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| EVENT #12 | 5/2 to 5/3/98 |
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| SEVEN CARD HIGH-LOW SPLIT (Limit) $2,500 | |
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| TOTAL PRIZE MONEY - $300,000 | PRIZE MONEY TO DATE - $5,419,000 |
| ENTRIES IN THIS EVENT - 120 | TOTAL ENTRIES TO DATE - 2,713 |
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The Final Table How they finished Live From the 'Shoe The Play-by-Play |
 $2-$4 PLAYERS RULE!!! 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo Split is the voyeur's dream game. It's like phone sex in a video parlor. Watch, call, watch, call. If these players are drawing dead, they are the last to know. They have a lousy sense of direction. This group didn't know there were any streets between 3rd and 7th, only places where they were supposed to throw in more chips. Anyone who knows how to get off a hand doesn't have a chance, they'll be anted out of the tournament. NO FOLD 'EM STUD HI-LO There was a time not so long ago when they couldn't have a Final Table without Danny Newman. He owned the Four Queens and Union Plaza tournaments, prior to this year's World Series of Poker. But Danny's in the big leagues now. He's not hitting against minor league pitching, and he's no longer batting .400. Down to his case chips, he went all-in with a K 10 for high. The board went low. That wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he was in the hand with the blisteringly hot Bill Gempel. Gempel had K K and made Danny an old man in 18th. David Levy is a terrific Hi-Lo Stud player. He plays every day at Hollywood Park in LA. He got as close as you can get to the money without getting any. He was last out in 17th. Guess who sent him to La La land? Who else. Bill Gempel caught a nine high straight to crack Levy's Queens and sixes. YOU TAKE THE HIGH ROAD AND I'LL TAKE THE LOW ROAD Dan Heimiller had six in the money finishes last year. He now has three so far this year, with two Final Tables. The guy can flat out play cards. But on his last hand he got a little unlucky. He had made trip sixes, that were beaten by Sven Arntzen on the river, when Sven caught a third Queen. Andy Blumen had the low, to close Heimiller out of a third Final Table in 11th. There were two more to be eliminated and only one guy to do it. Why waste time? Andy Blumen was the only player hotter than Bill Gempel. He said let's wrap this thing up fellas, I have things to do. Blumen took out John Bonetti and Sven Arntzen on the same hand to set up the final table. Eight is more than enough.
Unbelievably, four of the eight finalists are repeaters. What are the odds of that, Mr Sklansky? Each repeater clawed through hundreds of competitors to get back to the Final Table. We might guess that they are pretty good players to be able to return. We might have to guess again. Stud Hi-Lo Split is not the game to use in the eternal poker "Luck vs Skill" argument. Often you see someone with 2/3 of the stub in live cards, lose to a pair of deuces and an 8 7 low. You have to draw like Picasso to win at this game. Failure to catch, costs stacks of chips. You can ask Andy Blumen about that. David Brody may be getting sick of this. 4th in chips at the Final Table of Omaha Hi-Lo Split a few days ago, he finished 4th. Sixth in chips today he finished 8th. He's going in the wrong direction. With an up and down straight draw, and needing a low card for a split, David caught a second pair. His eights and fives were no match for Roy Thung's Aces and Kings. Bruce Atkinson was next for Roy Thung. Bruce had Kings. He couldn't put Roy on Kings. He was right Roy didn't have Kings. He had Queens and Kings. Bye, Bruce. See Jack for 7th money. Wild Bill Hickock died with Aces and eights in his hand. Bill Gempel had Aces and eights. But it was Alan Tessler who died in 6th place when he couldn't catch his low. Andy Blumen started out as chip leader. He had visions of the $120,000 first prize. Well, what's Blumen or Saturday is wiltin' on Sunday. Andy couldn't catch malaria in a swamp today. Chasing and missing over and over, he saw his once sizable stack shrink towards the felt. All-in with a five up, Andy was called by Roy Thung and Hershey Entin. Thung and Entin keep betting as the cards fell, until Thung was all-in also. That's when Hershey turned over his Aces in the hole. For the first time at this year's Final Tables we had two players eliminated in the same hand. Roy Thung got the higher money as he had more chips at the start of the hand. A disgusted Andy Blumen looked like someone had just taken him for $100,000 when he had to settle for the $15,000 5th prize. Roy Thung got $18,000 for 4th. At first Hershey Entin refused to talk deal. He had a massive chip lead and wanted to wait until An Tran or Bill Gempel were gone. They looked to be