John 'Johnny World' Hennigan Wins 2007 Winter Poker Open

After stops in the Bahamas (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure), Australia (Aussie Millions), and Mississippi (World Poker Open), a grueling January on the professional poker circuit wrapped up in Atlantic City with one of the East Coast's biggest tournaments - the Winter Poker Open, a World Poker Tour event, at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa.

The finale for poker's year-opening crash course attracted a 571-player starting field and provided three milestones for "Hell Month '07:" richest winner's prize ($1.6 million), largest number of first-place Card Player Player of the Year points (1,920), and arguably the most talked about, superlative, and wildest final-table finish.

Day One: 48 Hours and the Gold-en Child
If numbers serve as the clearest measure of success, the 2007 Winter Poker Open was an instant hit. A preliminary count of 550 players eclipsed September's Borgata Poker Open (540), and after the day's second level and with all alternates accounted for, the WPT season five's second trip to Atlantic City boasted a 571-player field.

The pro-friendly tournament structure ($30,000 starting stacks and blinds beginning at $25-$50) contributed to the increased turnout, and also ensured a certain star power. Among the big names in attendance, few garnered more attention than Jamie Gold.

A New Jersey native, Gold doubled up in early play, displayed some of his much televised table-talking abilities in an elimination hand against Brian Wolfe, and became one of the first players to pass the $100,000 chip mark. The 2006 World Series of Poker champion continued to experience success in his first professional homecoming, and finished action in the leader board's top five ($149,000).

While Gold advanced to day two, the 12 hours of play claimed a number of notable players, including Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Daniel Negreanu.

Mizrachi, the WPO defending champ, saw his repeat bid come to an end after the dinner break when his sixes full of aces lost to John Racener's superior aces full of nines.

After placing second in the previous night's World Poker Open, Negreanu, along with fellow final-table participants J.C. Tran and Kido Pham, chartered a private jet from Tunica, Mississippi, to Atlantic City in order to play on day one of the Winter Poker Open. Outlasting Pham and Tran, Negreanu's two-day poker marathon closed when, short-stacked and all in preflop with two callers, he mucked his hand to an opponent's pocket tens.

Minutes later, with seven levels of poker played, day one of the Winter Poker Open concluded.

Day Two: Fool's Gold
A total of 318 players returned to the Borgata poker room for day two of the WPO. The whittled-down field still featured a host of big names, and many, including John D'Agostino, credited the tournament's starting stacks and blinds for the sustained high-profile presence.

"This is an awesome structure," D'Agostino said prior to the second stage. "It's so slow, and I can play every flop I want to play. I get to limp in a lot, and people just play so terribly after the flop, [that's how] I build my chips."

As D'Agostino grinded out wins, Jamie Gold again used a quick start to take the chip lead in early action. Half an hour into play, the defending WSOP champ, who admitted that he was fighting off the effects of an all-night celebration with friends and family, flopped quad treys to eliminate an opponent holding pocket kings. The pot bumped Gold up to $260,000, and by the day's third break, his stack exceeded the $300,000 mark.

His enormous success on day one and early on day two only made Gold's eventual elimination all the more unexpected. The New Jersey native saw his stack drop level by level, and at 9:53 p.m., his all-in reraise with A-8 failed to improve against Michael Sukonik's pocket jacks. After hovering near the top of the leader board for the majority of the opening rounds, Gold exited as one of day two's most talked about eliminations.

While Gold made news for his dramatic fall, several players gained attention for the opposite feat - improbable comebacks. John Gale battled back from $2,075 to more than $120,000, eliminating 2007 Aussie Millions third-place finisher Andy Black in process, while John Phan, down to $6,000 on day one, finished action in the top five chip counts ($340,000).

With so many pros in contention at the start of action, day two featured a number of high-profile eliminations, including "Yukon" Brad Booth, Phil Ivey, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Ted Forrest, Erick Lindgren, and D'Agostino, who fell late in play after his pocket sevens failed to hold up against Bill Edler's A J.

Day Three: Bubble on the Boardwalk
For the 107 players still in contention, day three became a matter of eliminations rather than levels played, as 54 would make the money.

While Scotty Nguyen proved to be the biggest name to drop during the day's first level, other notables, like Nam Le, Vanessa Rousso (the last female participant eliminated), Steve Dannenmann, Surinder Sunar, and Haralabos Voulgaris, soon followed.

