Live With the World Poker Tour: The Final Table

In my last column I described the first two days of the final event of San Jose's Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament, a stop on the World Poker Tour.

The final day of play started at 2 p.m. Well before noon, hundreds of fans were patiently waiting in a line outside the set, hoping to snag one of the 200 seats, some of which were reserved for members of finalists' families and the press.

Escorted by a Travel Channel official, a Wall Street Journal reporter and I pushed through the massed fans shortly after 1 p.m. Security guards closely examined precious clutched tickets. Our media IDs got us smoothly through. The stands were already nearly full, but there were four empty seats labeled "Media" in the second row, a position that we had been advised by WPT folks would afford a better view than the first row. A wooden barrier between the steeply angled bleachers and the raised set cut off the view at about chest level in the first row. Also, those in the first row were not much above the playing surface of the table and did not have the vantage point of higher rows.

Before play began, Linda Johnson ran the crowd through the paces of some of the expected responses in somewhat of a crowd warm-up. I believe those orchestrated demonstrations may actually end up being edited in at appropriate junctures, or added for additional atmosphere. Or, maybe they just wanted us to be pumped up for reactions to actual climactic moments. They may not need any canned shots, though, because several exciting confrontations brought the crowd to its feet.

Behind me sat members of Chris Moneymaker's family. Various family members and friends of the finalists seemed to fill most of rows two through four on our side of the set. Opposite us, on the other side of the set, the first two rows of those bleachers contained a full contingent of Tiltboys. You may recall that it was the Tiltboys who in 1996 led an invasion of a ladies tournament in this very same club. They all had showed up in drag and insisted they be allowed to play. You can read Bruscilla Hayek's hilarious account on the Tiltboys home page (http://www.tiltboys.com/); click on "Tiltboys in Panty Jose." One of the prominent gate-crashers you'll recognize is Phyllis (Phil Gordon). Gordon was the luminary the group had come to cheer on. Sometimes between hands Phil wandered over to the stands to exchange a few words with his supporters; at breaks, he was deep in conversation with them. They had an open cell phone line to Kim Scheinberg (the only real female Tiltboy) on the East Coast, relaying crucial plays.

In front of the bleachers at a table sat Jan Fisher and Lee Jones. Fisher is the official WPT statistician, and she kept track of hands. Jones operated the "thumb cam," an overhead camera directly above the table. Normally, that camera showed a bird's-eye view of the action, but whenever the dealer put out the flop, Jones zoomed the lens smoothly to close in on the cards. When the hand ended, he backed up the lens to its widest angle.

That camera was one of eight I counted. The trademark holecard "lipstick cams" added six more. There was the overhead "thumb cam"; two men wielded heavy-duty shoulder cameras (the kind you see at news scenes); two more carried what looked like ordinary camcorders; there was one camera mounted at each end of the table, remotely operated for close-ups of players at critical moments. You can see these cameras sometimes during broadcasts. One huge camera was at the end of a very large telescoping boom that wheeled around the set and could be raised from floor height all the way to the lofty ceiling. The operator sat in a chair with a monitor before him, while another workman moved the whole apparatus about the set. I've read that it costs $350,000 to produce each episode, and I could see where the money was spent.

High above the set on girders were eight spotlights, four at each end of the table. Periodically they were switched on and swung across the set and out into the audience at each end. Other lights had rotating filters that caused dancing beams to spin across the set. The inspiration for this creative lighting, which added greatly to the excitement (and threatened to dazzle the audience every few minutes) seems to have come from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire; it is certainly effective on this show.

During the warm-up, portable fog machines filled the set with a heavy layer of dry ice fog. This lent that special ambience to the entrance of the players as each was introduced. You could feel the excitement as the players were brought in and seated one at a time.

I know that Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten were at their table only a few dozen feet away, but to see them I had to stand up, lean sideways, and peer around an intruding portion of the set. I don't have personal knowledge of whether they did any actual commentary during the play. This was something I had always wondered about. They must; otherwise, why have the table there to begin with? I couldn't hear anything they said, though. This was undoubtedly deliberate, to avoid disturbing the players and possibly influencing their play with their comments. With mikes right in front of their mouths, Sexton and Van Patten would not have to speak loudly at all, and it would all get picked up on the tape. That also would explain the earpieces they were wearing, to hear what the other was saying. I'll have to watch the show to hear any commentary. I know that some of their remarks are based on seeing holecards. Since no one sees those until the editing is done, those comments must perforce be recorded later. But I believe at least some of the commentary must be live.

The players sat down one at a time, Tournament Director Matt Savage said, "Shuffle up and deal," and play commenced. Actual final-table play lasted about five hours. The whole thing, including interviews, background shots, material shot the first night about Bay 101, atmosphere, and Bay Area shots, will all be edited down to something less than the two hours (to accommodate commercials) that you – and I – will get to view on June 9.

The chip leader was Phil Gordon, former dot-com entrepreneur, world-class tournament player, and co-host, with comedian Kevin Pollak, of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown. At $1,238,000, he had more than the other five players combined.

Local player Masoud Shojaei was second with $416,000.

Current World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion Chris Moneymaker was third with $215,000. He was the only bounty remaining of the original 23.

Scott Wilson, an expatriate American who lives in Costa Rica, was fourth with $203,000.

Wilson's friend, Canadian Mark Mache, was fifth with $175,000.

Local favorite Susan Kim ("Suzy K") had $172,000.

Gordon did not have a good start. The others chipped away at his stack, bringing him down to less than $700,000. He lost the lead at least once.

Suzy K put up a game fight. She crippled Mache, going all in with 8-8 against his 9-9. An 8 on the turn doubled her up.

