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| Super Satellites | 4/17 to 4/21/98 |
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SS #1 4/17/98 SS #2 4/18/98 SS #3 4/19/98 SS #4 4/20/98 SS #5 4/21/98 |
THE 1998 WORLD SERIES OF POKER BEGINSTHREE CHIPS AND A CHAIR The World Series of Poker got off to a rousing start Friday night at 8:40 P.M. in the Pavillion of Binion's Horseshoe Casino with it's first Super Satellite. All Super Satellites in the WSOP are No-Limit. There will be one held every evening until the final event--The $10,000 No-Limit Championship that will crown the new World Champion for 1998. **One table satellite had been running continuously since 10:00 A.M. Friday morning all with $220 buy-ins. The winner of the satellite received $2,000 in tournament chips (to be used in any event of the WSOP, or sold at the winner's discretion) and $100 in cash.** 54 players entered this first Super Satellite paying $220 for $200 in chips. Levels were raised every 20 minutes starting with $5/10 blinds. Rebuys were unlimited for the first three levels--one hour. There were 49 rebuys of $200 each that bought $200 in chips for a total prize pool of $20,600. That allowed for nine players, the entire final table, to be paid cash with one entry of $10,000 into the Championship Event. The prize breakdown was as follows:
1st One $10,000 entry and $300 in cash Keep all this in mind, you'll be quizzed later. Some of the notable players who entered this first SS were: Russ Hamilton--former World Champion ($1,000,000 and his weight in silver) "Miami" John Cernuto--winner of last year's $2,000 No-Limit Hold 'em ($259,150) Lewis Asmo--winner of last year's $3,000 Limit Hold 'em ($231,600) Jack McClelland--the most famous Tournament Director in the history of poker Brent Carter An Tran Dave Cunkelton O'Neil Longson and Bob Walker--5th in last year's Championship event ($161,120) Of this esteemed group only Bob Walker was to make the final table. At this point I'd like to say that Danny Newman DIDN'T make the final table. Not because I don't like him. I do. But because I'm tired of typing his name EVERY DAY. If I told you Danny didn't make the final table I'd be lying. At around 11 P.M. the final table formed with the following players, chip counts and home towns.
The blinds were $100/200 as the final table began. As the chip pygmy, Grant Smith couldn't wait long. Grant went all-in with pocket 8's, only to see Danny Newman turn over pocket 9's. Grant Smith finished ninth. In a "heartbreaker", Richard Tatalovich first was elated to see a third heart fall on the river in his all-in hand versus John Richman. Richard had an 8/4 of hearts. Then John showed Richard his hand, QJ of hearts. Richard Tatalovich went Ta-Ta. Danny Newman was running short of chips, so he tried to buy some with an A/3. Mike Pancer had a Boston Tea Party planned with his pocket Kings and said goodbye to Merry Ole England when no ace fell. Danny finished seventh. Jim Waltenburg thought he could make it two in a row for the US vs England with pocket 8's. Steve Rydel thought 'one all' sounded better with his pocket 10's. Jim finished 6th. Rydel tried to press it, however, with a call 'all-in' of chip leader Bob Walker's large bet. Steve's A/J of spade received no help from the board and lost to Bob's pocket 9's. Now there were foreplayers...I mean four players left. With the blinds now at $300/600 there was neither time enough nor money to wait for a premium hand. John Richman thought that K/9 off looked pretty good against Bob Walker's blind. John, who is co-owner of the Mayfair Club--a cardroom in New York City, should have known better than go up against such a huge stack. Walker put John all-in with a K/J off. A King hit the turn and Bob's jack offed John for fourth place. Quiz time! I told you it was coming. Who had the second LEAST chips when the final table started? NO PEEKING!! Burt Boutin was ticketed for oblivion with only $900. He scraped his way past six players with middle pair after middle pair holding up. Now he had some chips and the $10,000 seat in his sights. Unfortunately for Burt, there was someone at the table with a lot more chips. Bob Walker. Burt went all-in with yet another middle pair, 9's. Big stack called with J/5 of hearts and caught a Jack on the flop. That ended Burt Boutin's terrific run at the final table. As disappointed as Burt was, instead of receiving the $370 that eighth place got he pulled down four tournament chips worth $2,000 and $390 in cash for third place. "I just want to win one of these, sometime," Burt said. "It's hard." someone else said. Quiz #2 Who can remember the title