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The Poker Nightmare |
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December 2007
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When you go back and comb the lists of winners and runners-up at the
World Series of Poker, there are a few pairings that stand out. Stu
Unger defeated Doyle Bronson in 1980. Phil Hellmuth beat Johnny Chan in
1989, ending Johnny's two-year reign as world champion. Jesus Ferguson
beat T.J. Cloutier in 2000. There are names that evoke thoughts of
poker greatness, and feelings of loathing at the prospect of sitting at
their tables.
When Stuey sat down with Doyle to play that finale in ’80, no one
realized they were witnessing perhaps the two greatest tournament
players of all time going at it. History provides us 20/20 vision
regardless of potential obstructions. It’s that, plus the fact ESPN
wasn’t present at the WSOP in the spring of 2001, that obscured what is
likely this century’s strongest Main Event finale face-off.
When the 2001 Series started, Carlos Mortensen wasn’t much of a known
entity. The Ecuadorian-born Mortensen had started showing up at Los
Angeles tournaments a year earlier, only finding real success when he
won a $300 Limit Hold’em event at the 2001 LA Poker Classic. He
parlayed his winnings there into higher stakes events, winning a $1,000
No Limit event at the Bay 101 Shooting Star a month later. His bankroll
suffi ciently built, he was ready to take a shot at the big one. Of
course, no one knew he’d eventually become the first man to win both
the WSOP Main Event and the WPT World Championship.
Dewey Tomko was a different story. Amarillo Slim once remarked to me
that one could count the truly great gamblers in the world on one hand
and, when pressed for names, Tomko’s was the first to escape his lips.
Dewey’s story has been told enough times to wear it out: He was working
as a kindergarten teacher when he realized he was making more in a
night of poker than one month of teaching, and promptly retired from
the teaching game.
Ever since quitting his job, Tomko has been winning other people’s
money. He’s considered one of the best money golfers in the world and
has the utmost respect from his poker peers. He holds the longest
active streak for consecutive WSOP Main Events played in, participating
every year from 1974 to present. This is a man who’s won just about
everything there is to win if there’s money on it, with one exception:
the Big One.
He almost won it in 1982. That year, Dewey reached the heads-up portion
of the event only to come up short vs. Treetop Jack Straus. Dewey won
his third bracelet two years later and hasn’t won one since. That set
the table for 2001.
Tomko and Mortensen survived a final table that today’s television
audiences would pay good money to see. In addition to the two quiet
stars who’d get there, the final day competitors included two Phils –
Hellmuth and Gordon along with Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who ended the
possibility of an even more intriguing final table when he took Daniel
Negreanu out in eleventh. It was Mortensen, though, who put on a poker
clinic.
Carlos started the final day second in chips to German businessman
Henry Nowakoski, quickly taking over the chip lead and then using it to
steamroll the table. Mortensen was raising pre-flop on almost a third
of the hands as the others jockeyed for closing positions. Matusow,
Hellmuth and Gordon went out in sixth, fifth and fourth respectively
before Stan Schrier exited third. That left that fantastic pairing
quietly staring one another down, with Mortensen holding a 2-1 lead.
Mortensen immediately went on the offensive, taking down most of the
pots through uber-aggressive play, but Dewey held his own by winning
the bigger prizes. Finally, the levy fi nally broke, with Tomko living
out the ultimate poker nightmare: getting knocked out of the Main Event
second by having his all-in aces cracked on the river.
Carlos started hand #206 off with a raise to $100,000 from the small
blind. Tomko made the call, looking to lure Carlos into a trap designed
to give Dewey his first lead of the match up. The flop came J♦10♣3♣ and
Tomko checked, knowing the aggressive youngster he was sitting with
would do his betting (and bidding) for him. Carlos, true to form, made
it $100,000 to go.
Sensing Carlos had a hand, Dewey checkraised to $400,000. The thing he
didn’t realize was that Mortensen had flopped a monster, with his K♣Q♣
giving him an open-ended straight draw and four clubs for a flush.
Carlos motioned all in, and Tomko called, turning over those beautiful
bullets – spades and hearts only to see that he barely leading. Tomko
had to be pleased when the turn came 3♦, but it barely afforded him the
option of exhaling, since Carlos was still drawing to twelve outs. A
calculating man who always knows the risks, the eventempered Tomko had
to be more than a little disappointed when the river came. The 9♦ gave
Carlos a straight and the first prize of $1,500,000 along with the
bracelet.
For Tomko, it was another near miss, giving him the dubious distinction
of joining Crandall Addington and TJ Cloutier as the only players to
have twice finished second and never won the title of titles. Although
he eventually realized that Mortenson was a better opponent than he’d
thought, it was not much of a consolation.
Gary Wise is constantly dwelling on the developments of poker’s past.
You can read more about Tomko, Addington, and the rest of the big boys
at his website, www.wisehandpoker.com.
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