On a subsequent hand, Wilson raised Mache all in. When Mache folded, Wilson showed 9-9, saying, "I play them better than you."

Mache busted out shortly thereafter, taking home $57,000 for sixth place.

Kim went all in several times. On one of those survival plays, Gordon cracked up the crowd by whipping a small pair of binoculars out of his jacket pocket to stare at her across the table. He folded, and she took down that pot, but didn't last much longer, exiting fifth with $68,400.

Wilson survived several all-in bets, but not, of course, the last one, and he left in fourth place with $79,800.

Three major confrontations at the final table all involved Gordon.

One hand spelled the difference between his continuing successfully and ending up with probably too few chips to remain a contender. Gordon started the hand with $700,000 and Shojaei with $470,000. The blinds were $8,000-$16,000 and the antes $2,000. Shojaei raised from late position to $40,000. Gordon called from the big blind. The flop came 9-7-6 rainbow. Both players checked. The turn was a queen. Gordon bet $50,000 and Shojaei called. Another queen came on the river, and Gordon shoved in the rest of his stack. When Shojaei folded, Gordon showed his cards, K-3, to the camera and the wildly approving crowd. Had he lost the hand, he would have been down to $130,000. Gordon told me later that his bluff was based on a tell. He put Shojaei on 8-8 , J-10, or A-7. Shojaei claimed later to have had K-10, but calling on the turn with just a gutshot draw seems unlikely; J-10 and 8-8 were plausible, since they provided open-end straight draws. This is one of those hands where seeing the holecards in the broadcast will be interesting.

If Gordon had called on another hand, the tournament might have ended sooner than it actually did. Second place would have been different. The hand started with these approximate chip counts: Gordon, $1,400,000, Moneymaker, $700,000, Shojaei, $300,000. Shojaei raised to $80,000 from the button. Gordon, in the small blind, reraised to $300,000. Moneymaker, in the big blind, came over the top for all of his chips. Shojaei thought for a long time, and then called all in. Gordon looked very unhappy. While he was perhaps getting money odds to make the call, losing the hand would put him uncomfortably low in chips. He finally showed 9-9 and mucked the hand. Showing at that point was all right, because the other two were already all in. Gordon told me later that once Shojaei called, it was a clear fold, but that he would have called immediately had Shojaei folded. Shojaei and Moneymaker turned over their hands, A-J suited for Shojaei and A-Q suited for Moneymaker. The flop was 10-9-7. The crowd went crazy, not needing any prompting, and Gordon looked momentarily stunned, probably thinking that not only had he laid down the best hand initially, he would have made a set. An ace on the turn did not change things, but an 8 on the river gave Shojaei an inside straight, and brief chip leadership. Had Gordon called Moneymaker's bet, he would have busted a formidable opponent. Even though losing the main pot, he would have made money because of the side pot. But that's playing results. I imagine that in their commentary, Sexton and Van Patten will agree that laying down the hand was the proper play.

The climactic hand provided the major excitement of the tournament. Chip counts were: Gordon, $1,700,000; Moneymaker, $500,000; and Shojaei, $200,000. The blinds were $20,000-$40,000 with $5,000 antes. Shojaei was on the button, and needed to make a move. He raised all in. Gordon immediately called. Moneymaker thought for some time, and then asked Savage a very interesting question: "What happens if we both bust out on the same hand?" Savage replied that whoever started the hand with more money would get second place. Moneymaker then moved in. Gordon gave it considerable thought, and finally said, "I call." The hands were turned up: the 10 6 for Shojaei, the J J for Moneymaker. The audience went wild when Gordon turned up the A 7. I later calculated the chances for each hand: Shojaei, 17 percent; Moneymaker, 59 percent; Gordon, 24 percent. Everyone was second-guessing the play afterward, but Gordon later told me he reasoned that had Moneymaker won the hand, each would have $1,200,000. If Shojaei won and Moneymaker took the side pot, it would be threehanded, with $1,200,000 for Gordon and $600,000 each for the others. And if he beat Moneymaker but Shojaei beat him, the contest would be heads up with Gordon having $1,800,000 to Shojaei's $600,000. He liked his chances in all of those matchups. And, of course, the best possibility was the one that actually happened. The flop came A 10 8, putting Gordon in the lead, and the 8 on the turn and 5 on the river crowned a champion.

Gordon also won the final bounty. He said that since Moneymaker had donated $25,000 of his WSOP prize to cancer research, he, Gordon, would donate the bounty to the same charity.

The WPT contests have a special ritual when play gets down to heads up. All money for first and second places is brought out and deposited on the table, and play continues with the cash in plain view. Each participating casino has its own special way of bringing out the money. Sometimes the entire amount drops from the ceiling. Sometimes a group of lovely girls comes out, each bearing a portion on a silver tray. Armed guards have brought out the money. Bay 101 had something planned, but the plans were derailed by this first-time-ever elimination in one hand of both second and third place. WPT officials went into a huddle to try to determine what to do.

Sexton came out and told the audience to sit tight, that maybe the final hand would be replayed, but they had to figure out something. Finally, the three players just sat back down. Six Bay 101 employees, each dressed in Men in Black suits and wraparound shades, marched up to the table. Each bore a huge mob-style briefcase. Each dumped the contents onto the table, and the money ended up where it belonged. It will be interesting to see how they edit that in.

Sexton then called the three finalists out for the traditional toast to the winners.

Many in the crowd stuck around to shake hands with the winners and get their photos taken. Eventually, the WPT crew shooed everyone out and started striking down the set.

The Tiltboys later headed for the bar, where much hilarity reigned.