of this article? That's right class. THREE CHIPS AND A CHAIR. Very good! We are now head-up, if you can call it that. There is $20,600 in $500 chips on the table as we race for the $100 chips. After the countdown, there is only one $100 chip to race. Mike Pancer has it so he is chipped up. It seems trivial at the time to go from three chips to four. Bob Walker has all the rest of the $500 chips, 37 of them. We are all waiting for the execution of Mike Pancer so we can go home. "Stay the execution," says the Poker Governor. Mike gets a reprieve. Temporary we think. How nice for him. He'll get one more meal before getting juiced by Bob Walker. The blinds are now $500/$1,000. Mike Pancer can only barely make the blinds. He goes all-in with Kh, Qc. Bob calls with J/8 of diamonds. In the hand of the night, with all the railbirds and the satellite staff watching. The flops comes with a Jack. All of us think "It's Over". Mike is starting to pack up his things. The turn comes a King. Now Mike is overjoyed, he'll have eight chips instead of four. The river comes a Jack. Bob throws up his hands, what a card! Mike Pancer is flabbergast. What a bad beat! We all start to turn away from the table when Mike the dealer starts to yell. "He has a flush. He has a flush." Pointing to Pancer's King of hearts, we see for the first time that there are four hearts on the board. No one saw it but the dealer. Not either player, the staff or the railbirds. What a roller-coaster ride that was. Bob Walker is still shaking his head over it, several hands later. But it's no problem. Bob still has a five-to-one chip lead and the blinds are killing Mike Pancer. Desparate, Mike makes a bluff. He goes all-in. Bob calls. Mike is forced to turn over a J/2 offsuit. Bob says, "Oh, I caught you jazzing around, huh?" Mike says, "I only saw the Jack. I didn't look at the other card. Bob had turned over a Ks/5c. The Poker Governor "jazzes" a duece on the river for the only pair. Mike Pancer now has 16 chips. Maybe there will be no execution after all. A few hand later, Walker visible shaken calls an all-in by Pancer. Mike has 10's Bob has J/9. "I need a straight," Bob says. Two queens and a nine appear. Queens and 10's over Queens and nines. Now Mike has the chip lead and Bob is the one who makes a move. He goes all-in with an Ac5s. Mike calls with the hand that has run throughout the final table, pocket 9's. It's over for real this time, only it's Mike Pancer who pulls the handle on Bob Walker in a night that Bob will never forget as long as he plays poker. The night he lost a seat in the Championship event to THREE CHIPS AND A CHAIR. WSOP Super Satellite #2 Saturday 4/18/98GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS I'll be quick. Not as quick as today's entrants into the second Super Satellite at the WSOP, but quick. These players came to GAMBLE. They saw few hands they didn't like ALOT. So much so that they felt compelled to shove in ALL their chips as fast as they could. "It depends on the players." Patty Hughes, Super Satellite Director, was talking about the time it talks to run a No-Limit tournament. Yesterday, 54 players and 49 rebuys took over four hours. With the final table running an hour and a half. Today, 89 players and 80 rebuys took less than three hours. The final table was through in 20 minutes flat. The nine men who made the final table would be enthusiastically welcomed back at any house of ill-repute. We're talking quick! **The entry fee for the Super is $220. That buys $200 in chips. Rebuys, unlimited for the first hour, are another $200 and gets the buyer $200 more in chips. There is a $ for $ double rebuy at the end of the hour. Blinds go up every 20 minutes and they start at $5/10** By the end of the rebuy period there were $33,600 in chips in play. That was enough to pay nine places in the following amounts:
1st An entry into the Championship event and $300 in cash.
($10,300 in value) **Tournament chips can be sold or used to play in any WSOP event. Entries into the Championship event MUST be used by the player who won them. They cannot be sold or given away** Some of the notables who played in this evening Super Satellite were: Mel Judah 3rd in last year's Championship ($371,000) and winner of the $5,000 7-Card Stud event (176,000) Barbara Enright Women's All-Time Leader ($350,960) and only woman ever to make the final table in the Championship Mike Sexton An Tran Marsha Waggoner Jack McClelland Jesse Jones Pat Callahan Dave Cunkelton None of these esteemed players made the final table. When the final table formed at 11:05 P.M. these were the players, their chip counts and hometowns.
