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 The WPT
Championship was a three hour televised event. The advertisement stated there was so much action that they could not fit it
into a two hour show. The final six players were Tuan Le, Paul Maxfield, Hasan Habib, Rob Hollink, John Phan and the incredible
Phil Ivey.
Hasan won the first hand uncontested. Paul won the second won the second with a
semi-bluff. John raised on the button
with 98 and Paul called from the blind with A8. The flop was K96 all hearts and Paul held the ace of hearts. Paul
checked, John bet $270,000 and Paul called.
The turn was a five of clubs and Paul moved all-in (he only had ace high). John folded and the wondercam revealed that the river
was not a heart and John would have won the hand.
 I have to mention the next
hand because Phil lost with his WPT nemesis hand, AQ. Phil raised to $230,000, John moved all-in with KJ, and Phil called
the additional $445,000. The flop was K95 with two hearts. The turn was a jack of spades and the river was a two of clubs.
I don't know how many times Phil has lost with this hand on the WPT, but I am positive that it is more than the
odds dictate.
About five hands later, Tuan Le doubled up with AK. He raised to $375,000, Rob moved all-in for over two million from the
button with QT and Tuan called. I was not thrilled with the huge reraise from Rob. I understand he wanted to
isolate the hand, but if the blinds happened
to have a big hand, it could have cost him the tournament. Hasan was in the big blind and he was the chip leader by a wide margin.
Luckily for Rob, Hasan only had 9 high. The flop didn't help either player and the ace on the turn helped seal the deal for Tuan. He had fewer
chips than Rob.
Rob managed to make a small comeback on the next hand when he doubled up with pocket queens against Phil's AJ. Phil took the
same hand (AJ) against pocket queens on the next hand shown and lost again. He finished in sixth place. When he did his exit
interview with Shana, she asked him if he would ever play AQ on a WPT final table again and he said, "I am going to play it,
but I don't like it."
Rob was out on the next hand. He made some overly aggressive moves and they didn't work out for him. On this particular
hand, Rob raised to $400,000 with pocket jacks, Rob moved all-in with KJ, and Rob called the additional $1,635,000. The
board helped neither of them and Rob left in fifth place.
Tuan's aggressive style works well for him. On one hand, John raised to $500,000 with A7 and Tuan called with J9 of clubs
from the big blind. The flop was KT8 giving Tuan the open end
straight draw. Tuan checked, John bet $600,000,
and Tuan moved all-in. John folded the best hand and the wondercam showed that John would have eliminated Tuan if he had called.
John was the next person to go when he lost two more hands (at least two televised hands) in a row. He raised to $800,000
with KQ, Paul moved all-in for over $2,000,000 with AK, and John called instantly. I can't argue with John's success in
tournaments, so I had to wonder if there something we didn't see on television. Was Paul pushing players around? Was Paul
folding to reraises? Or was John just totally off his game? Paul ended up winning the hand when he made a straight. On the
next hand, John answered my question. He was on tilt!! Plain and simple! He moved in on the next hand for $1,135,000 with 83
from the small blind and Paul called with A5. Paul flopped two pair and by the turn, John was
drawing dead. He finished in fourth place.
 Hasan had the chip lead
for most of the tournament, but he lost a big chunk of his stack to Paul on the following hand. Hasan called from the button
with pocket sixes, Tuan called with 86, and Paul checked with J7. The flop was T98 giving Paul the straight. All of the
players checked. The turn was a queen. Tuan checked Paul bet $300,000, Hasan raised to $900,000, Tuan folded, and Paul
called. The river was the ace of diamonds making a possible
flush. Paul checked, Hasan bet $2,000,000, and Paul called.
There were two hands where Hasan had a chance to take Tuan out of the tournament. If he had played either hand differently,
the whole tournament would have changed. The first hand, Tuan moved all-in for $1,940,000 on the button with QJ and after
some thought, Hasan folded KJ. Hasan already had $400,000 invested because he was the big blind and was the right price on
his hand especially because Tuan is such an aggressive player. He showed his hand and Tuan looked relieved as he was
scooping the pot. Tuan admitted that Hasan had a better hand, but he lied when he said that he had two live cards.
Tuan doubled up a couple hands later when Paul called his all-in bet from the blind with JT. Tuan had K9 and it held up.
Paul wasn't getting as good of a price as Hasan was a few hands earlier, but he still took the opportunity to knock out a player.
I mentioned earlier that Hasan had two opportunities to possibly knock out Tuan. The second one was when Tuan called with 76
and Hasan checked with 63. The flop was T63 giving Hasan two pair. Tuan bet $600,000, Hasan raised to $1,800,000 and Tuan
reraised to $3,800,000 and Hasan accidentally called.
As soon as he muttered the words, "I call", he said, "I mean I am all-in." His first action stood and he was forced
to only call. The turn brought a deuce and Hasan moved all-in. Tuan knew that Hasan wanted to raise on the flop, so he knew his hand was
not good. If he didn't have the information, he might have called because of the
pot odds. Who knows what would have happened,
but I am sure Hasan has wondered if that hand cost him the tournament.
After that hand, Hasan spiraled in a downward motion. He got unlucky one big hand, but he also played a few hands like he
was desperate. The first hand shown after his misstep, Hasan moved all-in with Q6 and Tuan called with pocket tens. The tens
held up and Tuan was back in action. The next hand, Hasan lost with AJ against Paul's KT. It is always bad when you lose a
hand that you were the favorite on, but it makes it worse when the
river card is the one that brings you down.
Paul hit his miracle king on the river and Hasan looked devastated.
He lost the next hand when he took pocket sevens against Tuan's A8 of spades. Tuan flopped the flush draw and hit it on the
turn. After that hand, Tuan was the new chip leader. Hasan managed to pick up a pot on a pure bluff in between his losses.
He bluffed Tuan out of a pot with 53. He went broke on the next hand. Hasan called with Q8 of clubs, Tuan raised to $1,000,000
with KJ, Hasan moved all-in for $5,810,000 and Tuan called. The board did not help either player and Hasan finished in third place.
 The
heads up play was an exciting battle to
watch. Both players played well, made their share of moves, and even sucked out on each other. The first
suckout was when Paul raised to $2,000,000 with K8,
Tuan moved all-in with A4 and Paul called $3,725,000 more (he had fewer chips than Tuan). The flop was T95 and the turn was a seven giving
Paul the straight draw as well as his pair draw. The river was a king. Paul did it again!! He sucked out on the river. It was always on
the last card. Tuan normally carries himself well at the table, but on this particular hand he didn't. As soon as the chips went into the pot,
he walked over to his friends and family sitting in the audience. He said Paul was a suckout artist and he had sucked out all week.
Tuan retaliated by sucking out on Paul a few hands later. Tuan raised to $2,000,000 with 98 and Paul called with 65 of
diamonds. The flop was 653 giving Paul two pair and Tuan the
gutshot straight draw. Paul checked,
Tuan moved all-in, and Paul called. The turn was a two and the river was a seven giving Tuan the straight.
The tournament was over a few hands later when Paul moved all-in for $9,700,000 with K5 and Tuan called with KJ. The flop
was JT3 and the turn was a queen. Tuan started to celebrate his win, but then realized that if an ace or nine came on the
river, they would chop the pot. The river was a seven and Tuan won the event. They announced that Tuan was the biggest money
winner on the WPT. Paul finished in second place and was a class act throughout the event.
See also WPT Championship Season One and
Two |
