World Poker Open Final Table

In the $500 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the World Poker Open, I was able to reach the final table. Although I was third in chip standings when we started play the last day, I was a long way behind first-place holder Bob "Buzz Saw" Mangino, and not very far ahead of the rest of the pack. No one was on short money. I thought my strongest opponents were Tommy Vinas of Houston, a veteran pro player, and Juha Helppi, the young Finnish player who was a member of the final four in the TV poker show that preceded the 2004 Super Bowl.

I lost a big pot when my jacks ran into queens and we both flopped a set. I both gave and received a bad beat when the weaker ace won both pots in two all-in preflop situations. But in general, I had my usual type of luck when I'm going good, not holding that much but not running into anything that beat my mediocre hands.

Finally, when we were fivehanded, I picked up a big hand, two aces on the button. I decided to limp, since "Buzz Saw" on my left often moved his entire stack in on a limper. This time he ducked a trap and folded, but Tommy Vinas had pocket sevens in the big blind, and was not very deep in money. Of course, Tom moved in, and I "mustered a call." I could see a card in the window as the dealer started to spread the flop – a 7, giving my opponent a set. A split second later, an ace showed as part of the flop. My set over set held up, and Tom was out. Juha took a bad beat and went out in fourth place.

The last three players were Bob Mangino, Billy Shaduck, and I. Most of the time, Mangino was first, and I second, in chip standings. From here on, "Buzz Saw" showed how he got his nickname. If he did not move in before the flop, he moved in when the flop came down. During one half-hour stretch, he moved in more often than he folded. We were playing with a $2,000 ante and $10,000-$20,000 blinds, so the pots were worth shooting at. Even so, I do not think it such a good poker plan to move in every other hand when both you and an opponent have $300,000, but I never held enough hand to call. All I would have needed to challenge him was a decent king high, but that hand never came. The Buzz Saw strategy is a killer when you hold zero to counter it. I did manage to stay alive, but I'm not sure how.

After we had been playing threehanded for a while, this hand came up. I held an A-7 in the small blind and the button (Shaduck) raised all in for $122,000. I called, and the big blind folded. We turned our hands up and Billy showed a K-J offsuit. Since the structure was a $2,000 ante and $10,000-$20,000 blinds, there was $270,000 in this pot. If I won it, I would have slightly more than half the chips, be guaranteed at least second place (over $41,000 more), and maybe win $166,000 for first. The flop brought blanks, the turn was a blank, and the river was – a king. Groan.

The next deal, I got a ground-skinner in the big blind (that is, both of my opponents folded). After that hand, before another hand was dealt, someone noticed that the big pot had been shorted by me for some large amount of money. We counted Billy's chips, and he appeared to have about $60,000 less than he should have had, whereas I had a lot more chips than I was supposed to have. Tournament Director Jimmy Sommerfeld asked me to give Bobby the amount he was shorted. I pointed out that a hand had been played since the error. (The rules of poker state that after the next deal starts, a result must stand.) Jimmy said that an error of that size must be rectified, even though technically the statute of limitations had expired, to protect the integrity of the tournament. He said, "I am making this ruling for the good of the game, because it would be unfair to do anything else." I did not argue, since he was obviously right. I did ask him to check the camera and make sure the amount transferred out of my stack was the correct figure. I was also curious how a pot could be shorted 60 grand and not be noticed by the players, the dealer, the spectators, or the TD. It turns out that I had put only about half the amount in when I said, "I call," then stopped putting the rest in when told to turn up my hand.

I lasted only a few minutes after this big pot. I went out when I raised "Buzz Saw" all in, thinking he was on a bluff, and he had top pair. So, I had to settle for about $41,000, which was really not so bad. Actually, it was a nice way to celebrate my return to poker combat. Mangino defeated Shaduck to take first place in the event.

Prizewinners in the World Poker Open were unhappy to find that Mississippi has required the sponsoring casino company to withhold 3 percent of prize winnings to pay a nonrefundable tax to the state. In January 2002, the tax law in Mississippi relevant to gambling winnings was changed. Now, the 3 percent tax is withheld on all prize "amounts or credits that are subject to the withholding or reporting requirements of the (federal) internal revenue code." Since the IRS requires that only poker prize money sums that are 300 times (or more) the original wager be withheld, a couple of Mississippi casinos hosting poker tournaments have protested the withholding on prize sums of less than 300 times the buy-in. The Review Board of the Mississippi State Tax Commission has on at least two occasions ruled against the casinos on this matter, most recently in October 2003. Both casinos appealed those rulings and were granted administrative hearings before the full Mississippi State Tax Commission, but no rulings have yet resulted from those appeals. If the casinos are unsuccessful in these administrative appeals, they will have the option of appealing to the Mississippi courts for an independent review of these issues.

I personally believe the Mississippi Tax Commission is violating Mississippi law by its directive to withhold 3 percent on all prize money. There is a decent possibility that tournament prizewinners like myself and many others will eventually be returned the 3 percent of the prize money taken from us for state taxes, but a quick decision on this matter by the Mississippi Tax Commission may not be forthcoming.

Editor's note: Bob Ciaffone's latest book, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, co-authored with Jim Brier, is available (332 pages, $25 plus $9.95 shipping and handling). This work and his other poker books, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Holdem Poker, can be ordered through Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons. E-mail [email protected] or call (989) 792-0884. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can download Robert's Rules of Poker for free. On the Internet, he is an "expert" on RoyalVegasPoker.com and an affiliate of PartyPoker.com.