World Poker Tour on FSN: $25,000 World Championship—Part II

August 08, 2011

FSN continued its broadcast of the World Poker Tour’s Season IX Sunday night with Part II of the $25,000 buy-in WPT World Championship. The event, which originally took place from May 14 to 20, 2011, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, drew 220 entrants and created a prize pool of $5,309,500. First place was guaranteed $1.6 million.

In Part I, two of the six final tablists had been eliminated, including Jordan Young in sixth place. Young’s demise came on hand 45 when Galen Hall raised to 205,000 on the button holding A♥K♣. Young then reraised to 550,000 with A♦J♥ from the small blind, Hall moved all-in, and Young called off for 2.5 million. Young was dominated and couldn’t improve as the board ran out 4♥3♣5♠10♥6♦. He took home $225,654 for his performance.

One hand later, Tony Gargano followed Young out the door. It happened when Scott Seiver min-raised under the gun to 200,000 with A♦K♦, Gargano moved all-in for 2,020,000 from the small blind holding K♥J♥, and Seiver snap-called. Like Young, Gargano was dominated and could not improve as the board ran out an uneventful A♠3♠8♥6♠4♣. Gargano was eliminated in fifth place for $278,749.

“All I can say is Scott Seiver is dominating. He’s making moves and catching cards at the right time,” co-host Vince Van Patten said at the top of this week’s broadcast. Indeed, things had been going Seiver’s way and he began the day with more than a 2-1 chip lead over second place.

WPT World Championship Final Table

Seat 1: Galen Hall (4,230,000)
Seat 2: -empty-
Seat 3: -empty-
Seat 4: Roger Teska (3,765,000)
Seat 5: Scott Seiver (10,990,000)
Seat 6: Farzad Bonyadi (3,015,000)

First Hand: With the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 10,000 ante, action folded to Galen Hall in the small blind and he raised to 275,000 with A♥5♠. Roger Teska looked down at Q♥5♥ in the big and opted to defend. While he may have been dominated preflop, the 7♣2♦Q♦ flop gave Teska the lead with a pair of queens, which inspired him to bet 225,000 after Hall had checked.

At this point, Hall woke up with a check-raise to 675,000, Teska called, and the A♦ spiked on the turn. Suddenly Hall was back in the lead and a 95 percent favorite to win the hand. Nonetheless, both players checked. The 9♦ river put four diamonds on the board, and still Hall fired out 725,000. Teska thought long and hard before tossing his cards to the muck.

Roger Teska Eliminated in Fourth Place: In hand 58, action folded to Galen Hall in the small blind and he moved all-in for over four million. Roger Teska, who had 2.3 million in the big blind, peeked at his cards and called off.

Showdown
Teska: A♦10♦
Hall: J♠9♠

Teska was a 62 percent favorite to double on the hand, but the J♥2♦5♠ flop was not kind. Hall had paired his jack to become an 81 percent favorite. While the flop was bad, the 5♦ turn gave Teska a flush draw and increased his odds of winning to 25 percent. Unfortunately, the 4♣ blanked on the river and he was sent out the door in fourth place for $371,665.

$100K Super High Roller: The WPT aired a special recap segment on the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event that occurred at the Bellagio at the same time as the $25,000 World Championship. The event attracted 29 players creating a prize pool of $2,827,500, with $1,118,280 reserved for first.

Some of poker’s biggest names entered the event such as Phil Laak, Daniel Negreanu, Ashton Griffin, Daniel Cates, Greg Brooks, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Tony G. Only five players would get paid and Cary Katz was the unfortunate bubble boy in sixth place, leaving the remaining players in the money. Here are the payouts:

Erik Seidel began heads-up play with a chip lead, but Erick Lindgren changed that when he doubled early on. The two battled back and forth for quite some time, with Seidel pulling out in front. Down to his last million or so, Lindgren got it all-in on a flop of 2♣A♣4♣ holding J♣3♥. Seidel called with A♥5♥ and sweated the 9♦ turn 2♠ river. “Anything can happen heads up, and today Erik won — the wrong Erick,” Lindgren joked after his elimination.

Here Comes Bonyadi: Scott Seiver limped from the button with J♦6♠ and Farzad Bonyadi followed suit from the small blind with A♦3♥. Galen Hall then looked down at A♠Q♥ in the big blind and exercised his option with a raise to 460,000. Seiver quickly got out of the way and Bonyadi moved all-in for 1.58 million.

Hall made a quick call and was a 70 percent favorite to win the hand; however, that number quickly went out the window when the flop came down 9♣3♣J♣. Even though Bonyadi hit his miracle card, he remained stoic. Neither the 4♠ turn nor the A♣ river changed anything, and Bonyadi doubled to 3.325 million.

A short time later, Bonyadi managed to double through Hall once again when he held A♦Q♠ against the latter’s A♣J♥. The board ran out 8♣5♣6♦10♣5♥ and Bonyadi shot up to 5.605 million.

Ones to Watch: In the last Ones to Watch segment of the season, the WPT took a look at the respective performances of their chosen ten from the $25K World Championship. Unfortunately for Jason Mercier, he didn’t even play because he was running a fever and had tonsillitis. Phil Collins, who went on to make the final table of this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, had high hopes but was eliminated shy of the money. Likewise, both Andrew Lichtenberger and Joseph Cheong came up short; in fact, none of the Ones to Watch found much success in the World Championship.

Curious as to how they did throughout Season IX of the WPT? Take a look.

Galen Hall Eliminated in Third Place: On Hand #113, Farzad Bonyadi folded the button, and Galen Hall moved all-in for 2.42 million from the small blind with J♦7♦. Scott Seiver, who held K♠10♥, asked for an exact count before making the call. Much to his satisfaction, he was a 59 percent favorite to eliminate his opponent.

Hall was on the ropes and needed some help, but the Q♦K♥K♣ flop was far from it. Seiver had flopped trips and left Hall drawing to runner-runner. The 9♠ turn quickly put an end to any excitement leaving Hall was drawing dead. After the 6♣ was put out on the river for good measure, Hall made his exit in third place ($589,355).

Heads-Up Play: Farzad Bonyadi began heads-up play with 5,495,000 chips to Scott Seiver’s 16,505,000. The battle lasted 41 hands, with Bonyadi doing his best to claw back into contention. After dwindling to 2.3 million, Bonyadi managed a double, but it was not enough.

On Hand #154, Seiver raised to 400,000 from the small blind with J♠9♦ and Bonyadi called from the big holding Q♠10♥. The 10♣2♠6♦ flop went check-check, as it did on the Q♣ turn. When the K♠ spiked on the river, Seiver completed a straight and Bonyadi, who had slow-played two pair, was in a bad spot.

Again Bonyadi checked, but this time Seiver fired out 600,000. Bonyadi finally got an opportunity to check-raise, but he picked the wrong time to make it 1.6 million. Seiver remained silent for a few seconds before announcing that he was all-in. Bonyadi reluctantly made the call, and just like that, Bonyadi was eliminated in second place ($1,061,900).

_{*Hand numbers were cross-checked with data from WorldPokerTour.com. Photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.}

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