Champion of Champions Invitational Tournament

The World Series of Poker recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a special tournament. The 25 living main-event champions were invited to compete for the title of “Champion of Champions,” with the winner receiving a vintage 1971 cherry-red Corvette, fully restored. In addition, the champion would receive the first-ever Binion’s Cup. The cup was named for the Binion family, who founded the World Series of Poker. Jack Binion, son of founder Benny Binion, was invited to award the cup to the winner.

Of the 25 past living champions, 20 showed up to participate. A historic photograph was taken of the champions, and you could literally feel the electricity in the air. Some of us were wearing Stetsons. It reminded me of the earlier tournaments, which were dominated by players from Texas. Everyone wanted to win the title, the cup, the car, and, not least of all, the bragging rights. I cannot remember facing a tougher lineup in my entire poker career, which spans more than 30 years.

The tournament started with three tables. After two players were eliminated, we went down to two nine-handed tables. Jamie Gold, the 2006 champion, had the unfortunate distinction of going broke very early in the first level of play. After that, one by one, the remaining players went broke until we got down to one final table of 10 players. That final table would come back to play the next day in front of the TV cameras. ESPN is scheduled to air the show on Aug. 4.

The World Series of Poker started originally as a winner-take-all event, with 10,000 in chips. This event followed that tradition. The blinds started at 25-50 with one-hour rounds. We battled for almost six hours the first day, finally getting down to the final 10 when the blinds were 200-400 with a 25 ante. Phil Hellmuth was determined to make the TV table, and after 2005 champion Joe Hachem went broke with slightly more in chips than Phil, the “Poker Brat” got his wish. He was down to less than 1,500 in chips, and Doyle Brunson made a very humorous remark before play started the next day. He told Phil that this confirmed what he knew all along — that Phil would do anything to make the TV table. I wonder if the microphones picked up Doyle’s remark; I guess that we will have to wait and see. Doyle was in a humorous mood that day; he also said, “Where are all the Internet players? Oh, there he is.” He was referring to Peter Eastgate, the youngest player at the table, and the reigning champion.

As luck would have it, Phil, by far the shortest stack, drew the big blind on the very first hand. Carlos Mortensen, who busted Phil when he won the 2001 championship, would try to do it again by raising and putting Phil all in if he chose to call. Everyone passed to Phil, who hemmed and hawed for a minute, then said that he would have to call with practically any two cards, and then did so with 10-5 suited. Surprisingly, Phil was not in that bad of shape, as he was up against Carlos’ pocket deuces. However, he did not improve and was out on the first hand dealt. He was very gracious as he left the table, shaking everyone’s hand and wishing us all good luck.

Peter Eastgate went out a few hands later. He raised preflop with the 8 7 and got reraised by 1995 champion Dan Harrington. Peter thought about it for a while, then made a play that I definitely would not have made against Dan. He pushed all in. Now, Dan would not have reraised this early at the final table without a big hand, in my opinion, so this was definitely not the time to make this kind of move. Dan rather humorously said, “Well, everybody has to take a stand sometime,” and then called — with pocket aces. He also said that he wished he was up against a different type of hand before the flop, and was proven right when the flop came down 8-6-5. Peter had flopped a pair with an open-end straight draw and two cards to come. Yikes! Dan sweated it out, and Peter got no help and went out in ninth place.

The tournament lasted a long time, finally ending at around 1 a.m. in the 12th level of play with the blinds at 1,000-2,000 and a 300 ante. Along the way, I eliminated Doyle in eighth place. Later on, 1986 champion Berry Johnston, short-stacked to begin with, finally went broke to Carlos, and was soon followed by 1996 champion Huck Seed.

I was fortunate to win a few pots early against Carlos and knock his stack down considerably, and became the co-chip leader with Harrington. Carlos finally made top two pair against 1993 champion Jim Bechtel, but Jim had flopped a set, and Carlos went out in fifth place. Down to four players now, Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 champion, was the shortest stack, and he raised to 3,000. I was on the button with A-K offsuit and reraised to 9,000. Bechtel, in the big blind, then pushed in for about 34,000. Varkonyi quickly folded, and it was up to me. In another column, I will explain what went through my mind when I finally decided to make the call, but sometimes you make the wrong play at the right time and get lucky. Jim had pocket kings, and Robert said that he had folded a suited ace. Oops, I was in worse shape than I thought. However, I admit that the poker gods smiled on me that day, and the flop revealed one of the two remaining aces in the deck. My hand held up, and I now had more than 100,000 of the 200,000 in chips in play. I held the lead the rest of the way, but Harrington and Varkonyi were only one double-up from taking the lead.

We played three-handed for almost three hours before I busted Harrington with the K Q against his pocket nines. I called his all-in bet on a flop containing an ace and a queen, hoping that he didn’t have an ace. I was right, and my pair held up.

If the players had bet on who would make it to the heads-up finale, Varkonyi and I would have been the long shots, indeed. But our colleagues didn’t know our mindsets. I told the ESPN crew in my pre-tournament interview that nobody was more determined to win this event than I was. I wanted to re-establish myself as a top-notch player who could still compete against the toughest competition. I also felt that Varkonyi, who played excellent poker the entire tournament, had something to prove. He is a very underrated champion, and he too wanted to gain some respect from his peers, and I knew that he would be tough to beat.

When we got heads up, I had almost a 3-1 chip lead, and I took nothing for granted and didn’t think I had it locked up. I was proven to be right, as he won a series of pots right off the bat with his aggressive play, and almost got even with me. I started to battle back, and then we played a huge pot that put him all in. He was basically on a semibluff with a straight-flush draw, but I had the top end of it blocked and had already made the nut straight, so he had only one out when he went all in. My hand held up, and I had the title of Champion of Champions. That is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. The older players clearly dominated the final table, and I have just one last thing to say: Old school rocks!

Tom McEvoy is a Team PokerStars pro, and a teacher for Deepstacks University. His website is www.tommcevoy.com, and he is available for seminars and private lessons.