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July 12th 2006
WSOP Update: Mary Jones wins Ladies title as Lee Watkinson mops up $10,000 PL Omaha
Yesterday saw the conclusion of two very different events. The Ladies Only $1000 NL Hold’em event drew 1128 entrants, the biggest by far in the event’s history, and more than the 2003 WSOP main-event! By contrast Event #16 drew the smallest field so far, with just over 200 players willing to pay the $10,000 buy-in.
Both events were not short on excitement. The Ladies Only tournament came down to a battle between Mary Jones and Shawnee Barton. Between them these two ladies had eliminated every player on the table, but it was in a strict cycle. Jones had the early momentum, eliminating the first three players of the day, before Barton took over, dispensing with the remaining four players.
That meant Barton began the heads-up match with a huge chip lead of $1,267,000 to $338,000 (almost 4:1) and she looked a shoe in for the title. But as we all know, poker has a way of dealing with shoe-ins, and Jones hit an extraordinary run of luck.
In the most outrageous of her double-ups Jones raised $200k with A-T on a flop of 9-7-2 and then called a re-raise all-in for her remaining $560,000 chips. Jones had no flush or straight draw, and was trailing to Barton’s K-9 when a miraculous ten hit on the river, giving her the pot, and crippling Barton. It was not the first, and not quite the last, of her lucky escapes, and she went on to win the bracelet and the $236,094 first prize. Despite the lucky breaks however, Jones played superbly to reach the heads-up stage, and perhaps deserved the luck that came her way.
The Pot-Limit Omaha event was an eagerly anticipated event, boasting the highest buy-in of the tournament so far. In particular it was the Europeans who craved this event the most, with Omaha being proportionally more popular on that side of the pond.
Starting on Sunday the event clashed with the World Cup Final, and came to a complete standstill when the penalty shootout took place. Literally. A fifteen minute break was declared as so many players were out of their seats – there was a lot of money at stake on that result, and not just from the Europeans.
By Tuesday there were 26 players left form the initial field of 218 that started, and they played down to a finish. It was nearly a fairy tale story for Rafi Amit, the defending champion from last year’s $10k PL Omaha event. He was still in the mix when the final table seats were drawn, and was still pushing chips around with just four players left. That is where the dream ended however, as he flopped two pair when the chip leader and eventual winner Lee Watkinson had hit the nut straight.
Watkinson was impressive throughout, and never more so than when heads-up against Mike Guttman for the bracelet. Guttman was completely rolled over, with Watkinson winning ten consecutive hands at one point. Whether he was on an incredible roll or just taking advantage of a bad run on Guttman’s part we wont know till later, but it was a matter of time before the bracelet was his, along with the $655,746 first prize.
Submitted: 12/07/2006 12:27:47
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