see is what you bet, and nothing less than everything is always on the line.

This all explained by his host, monocled Aldo Janiger. “We don’t bother much with money in this game,” said Janiger. “Meaningless exchange of trinkets from where we sit. We play for true value.”

“Fine,” said John Calvin, the buzz boiling his blood. “Name your stakes.”

Stakes named: car, home, business; all assets, convertible like a sofa or not. Furniture, phones, cans in the pantry. Underwear. Socks. Everything you got. Lose here and it’s square one, pal; your life begins again, with damn-all to bootstrap your ass.

All Calvin said: “Deal me in.”

Astonishing pots. Pink slips, trust deeds, mortgages, zero coupon bonds, business franchises; nothing less than everything. Fortunes gained and lost with the recklessness of dimes and nickels pitched across schoolyard cement. At one point, Calvin found himself the owner of a Telluride slopeside condo, but as he didn’t ski, he put it in the next pot; easy come, irrelevant go.

Life is defining moments. John Calvin’s came just at midnight when his seven stud dream/nightmare/dream hand began with ace-ten underneath and an ace with its face to the sky. He pushed the keys to his Land Rover into the pot.

Janiger said, “See your wheels, raise you my MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.”

“Call.” Cold. A cold call.

Janiger showed a queen, and Calvin put him on a pair, so Janiger’s next card, a four, scared him not at all.

“The contents of my safe deposit box,” bet Calvin.

“Call with mine,” said Janiger, and Calvin knew he was getting odds, because his own box held just some indifferently performing certificates of stock, plus a gun he’d ratholed there in a paranoiac pique one day.

Fifth street, a third ace. Janiger caught a suited jack. Went all in: Slid his home, cars, kids’ trust funds, a reverent Picasso and desultory diamond tie pins into the pot. Calvin called: all his own material goods, up to and including a set of sexy Texas oil wells.

Forget the dull particulars of Janiger’s flush catch. Focus instead on the expression on Calvin’s face as confidence bled into shock and thence to grim awareness. He’d lost it all, capital A All.

Lost to win, somehow, or anyhow that’s how Calvin saw it. A man who’d made money, then more money, till he bent beneath the weight of wealth. Till he went into the Hollymont Hills one night, siphoned it all off into a card game. A card game. And set himself free.

John Balthazar Calvin went home, changed into comfortable shoes, shrugged into a warmish coat. “You don’t own things,” he said to his house as he bade it farewell. “Things own you.” A man not owned is a free man. John Balthazar Calvin, free man, strolled out into the pre-dawn dark, elated to find the great unknown tomorrow just around the corner.

Reality is subjective: What you see depends on where you stand. From where he stood he could see a place the rest of us with our heavily husband-and-wived lives never get to see. Life, take two, and no telling what might happen next.

What might happen next? Got an idea for fast cash on the i-net? I know a man between jobs just now who’s interested in anything so long as it’s the new thing. He can turn your notion into gold. John Balthazar Calvin. He’s just around the corner, just out ahead of his hand.

www.cibola.com. Check it out.

If money is joy, then more money is more joy. But money’s only joyful if there’s nothing joyful in your life.

Check it out.

Hey Joe - We Go to Tomorrow

2005-04-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that $188,710 in your hand?

Joe Beevers of Hendon, England, is our 7th place finisher.

Rob Hollink opened Joe's final hand with a raise to 250K. Joe moved all-in for 680K, and Rob called. Joe had Td-9d, dominated by Rob's A-T offsuit.

The flop came Qh-5s-4s. The turn was the Js, putting three of Rob's suit on board and giving Joe just five outs (two offsuit nines and three offsuit eights). Again no help from the river gods and, well, we go to tomorrow.

Here's Joe, out on the TV bubble and earning $118,710.

And the TV six?

JOHN PHAN -- 1.41M
TUAN LE -- 2.68M
HASAN HABIB -- 7.80M
PAUL MAXFIELD -- 2.89M
PHIL IVEY -- 3.37M
ROB HOLLINK -- 4.43M

We'll reconvene tomorrow at 4pm in a Bellagio ballroom for the final table action. Why the late start? Why, to give the wizards of the WPT a chance to work their pre-broadcast magic, of course. And maybe to give the six final combatants a chance to catch their breath.

