2004 World Series of Poker Eliminations - Part II

In the last issue I told you how Annie Duke, Russ Hamilton, Erik Seidel, and Antonio Esfandiari went out of the 2004 World Series of Poker. Now, let's move on to a couple more players of note – Howard Lederer and Doyle Brunson.

When I reached Howard Lederer ("Bub" to his friends), he had just won a lot of money playing heads-up poker at Bellagio on the sixth day of the WSOP's "big one" in a 50K-100K match. As a side note, Jennifer Harman Traniello and Todd Brunson also have done well playing heads up for those kinds of stakes.

Howard was eliminated in around 400th place by someone who is no stranger to anyone in the poker world today. "It was very strange," Howard said. "I happened to get high-carded to the TV table alongside Doyle. When the TV table got down to sevenhanded, I happened to be in the big blind at the table nearest the TV table. My tournament had been pretty uneventful. I ended day one with $13,000, and then I was up to $50,000 and was making steady progress. I then bluffed a bit too much and found myself at $10,000 or so, and when I moved to Doyle's table, I had roughly $30,000.

"I flopped a pair, stole a pot or two, and had $45,000 when the big hand came up between Doyle and me. By the way, this hand will definitely be on TV. Although some might think Doyle's play odd, I happen to like the way he played this hand. He opened from middle position for $3,500 with the K 10, and everyone folded to me in the big blind. I looked down at 7-7, and called $2,500 more. Now, there was about $8,000 in the pot, and the flop came down 7 4 3. I checked, and was debating in my mind how to play this powerful hand. Was I going to check-call or check-raise, and if I check-raised, how much? Then, Doyle announced, 'I'm all in.' Decision time was over, and I nearly beat Doyle into the pot. The second he said, 'All in,' I said, 'Call.'

"Then, Doyle said, 'Uh-oh.' He knew by the speed of my call that I had a superstrong hand. The K came on the turn, which meant that we would have played a big pot anyway. And then, the 6 came on the river. Boom! I was gone – the agony of defeat! I mean, one second you're comfortable and playing in the biggest poker tournament in history, and the next second, you're gone. The finality of it all is really something. As I said, I like Doyle's play here. I mean, if he bets $8,000, what's he supposed to do, fold for my all-in $30,000 raise? He can't, so why not put the maximum pressure on me and any pair that I might have, like J-J, 10-10, 9-9, or something similar."

Since I couldn't reach Doyle by my column deadline, Howard told me the unbelievable scenario behind Doyle's exit in 53rd place. Howard said, "I was needling Doyle the next day after he busted me out about his verbal declarations. I was telling him that he was too lazy to put his chips in the pot. Unbelievably, day five rolled along and the following hand came up between Bradley Berman – Lyle Berman's son – and Doyle. Doyle was down to about $100,000 in chips, with the blinds at about $6,000-$12,000. Doyle verbally announced, 'I'm all in,' but it was extremely noisy in the building at the time, and everyone folded around to Bradley, who was in the small blind.

"Bradley thought that everyone else had folded, and that he would be raising the big blind only. So, he announced, 'I raise,' at which point he was told that Doyle had already moved all in, and that he must raise Doyle's $100,000 bet. The big blind folded, and Doyle flipped up pocket tens. Bradley, with a little egg on his face, sheepishly flipped up his A-7. He flopped an ace when A-5-5 came, and it was over for Doyle in an instant.

"Can you imagine if Doyle had made it to the final table? At 70 years of age, moving through 2,576 players like a surgeon, what a feat that would have been."

Howard concluded by saying, "Next year the pros will play even better against the amateurs. It is a learning curve for all of us, and we will be better prepared by next year. Some of us try too many moves against the amateurs, rather than just playing them straight up."

Editor's note: Chat or play poker with Phil at UltimateBet.com. To learn more about him, go to PhilHellmuth.com.