Seidel Vs. Hennigan

Three days after the stud championship ended, the $7,500 no-limit hold'em championship began. For three days, the players slugged it out for the right to be one of the final six players, appear on the Travel Channel, and win the $212,000 first prize. Personally, I was quite sad to be eliminated on the first day.

Three of the favorites on my list were still left deep into the tournament: Howard Lederer finished 11th (he recently won the $10,000 buy-in championship event at Foxwoods); John Juanda finished seventh (he finished second in this event the last two years) to just miss the final day and the TV coverage; and Erik Seidel made the final day with the chip lead. The other five finalists were John "World" Hennigan (a known great player), Eric Buchman, "Charlie" Bae, Robert "Bo" Toft, and Tony Popejoy.

As the tournament moved on, Erik and John distinguished themselves from the rest of the field with their world-class play, and soon they were the last two left standing - as many players, including me, had predicted the night before. They started with about $550,000 each, and I have never seen a better heads-up match, or one with more swings. John had almost all the chips, then Erik did, then John, then Erik, and so it went until they were about even when the following hand came up:

With the blinds at $5,000-$10,000 and the antes at $2,000 a man, John just called from the button with 8 7, and Erik checked from the blind with the 10 9. The flop came down 10 9 4. Erik bet $15,000 with top two pair, and John made it $55,000 to go with an open-end straight draw and a flush draw. Erik then moved all in and John quickly called. I saw Erik's hand first, as he waited a second before showing it, and I thought, as did Erik, I'm sure, that he was going to win this thing. Alas, however, John was drawing plenty live.

With $900,000 in the pot out of $1,080,000 in the tournament, the hands were too close to call. Without consulting a computer program, I thought Erik was a slight favorite to win (maybe 52 percent). Anyway, if Erik won the pot, he would be the USPC champion. The J on the turn gave John a straight, and the last card, the K, didn't improve Erik's two pair.

Erik now had only $180,000 left, but it turns out that this tournament was far from over. Eventually, Erik came back to have almost $800,000, and back and forth the chip lead went. Both players were playing exceptionally well in my eyes, and I can rarely say that when I watch a tournament.

I thought the key hand occurred when Erik bet $30,000 into a K-9-7 board, and John called from the button. By the way, it was not raised before the flop, and the blinds were $10,000-$20,000 with a $4,000 ante. After a 4 came on the turn, both players checked. The river brought a 9, for a board of K-9-7-4-9, and Erik bet $80,000. John thought for only about 10 seconds, and called. Then, Erik rapped the table and said, "You got it," whereupon John flipped up A-5 - the old ace-high call down!

"Wow," I thought, "what a great call that was." Shortly thereafter, another all-in pot was played when the flop came down 7-5-3, and John had 7-7 to Erik's 9-6 (it was another unraised pot before the flop). When I saw John's hand first this time, I thought, as did John, I'm sure, that he was going to win this thing. Alas, however, Erik was drawing live. When the final two cards were a 10 and a jack, John "World" Hennigan had won himself the USPC championship event. Congratulations to John for winning his first championship event, and I applaud both players for their head-ups play.

By the way, when I ran into John right before the tourney started, he said, "Phil, I'm not sure I'm going to play." Not only did he play, he played great! I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Phil can often be found playing $4-$8 limit hold'em online at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more information about him or more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.