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 The WPT
Championship Event held at the Bellagio was not much different from the rest of the season's episodes. I expected the $25,000
buy-in and the fact that many of the players
were champions from previous shows to make for great television. However, it was average. The six final players were not players
I know I like to watch. There was only one player that I know on a personal level, Hasan Habib. Hasan is a successful tournament
player and I was hoping that at least he would make the show interesting for me to watch, but even he could not make it exciting for me.
The other five players were Martin deKnijff, Richard "gotmilk" Grijalva, Russell Rosenblum, Matt Matros and Steve Brecher.
Most of the players played good, but many of the situations were unfortunately straight forward.
Steve Brecher managed to get eliminated on the second hand shown. On the first hand, Steve called the $60,000 big blind with
pocket threes. Russell called in the small blind with J9 of diamonds and Matt
checked with KT. The flop was KJ7 giving Matt top pair.
Russell checked, Matt checked, Steve bet $200,000, Russell folded and Matt called. The turn was a six and Steve folded after Matt led out
with a bet of $250,000. Steve lost a chunk of his stack, but wasn't particularly short stacked because the blinds were $30,000-$60,000.
I was surprised when I saw what he did on the following hand. Steve raised to $140,000 with A4 of clubs, Martin
reraised to $400,000 with AQ and the
other players folded behind him. The action came back around to Steve and he moved all-in for another $780,000 and Martin
called. The flop was J73, the turn was a king, and the
river was a three. I have no clue at the thought process
behind the move. It seemed like a premature move. He could have been basing his play on previous days or he might have been trying to play
a big pot to give him ammunition... either way, I would have waited till I had a better feel for the television table dynamics.
The next hand shown, Martin raised to $250,000 with pocket eights and when Richard reraised to $650,000 with pocket kings,
Martin folded. This hand was pretty basic, but I wanted to bring it up because the host Vince Van Patten called the pocket
kings, "Double Rulers". He made the same comment the week before and I laughed (it might have been more like a grumble) at
how he gives every situation (or hand) a nickname. Maybe the general public likes this, but it annoys me.
 The next two hands were
almost the identical situation and go back to something I have brought up in my
Costa Rica report. The situation is calling the flop
to steal the pot on the turn. The first time, Matt called in the small blind with 75 and Hasan checked his J4. The flop was KQQ and Matt bet
$100,000 and Hasan called with the intention of taking the pot on the turn. The turn was an eight. Matt checked, Hasan bet $175,000 and Matt folded.
The second time Martin raised to $225,000 in the small blind with AT and Richard called with J8 of clubs. The flop was 742. Martin bet $200,000
and Richard called. The turn was a six. Martin checked, Richard bet $350,000 and Martin folded. I liked the move both times because it was
unlikely the flop hit the original bettor's hand.
Russell finished in fifth when he made a strange play. Richard raised to $180,000 with pocket jacks. When it was Russell's
turn to act he strongly announced "raise". He stared at Richard to see what kind of reaction he was going to get before
he announced the amount. He was looking for some kind of tell, but it appeared to backfire. Richard sat there stone-faced and
was probably able to pick up a little information from Russell instead. Because he was so intent on seeing the reaction, it
was pretty easy to conclude that Russell did not have pocket aces, kings, or even queens. This would make Richard more
confident to play his jacks for all of his money. After the "stare", Russell made it $600,000 with his AQ and
Richard moved all-in. Russell called all-in for 1,390,000. The flop was T87, the turn was a four of hearts giving Russell a
flush draw, but the river was a king of clubs.
 Richard
"gotmilk" qualified for the event by playing online and he proved that some online players are true contenders. He played
great and made some great calls, but on one particular hand he got caught in a mess. Richard raised on the button with KT
and Hasan reraised from the big blind with pocket kings. It was another $300,000 to Richard and he called. The flop was 932.
Hasan bet $350,000 and Richard moved on a pure bluff. The turn was another deuce, so Richard could not win. He had more
chips than Hasan, so he was not eliminated on that hand.
He won a little back when he made an over the top all-in move on a
semi-bluff. However, it wasn't much
longer in the program when he got eliminated. Richard raised to $275,000 with A7 and Martin called with K2 of clubs. The
flop was A33 with two clubs. Martin checked his flush draw, Richard bet $400,000, and Martin moved all-in. It did not take
long for Richard to call. The river ended up giving Martin his flush draw and Richard finished in fourth place.