How do you handicap such a fight? Here's my thumbnail take.

John Phan is short-stacked. By his own admission he was on tilt after his big laydown to Maxwell's bluff (or incredible T-2 holding?) He's lucky he got out of today without having the chance to steam off all his chips. He'll have plenty of time to regroup before tomorrow afternoon, but given his chip count he's still got an uphill climb.

Rob Hollink. In his quiet way he's been as agressive as Hasan Habib. When he comes out betting, folks tend to get out of his way. (Bet Joe Beevers wishes he had.) He has some friends from Holland here in the house, but no way will he be the crowd favorite. That would have to be...

HaSAN HaBIB! By the end of play today he had most of the crowd cheering for his triumphs, and we'll see more of that tomorrow. Hasan is practically local -- he lives in Southern California -- and he'll have a lot of his homies in the house. Hasan took second in this event last year, and he seems to have the fire in his belly to close the deal this time out.

Tuan Le won a WPT event at Foxwoods not too long ago. He's been playing terrific, aggressive poker all week long here, and I think he expected to go to the final table in stronger chip position than he has. He'll have to move strong and move swiftly to get back into contention with Habib and Ivey. Look for him to wear a yellow sweater.

Phil Ivey. We haven't heard a word from Ivey all week. He barely speaks to announce his bets, never talks about his play, and considers casual conversation to be anathema. With his noise-cancelling headphones clamped to his ears and his dark sunglasses down over his face, he seems to leave the world behind and enter his own particular poker zone. Ivey will be the favorite of the casual fan, because he's gotten a lot of TV time in the last couple of years, but if his fans are as demonstrative as he is, you won't hear a peep out of him.

Joe Maxfield has shown the ability to make big bluffs and bold moves. Though relatively unknown, compared to the WPT luminaries he'll face, he seems ready to go toe to toe with them all. Maxfield hails from England, and will pick up Joe Beevers' supporters like a candidate picks up another candidate's delegates on the second round of balloting.

If you held a gun to my head and said, "Pick 'em," here's the order I'd pick 'em to finish:

6th JOHN PHAN
5th PAUL MAXFIELD
4th ROB HOLLINK
3rd TUAN LE
2nd PHIL IVEY
1st HASAN HABIB

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. More later, -jv

Paul Adopts an Orphan

2005-04-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

John Phan in the big blind.
Paul Maxfield opens for 225K
Hasan Habib calls.
Phan calls.
Flop comes J-2-2 rainbow, a classic orphan flop, just looking to be adopted.
Phan bets 300K.
Maxfield raises 300K.
Habib folds.
Phan calls.
Turn is a 7.
Phan checks.
Maxfield goes all-in.
Phan thinks and thinks and thinks and thinks. He stacks and restacks and counts and recounts his chips. He makes three or four feints at pushing forward his stack, either to try to get a tell on Paul or because he just can't bring himself to call. He thinks some more. The clock is called, giving him a minute and ten seconds to act on his hand. After a minute, Jack McClelland starts counting down from ten. If he reaches zero, Phan's hand will be dead. Just before time runs out, Phan shows... J-Q!... and folds.
Maxfield shows a ten, but not his second card. What could he possibly have that Phan couldn't beat? A deuce? Who gets involved in a pot like that with T-2? On the other hand, who puts his tournament life on the line with, at best, second pair or top pair, weak kicker? Paul is overheard to say that he had nothing. Well, nothing but giant cojones, and now a giant stack of John Phan's chips.
That's how you play poker, folks: You see a pot and you adopt it. In this big custody battle, Paul Maxfield came out on top.

All (Okay Some) of your Chips are Belong to Me

2005-04-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hasan Habib just picked off almost a million of Phil Ivey's chips, this time by uncharacteristically calling on the river.

Hasan opened for 260K. Phil called.
Flop came A-3-8.
Both checked.
Turn was a nine.
Hasan bet 300K. Phil called.
River was another nine.
Hasan checked. Phil bet 400K. Hasan called.
Hasan showed A-7. Phil didn't show.

