Tournament Report: Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship

Except for the annual World Series of Poker, the biggest poker tournaments in the world can be found at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Some tournaments may have more entrants or larger prize pools, but when there's a major tournament at Bellagio, everyone who's anyone comes to play.



As expected, the pros all showed up for the recent Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, a World Poker Tour event that capped off Bellagio's fourth-annual Festa al Lago tournament. The $10,000 buy-in event attracted a total of 420 players, and while you could find bigger fields, you couldn't find bigger names: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Hellmuth, last year's winner Carlos Mortensen, and, of course, Doyle Brunson. Even those who don't play a lot of tournaments (Howard Lederer, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan) made time for this one.

WPT host Courtney Friel

Day One: Chau Giang Takes Control
Day one belonged to Chau Giang, one of the regular players in Doyle's "big game" at Bellagio. Giang took an early lead and kept adding chips throughout the day. He was definitely running hot: He knocked out Paul Phillips late in the day when he called Phillips' preflop raise with Q-J, and promptly flopped the nut straight. Giang finished the day with $208,900 in chips to lead the field.



There were only three other players who finished day one with more than $100,000 in chips: Joe Rutledge ($178,425), Arthur Rhea ($110,025), and Michael Gracz ($100,925). How did Doyle Brunson do in his namesake event? He barely survived, entering day two in 205th place with 213 players remaining. He'd have to pull some tricks out of his signature Stetson hat to get by with just $10,775 in chips, but if anyone could do it, Doyle could. After all, how many other active players have tournaments named after them?

Day Two: Doyle Falls, While Harrington Climbs Out of a Hole

Unfortunately, day two was a short one for Doyle Brunson. He was eliminated early after flopping a pair of nines against Don Zewin's pocket jacks. Doyle never caught up in the hand, but did receive a nice round of applause from the other players as he left the tournament room.



The goal was to reach the final 27 players on day two, but after seven levels of play (at about 1:30 a.m.), there were still 39 players ready to return for day three. Ernie Scherer led with $675,500 in chips, while Gavin Smith ($497,500) and Tony Grand ($457,000) rounded out the top three.



Michael Gracz was in fourth place for the second day in a row, with $402,500. Gracz was 802 points behind John Phan in Card Player's Player of the Year (POY) standings. With fifth place worth 800 points, any final-table finish for Gracz would drastically affect the POY race.



Dan Harrington finished the day in fifth place with just $375,000. While it's not unusual to see Harrington so high in the standings, it was quite an achievement given his position at the beginning of the day. Remember the difficult task that Doyle Brunson faced after finishing day one in 205th place? Harrington had been in 204th place.

Day Three: The Final Table Takes Shape

Michael Gracz had a quick fall on day three, busting out in the first round when Don Zewin moved all in after a flop of A 9 4. Gracz called with the A K (pair of aces), but Zewin showed pocket nines (9 9) for middle set. Another ace on the turn gave Gracz four outs to survive, but the river card was the 2. Gracz was out in 28th place, but only the top 27 received POY points. Somewhere, John Phan let out a sigh of relief as his quest for the Player of the Year award survived another scare.



The field shrank from 39 down to 13 rather quickly, in less than five hours. But those who had hoped for an early finish on day three would slowly develop triskaidekaphobia – the fear of the number 13. It was another three hours before short-stacked Kathy Liebert moved all in with pocket fives – against Gavin Smith's pocket kings. Liebert would finish with the worst triskaidekaphobia of the day, going home in 13th place.



Other big names who barely missed the televised final table were Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (11th place) and Barry Greenstein (10th place). This was the second straight top-10 finish for Greenstein in a WPT event, as he finished ninth in the UltimateBet.com Poker Classic.



It took 15 hours to play down to the final six, with the bubble bursting at about 3 a.m. Day-two chip leader Ernie Scherer moved all in with two pair against Minh Ly's flush draw and gutshot-straight draw. Ly hit his flush on the river to bust Scherer, catapulting himself into the lead for the WPT final table.

The Final Table
The final six players represented a good mix, from the aggressive Gavin Smith to the conservative "Action" Dan Harrington, from 81-year-old Tony Grand to big-game regular Minh Ly, and from top European Jan Sorensen to seasoned Vegas veteran Don Zewin.



Here were the opening chip counts:

1. Minh Ly – $3,056,000 (seat 2)

2. Dan Harrington – $2,937,000 (seat 3)

3. Gavin Smith – $1,368,000 (seat 5)

4. Don Zewin – $552,000 (seat 4)

5. Jan Sorensen – $370,000 (seat 6)

6. Tony Grand – $118,000 (seat 1)



With the blinds starting at $15,000-$30,000 ($3,000 ante), Grand would be forced to act early. He moved all in from under the gun with Q-9 on hand No. 7, and got two callers. Grand tripled up when a queen fell on the river. He then moved all in with A-10 in hand No. 15. Smith called him with pocket threes. The flop fell K 9 4, and Grand had the A for a flush draw. Another heart fell on the turn, and Grand survived again. But Grand's luck ran out in hand No. 18, when he moved all in with pocket tens against Zewin's A-Q. There was an ace on the flop and another on the river, and Tony Grand was eliminated in sixth place by Zewin's trip aces.



