Hello again everybody. I just got done watching the final table of the Main Event on pay-per-view. Yes, that’s right, I 토토사이트추천up the $25 to watch all of the hands instead of only the select hands that ESPN will show a couple months from now. It will be very interesting to see how ESPN uses the 13 hours of coverage to condense a show to two hours, to make a few key story lines, what they make up, etc.
As the final table began, Jamie Gold had a nice chip lead followed fairly closely by superstar Allen Cunningham. The chip counts looked like this:
Jamie Gold, 25,500,000
Allen Cunningham, 17,700,000
Richard Lee, 11,820,000
Eric Friberg, 9,605,000
Paul Wasicka, 7,970,000
Doug Kim, 6,770,000
Rhett Butler, 4,815,000
Michael Binger, 3,140,000
Dan Nassiff, 2,600,000
With the blinds at $80k/$160k and a $20k ante, there would be plenty of play, and only one or two players were somewhat shortstacked. But there were fireworks early as Jamie Gold eliminated Dan Nassiff in only the fifth hand. With 2-2, Gold limped in, and Nassiff raised about half his stack with A-K. Gold pondered for a while before making the call (He said later that if Nassiff would have moved all-in, he would have had to fold.). The flop was perfect for Gold, 2-3-4. Nassiff moved the rest of his chips in, Gold called, and Nassiff was out right away. Sucks he’ll only get about two minutes of TV time, but making over $1.5M should ease the pain. By the way, supposedly Jamie Gold is the basis for Ari Gold on the HBO show Entourage. Pretty cool – Ari’s the best character on the only must-see TV show of the summer.
After about five hours of play, Eric Friberg was the next to go in eighth place. Friberg couldn’t get anything going all night. Every pot he was in, he was getting pushed around. In the end, he got all his money in with J-J against Gold’s Q-Q. With no help, he had to take his $1.98M and go home. In the five hours between eliminations, Gold had definitely exerted his dominance. When he was in position, he was getting into pots for relatively cheap, and when his opponents showed any weakness, he would pounce. Plus he was getting lucky which doesn’t hurt. On one particular hand, Allen Cunningham and Gold both flopped trip 9’s on a flop of 9-9-8. Gold had the better kicker and took the huge pot.
Cunningham was dealt another blow shortly after Friberg was eliminated. On a flop of Q-J-8 rainbow, Michael Binger moved all-in with a A-T (double gutshot straight draw). Cunningham called with A-Q, giving Binger only eight outs (four K’s and four 9’s), plus he could catch runner runner for a flush. Basically, Allen was 2-1 to take the pot. But when the turn came K, Binger doubled up and Cunningham took a hit.
Next to go, in the 7th place, was Doug Kim. Doug is a recent Duke grad, so I wasn’t too upset to see him go. On a flop of 4-4-3, Kim put all his money in the pot with 9-9, but Paul Wasicka had Q-Q and more chips. With no help, Kim was knocked out and received almost $2.4M for his effort. In the meantime, Gold and Cunningham were taking control of the table, winning most of the pots between them, while most of the others were stuck in neutral. Cunningham did make a misstep once when he called Michael Binger’s all-in with Q-J. Binger’s A-Q dominated, and he doubled up once again through Cunningham.
When the sixth place finisher was eliminated, the approximate chip counts were as follows:
Jaime Gold, 37,500,000
Richard Lee, 16,580,000
Allen Cunningham, 14,500,000
Paul Wasicka, 11,500,000
Michael Binger, 7,900,000
Rhett Butler, 3,700,000
The blinds were $120k/$240k. On the button, Gold limped in. In the big blind, Lee raised to $1.2M. Then Gold re-raised $4M more. Ok, at this point, lights had to be flashing in Lee’s head. He had to think Gold had a huge hand, A-A or K-K. Why else would he limp, then reraise a huge raise from a guy that could really hurt his massive stack? If Lee doubled through Gold, Lee would have the huge chip lead. So it was shocking to see Lee move all-in. And Gold called. Lee had J-J and Gold had him dominated with Q-Q. J-J for your whole tournament when you’re second in chips? This hand, along with the hand that would eliminate Michael Binger later, was bar none the most boneheaded play at the final table. But what do I know? I didn’t cash in the tournament, and Lee made $2.8M. When no help came on the board to Lee, Gold took an absolutely enormous and possibly insurmountable chip lead.
After about another two hours of play, Rhett Butler was eliminated in 5th place, earning $3.2M. Butler couldn’t get anything going all night and seemed content to move up in the pay scale with every elimination. In the end, Butler lost with 4-4 against Gold’s K-J when the flop came out J high. By the way, if you haven’t noticed, Gold tends to win every showdown. Sometimes that’s how you win.
With almost two-thirds of the chips on the table, one of the remaining players would have to take a huge stand against Gold. Cunningham would seem like the best candidate, but his stack took a big hit against Paul Wasicka on what had to be the bluff of the tournament. With a board of A-A-J-9 with three hearts, Gold, Cunningham, and Wasicka were in the pot. Wasicka led out for $1M, and Cunningham raised about $3M more. Wasicka pondered for awhile before moving all-in. Cunningham folded, and Wasicka flipped over K-Q of diamonds – absolutely nothing except a gut-shot straight draw. Amazing play, and Cunningham was left short-stacked with about $7M. He would be gone a few hands later. On his fateful hand, Binger raised, Gold called on the button, and Cunningham moved all-in. Binger folded, and Gold pondered for awhile before deciding to take a chance on busting the best player at the table. Cunningham flipped over T-T while Gold had two overs with K-J. It was a race, and everyone seemed to know what was coming. With a K on the flop and no help on the turn or river, Cunningham was devastated with his 4th place finish and $3.6M. He was clearly the professional at the table, but unfortunately he didn’t have the cards or the luck this time to take the bracelet.
