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 The World Poker
Tour held in Aruba was interesting because it was a different format than what we have been seeing on the shows. It also was
the first that guaranteed that an "amateur" qualifier was going to be playing heads-up against a pro. The qualifiers won
their seats online played down to four players. The eight professionals that attended were invited by Ultimate Bet and they
also played down to four players. The two divisions played separately until there was only one winner per divisions, then
they played heads-up to decide who the champion and winner of the seat to the WPT final would be.
The qualifiers were
Kathy Liebert, Juha Helppi, Woody Moore and Anssi Tuulivirda. I
was surprised to see that Woody had raised
all-in on the first hand with Q8 offsuit, but I was even more surprised to see that Anssi and Juha called with J5 suited
and J6
suited respectively. The diamonds came
giving Anssi the flush and sent Woody home.
Kathy got her money in having the best of it with her QT of spades against Juha's J9 offsuit. I was really surprised to see
Juha's call of an additional $113,000. He had originally raised her blind of $30,000 to $80,000, but when she came over the
top of him, I expected him to lay the hand down. He not only played it, but got lucky with it when he made a straight on the
river.
The match got interesting when the two remaining
players played heads-up. They are
both friends and Juha happened to be the one that taught Anssi how to play only three months prior to the tournament. Juha
had a nine to one chip lead and Anssi pulled himself within reach of winning the tournament, however it was Juha who
prevailed. Juha had
AK versus Anssi's AQ on the final
hand. Juha then went to the sidelines to watch the professionals play. I wish that the heads-up match lasted a little longer.
1st. Juha Helppi - Juha is a poker dealer from Finland.
2nd. Anssi Tuulivirda - He is an economics student from Finland.
3rd. Kathy Leibert - Professional for over ten years, but qualified online.
4th. Woody Moore - He is a retired oil executive and has been playing poker for 35 years.
Windows - Mac
The invited pros were also exciting to watch. Phil
Gordon happened to get the best of Phil Hellmuth on a couple
of hands. One hand, Hellmuth was holding Q6 against Gordon's QK. The board was KQ3Q4 giving Gordon the
full house and Hellmuth three queens.
I was impressed by Hellmuth's ability to lose the smallest amount possible on this hand. Most people would have lost more,
but Hellmuth proved his ability to read his
opponent. When the hand was over, Gordon pulled a hand ranking card out and put it on the table. Knowing how competitive
Hellmuth is, I would imagine that rubbed him the wrong way to say the least.
The hand that was key in Hellmuth's elimination was against
Jennifer Harman. She was on the
button with A2 of diamonds and raised the $600
blind to $1700. Phil calls with the 89 offsuit. The flop comes T84 with 2 diamonds. Phil checked and Jennifer checked. The turn
is a nine of diamonds giving Phil two pair and Jennifer the nut flush. Her face did not flinch at all which helped lure Phil into
thinking that he had the best hand. Phil checked and Jennifer bet $2,000. Phil moved all-in and Jennifer called. Phil did not get
his eight or nine on the river and his stack was severely crippled. She played that hand like the poker-pro that she is.
Another hand that I was impressed with was when Jennifer had
pocket Aces
and raised the minimum of $2,000. Hellmuth held KQ, stares Jennifer down, and asks her why she only raised that particular
amount. He could sense that it was a trap. He called the bet before the flop, but got away from it on the flop. He made a
great read from the beginning. Hellmuth left the game unusually sportsmanlike when Scotty beat him. He even shook some of
the remaining opponents hands. In the interview after, he said that they all played well and he wished them good luck.
Gordon took many of Scotty's chips when Scotty raised with KJ and Gordon held pocket aces. Gordon moved all in and Scotty
called and got no help with the board. A few hands later Gordon knocked Scotty out when he held pocket tens.
The next hand we see, Jennifer gets knocked out with her pocket sixes. Gordon
limped in with AQ and Jennifer moved all-in.
Gordon quickly calls and flops the queen. The match is now going to be heads-up pitting the amateur against the pro.
The heads-up match was amusing to watch because it didn't look like Juha was the amateur. Every time Gordon tried to make a
move, Juha re-raised him. Juha did happen to get better cards than Gordon, but he also outplayed him. Gordon consistently
tried to make moves with absolutely nothing and he looked extremely frustrated when the moves didn't work. He made light of
the moment by pouring a glass of water on his own head which was amusing.
Juha played very confident poker and was great at keeping his composure on all hands. It was very hard to get a read off on
him. It seemed every time Juha had an ace in his hand, he would flop it. The streak continued on the last hand when Juha held
AJ and Phil had pocket fives. Juha raised, Phil moved all-in, and Juha called. The flop comes AA2. No five came to rescue Gordon.
See also
Aruba - Season Two and
Season Three
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