It's All Over, Baby
But the players had seen each other recently, most likely the day before or the day before that in one of the previous 44 WSOP events that fi lled the June calendar. But this wasn’t just any other tournament and it certainly had a different feel from the last two years’ $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. events. Because if this was some sort of high school reunion, the most popular kid in class was missing.
That ‘kid’ was Chip Reese, the man many considered to be the best mixed game player in the world. Reese died suddenly last December and this tournament, which he won in 2006, was to be played in his honor. That decision, made by WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and the Players Advisory Council, led to the introduction of the Chip Reese Trophy, to be awarded to the winner of the event every year, starting with this one.
“We’re playing for Chip today,” said Pollack before the tournament began with a moment of silence to remember Reese. While the bracelet and the money were more than enough for this fi eld full of the game’s best, the added opportunity to honor Reese gave an extra layer of prestige to the biggest buy-in tournament in WSOP history. The importance of winning the fi rst H.O.R.S.E. title after Reese’s passing was not lost on any of the players.
“This year there is something extra special out there,” Erick Lindgren noted while waiting for the fi rst hand to be dealt. Lindgren has always held Reese in high regard and was proud to call him both a friend and an idol. “The whole time I’ll be thinking about Chip and what he would have done, which is patience. He was very patient and I’m going to play every hand and every street as well as I can.”
While Lindgren called Reese a friend, Brunson considered Reese his best friend and as the tournament began it was Texas Dolly who held Reese closest to his heart – literally. “See this cross here?” Brunson said, holding out a small gold pendant on a chain around his neck. “His ashes are in here, so he’s with me.”
As the tournament developed Brunson fl irted with history and honor. One bracelet behind Phil Hellmuth for the career record of eleven, Brunson was in contention when Day 4 began, sitting ninth in chips with 24 players left. The three remaining tables were still heavily stacked and Brunson would have to overcome all of them if he hoped to win the bracelet, and maybe more importantly to the legend, the Chip Reese Trophy.
Michael Mizrachi, Chad Brown, Brandon Adams, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Ralph Perry, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed, Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, and Lyle Berman were still standing in the way of Brunson’s historic quest.
Among the hundreds of railbirds gathered around for snapshots of their poker heroes were some of the game’s best, playing just a few tables away in Event #49 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em). One of the most interested spectators was the bracelet record holder himself, Phil Hellmuth.
“I think if Doyle wins, it would be amazing. I think that would be amazing,” said Hellmuth, almost in awe of the 74-year-old having outlasted 142 other players. “How can we not cheer for him?”
Things were going well for Brunson as Mizrachi, Brown, and Adams all hit the rail. But all the cheering seemed to be for naught as Brunson found himself with the short stack when play was down to two tables. His run would come to end well before the fi nal table.
In fact, Brunson was the fi rst person to bust after Mike Wattel was eliminated on the bubble. The $124,320 prize money for his 16th-place fi nish was little solace for Brunson, who quickly exited the Amazon Room before anybody even noticed or could make a big deal about the end of his tournament.
Once the sentimental favorite had been eliminated the next seven bust-outs came without much fanfare. When Perry was eliminated by Seed the eight remaining players stopped for the night to rest up for the fi nal table the next day.
If the start of the tournament had the feeling of a high school reunion, the fi nal table just fi ve days later had an atmosphere more closely resembling a heavyweight battle royale. Lindgren’s patience had paid off and he entered the fi nal table with the chip lead. But he was surrounded by two former world champions in Seed and Nguyen, cash game specialist Matt Glantz, a rising young gun in Michael DeMichele, Big Game regulars Berman and Greenstein, and one of the top players from France in Patrick Bueno.
The two biggest unknowns at the table, DeMichele and Glantz, had already proved their mettle in the mixed game arena. They were both making their second mixed game fi nal table appearance of the series having found success in Event #8 ($10,000 Mixed Games), where the format called for eight game variations to be played: Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, Limit Hold’em, Omaha Eight-or-better, Razz, Seven-card Stud, Seven-card Stud Eight-orbetter, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha.
The fi rst fi ve eliminations took only 125 hands. Bueno was the fi rst man over the top rope and was followed by Seed, Greenstein, Berman, and Glantz respectively. At that point the tournament went from action-packed battle royale to calculated chess match. Newly minted bracelet winner Lindgren, former world champion Nguyen, and the youngster DeMichele became more methodical with the bracelet, the trophy, and the nearly $2 million fi rst-place prize on the line.
