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October 31st 2006
WPT North American Championship: Turkewitsch wins $1.3 million
The first World Poker Tour event to be held in Canada drew a huge field, a dense collection of poker stars, and a vast crowd of dedicated fans. In total 497 players paid up for a shot at the $4.8 million prize pool, and when just six were left the final table was a near perfect mix: one poker superstar and five hopeful Canadians.
For the poker superstar read John Juanda, one of the most successful players in WPT history, with six WPT final tables, eight top ten finishes and 14 cashes to his name, not to mention a tournament career that includes three WSOP bracelets and over $6 million in prize money. All he’s missing is that elusive WPT win. Unfortunately for him this didn’t look like his best opportunity, as he arrived at the final table last in the chip count. Nevertheless he was still regarded by his lesser known opponents as the greatest threat to them all. Here’s how they lined up to start the final table:
Jason Sagle - $2,970,000 (seat 3)
John Lam - $2,285,000 (seat 4)
Soren Turkewitsch - $1,690,000 (seat 5)
James “KrazyKanuck” Worth - $1,305,000 (seat 1)
Marc Karam - $1,290,000 (seat 2)
John Juanda - $425,000 (seat 6)
The table got off to a slow start, and it was 14 hands before the first real excitement of the day came during a pot between John Lam and Jason Sagle. Both players hit trip jacks on the J-J-6 flop but Lam had an ace kicker, and an ace fell on the turn making him a full house. He raised Sagle’s $400,000 river bet to $1 million and Sagle, though clearly suspicious, called, flashing J-T as he mucked. Lam raked in a pot worth $2.36 million.
Eight hands later and we saw our first elimination. The 26-year-old pro Marc Karam had started with the second shortest stack, and had struggled to get going. It was understandable then, that when he picked up pocket jacks he was willing to take them to war. Unfortunately for him Soren Turkewitsch’s had the atom bombs, and his aces held up after the board blanked out. Karam was out in sixth, $169,027 richer.
The aces struck again a just seven hands later, and this time it was the shortstack who had them. John Lam raised to $150k from under the gun with pocket fives and Sagle re-raised to $450k from the big blind with A-A. Lam, spotting his chance to knock Sagle from the tournament, moved all-in and was instantly called by Sagle. The board blanked out once again and Sagle had gained some revenge for his earlier beat. He’d also raked in $2.4 million pot.
With all this action going on around him John Juanda was desperately trying to get involved, but was being repeatedly being snubbed by his opponents. In all Juanda moved in 11 times without receiving a single call! While this enabled Juanda to move from $425,000 to $900,000 he really needed to double up if he was going to have any chance to take down the title. His opponents were clearly none too keen on that happening. Finally the Full Tilt pro got his chance, calling Soren Turkewitsch’s all-in with A-Q. Juanda was up against 9-9 in a text book race, but although Juanda had a flush draw after the turn that was as close as he got. He was sent to the rail in fifth, to a huge ovation, and collected $217,320.
With four players left Turkewitsch had moved into a clear chip lead with $4.7 million; second was Jason Sagle with $2.5 million; James Worth was in third with $1.7 million and John Lam was bringing up the rear with $1.3 million.
A series of ill-timed moves and re-raises then forced Jason Sagle back down to around $1.7 million, before the veteran Canadian went on a brutal run that saw him shoot up to the top of the leaderboard. It all started with the elimination of James “KrazyKanuck” Worth, the last remaining “name” player on the table, who moved all-in over the top of a Jason Sagle raise. Sagle went into the tank, and then called, finding out he was in great shape with the A-K of clubs against Worth’s A-Q of hearts. Yet again the board blanked out and Sagle raked in a $2.5 million pot with his king kicker; Worth collected $289,760 for fourth.
Sagle then began playing as if there was a time bomb under his chair, repeatedly putting the heat on his opponents with massive re-raises, more often than not forcing them to lay down their hands. It was an extremely impressive display of aggressive poker and Sagle took complete charge of the table, quickly moving from around $3 million in chips to nearly $6 million.
Eventually Sagle’s constant raising got to Soren Turkewitsch, who had seen his earlier chip lead disappear into Sagle’s stack. The car factory worker decided to make a stand after yet another $450,000 Sagle raise. The problem was that Turkewitsch had lost so much of his stack that by the time he moved all-in he didn’t really have enough to make Sagle fold, and after some deliberation he made the call with A-5. It turned out to be the correct play, as Turkewitsch only had T-8, but as so often is the case in poker, the correct play turned out to be the right move at the wrong time, and when two tens and an eight hit the board Turkewitsch had a full house and a new lease of life.
Despite that loss Sagle still maintained the chip lead, but the win meant Turkewitsch had gained some ground on John Lam. He then catapulted himself into the chip lead when he called John Lam’s all-in with A-K and bested Lam’s A-J when the board blanked for the umpteenth time. Lam was crippled. A few hands later Turkewitsch hovered up the rest of Lam’s chips when he called Lam’s all-in with Ah-Qh and hit a queen on the flop to beat his opponent’s T-5 off-suit. Lam won $352,541 for third spot.
That win meant Turkewitsch took a $6.1 million to $3.8 million chip lead into the heads-up battle, and a whole lot of confidence to go with it. That showed early on as Turkewitsch won three out of the first four pots, taking $1.8 million out of Sagle’s stack.
There was no way Sagle was about to lie down however, and after doubling through Turkewitsch with 4-4 against A-Q he rediscovered some of his previous aggression, and once again took control of the table. With the blinds at $200,000/$400,000 it didn’t take long for Sagle to take over the chip lead once more, and the situation began looking ominous for Turkewitsch.
It was then that Turkewitsch delivered a cruel blow to Sagle, one which effectively ended his chances of winning the title. It happened when Turkewitsch, in keeping with the super-aggressive nature of the final table, moved all-in from the button with A-3. This time however, Sagle had a hand, and after going into the tank he finally announced “I think you’re bluffing” and made the call with A-9. It was the moment he had been hoping for, and really that should have been the end of the tournament. This is poker however, and when the cards were dealt the board read 9-5-2-4-8 and meant Turkewitsch had hit a miracle straight and with it an unassailable $9.6 million to $400,000 lead.
At least it looked unassailable, but three hands later it was starting to look distinctly ‘sailable’. Sagle, wasting no time, had doubled up twice and moved back to $2 million in chips. Turkewitsch then decided to exercise some caution, clearly not wanting to double Sagle up again, and Sagle won five of the seven five pots.
Then it came. Turkewitsch once again moved all-in from the button and Sagle, as you would expect, made the call with A-5. It was yet another good call from Sagle, and when the cards were on their backs he was a 2:1 favourite against Turkewitsch’s K-2. No matter, a two on the flop sealed the victory for Turkewitsch. Ah poker! A valiant performance from Sagle, but it in the end the luck was not on his side. Turkewitsch played excellently, and despite the odd lucky break, he was a worthy winner.
Final table payouts:
1st Soren Turkewitsch (Can) $1,352,224
2nd Jason Sagle (Can) $676,107
3rd John Lam (Can) $352,541
4th James Worth (Can) $289,760
5th John Juanda (US) $217,320
6th Marc Karam (Can) $169,027
Submitted: 31/10/2006 12:38:02
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