By the six-hour mark, only 57 players remained, and after Tony Cousineau's 56th-place finish, action switched to hand-for-hand play.

Burt Boutin (A A) avoided the dreaded "bubble boy" title, and doubled up, when he rivered a club flush to top Bill Edler's set of jacks. With Boutin still hopping around the poker room following his ahead-on-the-flop, behind-on-the-turn, ahead-again-on-the-river victory, David Oppenheim popped the money bubble as his set of nines made Glyn Banks the tournament's 55th-place finisher.

In the usual post-bubble boom, 16 players fell in two hours, with Greg Fondacaro heading the way to the payout window (54th place - $13,823).

After Boutin flopped quad sixes to send Devin Porter home in 37th place ($14,954), day three was nine players away from completion.

For Davidson Matthew, an admitted up-and-down "yo-yo" day gained positive momentum in late action. The 2006 WPT Championship second-place finisher used a runner-runner straight to crack Scott Jones' pocket aces (31st place - $16,616). The win helped Matthew amass a stack in excess of $1.4 million, an amount high enough to put the Toronto native at the top of the day-three leader board.

Padraig Parkinson also contributed to the end-of-day cause, and added to his chip count, when his pocket tens held up against the A-2 of Victor Ramdin (29th place - $16,616). Less than one minute later, Tom Werthmann took 28th place ($16,616), and the remaining players bagged their chips in preparation for the penultimate day.

Day Four: The March to Six
The scenario for day four of the tournament was as follows: play down from 27 players to six. Located in a secluded alcove of the Borgata poker room, and with action divided into ninehanded play, the remaining field gathered to determine which of them would be leaving with a paycheck and which of them would be moving on to the potential fame and fortune found at a WPT televised final table.

The march to six started with the elimination of Chip Jett, who fell when Davidson Matthew's 6 5 rivered a 6 to best Jett's K Q (27th place - $27,694).

Following the bust-out of Tony Salerno (22nd place - $27,694), the WPO lost one of its most accomplished remaining participants. Playing in relative anonymity for much of the tournament, Jay Heimowitz began to attract attention as the field dwindled. A six-time WSOP bracelet winner, and one of only three players to win the coveted jewelry in each decade of the Series' existence, Heimowitz's tournament ended when his flopped set of jacks fell to John Racener's runner-runner diamond flush.

For Heimowitz, a New York native and self-proclaimed "amateur" player, his 21st-place finish ($27,694) served as yet another accomplishment to add to his poker resume.

The eliminations of Erik Cajelais (20th place - $27,694) and John Phan (19th place - $27,694) sent the WPO to two ninehanded rings. At 4:25 p.m., Matthew's A-Q held up against Alex Balandin's A-J (11th place - $72,003), and the 10 remaining players consolidated to the tournament's final table.

Three minutes after the redraw, Matthew became the first player eliminated from the table (10th place - $72,003) when he moved all in with top pair and Gale called with a flopped straight. David Redlin, the 2006 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship fifth-place finisher, soon joined Matthew after his pocket fours failed to hold up against Joe Simmons' A K (ninth place - $110,774).

Simmons followed up the Redlin elimination by dropping another young player on a hot streak, John Racener. Only days removed from a 12th-place finish at the World Poker Open, Racener notched his second straight deep WPT run when Simmons' Q 10 paired a 10 on the flop to crack Racener's A K (eighth place - $166,161).

At 6:29 p.m., Simmons delivered the fourth, and final, elimination of the pre-televised WPT final table. After he and Gale called Joe Capello's $259,000 all-in bet, both players checked down the Q 2 2 Q A board. Capello turned over pocket fives, and appeared to be on the verge of doubling up when Gale showed the 10 8, but Simmons' A 3 had paired on the river to end day four.

Final Table
After more than 40 hours of poker and 565 eliminations, the tournament's six remaining players gathered in the hotel's Events Center to fight for $1.6 million, and a championship title, at the World Poker Tour televised final table.

The chip counts and seating were as follows:
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At 5 p.m. EST, in front of a filled-to-capacity studio audience, Linda Johnson performed the official player introductions and play began with $25,000-$50,000 blinds and $5,000 antes.

Crazy 8: Short-Stacked Jon James Goes Down
Jon James' two-day battle on a short stack (he entered the fourth day in 26th place out of 27 players) brought the Lowell, Massachusetts, native all the way to the final table. Fifteen minutes into play, after moving all in twice without any action, James tossed in his last $410,000 over the top of a John Gale $130,000 raise. Following a call, James took the lead with the K Q to his opponent's J 8, but the 8 7 5 7 10 board paired Gale's 8.