playing for second place, at the time. On a break, however, it seems that the players agreed to lock up most of the money. When they came back they were playing for the remainder and the bracelet. After a few hellacious beats, An Tran went all-in with J 10 4 3 against Bill Gempel. Tran made trip 4's on the river, which wasn't close to enough. Gempel had sixes full of Queens. Bill Gempel is an amazing player. He goes on rushes that kill entire tables. In live games he's known to play 36 hours straight and sleep between deals. He'll have periods were he'll play any draw to the river, and you can see that he always HATES to throw a hand away. If we played the way Bill Gempel does, we'd be the first ones out of every tournament we entered. It's like the guy has dirty pictures of the Poker God or something. The PG seems afraid to crack Bill Gempel. Must be nice. But Gempel met his match in Hershey Entin. Between them, they drew more dead birds than James Audubon. Together, Gempel and Entin had more scoops than Baskin and Robbins. Mathematically it would seem impossible that Gempel and Entin, of all the entrants in this Event, would be playing for the bracelet. It was like two maniac $2-$4 players found themselves heads up for a title at the World Series of Poker. Both had each other to the felt during the three hours they played heads up, but neither could put the other away. Mr. Alphonse meet Mr. Gaston. No one could take the damn thing. Most of the money was locked up. This was for something far more important. This was for the bracelet. Whoever had last ups would win, and that was Bill Gempel. Finally, he sent Hershey Entin home with second place and a candy bar, when his Jacks and sevens beat Entin's eights and deuces. The message is clear. To all $2-$4 players everywhere: YOU CAN WIN A BRACELET. FINAL RESULTS
$2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 0r Better
SUPER SATELLITES (Patty Hughes and Rudy Lotief) The No-Limit Super Satellites start each evening at 8:40 PM in the Satellite area. The Entry Fee is $220 for $200 in Tournament chips and there are unlimited $200 re-buys during the first hour, if you have less than $200 in Tournament chips. You may also make a single or double add-on at the end of the re-buy period. Blinds start at $5/$10 and increase every 20 minutes. Available monies will be converted into non-negotiable, non-transferable, non-refundable seats in the $10,000 World Championship event, with at least $5,000 in cash and $500 Lammers being divided among the final table players. WSOP SUPER SATELLITE #17 Sunday 3 May 1998 TEXAS VS THE WORLD They call it Texas Holdem and many of it's most famous practitioners hail from the Lone Star State. Tonight three of the nine finalists were from Texas, three were from Europe. Who would win the seats? Tonight, 168 players bought 128 rebuys bringing the prize pool to, $59,200. The following were the rewards for making the final table:
Some of the "names" who competed were:
Jim Boyd None of these esteemed players made the final table. Al Stonum is having a tough time. He gets close, then something terrible happens to him. Needing chips he goes all-in with A 10 of Hearts only to see Bill Strother come up with Kings. No help on the board. Al is 12th. Jack Green is red hot. Jeff Sparks is all-in on the button. Jack Green has only enough chips to cover the big blind. Jack says he had Aces, He doesn't show them if he did. He blasts Jeff Sparks for catching a King on the turn and a six on the river. That happens to be the two cards Jeff has in his hand. Green gets no green in 11th. Like Al Stonum, Ken Lennard keeps getting close but no cigar. Ken goes all-in with Jacks. He's in good shape against Erik Alps K Q off until a Queen comes on the turn. Lennard is one out of the money in 10th. The final table:
Tonight there are nine new players at the final table - three from Texas, three from Europe. Five seats are up for grabs. The game is called Texas Holdem. That would appear to be an advantage for the cowboys, no? Not having learned from Al Stonum earlier, David Roepke puts in his whole stack with an A 10. His whole stack is only four chips, though, and that doesn't scare H.R. Smith, cause he too only had four, and the blinds are coming. Smith calls with K Q. The flop comes 10 9 3, but the turn is a Queen. David Roepke raps the table so hard that the chips bounce. Texas loses one of it's rangers in 9th. Next, Jeff Sparks starts something he can't finish. He goes all-in with pocket 4's. This interests the chip leader, Bill Strother, who calls him with A J. Jim Walterburg thinks for a minute. He'd just taken a bad beat and only had two chips left. He'd been hoping to play against one person. Finally, he tossed the two chips in and turned over his Q's. Double elimination occurs when both an Ace and a Jack appear. Jeff Sparks gets 7th because