Tournament of Champions - Part I

Recently, I played in the Tournament of Champions (TOC), along with 110 other players. Legends Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, along with myself, were invited to play in the event, as we are some of the biggest World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament winners. The fact that we were invited stirred up a bit of controversy within the poker world.



One group of people said, "These guys didn't qualify, or try to too hard to qualify, thus they shouldn't be playing." The other side of the coin was that Harrah's put up the entire $2 million prize pool, and management there believed they should be able to have a few spots available for exemptions. Also, with Chan and Brunson having a record 10 victories apiece at the WSOP – I am alone with nine – Harrah's believed we were the biggest "champions," and this was, after all, the Tournament of Champions.



Amazingly, with 12 players left, the three of us were still in the hunt. Also in the final 12 were Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, "Cowboy" Hoyt Corkins, and European star Tony Bloom, to name a few. With nine players being paid in the event, which will be televised on Christmas Eve on ESPN, and $1 million for the winner, the heat was on!

Chan finished 12th as he was a short stack, Brunson got to the final 10-handed table, but with only $5,700 in chips, and I had the chip lead with $281,000 in chips. On the second hand of the final table, with the blinds at $1,000-$2,000 – and a $200 per player ante – Brunson was in the big blind. Matusow suddenly announced to the table that Brunson was going all in no matter what his cards were, as Matusow couldn't see how Brunson could fold any hand with $2,200 of his $5,700 already committed to the pot.



Indeed, I believe that it would have been tough for Brunson to fold any two cards here, as he would have left himself in an almost untenable position; it surely would have been tough to come back from $3,500, having to put up the $1,000 small blind and $200 ante. In any case, a player raised with J-J, and Brunson had the A 3, which made his all-in call all but academic.



With the cards faceup, it was announced to the huge audience that Brunson's A 3 was a little more than a 2-1 underdog to beat the jacks. It seemed like the whole room was rooting for the legendary 71-year-old Brunson, as they shouted, "Ace, ace, ace!" The flop was K-3-2 with no hearts, and now Brunson needed an ace, a 3, or a running 5-4 for the straight.



Of course, at this point, the whole room was screaming, "Ace or three, ace or three, ace or three!" The turn card was a deuce, and now Brunson needed an ace or a 3 on the last card. Thus, he had five outs (two threes and three aces). With 44 cards remaining, he was now a 39-5 underdog, or about 8-1. Alas, the last card was a 9, and now the final table was set. On the positive side of things, I was the chip leader.



After a second-place finish in the TOC in 2004 – to Annie Duke – I had a chance to come back and win the TOC in 2005! I'll have more next time in the second part of this three-part series on the TOC.