That left Sorensen with the short stack, and when Zewin reraised him all in from the big blind in hand No. 22, Sorensen felt committed to his pocket fives and called. Unfortunately, Zewin had pocket sevens, and they held up to bust Jan Sorensen in fifth place.



It took less than an hour to lose the first two players, but the final four would battle for another four hours. Zewin was the short stack, but picked his spots remarkably well. Limited in his options, he moved all in preflop in hands No. 52, 57, 63, 64, 65, 67, and 72. When Harrington finally called him with A-J in hand No. 74, Zewin had pocket kings, and they held up.



After 100 hands, Smith had just finished a small rush to lead the table with about $4 million – nearly half the chips in play. The balance of power had shifted, with Ly in a distant second with $1.75 million, and Zewin ($900,000) and Harrington ($800,000) on short stacks.

Left to right: Dan Harrington, Minh Ly, and WPT hosts Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Courtney Friel toast another successful WPT event.

Ly would retake the lead when he turned a 6-high straight in hand No. 108 with the 5 3 against Smith, and then won a smaller threeway pot the next hand. Don "All In" Zewin went back to his old ways, moving his short stack into the pot to win hands No. 112, 113, 114, 115, and 118 – all without seeing a flop. But rather than just picking up blinds and antes, he was coming over the top of other players, accumulating plenty of extra chips to move into second place with about $2 million.



The blinds increased to $100,000-$200,000 ($20,000 ante), making the chip swings extremely high. Harrington doubled up in hand No. 122 when he was all in with K-J against Ly's pocket nines, and he caught a king on the turn. Ly would retaliate the very next hand, regaining those chips when his pocket jacks held up against Harrington's pocket eights.



Zewin moved all in with pocket nines (9 9) in hand No. 128, but he didn't have enough chips left to scare out Harrington with the 9 7. Harrington was dominated – until the flop came K 7 4, giving him an underpair, a flush draw, and 11 outs. The 10 fell on the river to give Harrington the flush, and Don Zewin was eliminated in fourth place.



In hand No. 129, Smith raised to $600,000, and Ly moved all in for about $2.4 million. Smith studied his opponent for several minutes before calling with the A 7, and Ly showed the K 8. But Ly flopped a king to win the hand, taking the chip lead with about $5.1 million.



Smith was crippled, and all but committed to playing for the rest of his chips from the big blind in the next hand (hand No. 130). Harrington showed the 8 4 from the small blind, and Smith flipped over the 10 2. Smith was actually in the preflop lead with Doyle Brunson's signature hand. But preflop leads don't win championships, and Harrington flopped one pair and turned two pair, eliminating Gavin Smith in third place.

Heads Up for a Million Dollars

Dan Harrington, the 1995 world champion, reached back-to-back final tables against huge fields in the main event of the World Series of Poker in 2003 and 2004. Minh Ly is less famous, but plays in the biggest cash games in the world. When Doyle won his record-tying 10th WSOP bracelet this summer, Ly was the runner-up.



Entering heads-up play, Ly had the chip advantage with $5,020,000 to Harrington's $3,375,000. That would change quickly in their first hand (hand No. 131), when Ly reraised all in and Harrington quickly called with the A J. Ly's K J was dominated and never improved. Harrington doubled up to $6,750,000, giving him a 4-to-1 lead over Ly's $1,645,000.



In hand No. 135, Ly moved all in again after a Harrington raise, showing the 10 9. Once again, he was dominated by Harrington, who showed the A 9. Harrington was a heavy favorite to win the tournament right here. But, the flop came Q 10 6, giving Ly the lead with a pair of tens. The last two cards were blanks, and Ly doubled up to about $3.2 million, which was still short of Harrington's $5.2 million.



Ly won hand No. 139 by betting the river on a board of 7 6 5 10 3, getting Harrington to fold. Two hands later, they were effectively tied, separated by less than a single big blind.



Both players limped in to see a flop of the A 6 4 in hand No. 142. Harrington check-raised Ly to $550,000, and Ly called. The turn card was the J, Harrington bet $500,000, and Ly called again. The river card was a blank (2), and Harrington checked. Ly bet $1.3 million, and Harrington went into the tank for several minutes before folding a very large pot to Ly, who now had a big chip lead.



Ly raised all in from the button in hand No. 144, and Harrington quickly called with the A 5. Ly was behind with the J 3, but took the lead on a flop of 9 6 3. The turn card was the K, and Harrington was down to just six outs. Anything but a 5 or an ace would clinch the tournament for Ly.



The river card was the 7.



Minh Ly had won the 2005 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, along with $1,060,050, a $25,000 entry into the WPT World Championship, and a gold bracelet. Harrington finished second, earning $620,730.



Ultimately, it took six and a half hours for the final six players to finish in the exact same order that they started. But those six and a half hours of poker should make an excellent episode of the World Poker Tour.



Final results were as follows:

1. Minh Ly – $1,060,050

2. Dan Harrington – $620,730

3. Gavin Smith – $327,610

4. Don Zewin – $189,630

5. Jan Sorensen – $137,940

6. Tony Grand – $96,560