Hasan's got gears, man. He's made most of his money by betting strong until he meets resistance and then getting out of the way. Just now, though, he got Phil to bet into him, and called him down. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and this cat knows 'em all.

An Anagram for "World Poker Tour"

2005-04-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

work lured troop

Sometimes it Takes a Wall of Chips

2005-04-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

For everyone now, the problem is how to slow down Hasan. Tuan Le raised Hasan's blind to 180K. Hasan reraised to 400, and Le called. The flop came 8d-6h-5d. Hasan checked. Le went all-in for 1.65M. Hasan thought and thought and thought, and finally folded. That's how you slow him down: Just stick a big wall of chips in his path.

The 22nd level is history. Seven players remain, with the following seat positions and chip counts.

SEAT ONE -- JOE BEEVERS -- 900K
SEAT TWO -- PAUL MAXFIELD -- 2.05M
SEAT THREE -- HASAN HABIB -- 6.4M
SEAT FOUR -- PHIL IVEY -- 4.9M
SEAT FIVE -- TUAN LE -- 3.0M
SEAT SIX -- JOHN PHAN -- 2.7M
SEAT SEVEN -- ROB HOLLINK -- 2.9M

Level 23 will feature 10K antes and 40K and 80K blinds. One lap -- seven hands -- will cost each player 190K. Look for Hasan Habib to continue swinging his big stack around -- and with only one player, Joe Beevers, under a million in chips, it might be a while before anyone decides to take him on. -jv

We've Reached the TV Bubble

2005-04-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Joe Cordi is out in 7th place, falling to Hasan Habib, who did not like his hand.

Habib, the habitual bully, made his standard opening raise of 200K. Cordi decided to make a stand with his last 680K, calling Habib's raise and reraising himself all-in for 480 more. Saying, "I don't like my hand," Habib nevertheless called. K-8 for Hasan A-8 of spades for Joe. The board came brick-brick-brick-brick-king, and suddenly Hasan liked his hand a whole lot more.

We're down to seven. Joe (another supersatellite-winning entrant) is up $150,970. The next elimination will end play for the day.

Jesus Falls

2005-04-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is our 9th place finisher, and his end came under somewhat unusual circumstances.

Paul Maxfield entered the pot in early position -- just calling the 60K big blind. So far as I can tell, this is the first time in a couple of days (certainly the first time today) that anyone has limped into the pot without raising. Very suspicious, right? Well, if Chris was suspicious, he wasn't scared, raising the pot to 400K. Maxfield reraised all-in for his last 600K, barely covering Chris's 540K remaining chips. Chris thought -- not very long -- and called. A-K for Maxfield, T-T for Ferguson. His read was right... he was the favorite... but Maxfield had six outs 5 times, for a 60% shot at improving. He got what he needed -- a king on the turn -- and Ferguson was finished.

For the greater good of poker you hate to see the likes of Chris Ferguson miss a TV table. He's so charismatic, photogenic and classy that every time he appears on TV another 50,000 players take up the game (numbers approximate)(okay numbers totally fabricated)(you get the idea). But there will be no TV time for Jesus this time.

Here's Chris with the money for his 9th place finish: $132, 095.00, exactly.

Great work, Chris, and on a personal note, thanks for all the painfully precise chip counts. -jv

You Want to Slow Him Down?

2005-04-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

You want to slow down Hasan Habib?

Your best bet seems to be to make a big play back at him before the flop. In the past few hands, Hasan has made two opening raises in the 200K range, and let his hand go both times in the face of major rereaises. On the other hand, Hasan currently has over 6M in chips, so when you engage with him remember that you're grabbing the proverbial tiger by the tail.

Now, I ask you, is this whimsy... or something else? Hasan opened for 225K, and Phil Ivey reraised to 600. Hasan thought and stared, thought and stared. Then, all of a sudden, he practically barked, "I'm all... out." Did he hope to get a flinch from Phil between the "all" and the "out?" If so, he must have been disappointed, because the icy Ivy didn't react at all. Then again, you can't believe that Hasan was just having his little joke. One thing I've come to believe about poker at this level: Mistakes are not mistakes, jokes are not jokes, everything is done for a purpose, and nothing happens by accident. -jv

The Finn is Finished

2005-04-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

After playing superb poker all week, quietly and with excellent spirit, Juha Helpp is out in tenth place.

