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| The World Poker Tour crew and Alan Goehring |
It is well known in the poker world that there is a "curse" on the day-one chip leader of a tournament. Rarely do those who jump out early on the first day follow through and capture a victory. Alan Goehring fell victim to the curse at last year's L.A. Poker Classic, where he was the day-one chip leader; he was eliminated in 27th place. This year, he returned to try to capture the title at Commerce Casino.
Day One – A Quick Start
With a starting field of 693 players, the tournament area at Commerce Casino was filled to capacity. In fact, tournament officials had to set up a few tables outside under a tent to accommodate all of the players. With so many participants and starting chip stacks of $20,000, it didn't take long for the action to heat up.
Alan Goehring wasted no time in accumulating chips. Just 30 minutes into the day's play, Goehring rivered a straight flush to eliminate a player and double up. This would set the tone for the rest of his tournament.
While a number of top pros were eliminated, including Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu, Goehring continued to add to his stack throughout the day. By the time the smoke had cleared on day one, there were 373 players remaining and Goehring was the chip leader with $128,375. Other big names who were sitting high on the leader board included Bill Gazes, Hasan Habib, and Eli Elezra.
Day Two – Slow and Steady
On the second day of play, Goehring slipped under the radar. He quietly accumulated chips while not getting involved in many large pots. Slowly, his $128,375 had swelled to $368,200 by the end of play. That was good enough to put him in third chip position behind J.C. Tran and day-two chip leader Fabrice Soulier.
A number of celebrity players had moved on to day two, as well. However, both actress Shannon Elizabeth and Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss were eliminated on the second day of play. One celebrity who had a roller-coaster day was actor James Woods. Early in the day, Woods managed to build his stack to more than $200,000. He was very aggressive and was involved in several pots. That style of play seemed to be working well for him until after the dinner break, when he took hit after hit to his stack before ending the day at $56,200.
Almost three-fourths of the 373 players who started the day were knocked out. The 97 who remained moved on to fight for the 45 in-the-money spots.
Day Three – The Fast and the Furious
As day three was set to begin, tournament officials announced that play would continue until there were 45 players remaining or six levels were completed. Players and spectators alike started to discuss what time play would end, and the general consensus was that everyone was in for an extremely long day. Many players believed it would be impossible to play down to 45 players in six levels, especially considering how slow play becomes once it moves to hand-for-hand play near the money. However, they all would be mistaken in a big way.
To say that play was fast and aggressive would be an understatement. In the first three hours alone, 37 players were eliminated. Included in the list of early casualties were Chip Reese, Chip Jett, Phil Laak, Blair Rodman, and Hasan Habib. During that time, Goehring took advantage of the loose, aggressive play to vault himself into great chip position.
With 45 places being paid, everyone expected play to slow down near that point. Once again, the opposite held true, and the action remained torrid. Another group of top players were eliminated before they reached the payouts, including Paul Darden, Matt Matros, and Jason Lester. When there were 46 players left, hand-for-hand play began. Normally, play can slow down at that point as many players try to reach a payday. This, however, was not a normal day. Just four minutes after starting hand-for-hand play, the bubble boy was revealed. Surprisingly, he was day-two chip leader Fabrice Soulier.
By the end of day three, only 27 players were left standing. Once again, Goehring was near the top of the chip standings. He ended day three in fourth place with $916,000, and was behind Brian McCann ($939,000), Per "Nemo" Ummer ($1,022,000), and chip leader Hieu "Jon" Luu ($1,110,000).
Ummer was perhaps the story of the day. At one point, he was crippled and down to his last $60,000 after losing a big hand (aces versus kings) to Michael McClain. But late in the day he went on a tear, eliminating David Plastik (39th place) and Amir Vahedi (32nd place), and climbed back above the million dollar mark.
Day Four – A Big Move
Day four was a major contrast to the previous day. With 27 players playing down to 10, play was very cautious and calculated. In addition, a large portion of the day consisted of hand-for-hand play.
At the beginning of the day, L.A.'s Hollywood contingent still had representation. James Woods came into the day in 16th position with $330,000 in chips. He was pretty quiet, in contrast to previous days, until his 24th-place exit was sealed when his pocket queens ran into the pocket aces of Michael Woo.
Meanwhile, television personality Jon Kelley entered the day in a much better position. He was in seventh position at the start of the day with more than $700,000. However, he saw his chips dwindle all day. Eventually, he moved all in with A-Q and flopped a queen against Steven Simmons' pocket jacks. However, the river brought a third jack for Simmons, and Kelley was eliminated in 16th place.
Ummer began day four as the chip leader. Despite being up and down the leader board all day, he managed to work his way back by day's end. He had amassed $2,455,000 in chips by the end of play, enough to once again make him the chip leader.
Goehring, who was quiet early in the day, roared to life late in the day. He eliminated Danny Noam in 14th place and then got involved in one of the biggest hands of the tournament. Juha Helppi raised to $80,000 preflop from the cutoff, and Goehring called. The flop came A
7
3, and Goehring checked. Helppi bet $150,000, and Goehring called. The turn was the 10, and Goehring bet out $200,000. Helppi called, and the river was the 6
. Goehring made it $350,000 to go, and Helppi called. Goehring flipped up the Q 8 for a flush, and Helppi mucked. The pot was about $1.6 million. Just a few hands later, Goehring eliminated Helppi in 13th place after raising Juha all in preflop. Helppi went into the tank until the clock was called, but eventually made the call with his A-J, which was dominated by Goehring's A-K. This run helped Goehring accumulate $2,315,000 in chips by the end of the day, putting him in second place.