he had more chips at the start of the hand. But Texas loses another of its force. Jim Walterburg is 8th. He's from Washington so he doesn't count. In a bizarre final hand, Luc Delrieu, who doesn't have to play, because Mark Napolitano only has enough chips to get through the blinds, goes all-in for twelve chips on the button. H.R. Smith has ten chips left after putting up the eight needed for his big blind. He doesn't have to play either. He thinks for awhile. Someone in the crowd says "only four more chips." H.R. puts in the four extra chips which sets off Luc Delrieu. "You shouldn't have said anything." My feeling is that Smith was going to call anyway, but we will never know for sure. Mark Nepolitano was the happiest guy at the table when Smith's Q 2 off beat Delrieu's A 8 of Clubs as a Queen came on the turn. That's how Europe lost it's only soldier. Final Score: World 2 Texas 1 Maybe they should change the name to World Holdem. The winners for Super Satellite #17 were:
Mark Napolitano SINGLE TABLE SATELLITES (Becky Kerber, Barbara Lotief and Terry Vanderlip) Single Table Satellites are run continuously 21 hours every day (8:00 AM until 5:00 AM) and usually last around 90 minutes. There are featured Satellites each day for the next day's event, as well as other Satellites depending on demand. Single Table Satellites for the $10,000 Main event and for the next no-limit Holdem event are spread frequently. Binion's charges $10 per player in a Satellite. For the $320 buy-in No Limit Holdem Satellites, ten Players start with $1,200 each in chips. The blinds start at $10/$25, increase every 15 minutes, and the winner gets six $500 Lammers plus $100 in cash. For the $1,010 buy-in Single Table $10,000 Satellites, ten players start with $4,000 each in chips. The blinds start at $25/50 and increase every 20 minutes. The winner gets a non-transferrable seat in the Championship Event. LAS VEGAS WEATHER The Temperature sign atop Binion's Horseshoe read 83 degrees at 3:00 PM on Sunday afternoon. There was a 15 mph SW wind in the morning, that slackened a bit in the afternoon. It was sunny, with a blue, hazy sky, and several white, pillowly clouds An Tran was the second player this year, to compete at the Final Table, and the following Event at the same time. When they got down to three handed at the Final Table, An Tran won a hand when it was folded to his bring-in, even though he was over at his $3000 Limit Texas Holdem seat, and was away from the Final Table. McCLELLANDisms Jack periodically announces how many chips the Final Table participants have. Before one such announcement, he first checked out the $3000 Holdem Tournament, and said "An Tran has $40,000 in chips here at the final table, and about $4,500 in today's Holdem Tournament." LENGTH OF FINAL TABLE
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY First 10 Events: $5,419,000 (1998) vs $5,576,000 (1997) Ironically, Bill Gempel, who ended up finishing first, was the prime motivator of Deal talks at the $2500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better Final Table. WSOP FINAL TABLE DEALS
Formal, official Deals at the WSOP are done in private, under the supervision and guidance of Jack McClelland, WSOP Tournament Co-ordinator. Deals represent a reallocation, or split of the announced remaining prize pool, that is agreeable to all remaining players. All remaining players do not have to participate in an official Deal, as long as all remaining players give their consent. All pay outs by Binion's, and the tax reporting will reflect the Deal allocation, but press releases and official WSOP earnings reflect the scheduled, announced pay outs. Jack McClelland tries to immediately squelch any "Deal talking" in the Final Table area, and will stop the playing clock and allow a "Deal break" at any time. A normal Deal will probably allocate the bulk of the remaining prize pool equally (or unequally, relative to chip count, perceived ability, bargaining skills etc.) between the remaining participants, with a small portion (perhaps 10 % or so) and the Title going to the eventual winner. Some deals may earmark some of the un allocated portion to the eventual second or third place finisher, in addition to the allocation for the first place money. Binion's attempts to prevent private Deals, which are unenforceable and may present tax complications, by the participants. Binion's probably would prefer a Deal free environment all together, but recognizes that a top heavy pay out structure is conducive to Deals, and has arrived at the current procedure as the best solution. PLAYER CONDUCT Any player abusing employees or other players, either verbally or physically (swearing, throwing cards, etc.) or disrupting the tournament will be penalized. The following will be the MINIMUM penalty imposed:
FIRST OFFENSE - 20 minutes away from the table.