I am not sure what it was about the following hand, but it was my favorite of the tournament. Martin raised to $225,000 on
the button with J6 and Matt called the additional $125,000 with pocket fives. The flop was AA4 and both players checked. The
turn was a ten. Matt bet $300,000, Martin raised to $800,000, and Matt looked totally disgusted. It looked like Matt
knew his hand was good on the flop and then Martin screwed everything up for him. He asked if Martin hit ten and the
tournament director said it was going to be a half million in chips to find out and Matt said that it wasn't because he
still had the river to deal with. If Matt thought his fives were good and had doubts about Martin having the ten,
there was no way he could have called. He announced to the world "my hand sucks" by the disgust of Martin's raise.
One of the things I enjoyed about this show was Hasan and Martin laid down hands that would inevitably be losers and make
plays against hands that were weak. Martin had pushed Matt around on the previous hand I discussed, but on a similar flop of
T77, Martin laid his A4 down when Matt bet on the flop with T8. There were many many hands like this and I was
impressed with the timing (or reads) of
making moves on pots. Matt finished the tournament a little while later (at least by WPT editing) when he made move for a
pot. Matt raised on the button to $500,000 with A5 and Martin called in the big blind with KJ. The flop was JT2. Martin
checked and Matt checked behind him. The turn was a nine. Martin bet $500,000, Matt moved all-in and Martin called. The
river did not help Matt and he finished in third.
When the heads up play started, Martin
had Hasan 3 to 1 in chips (12 million to 4 million). I figured we would be able to see some great heads up action
because of Hasan's experience and his ability to play a short stack. This was not the case because Martin got some
great hands and was coming over the top of Hasan. Hasan tried to make a move on Martin a few times, but couldn't do it. One
example of this was when Hasan called with 73 and Martin raised an additional $300,000 with AQ. Hasan tried to make a
move for this pot when he reraised to $800,000, but Martin crushed that idea when me moved all-in. The final hand of the
tournament Martin raised with pocket tens and Hasan moved all-in with A5. The flop was 542 giving Hasan a few outs, but the
turn was a queen and the river was a seven and he finished in second place. Martin was crowned a deserving World Poker Tour
Champion of Season Two. Also see
World Poker Tour Championship - Season One and
Season Three.
 Here are a couple of player bios:
Matt Matros: Matt began playing poker for pennies as a kid, but started taking the game seriously during the fall of
1998 in his senior year at Yale University. He first cashed in a major tournament at the 2001 Tournament of Champions of
Poker. Matt won his way into three World Poker Tour events in 2003, but finished no higher than 37th. The experience became
well worth it, however, when Matt won his way into the WPT Championship in 2004 where he went on to place third in the event.
A writer by trade, Matt his written a book on poker entitled
The Making of a Poker Player. It is a strategy book
told through a narrative of his experiences playing. It will be published by Citadel Press in late 2004 or early 2005. At
the time of this writing, Matt is finishing up his M.F.A. in Fiction Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY.
 Steve Brecher:
Age 58, single (two short marriages long ago), no kids. I've lived near Reno, NV for 12 years; before that, in Silicon
Valley, Southern California, and New York. I grew up in Queens, NY. My roommate is a cat. My college major was
philosophy. My career was primarily in computer software development with forays into computer-based investment and trading.
I developed and published a hit software product, which enabled me to pursue other interests. I've acted in six community
theater productions in the Reno area, but that activity has been interrupted by my return to the poker tournament tour. In
the summer I hike about 25 miles per week in the Sierra foothills wilderness; in the winter I cross-country ski.
I started in poker while in college, playing no-limit
lowball at the Cameo Club in Palo Alto, CA (which no longer exists).
Subsequently I periodically played lowball when I lived in California. I first played Texas hold 'em on August 25, 1993 in
Reno -- I have no idea why I remember the date! I soon started playing tournaments. Prior to 2004 I played the final WSOP
event seven times without cashing -- although I did finish 8th of 350 entrants in the $2500 NLH at the 1999 WSOP. I decided
in December 2003 to play subsequent WPT NLH events, although at that time I expected to skip the Championship. However,
encouraged by my 10th place money in the
Reno WPT tournament and rumors
of a large turnout, I decided to buy in. |