Soon after the start the blinds went to $300/600. In an attempt to get some chips, Bob Walker did something very strange for him. He made a move from the small blind on a raiser, without a pair. Walker had already won a seat the night before and this may have made him play a little looser. Bob surprised us by turning over A/2 off. Joe Baumgartner showed a pair of 5's. Two Jacks came on the flop and Walker walked in 9th place. Had he won another seat, he could have sold it for $10,000. Now for the torturous beat I mentioned before. At 12:15 the blinds went up to $500/1,000. This is when the $100 chips are raced off. Can you guess what happened? Iain Paterson, a very quiet young man from England who grew up in Canada, failed to realize where the clock was and what the rules were. Had he known both, he would have been all-in on the hand prior to the race off. Why? Because he had only four $100 chips left. As the cards were flipped out to each place, the Ace of Clubs fell on Iain's stack of four chips. With 18 chips in the race, he could more than quadruple his stack if his high card held up, Maybe it was best he didn't know the time or the rule? Maybe it was best that he didn't go all-in on the last hand? No Waiting! The Ace of Hearts fell next on Steve Rydel's chips and Iain Paterson was raced out of the tournament. "I feel awful about this," said Patty Hughes, Super Satellite Director. "It doesn't happen very often, but it is the rule." A player can be raced off and out of a Super Satellite. Why wasn't there an an annoucement? "I feel awful about this too. But we can't announce every rule," Rudy Lotief said, "it's the player's responsibility to know the rules." How tough a beat is that? Iain Paterson picked up the Ace of Clubs and flipped it at the dealer in disgust. His sole consolation 8th place and $620. Martin Comer was chip leader by a substantial margin when the final table formed. A half hour later he had still failed to win a hand. Once losing to Steve Rydel's K/8 when an eight hit the river as the only pair. Martin's A/9 was good up until then and would have put Rydel out of the tournament. Another twenty minutes passed without a win and the former chip leader was all-in for the big blind. For once there were callers and no raisers. Three players called Martin. Kevin McBride, Joe Baumgartner and needing only one chip as the small blind, Barbara Enright. I don't have to tell you who won the hand and put Martin Comer the Goner out of the tournament. You've seen it all too often. There were no bets to the river. "First pair over wins." Barbara Enright turned over a K/3 off to show her pair of 3's. Martin Comer came all the way from Australia for this? His Q/10 off was no good. He went from the penthouse to the outhouse in less than an hour. Brent Carter had already won a seat to the Championship event at a tournament in the Commerce Club in California. But who couldn't use another $10,000? For the second straight day, Brent made the final table. And this is a guy who insists to me that he isn't playing well! At my best, I don't play as well as Brent isn't. Chips were running low and blinds were running high when Brent tried to buy the big blind with an A/8 off. Joe Baumgartner called all-in. In a scene that shouldn't be played out with a reporter present, Joe turned over a pair of threes. "Ooh, weak!" Brent said. "Yeah, weak." I said as Joe had just enough strength to drag in nearly all of Brent's chips. Earlier, when Barbara Enright had the big blind and Brent looked like he was going to raise...then folded, Barbara showed him her A/9 and said. "Good thing you didn't try anything Brent, cause I was coming after you." Brent responded, "If I would have raised I would have been able to beat those." Barbara said, "Oh, yeah? I remember when you raised my blind with Q/5 off." When was that? Barbara, "Upstairs at the Four Queens." Brent, "That was FOUR YEARS AGO!" This interchange was followed by a couple of Enright laydowns when Brent raised prompting a joking "collusion" response from one of the players. Barbara, "I don't want to bust him? He's my buddy?" Brent, making a mechanical sound, "That's the sound of a lie detector going off." Sorry to go on so long about these two, but they are very funny together. And it sets up Brent's departure from the