For James, an improbable 48-hour run at the bottom of the leader board ended with a Winter Poker Open sixth-place finish ($276,935).

Gale Makes the Hit, Hennigan Makes the Tackle: Michael Sukonik Out in Fifth Place
A pair of run-ins with the table's most seasoned pros cost Michael Sukonik his tournament life. First, a $750,000 loss to Gale him more than half of his stack (Sukonik folded to an all-in bet on the 9 8 6 flop). The Pennsylvania native lasted for another 15 minutes with only $500,000 before pushing all in from the button and receiving a call from John "Johnny World" Hennigan (the big blind).

In the second straight case of the stronger hand failing to hold up, Hennigan's 10 9 paired a 9 on the Q 9 5 3 Q board, and Sukonik, with his pocket eights cracked, exited the final table in fifth place ($332,322).

The Almost Perfect Coin Flip: Simmons Loses Race, Takes Fourth Place
The chip leader going to the final table, Joe Simmons lost his top spot during the second level following Hennigan's flush-over-flush double-up through Gale. The Philadelphia native, and one-time manager of the rap group The Roots, then watched Hennigan distance himself even further, courtesy of the Sukonik elimination.

Behind by almost $3 million, Simmons engaged the new chip leader on a hand that changed the dynamics of the final table.

After a $250,000 raise, and calls by both Gale and Hennigan, Simmons bet $600,000 on the K 9 3 flop. When Gale mucked, Hennigan pushed all in, and Simmons called with his last $3,090,000. A race situation developed, as Hennigan turned over the 4 3 (50.10 percent) and Simmons showed the K J (49.90 percent). The 10 turn put Simmons one card away from doubling up, but Hennigan completed his flush with the A river.

A Borgata poker room regular, Simmons received a loud ovation for his fourth-place finish ($387,709).

Outkicked: John Gale Finishes Third
A prohibitive short stack at one time during the tournament ($2,000 on day two), Gale eliminated five players on day four en route to his final-table appearance. At the bottom of the leader board for all of threehanded play, Gale's last hand saw the British-born pro and WSOP bracelet winner call all in against Hennigan's $1.5 million raise on the A K 4 flop. Gale showed the A 6 for top pair, only to have Hennigan turn over the A 9, for top pair with a better kicker.
The 5 turn and 7 river brought no help, and Gale left as the third-place finisher ($443,096).

Heads up: John Hennigan vs. Chuck Kelley
The 2007 Winter Poker Open heads-up finale featured a match between Hennigan, a seasoned high-stakes specialist whose nickname "Johnny World" references his famous propensity to place a wager on anything, and Kelley, a retired stockbroker and semiprofessional poker player.

The chip counts were as follows:
1 - John Hennigan - $11,670,000
2 - Chuck Kelley - $5,460,000

At 9:29 p.m., with Kelley unable to close the gap, the 2007 Winter Poker Open ended on, of all things, a very public miscue.

Hand No. 116 started when Kelley raised to $550,000 and Hennigan called. After Hennigan checked the 7 3 3 flop, Kelley fired $700,000 into the pot. Hennigan matched the bet and checked for the third time when the A landed on the turn. Kelley responded with yet another $700,000 bet, and then, after Hennigan's call, flipped over his holecards.

Inasmuch as Kelley had prematurely exposed his Q 7, tournament officials ruled the hand live, and Hennigan immediately pushed all in on the 3 river. Following a Kelley call, Hennigan became the Winter Poker Open's newest champion when his A 5 gave him the superior treys full of aces boat.

"I'm a little disappointed," Kelley told Card Player following his $849,082 runner-up finish. "I was just so excited: the lights, the cameras, the crowd. But, I played well, and I feel pretty good."

A two-time WSOP bracelet winner and the fourth-place finisher in the 2002 Five-Diamond World Poker Classic championship event (the WPT's first televised event), Hennigan's WPO win netted him $1,606,223, and a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship.

The victory also gave "Johnny World" his first World Poker Tour title.

"I'm shocked right now," Hennigan smiled. "I've won a few tournaments in the past, and it usually doesn't sink in for the first few hours. I'm just soaking it in. Two hours from now, I'll be really excited."