QUALIFYING FOR LATE NIGHT POKER 111 IN 1999
Luckily for Frank, his hand held up when Korosh missed his draw (he’d had a flush draw with his five of spades and three spades on the Board, and a pair of nines), and so Frank wound up with a huge Chip lead. Two online poker players limped in and Frank decided to raise the pot on the Button with an Ace of hearts and two of diamonds when another key Pot came up for Frank. Mike magee moved all-in from the Big blind because he felt his Ace and ten was the Best hand.
Luckily for Frank, Mike’s raise ‘priced him in’. That is to say, Frank reluctantly called him because mike didn’t have enough chips to compel Frank into folding his hand for Mike’s reraise. Although the pot (including Frank’s raise) was roughly 12,000 pounds, Frank believed the raise was 4,000 pounds. Therefore Frank was receiving about 3-to-1 odds on the Call. The flop turned up the three of hearts; five of hearts and Jack of hearts and this flop was very good for Frank.
Frank flopped the nut-flush draw, a straight draw (he only needed a four), and he required two for a pair draw. Mike made a pair of tens as a ten came up at the turn; this meant Frank required a heart or a four to win the pot. Frank won the hand when the four of clubs turned up at the river, making him a five-high straight. Although winning this pot gave Frank a huge Chip lead, he wouldn’t have Been in a soup if he’d lost this pot.
Frank had roughly 50% of the Chips when they got down to three players, Paul Alterman and Adam Heller had approximately 25% each. (Incidentally, it had been an hour Since Venus Williams won the Wimbledon, and another American was also close to winning his own less publicized event – Frank.) Play was resumed after a short break, and Frank picked up an Ace of diamonds and ace of clubs in the Bigs Blinds.
Paul was in the small blind and he limped in with a Queen of clubs and a ten of spades, Frank raised it, Paul quickly called Frank’s pre-flop raise, following this the flop came down six of clubs, nine of clubs and Jack of clubs. Paul had his big draw and he Checked. He had an open-ended straight draw and a Queen high flush draw. Thus Frank, who had a pair of Aces and an Ace-high flush draw, made a big bet. This led to Paul moving all-in, and Frank called him in a flash.
Both flipped their hands up for the Cameras, and obviously Frank rooted for a club to hit, to seal this pot. There it was! The seven of clubs was the first card off, which made Frank the nut flush and ended all the drama. (Incidentally, it was a good thing for Frank that the Club came off, since the next card was the King of diamonds, and this gave Paul a straigh!) This left !dam Heller and Frank, but Frank had three Chips to !dam’s one.
!dam began moving in on Frank, so he waited for the right spot; Frank hoped he would get !dam at a time when he was weak. Eventually, Frank had a Queen of diamonds and Jack of hearts and he Called Adam with a ten of spades and the nine of clubs; Frank was a 2-to-1 favorite to win Late Night poker III. But the flop came down six of clubs, the ten of clubs and the ace of clubs, this was bad for Frank. !dam got a pair of tens with a nine-high flush draw with this flop.
After that flop, things weren’t going So well for Frank; he required a Jack, a Queen or a King, which wasn’t a club, also he required that !dam miss his club flush draw. The Queen of hearts turned up at the fourth street, which was what Frank required; all that !dam required at this point was a ten, a nine or a club. !dam missed the last card, which led to Frank winning the Late Night poker III Championship! (Currently LNP is being aired on Fox TV in the U.S.)
The Cardiff Hilton bar was full of European poker players, and Frank celebrated by buying Several rounds of drinks for everyone. (Venus Williams was taking her private jet back to the U.S. at around that time. Although the top poker players cant’ afford private jets as yet, Frank is looking forward to the day he Buys the Gulf stream IV, if poker continues to grow in the states at the Current rate!)
A KEY MISTAKE AT THE WHUPC
Vienna hosted the 2002 World Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament and ran it like the NCAA basketball tournament: the loser goes home! But if one is eliminated early, there is no cause for concern because there’s a two-week-long poker tournament wrapped around the WHUPC.
