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The Mirage Poker Showdown was a new event added to the World Poker Tour circuit in
2004. The inaugural event had 281 players and a prize pool of $2,700,000. The final six players were Gabe Kaplan,
Scotty Nguyen,
John Juanda,
Jim "The Nit" Meehan, Eli Elezra, and Lee Watkinson.
The six guaranteed an interesting table.
On one of the first hands we see, Scotty, the chip leader, lost a large chunk of his stack, but I can't fault him for the
way he played the hand. All players folded to Scotty in the small blind and he raised the $20,000 big blind to $70,000 with
A9 of diamonds. John thought about it for a short time and moved all-in for an additional $435,000. I think this was the
correct move for John to make as well. There are so many times when the small blind will make a raise with a weak hand in an
attempt to pick up the blind. John probably thought Scotty was making this sort of move and figured that AJ was a better
hand than most of the hands Scotty likely held. Scotty, on the other hand, probably figured that John was making a move
based on that theory as well and John could have had a weaker ace, a small pocket pair, KJ, QJ, or something similar. Scotty
had so many chips at the time; he could afford to go against those types of hands. Unfortunately for Scotty, John had him
dominated and his hand held up.
Jim Meehan didn't get involved in too many hands (at least from what was aired) and was eliminated when he took his pocket
jacks against Eli's AK. Jim raised with his Jacks, Eli
reraised and Jim moved all-in. The flop was 973,
the turn was an ace, and the river was a three. Mike Sexton made a comment about an alternative play for Jim to make and it probably
would have worked in this situation, but it is very easy to say that when we know what cards were dealt. Mike said that Jim could have
just called Eli's raise and then moved in on the flop. We know the flop was 973 and the move probably would have worked, but Jim didn't
know what the cards flop was going to be. Jim finished in sixth place.
Gabriel Kaplan (from Welcome Back Kotter) played a lot of hands passively and it cost him. One example of his passive
play was when Lee doubled the blind with 65 from first
position. Gabe only called from the small blind
with AQ and Eli called from the big blind with K9. The flop was QJ5. Gabe
checked, Eli bet $60,000, Lee folded, and Gabe called. Since Gabe only
flat called the preflop raise, I liked his check
call in this situation. He had not given any sign of strength and he could make a nice powerful check raise on the turn. The turn was a seven.
Gabe checked, Eli bet $225,000, and Gabe only called!! If he wasn't going to make a big check raise on the turn, I hoped he would get at least a
value bet on the river, but when the three showed up on the river,
both players checked.
On another hand, Scotty called on the button
with JT and Gabe checked from the big blind with Q9. The flop was 985 giving Scotty the open end straight draw and Gabe top
pair. Gabe checked, Scotty bet $100,000, and Gabe called. The turn was another nine and both players checked. The river was
an eight. Gabe bet $250,000 and Scotty folded. Again, Gabe played the hand passively and did not win the maximum amount of
chips on the hand. Scotty is an aggressive player and if Gabe had checked on the river, I would not have been surprised for
Scotty to take a stab at the pot with his busted
straight draw. Gabe's large bet on the river
guaranteed he wasn't going to get any extra chips from Scotty.
John Juanda played terrific poker. He made an amazing
laydown when he held AQ and his opponent held AK.
He also stopped himself from making a move on a pot that I probably would have gone for. John raised on the button with A9 and Eli called
with 96 of clubs. The flop was J83 and both players checked. The turn was a seven of hearts giving John the
flush draw and Eli the open end
straight draw. Eli bet $100,000 and John called. The river was a five giving Eli the straight. Eli bet $100,000 and John
thought about it for awhile. I thought the small bet seemed like a weak bet (although I knew better because of I could see
the hole cards) and it looked as if John thought the same thing. I expected him to come over the top of Eli, but he
refrained from doing so and saved himself some chips.
The strangest hand we saw on the show was when John called in the small blind with 43 and Gabe checked with Q6. The flop was
982 all spades and no player had a spade in their hand. John bet $50,000 and Gabe called. I thought that Gabe was finally
going to make some kind of aggressive move on a hand. I could not imagine that he thought his Q high was good, so I figured
he was going to make a move for the pot on the turn. The turn was a seven and after John checked, Gabe checked!!! John ended
up taking the pot down on the river with a $100,000 bet.
Scotty got involved in another pot that cost him most of his chips. Lee raised all-in for $705,000 on the button with AK. I am not
really sure I liked the all-in move by Lee in this spot, but it actually worked out for him. I usually like to play a pot with a hand like
AK and an all-in
move in that spot usually means you are
just going to pick up the blind. Scotty was in the small blind with AQ and probably figured that Lee didn't have a better
hand than he did. Scotty called and did not catch his Queen.
On the next hand we see, Scotty was eliminated when he moved all-in with pocket sixes from first position and was called by
Eli in the small blind with pocket jacks. Scotty went in with the chip lead and finished in fifth place. I know we don't get
to see all the hands that were played, but I didn't see anything wrong with the way Scotty played any of the hands. I
suppose he could have sat back and let the other players go to battle, but that isn't his style (and not mine either).
John was the next person eliminated when Lee raised to $200,000 with pocket fives and John moved all-in from the small blind
with A9 of spades. It was another $440,000 to Lee. He was getting 2-1 on the call and he had been winning his race
situations. He called, John did not improve and finished in fourth place.
Lee had been playing a solid game and when the play got down to three players, he switched gears beautifully. There was one
hand I was really impressed with. Gabe raised to $250,000 on the button with QJ, Eli called with A8, and Lee moved all-in
from the big blind with Q8. Both players folded, but Eli seemed as if he wanted to call. Lee's timing on making a move was
perfect and won a nice size pot because of it.
Gabe was the third place finisher when he finally made a move for a pot, but did so at the wrong time. Gabe moved all-in on the button
with K7 of spades and Lee called the additional $1,025,000 with AT. The flop was A53 and the turn was an eight giving Gabe no outs.
Lee held a substantial lead when the heads up
play began and lost the lead with some questionable plays. I know we don't see all the hands, but I was amazed at how some of the
hands went down. The strangest hand was when Lee called with T6 of hearts and Eli checked K6. The flop was KK2 and both players checked.
The turn was an ace. Eli checked, Lee bet $120,000 and Eli made it $500,000. I was so surprised to see Lee call. What could he be thinking?
Did he actually think his ten high was good or did he think Eli was
bluffing? I guess he thought Eli was bluffing because
after a $900,000 bet on the river by Eli, Lee said, "I guess you have a king" and laid his hand down.
Eli simply played better during the heads up match. He made strong bets, confused his opponent by
limping with strong hands, and making good laydowns.
There was one hand where Eli laid A6 down when Lee held A9. That laydown could have been one of the reasons why he ended up winning
the tournament. If he lost the hand, both players would have been about even in chips.
The final hand was interesting. Lee called with 54 of spades, Eli raised to $500,000 with AQ, and Lee moved all-in. Lee
obviously thought he could pick up the pot with an all-in move, but Eli called the $1,570,000 with AQ. The flop was KT7, the
turn was a ten, and the river was an eight. Eli Elezra won the tournament and a first prize of $1,024,574. |