His end comes in typical final-table fashion, when two foes tacitly agree to check down the hand in hopes of eliminating a player and moving up in the money table.

Juha moves all in preflop with his last 335K, getting calls from both Phil Ivey and Tuan Le. The board comes K-4-3. Check, check. The turn is a Q. Check, check. The river is a 2. Check, check. A-J for Juha, A-Q for Phil. Tuan doesn't show.

Helppi gets $113,225 for his tenth place finish, but you know he's disappointed not to repeat at a WPT TV table. He won in Aruba two years ago, and hasn't TVed (is there such a word?) since.

But he played with style and grace, and should be more than proud of his accomplishment.

Juha Helppi, out in 10th.

Last Ten Standing

2005-04-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

We're down to one table... ten players... six of whom will come back tomorrow and do it on TV. Who will be knocked out before then? Who'll go out on the dreaded TV bubble? Who will hang tough? Who will lose the plot? Who knows? But we'll all know soon enough, and this we know for sure: Your final table looks like this:

SEAT 1 JOE CORDI 975K
2 JOE BEEVERS 1.625M
3 PAUL MAXFIELD 1.270M
4 HASAN HABIB 6.475M
5 JUHA HELPPI 390K
6 PHIL IVEY 3.795M
7 CHRIS FERGUSON 1.115M
8 TUAN LE 2.09M
9 JOHN PAHN 2.245M
10 ROB HOLLINK 3.080M

More final table action as it happens. -jv

Grinder Ground Down (and Out)

2005-04-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Was it the hand against Hasan when he got frisky with pocket sixes and ran into queens? Did the major loss of chip equity cause a fissure in his judgment? Or did he consider 700,000 chips not a strong enough stack to be patient with? Only Grinder knows for sure, but when Rob Hollink made it 180 to go in, Grinder came over the top for the rest of his chips. The blinds gave way, and Hollink called. A-Q for Hollink, A-J for Mizrachi.

The flop came T-9-2. An 8 on the turn created a straight draw, but no 7 or queen came, and Grinder was out in 11th place.

It kind of looks like the wheels came off the bus. At the last break he was King of the Hill with 4.2M in chips. Conventional wisdom says that big stacks should avoid going to war with other big stacks, yet that's exactly what Mike did with his 6-6. Well, conventional wisdom is for conventional thinkers, and there's no doubt that Mike has his own -- highly successful -- approach to this game. Yet the fact remains that he burned through more than 4 million in chips in less than 20 minutes of tournament play, his two big losses coming when he bet big into better hands.

Well, he's young, and he's got game. He's also got $95,000 in new money. He'll land on his feet, no doubt, and you'll see him back in the winner's circle soon. -jv

Jeff Shulman -- out in 12th

2005-04-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

All-in in the big blind, Jeff Shulman watched John Phan raise in early position to give him protection. Everyone else folded, content to let Phan try to knock Shulman out. And what protection Jeff got: Q-8 for Shulman, Q-7 for Phan. But you know how it goes... "may the worst hand win." The flop came 7-6-6, and though a four on the turn gave Shulman four extra outs to an inside straight, the poker gods were unwilling, a deuce came on the river, and Shulman was out in dozenth place, taking home $95,000 and change.

According to Jeff's dad, Barry, publisher of Card Player magazine, Jeff's got a great game: patience, aggressiveness, reads; the whole package. All he needs is the one thing he hasn't had so far -- the right luck at the righ time -- and he'll snag a major title.

It's funny: I can't remember writing three words about Jeff Shulman this whole tournament (and I can't find his picture in my archives anywhere). He's anonymous... invisible... but he sticks around and stays alive, quietly knocking off the competition and rising higher and higher through the tournament ranks. "The Quiet Lion": out in 12th at the 5Star.