Day Five – From 10 to Six
Ten players entered day five to battle for the final six spots at the televised WPT final table. Players did not seem concerned about putting their chips at risk, and it took less than three hours to determine who was heading to the TV table.
Less than 15 minutes into the day, David Chiu was the first victim. Holding 8-6, he got all of his chips in the middle on a flop of Q-7-5. J.C. Tran held Q-9 for a pair of queens, and Chiu did not improve on the turn or river. Chiu earned $73,075 for his 10th-place finish.
Just 10 minutes later, Michael McClain moved all in preflop and was called by Michael Woo. McClain was caught trying to steal, and his 10-3 did not improve against Woo's pocket queens. McClain was out in ninth place ($99,648).
Play slowed down at that point, and it took two hours for the next player to be eliminated. With a board of 10 3 2 5 J
, Kevan Casey bet out $200,000. Tran raised him $300,000 more and Casey moved all in. Tran called, and Casey flipped over the 5 2 for two pair. However, Tran showed pocket fives for a set, eliminating Casey in eighth place ($132,864).
A half-hour after Casey hit the rail, Daniel Quach raised $200,000 preflop. Anahit Galajian, the last female standing in this event, moved all in from the big blind for an additional $30,000. Quach called and showed pocket nines. Galajian's A 6 didn't improve, and she finished on the television bubble in seventh place, earning $166,080.
The final six players had been determined, and one stood out as the big mover. J.C. Tran had used his experience and aggressive play to add more than $2 million in chips to his stack. "I've been here before and I know what to expect," he said.
Goehring was also there. However, day five was the first day during the entire tournament that he ended the day with less than he started. He went into the final table in fourth place with $1.9 million.
Final Table – Wire to Wire
The chip counts going into the final table were as follows:
J.C. Tran – $3,720,000
Per Ummer – $2,870,000
Michael Woo – $2,195,000
Alan Goehring – $1,900,000
Daniel Quach – $1,655,000
Steven Simmons – $1,505,000
Tran and Goehring came to the final table as the players with the most experience on the televised stage. However, Goehring did not get off to a good start. After the first two pots had been played, he had lost nearly $800,000 from his stack. He played patiently, and doubled up a few hours later against Quach. As he had done for most of the tournament, Goehring seemed to pick his spots well. His patience paid off in what turned out to be an incredibly long final table.
It was four hours into play before Ummer was eliminated in sixth place by Tran. Ummer moved all in for $1.2 million with the A 7, and Tran sent him home with his A K. At this point, Tran had nearly $4.2 million in chips.
However, things took a turn for the worse for Tran, and within an hour he was on the rail. First, Woo doubled up through Tran. J.C. raised to $600,000, and Michael moved all in for an additional $1,450,000. Tran made the call with pocket sevens, and was dominated by Woo's pocket nines. Then, in the hand that ended his night, Tran raised to $600,000 and Goehring moved all in. Tran called with his pocket aces, and Goehring was in bad shape with his pocket fives. Goehring had Tran covered by only $25,000. The flop came 9 7 2, and since Tran held the A, Goehring was in terrible shape, with only the 5 giving him a winning hand. The turn was the 2, which meant Goehring would fill up with one of the two remaining fives, and sure enough, the river was the 5, eliminating Tran in fifth place ($265,728) and putting Goehring back in contention.
After this hand, the chip counts were are follows:
Daniel Quach – $4,500,000
Michael Woo – $3,870,000
Alan Goehring – $3,100,000
Steven Simmons – $2,333,000
Goehring continued to build his stack by taking out Simmons in fourth place ($338,803) just 20 minutes later. From the button, Simmons pushed all in with the J 10. Goehring called with the K J, and king high held up on a 5 4 3 6 Q board. This moved Goehring up to $4,250,000 in chips, second to Quach's $6,000,000.
Quach continued to roll, eliminating Woo in third place ($571,315). Woo, on the button, raised to $1 million, and Quach, with the K Q, moved all in from the big blind. Woo called with the 5 5, but found himself way behind on an A A Q flop. The turn was the 10 and the river was the 3.
This set up a heads-up battle between seasoned pro Alan Goehring and Daniel Quach, a regular player at Commerce Casino. At the start of heads-up play, the chip counts were as follows:
Daniel Quach – $9,315,000
Alan Goehring – $4,510,000
Two Hours of Heads-Up Action
With the two players heads up, the blinds and antes skyrocketed to $250,000-$500,000 ($50,000 ante) after about 10 hands. This took a lot of the play away. Flops were few and far between, as one of the two players moved all in preflop on almost every hand, and the blinds were traded back and forth. However, Goehring was slightly more aggressive, and after about a half-hour of play, he had chipped his way back to even with Quach after he came over the top of Quach's $1.5 million raise for $3.4 million more, all in. Quach mucked, and they were neck and neck. For the next 15 hands, the two players traded pots back and forth while remaining almost dead even in chips.
Finally, on the 144th hand of the night, Quach moved all in preflop with the A J, and Goehring called with the K 8. The flop put Quach further ahead when it came Q J 9. But the K on the turn put Goehring in the lead for good, as the river card was the 7. After several minutes, the chips were counted out and Goehring barely had Quach covered.
Goehring had just won the L.A. Poker Classic championship, $2,391,550, and the $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship.
Alan Goehring was able to break the day-one chip leader curse and earn his second WPT victory. Overall, it was an excellent day for Goehring, especially considering it was also his birthday.
