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 The
World Poker Tour held in Reno was definitely one of the less eventful final tables of the season. There were three players I had
not heard of previously: Cal Dykes, Mark Edwards and Tony Le. Two of the players I knew are not among the most exciting to watch,
T.J. Cloutier and
Ron Rose. That left Paul "Quack Quack" Magriel to
create the entertainment.
T.J. was the short stack on the table and got knocked out on the second hand of the tournament. He raised the pot with his
pocket sevens, Ron moved all-in with his
pocket Aces and T.J. called.
The board did not help T.J. and he was sent to the
rail early. It was interesting how the small and the
big blind also got dealt decent hands and had to fold to Ron's all-in move. Mark held pocket jacks and Tony had KQ
suited. In the interview afterwards, T.J. stated that because he had a short stack, he knew he was going to have to
move in with the first pair he had. He was unlucky
that not only did Ron have a better hand, Mark did also.
Mark was not able to get started in the tournament either. Besides laying down his pocket jacks, he also laid down pocket threes
to Ron's pocket queens. Finally he got dealt a pocket pair of queens that looked like they might hold up. Paul raised the pot,
Mark moved all-in and Paul Magriel called the small bet with his K6. Paul flopped the king and Mark was sent home in fifth place.
A few hands later, Paul raised with his pocket nines and Ron re-raised with pocket tens. Paul then moved
all-in and Ron called. The flop was J98 giving Paul a
set and Ron the open end straight draw. The turn was a
ten of hearts giving Ron additional outs with a flush draw. The river was a seven and Ron threw up his hands when he realized he
outdrew Paul. Ron started the hand with less chips
than Paul, so Paul was still in the game.
Ron gained his huge chip lead with the previous hand and the following one. Ron raised the $8000 blind to $24,000 with
pocket queens. Paul then called the $20,000 in the small blind with K5
suited and Tony called in the big blind with KJ.
The flop was 764 and Paul bet $66,000. Ron moved all-in. The pot was worth a lot of money and was pivotal in chip position. Paul
laid his hand down and I wondered if this was the correct move. We, as the audience can see that he had an
overcard with his straight draw. The
pot odds might have warranted a call, but since
he did not know that he had the king draw, the
laydown was probably correct. He was left with
only $120,000. If he had called and won the pot, he would have had $444,000.
 The
thing I found the most interesting about this tournament was how two players consistently made the same move. When Paul
(X-22) raised the pot, he raised to $22,000 or an amount multiplied by $22,000 (e.g. 66,000). Cal (the dentist) always moved
all-in. When either of these players deviated from their move, it came back to bite them on the ass. When Paul decided to
move all-in with seven-deuce, Tony made a great call. It appeared to me that Tony picked up on the fact Paul deviated from
his standard raise and sensed a weak hand. This left Paul with very few chips. The first time the dentist tried to
limp in the small blind, Paul moved all-in on him.
This move did not cost him much money on this hand because he laid his hand down, but he could have made a lot of money making this
move in a different situation. If he limped with a powerful hand in the small blind, he might have been able to double up.
Paul Magriel was eliminated in fourth place after he moved all-in with pocket fours. Ron called with AQ and flopped the
queen. I was interested in the background of Paul. He is considered a "guru" for backgammon players having written a book
comparable to what Super System is for poker. However, his behavior at the table was more than a little annoying.
Every time he raised the pot to his standard bet, he would say "quack quack". I found this plenty annoying watching on
television and I could not imagine sitting at the table with him while he did this on every hand. It appeared to be done
with the intent to distract other players. Vince Van Patten actually made one comment that made me laugh (and believe me
that guy does not usually make me laugh). When he introduced the remaining players after commercial break, he introduced
Paul as a backgammon player on "quack".
Tony was the next person sent home when he called a $50,000 raise from Cal in the small blind with KQ. Ron Rose looked at his cards after the
action and found pocket jacks. He moved
all-in, Cal laid his hand down and Tony called his remaining $22,000 in chips. It looked like he might win the pot when the
flop was AQ9, but the turn was a ten and the river was an eight giving Ron the straight.
It was very odd, as pointed out by Mike Sexton many times that Cal never showed a hand. His all-in move worked well for him
as the other players would just lay their hands down time and again. The only hand of his that was shown at the table was the final one.
He held 54 in the big blind and Ron called in the small blind with KQ. The flop was J42 and Cal moved all-in. After thinking for awhile,
Ron called. He turned the queen and claimed his first victory on the World Poker Tour. He previously placed sixth at Foxwoods. Ron has
had success in tournaments, so I won't doubt his ability to play. However on this particular day, he happened to be dealt a lot of high
quality hands in key situations. He also won every big pot he was involved in.
See also Reno - Season Two and
Season Three |