TCS (one of the world’s leading manufacturers of gaming Equipment and tables, based in London) created the uniquely designed heads-up tables solely for the WHUPC.
The hole Cards can be seen on camera, that’s how these heads-up tables are set up. Sky sports televised the finals all over the world, including ‘Miami’ John Cernuto’s victory and all the fanfare in an exciting finale in the year 2002.
The WHUPC starts the matches with 2,500 euros in chips and 25-50 euro blinds, just in case anyone would like to practice his or her heads-up no-limit Holdem game for this event of poker.
After the first hour ends, the blinds go up once to 50-100 euros, and that seems to give the players enough time to work their chips. This particular hand came up between ‘Miami’ John Cernuto and Anthony (pronounced ‘AN-toe-nee’) Chapman at the finals of the WHUPC in Vienna in June 2002.
Frank could see the players’ hole Cards as he was doing the Commentary in the television truck for Sky sports. John had 60,000 euros to Anthony’s 100,000 at this time (both players began with 80,000 euros).
The Blinds were at 750-1,500 euros when Anthony called another 750 euros on the Button with the six of hearts and the five of hearts. John raised it up 2,500 euros more with Jack of diamonds and Jack of spades at this pint, which led to Anthony calling the raise.
John checked as the flop came down eight of spades, the seven of hearts and the four of hearts. This flop was fantastic for Anthony; he’d flopped the Best possible hand! Anthony made a straight, with a straight-flush draw at the flop.
The flop looked good for John hand as well in spite of everything, it was three Cards under a Jack. After John had checked, Anthony checked this flop, which turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Frank felt that Anthony could have forced John’s hand if he had just bet something around or over 5,000 euros on the spot. One Could presume that John had checked the flop with a very strong hand so as to raise any bet that Anthony might have made here.
And John had a tendency of to bet all of his chips. What else Could John have done with a pair of Jacks, after he had raised pre-flop and caught an eight of spades, the seven of hearts and the four of hearts flop, and then checked the flop?
(Answer: he Could have moved all-in and gone Broke!) The Card at the turn was an ominous eight, for eight of spades, the seven of hearts, the four of hearts and eight of clubs, and then John made a small defensive Bet of 4,000 euros.
Anthony made an error once again by just calling John’s bet. What was the reason he didn’t raise it up just then? Why didn’t he raise it up, just in case John had a calling hand, such as an overpair (which he did), or three eights?
The last card turned out to be the ten of hearts for a board of eight of spades, the seven of hearts, the four of hearts, the eight of clubs and the ten of hearts, to which John checked, and this time Anthony also checked. Huh! Anthony checked again?
What reason could he have to check again when he hit his flushes card? That is to say that John might have folded for a bet at this time, but why didn’t he Bet something at this stage? In the end, he did have a flush.
Besides, John had not bet too much all through this entire hand, also John had checked to him, which was a sign of weakness. Therefore he should have Bet 10,000 euros at least, into this 16,000-euro pot. Anthony was probably concerned that John beat him somehow. It was the way
Anthony bet during this hand, especially on the flop that cost him this tournament. John would have probably Played with him if he had bet on the flop or raised it up on the fourth street, that way Anthony would have ended up winning the tournament.
Considering the hands that were out there, Anthony won a rather miniscule pot, and from that point John made a comeback and this led to his victory of the WHUPC.
Although Miami John was a good player, and he played very well down the stretch, still Frank felt that Anthony should have won this event of poker. Anyway, that’s poker!
The WHUPC signed a major television contract in 2003, after growing in stature in 2001 and 2002, which led to their Switching the venue to Barcelona, Spain (www.pokerineurope.com).
Frank was looking forward to visiting Spain for the first time. He was also excited when he heard that the poker games there were extraordinary! Brand-new players were Being introduced to Holdem poker in Spain every day, despite the fact that one might find a lot of top European players there, too, enjoying the Spanish gold rush.