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January 4th 2007
Hachem wins WPT and Mizrachi is POY: 15 days in poker
Since my last news update on December 15th quite a few interesting things have happened in the poker world, but none more so than Aussie Joe Hachem’s win in the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic (DBNAPC), aka the Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio.
Ever since he won the World Series of Poker main-event in 2005 Hachem has been anxious to prove he is no one-hit-wonder, and for most people his notable showing in the 2006 WSOP (where he had a second place finish, a fourth place finish and a respectable 238th/8773 in the main-event) did just that. But Hachem is not most people, and from his point of view nothing short of a major tournament victory would suffice. With just a few days to go before Christmas he got it.
As is customary for the last major tournament before Christmas the DBNAPC drew one of the biggest non-WSOP fields of the year, with 583 players paying the $15,000 buy-in to create a massive prize pool of $8.5 million, with over $2 million earmarked for the winner.
There were numerous strong showings from the world’s top players, with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi in particular catching the early headlines as he captured the Player of the Year title in style when he bagged 29th place. Michael Binger (3rd in 2006 WSOP main-event) also did well to finish 16th, and Justin Bonomo continued his fine Five Diamond form by making yet another final table, this time ending in 7th place for $152,230.
The final table lived up to what went before, and featured two of the world’s most popular players in Daniel Negreanu and Joe Hachem, playing alongside EPT winner Mads Anderson, Foxwoods final tablist Eddie Jordan, and amateurs Jim Hanna and David Redlin.
In a room packed to bursting with spectators the WPT final table got off to a rip roaring start when Daniel Negreanu eliminated Ed Jordan. With the board showing Q-Q-10-4 with three hearts Jordan pushed all his chips in the middle on a stone cold bluff, and after some consideration Negreanu called, showing Ac-Kh, for ace high with a flush draw. The crowd erupted when they realised both players had nothing and Negreanu spiked an unnecessary flush on the river to send Jordan packing.
Next out was David Redlin, who satellited into the tournament for just $70 and left with $253,715. He put his A-Q to war against Hachem’s pocket queens and was a huge dog until the turn paired his ace reversing the odds and leaving Hachem with just one card in the deck that could help him. But poker is a cruel game and the 43-1 shot duly arrived on the river and Redlin was toast.
The Danish Mads Andersen, who only played at the suggestion of fellow Dane Gus Hansen, then exited in fourth at the hands of Daniel Negreanu, to leave Kid Poker, Joe Hachem and amateur Jim Hanna. At this point Negreanu was already guaranteed to end the day having overtaken Tuan Lee as the highest earner in the history of the WPT, but he was looking for more (if he won he would be the highest earner ever in Bellagio tournaments).
In the end however, the poker Gods chose to deny Negreanu his second record of the day (and what would have been his third WPT victory). With three players left his cards dried up and Kid Poker began to bleed chips, losing some key battles against Jim Hanna in the process. He finally bowed out in third place when he re-raised all-in for his last $1.125 million after Hachem’s $450k raise. Hachem called and his pocket fours held up against Negreanu’s K-T.
When heads-up play began Hanna’s recent pummelling of Negreanu had given him a small but significant chip advantage over Hachem, but it didn’t last long. Hachem, with validation of his WSOP win in clear sight had the bit between his teeth, and began to force the play with a series of re-raises. The first of these brought Hachem level with Hanna but the next win put Hachem nearly $10 million in front when he moved all-in over-the-top of a $3 million bet by Hanna on the flop.
With a big chip lead Hachem pushed hard for home, continuing the pressure on Hanna and eventually bagging his man when Hanna called Hachem’s all-in re-raise with Q-Js. Hachem held a slight advantage with A-6 and when an ace fell on the flop he moved further in front. A second club on the turn gave Hanna more outs, with any club, queen or jack good enough to take the pot, but none was forthcoming.
History was made, as Hachem joined Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen and Scotty Nguyen as only the fourth player in history to win a WPT title to go with his WSOP main-event win.
Final table payouts
1st – Joe Hachem - $2,182,075
2nd – Jim Hanna - $1,099,430
3rd – Daniel Negreanu - $592,000
4th – Mads Andersen - $380,630
5th – David Redlin - $253,715
6th – Edward Jordan - $169,145
Submitted: 04/01/2007 13:42:47
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