But another storyline had been developing for most of the night. Nguyen, watching his chip stack swing up and down, was on tilt. If there was somebody in the Milwaukee’s Best Light Lounge who he had not called a “motherfucker,” they must have joined the party late. Dealers, cocktail servers, fl oor personnel, and other players, especially DeMichele, were victims of Nguyen’s wrath.
The elimination of Berman seemed to be a real catalyst for Nguyen’s frustration. Berman was all in on third street during a round of Razz and both Nguyen and DeMichele were along for the ride. Having called every bet DeMichele put in on fourth, fi fth, and sixth streets before checking with DeMichele on seventh street, Nguyen was disgusted when DeMichele showed an 8-7 low, mucking his cards before grabbing his wife Julie and heading for the exit. Lindgren sensed the tension and asked the fl oor for an impromptu bathroom break. A few minutes later all the players returned to the table, including Nguyen who had suddenly found some motivation and soared to take the chip lead again.
But Nguyen’s chip stack began to mirror the bottle of Amstel Light he had been enjoying since the break; both were starting to get low and in danger of going empty. Perhaps hoping to inspire his stack, Nguyen ordered himself another cocktail and when it didn’t come in what he considered a timely manner he dropped another MF-bomb, this time in the direction of tournament announcer Robbie Thompson. However, Nguyen fi red every salvo without a single penalty and his cocktail arrived just in time to let him focus on the matter at hand.
The anger behind Nguyen’s tirades never fully subsided, but he again gained complete control of the table. When three-handed play began following Glantz’s elimination, Nguyen held 7 million chips, DeMichele was right behind him with 6.8 million, and Lindgren seemed hopelessly short-stacked with only 1 million. But the man who had spoke of patience before the tournament even began was about to put it into overdrive.
Over the next three hours of play, Lindgren – who had the likes of Bill Edler, Gavin Smith, Josh Arieh, Greg Mueller, Chris Bell, and Daniel Negreanu cheering him on from the stands – clawed away at both Nguyen and DeMichele to draw the competition as close to even as it would ever get. Lindgren had grown his stack to 4.4 million just behind Nguyen’s 4.6 million and a little more than a million behind the 5.73 million of DeMichele. In total the three players traded chips back and forth for almost six hours without an elimination until Nguyen kicked things into high gear.
The sudden surge from Nguyen left him with over 10 million in chips and Lindgren was again short-stacked. The gathered crowd was fully behind Lindgren but sensed his time was at hand. At 4:36AM, fi ve hours and 45 minutes after Glantz was eliminated in fourth place, Lindgren battled out his fi nal hand with Nguyen in a round of Stud. When seventh street was dealt, Nguyen’s pair of nines were better than Lindgren’s pair of eights and the chance to honor his hero with a victory was gone.
“I wanted that one bad, real bad,” said Lindgren. “I can’t be too disappointed with how I played, but I would really have liked to have put my name on the trophy and get that bracelet.” Still, Lindgren’s impressive fi nish earned him $781,440.
Heads-up play was essentially a mathematical formality at this point. The elimination of Lindgren left Nguyen with 12.14 million chips . nearly fi ve times the 2.66 million that DeMichele held. The two played heads up for less than 30 minutes before they got it all in before the fl op in a round of Holdfem. DeMichele held Ac 3h and found himself dominated by the Ad 10h of Nguyen. Sensing he was about to capture his fourth bracelet, Nguyen let the room know it.
“It’s gonna be all over, baby,” Nguyen said loud enough for the remaining crowd to hear. Sure enough, the board ran out with no help for DeMichele and Nguyen was the champion. The victory gave Nguyen the chance to erase the memory of the 2007 Main Event in which he held the chip lead with twelve left only to collapse and fi nish eleventh.
“Last year, the reason I didn’t win was because I made a mistake. I blew it. I was angry and I got personal, and you can’t make things personal when you play the game. You have to enjoy it and be happy. You have to enjoy playing the game,” said Nguyen, who admitted to being frustrated during this fi nal table. “It doesn’t matter if people tried to make me mad (this time). I had my wife supporting me. She said, ‘Honey, you’ve wanted this so bad for the last couple of years, please don’t get mad, don’t get angry, and don’t make the same mistake as 2007.’”
As Pollack presented Nguyen with the 60 lb. marble trophy, Nguyen wanted to thank one more person. “Thank you Chip Reese,” he said while fi ghting back tears. “This was my dream, to win this tournament.”
