| EVENT #11 | The Orleans Open No-Limit Hold'em ($120 buy-in with rebuys) |
July 21, 1998 |
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The Final Table Official Results The Evening Tournament |
Up the RampBy Mike PaulleThe winner today didn't need the stairs or escalator, they came up the ramp to victory. There were 315 players today and 474 rebuys. This number is down slightly from last year's 320/512. The total prize pool was $78,900. When Woody Long saw Tex Morgan's pocket Kings, he mucked his hand. There were now 27 players left, all of whom were in the money. "May you all have to spend a half hour in a room alone with Avner Levy!" Woody said as his parting shot to the survivors. To set up the final table, Don Lesh's A Q of Spades was beaten by Phil Hellmuth's K 10 when a King fell on the river leaving Lesh lost in 10th.
Gene James made the first move. He was to regret it. Going all-in from late position with pocket Queens, James was surprised to find Dave Crunkleton with Kings in the small blind. The Gene pool was depleted by one as James went out 9th. With the blinds now $5k/10k, Ken Saheki raised the big blind all-in with K J of Diamonds. $5,500 extra wasn't enough to scare former World Champion Phil Hellmuth. He called with 9 6. When a 9 flopped, Saheki knew why Phil was a champion. "You're the best operator I've ever seen," said Dave Crunkleton to Hellmuth. "And you don't even use a scalpel." Saheki had come back from one chip earlier in the tournament to get to 8th place. The blinds were making the players crazy. They were forced to go all-in an any reasonable hand. Ira Schwartz tried to take the $10,000 big blind with J 10. Dave Crunkleton had A 6 and called. A 6 was most of the flop also to send Schwartz home to count his IRA. Young Phan was next to try to buy the blinds. His Q J was met by Tex Morgan's Kings. An older Phan left in 6th. In a sudden and stunning reversal of fortune, Phil Hellmuth went from $150,000 to the felt in about 15 hands. Every time Phil raised, someone behind him had a premium pair. In total frustration, Hellmuth went all-in with his last $40,000. His Q J found Dave Crunkleton with Kings. Hellmuth, wearing a trimmed beard that finally made him look his age, may have aged considerably at this final table. Tex Morgan was the last one to move on the blinds. His A Q of Spades didn't have a chance, as again the blinds contained a premium pair. This time a pair of Queens belonged to Buddy Williams. Maybe Tex will have better luck tomorrow morning. (This is a foreign language joke, sorry.) At this point the three remaining players wanted to deal. The chip count was: Buddy Williams with $156,000, Dave Crunkleton with $127,000 and Maria Stern with $112,000. They split the money up on chip count with Williams getting just under $21,000, Crunkleton about $17,000 and Stern about $15,000. But Buddy Williams wanted the TOC entry so he gave Dave Crunkleton $800 and Maria $700 to get it. Maria Stern wanted the beautiful globe trophy that the Orleans Open is giving away. The guys let her have the trophy. Buddy Williams is confined to a wheelchair. He is as brave and as sweet a person as you're ever likely to meet. He won the Orleans Open No-Limit event with sustained, fine play under intense pressure. Buddy didn't need the stairs or the escalator, Buddy came up the ramp to victory.
10th-18th received $789 Don Lesh, Marsha Waggoner, Odette Trembly, Dan Brotherson, Scott Schlemmer, Flan Pilkington, O'Neal Longson, Bob Feduniak and Max Stern. 19th-27th received $395 J Ruelan, Mike Paulle, Mike Heintschel, Kevin Lewis, Jim R, Exxon, John Olsen, Joel Fischbein and Chuck Thompson
11th-20th received $300 Jan Lundberg, (England), Reg Coalwell (OR), Grant Smith (LV), Yvan Lanvin (France), Charles Watkins (OK), Jeff Rathman (LV), George Rice (NY), Dan Brings (LV), Steve Rydel (England) and Ed Klein (UT).
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