final table. With his last five chips, Brent raises all-in with a pair of sevens. It's Barbara Enright who can't wait to get her stack all-in to seal the fate of her "Buddy". Barbara has Queens. So long, Buddy, you're 6th. Kevin McBride is as nice a guy as you'll ever meet. And if you come to the Horseshoe and make a bet at the sport's book you might meet him. That's where he works. Kevin may have been put a tilt by a very funny scene right out of Mike Caro's "Book of Tells" Video. He and Vic Kramer were alone in a hand. When a second 5 his the river, Kevin checked. Vic Kramer literally lurched for his chips to bet, knocking them over and some off the table onto the floor. Looking on the floor in order to find every chip, Vic piled them back on the table and then dumped all of them forward for a raise all-in. This show of enthusiasm for a second five on the river so unnerved poor Kevin that he threw away his overpair, 8's. That would have been the end of the story, but Vic couldn't resist. He had to show Kevin his no pair, no flush K/Jc. Kevin never really recovered. When he called Steve Rydel's K/2 small blind raise all-in with a 9/8 he got to see the flop of 2 6 Q and then K K for massive overkill and 5th place. Now there was only one more player to eliminate as three seats were being given out. We'd already seen Vic Kramer's longtime poker playing friend from Sydney, Australia--Martin Comer lose a chip lead and finish 7th. All there was left to destroy a perfectly good evening for another Sydneyite who'd come 10,000 miles to play here, was for Vic Kramer--a citizen of the former British Penal Colony--to be knocked out of the tournament in 4th place, one short of the goal, by someone from England. That's, of course, what happened. As the Poker God loves a good laugh. All-in for the big blind, Vic's A/2 lost to Steve Rydel's A/9. And you can put a shrimp on the barbie, mate, this one's over. WSOP Super Satellite #4 Sunday 4/20/98DON'T LOOK AT YOUR CARDS!!! Tonight, they've quit playing games. The huge first event is tomorrow, the $2,000 Limit Hold 'em. There's talk that it might sell out at 600 entrants. That would mean a prize poll of $1.2 million and a first place payout of over $400,000. Only first and second in the Championship event pays more. In the single table satellite area, they've run over 110 table today. Giant money is flowing back and forth in the high stakes area of the Pavillion, next to where the Super Satellite is held. (See Lee Jones' excellent report on RGP) There are so many high stakes games that the Super Satellite is restricted to 13 tables. 20 alternates are put in during the course of the first hour as people bust out. Someone said as they walked out of the Pavillion, "I don't have to see the money, I can smell it." This is the World Series of Poker. This the Poker Center of the Universe. Be HERE or Be QU..uh, CRAZY. 157 buy-ins, 156 rebuys. $62,400 in prize money. Five seats to the Championship event given out and over $10,000 in cash. The action will be limited at the final table because once four players are eliminated, the Super Satellite stops. Friday 54 players and 49 rebuys took over four hours. With the final table running an hour and a half. Saturday 89 players and 80 rebuys took less than three hours. The final table was through in 20 minutes flat. Sunday, 101 players and 105 rebuys took over four hours with the final table taking an hour. And in case you've forgotten: **The entry fee for the Super is $220. That buys $200 in chips. Rebuys, unlimited for the first hour, are another $200 and gets the buyer $200 more in chips. There is a $ for $ double rebuy at the end of the hour. Blinds go up every 20 minutes and they start at $5/10**
1st An entry into the Championship event and $450 in cash.
($10,450 in value) **Tournament chips can be sold or used to play in any WSOP event. Entries into the Championship event MUST be used by the player who won them. They cannot be sold or given away** Some of the notables who played in this evening's Super Satellite were:
Tom McEvoy Former World Champion and winner of $189,152 in
last year's WSOP How tough are these Super Satellites? None of these esteemed players made the final table. When the final table formed at 12:25 P.M. these were the players, their chip counts and hometowns.