Oh, and not for nothing, but Hasan Habib just doubled through Mike Mizrachi when Grinder put Habib all-in. Pocket sixes for Mike, pocket queens for Hasan. As a queen came on the flop, cries of "Ha-SAN!" reverberated through the room. If Habib makes the final table (and right now he's extremely well-placed to do so) expect to hear that cry quite a few more times. -jv

Top of the 22nd

2005-04-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

We've reached the 22nd leve, where the antes remain 5K, but the blinds are now 30K and 60K. At the two six-handed tables, a lap costs 120K. You wouldn't like to be Jeff Shulman right now, sitting on just 95,000 in chips.

Let's do the numbers...

TABLE ONE

JUHA HELPPI -- 700K
JOHN PHAN -- 2.325M
CHRIS FERGUSON -- 1M
JOE CORDI -- 800K
PHIL IVEY -- 3.6M
JEFF SHULMAN -- 95K

TABLE TWO

HASAN HABIB -- 4.3M
MIKE MIZRACHI -- 4.2M
TUAN LE -- 2.8M
JOE BEEVERS -- 900K
ROB HOLLINK -- 2.1M
PAUL MAXFIELD -- 700K

Back in a flash with the action. -jv

Sammy Arzoin is Unlucky 13

2005-04-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

NYC's Sammy Arzoin (pictured here) has been eliminated in 13th place.

Holding pocket nines, he raised all-in in late position for his last 575K chips. Tuan Le, who seems to be calling everyone, called Arzoin with A-J offsuit. An ace in the window (first card of the flop) was a stake through Sammy's heart, no nines appeared anywhere, and Arzoin was done for the day. Like the other low-teen finishers, he takes home $95, 355.

Hasan Habib has been shifted to table two to balance out the tables at six players apiece. This is probably best news for John Phan, who hasn't had much luck this afternoon running Hasan off his hands, and would probably prefer not to see him again until the final table -- if, you know, at all.

We've come to the end of round 21. I'll be back with chip counts in a moment. -jv

They Don't Call Him "The Grinder" for Nothing

2005-04-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi just romanced more than 1.5 million in chips out of Tuan Le's stack.

He started by raising preflop to 140K. Tuan Le flat-called in the blind. The flop came 5-T-7 rainbow. Tuan, holding T-K, checked and then, when Mizrachi made it 300K to go, raised to 700K, probably expecting to take the pot right there. But Grinder held two red jacks and rereaised all-in. After some deliberation, Le called. The board bricked out, and Grinder had doubled through. That's just a 3.5 million dollar pot, kids; and that's how tournaments are won and lost. More later, -jv

It's Alright, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding

2005-04-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Tony Ma nursed his small stack for all it was worth, surviving two all-ins and playing the waiting game for as long as he could. Finally he found a hand to push with, 8-8, only to find two willing callers, Joe Beevers and Mike Mizrachi. Both live players checked a flop of Qc-9d-Ad, but when a king hit the board on the turn, Beevers bet Grinder off the pot. KQ for Beevers, and the need for a miracle 8 for Ma. No miracle. No more Ma.

Tony Ma is, of course, a force in any tournament he enters, and his days of steady, mistake-free poker were rewarded with a payday of almost $100,000.

We have 13 players left. We'll play down to 6 today, no matter how short or long a time that takes. Paul Maxfield just survived his own all-in Donnybrook, and doubled through to more than 800. But at these levels of antes and blinds, no stack is safe... and in just 25 minutes they numbers jump again. Hold onto your hat, Hortense, this is starting to get good. -jv

George Miller Exits in 15th Place

2005-04-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, it was George Miller, not Tony Ma, who took the next Long Walk from the tournament floor. Holding K-J of clubs, he pushed all in for his last 240K and found a willing caller in Rob Hollink, who held A-Q of diamonds. Michael Mizrachi showed 7-8 offsuit and folded.

Well, that would've been the winner (not that Grinder has a call there) because the flop came 4-5-6 rainbow, the turn was a three and the river was a six. Hollink won the pot, and George was heading back to his Gary, Indiana, home some $94,000 richer (less the cost of the supersatellite he won to get in.) Congratulations, George, on some gutsy laydowns, some incisive reads, and six days of super-solid play. More later, -jv