(Blinds and/or antes to be forfeited)
The WSOP Floorpeople will be strictly enforcing the rules, with zero tolerance. Every player starts each Event with a clean slate as far as penalties are concerned. SCOREBOARD
TOURNAMENTS Jack McClelland is assisted by Steve Morrow and Jeff Vanderlip as Assistant Tournament Coordinators. The 1998 WSOP continues the two-day format that was inaugurated last year, for most of the tournaments. Also, all two-day events start one level lower than in past years, and each level at the Final Table has been lengthened from 60 minutes to 80 minutes. Limit Holdem and Omaha events have two new levels of betting. First day play continues until the field is reduced to the Final Table, and Final Table play begins at 4:00 PM on the second day. In addition to the money and a gold bracelet, each winner of a 1998 WSOP Event will get free rooms at next year's WSOP. If you win more than one Event, you can roll subsequent hotel accommodations over to later years. POKER ROOM Shift Supervisors Jimmy Stefan, John Buchanan, Tony Shelton and Cathy Wood run the Poker room where the lower limit games are played. Games being spread on 30 April:
SIDE ACTION Shift Supervisors John "Scoff" Sheffield, Kathy Hudson and Marshall Kassoff run the higher limit games on the south end of the Tournament Pavilion. Games being spread on 30 April:
$10,000 CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRANTS Updated Through 9:00 PM Sunday 3 MAY 1988
Alphabetized:
Greg Alston  Climaxing the longest heads-up battle at the longest final table of this World Series, Bill Gempel captured the $2,500 Seven Card High-Low Split event, his third finish in the money in the first 12 tournaments. The 52 year-old retired real estate investor and dedicated poker player had also won a smaller buy-in event in this discipline in March at the Four Queens.
He needed it for his three-hour seesaw struggle heads-up against Hershey Entin which saw four chip lead changes and some startling river cards. Two hours into the fray, Gempel was all-in and caught a full house of tens over nines, beating Entin whose three fours became a full house with aces on the river. Later, Entin was all-in successfully three times, most dramatically when Gempel, whose pocket queens had led all the way, caught a second pair on the river only to see Entin catch a miracle third nine. Gempel finally took the title with jacks and sevens, which beat eights and deuces. Entin, a 53 year-old driver for Hollywood studios and a former entertainment executive in Hawaii, was playing in his first World Series tournament. "It was great," he said. "I'm just sorry I didn't win the bracelet. I came just for this tournament and I thought I was going to win or I wouldn't have entered." Third place went to Vietnamese-born tournament star An Tran, who fascinated spectators by scurrying back and forth for two and a half hours between this final table and the $3,000 Limit Hold'em event where he had a considerable chip stack. Tran, 46, a poker pro since 1982 and the 1991 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha titleist, has now cashed 24 times in 10 years. "This was a good result," he said. Tran was eliminated in a "double-miracle" river situation when he caught a third four but Gempel, with aces, queens and sixes, caught a third six. Roy Thung, an Indonesian-born private investor, took fourth for his second final table this year, having put off a flight to New York to play. "I'm satisfied with a fourth after a third," he said. Thung was knocked out - as was Andy Blumen - in a three-way pot when Entin made three aces to beat his three kings. Blumen, 46, Executive Vice President of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, saw his initial chip lead evaporate. In his last hand he started with 5-4-2 but caught high cards and was drawing dead on the river. Alan Tessler, 55, a former realtor and a poker professional for four years, finished sixth in his first World Series tournament. "I was a little disappointed, but it was fun," he said. Tessler exited when his aces did not improve against Gempel's aces and eights. Seventh place went to Briton Bruce Atkinson, 53, a chartered accountant, wine connoisseur and "spasmodic tournament player." He said, "I was very excited making the final table in my third World Series tournament. The World Series is a lovely event." David Brody, who took fourth in last week's $2,000 Omaha High-Low Split event, was eliminated when he missed a low against Thung's two pair. "I have nothing to say tonight," the investor and "casual poker player" said.  We will announce when the play-by-play of the final table is available for this event. |
Prize Money
"I'm surprised," Gempel said. "You never expect to win one.
This is my biggest tournament win to date. And I think the
World Series is definitely better than ever." Fellow
competitors say Gempel is known for his poker endurance.