With five seats locked up for the survivors, our attention turns to the second to last table. Here, if you lose, you go home empty-handed. Someone from this table will have beaten 147 out of 157 players and will have had the honor of paying an average of $420 to do it. This is a death struggle. The short stacks get up after every hand to see where they stand. Is someone shorter than me? Do they have to go through the blinds before me? Can I get through the blinds without playing a hand? Please God, put someone else out quick! The last one out before the money is the most humiliating position in a tournament. It's especially so when getting to the final table even short-stacked could win you $1,000,000. One by one the short stacks are picked off, now there are two left. No one wants to play a hand unless they have to. Kathy Kolberg has to. Earlier, in an attempt to get some breathing room, Kathy made a bet that was about half her stack. Frank Hernandez came over the top and Kathy threw her hand away. A friend of hers told me the hand was A/Q off. Now she was desparate. Dennis Waterman had $500 more in chips and was farther from the blinds. She went all-in. The giant stack at the table, Eric Shapiro, called. His Q/9 off caught a straight knocking Kathy out and allowing Dennis Waterman to breathe for the first time in about a half hour. The final table was set. Everyone was in the money. Soon after the start the blinds went to $500/1,000. Dennis Waterman fell into the 'just happy to be here' catagory. During the break before the final table formed, he asked Patty Hughes what 9th place paid. Hopefully, Dennis wasn't in too deep and the $890 for 9th place made him some money, 'cause 9th place was what he got. Going all-in with K/?, he didn't show us as he was suppossed to at the final table, Dennis was called by the ubiquitous Mr Shapiro. Eric showed AA, Dennis headed for the door. Three left to go. When your stack is only 2-3 times the big blind, you usually have to go with any decent hand. As John Bonetti said, "Short-handed, ya gotta bet any ace, except when you don't." Thanks John, for this advice from an expert. Well, Jason Mubarak went all-in with his Ace. Unfortunately for him Bill Gazes had one also. Besides alot of chips, Gazes had a King with his Ace. Jason only had a nine with his. Jason hit the rail in 8th. Now there were two. Renowned Tournament Director, Bob Thompson had played in every Super and this was his first final table. He'd been nursing a short stack for hours, only barely missing being eliminated in 10th or 11th place. Earlier, he had raised Bill Gazes' big blind with 6 of his 10 chips. Gazes didn't hesitate to come over the top. After several minutes of thought, Bob showed Bill a pair of 4's and threw them in the muck. He didn't know at the time that those 4's were the last chance he had. A few minutes later, Thompson threw in his last four chips. Bill Gazes again was the caller. Thompson had A/Q, Gazes had 10/7 off. So what comes? Q 8 6 then 5 9. Gazes hits a gut shot straight on the river to give Thompson 7th place. Now there is only one left to eliminate. Surly the one safe seat would be Eric Shapiro's. As I was counting his chips during the break he returned. "Jeez, Eric, you have twice as many chips as anyone else!" I said to him. "Yeah," he said, "I just have to stay out of everyone's way." Sometimes the aggressiveness and luck that a player has coming to the final table can hurt him once he gets there. That was the case for Eric Shapiro. The whole final table took only 25 minutes. If Eric had gone on a long potty break, or had a late dinner or called his girlfriend in Colorado, he'd have a seat in the Championship event. Just DON'T LOOK AT YOUR CARDS!! With all those chips, there was no one who was going to bust Eric Shapiro toniught, only he himself could do it. And he did. After making some poor "investments" as he was to call them later. And playing almost every hand, Eric made what seemed to be the right play. He called John Bonetti all-in with pocket Aces. "You got me. You got me," John said as Eric turned over the Aces. "I can't beat ya." The flop comes rags. We still haven't seen John's hand. A six fell on the turn. "I CAN'T BEAT YOU UNLESS A SIX COMES," John bellows. "THREE SIXES!!!" John now flips over his pair of sixes. "They call me the KILLER OF ACES." John is yelling now as only Bonetti can. Shapiro now has only two chips. It's unbelievible that he has squandered such a stack in such a short time. He recovers twice all-in to have ten chips left when the last hand is played. Rather than waiting for the other short stack, Rusty London to go through the blinds first, Eric goes all-in for a third time. He shows a K/J off. Frank Hernandez who called from the big blind turned over an A/9. When an Ace flops, the five seats in the Championship event are finalized. They are:
Bill Gazes Sometimes it pays not to look at your cards. WSOP Super Satellite #5 Tuesday 4/21/98This will be my last report on RGP until the World Series is over. I've committed my mind, body and soul to Tom Sims and Chuck Weinstock at ConJelCo for the duration of the Series. Please join us as we give you the most indepth reporting that has ever been done on the World Series of Poker either on the Web or anywhere else. We will finish our coverage of the first event of WSOP 98, tomorrow night. You'll be able to read it Thursday morning on the ConJelCo.com site. If you've never been to ConJelCo, any search engine like Yahoo.com will be able to find it for you or you can just search for "Poker". Please let us know how we are doing. Feedback, positive or negative, is helpful. Next I have to apologize to the friends and family of both Bill Gazes and of Allen Cunningham. I mistook on of these gentlemen for the other last night and credited Bill Gazes with winning the $10,000 seat in the Super Satellite, when in fact it was Allen Cunningham who won it.. Again, my profuse apologies. If you saw these two guys, you'd understand how I confused them. Well, maybe if you saw them separately you'd understand. Standing next to each other, they don't look that much alike. Mea Culpa. To stay current with the Super Satellites as they happen, I'm going to give you a truncated version of the one that was held this evening. Henchforth, all Super Satellite coverage will be incorporated into the daily WSOP event report. It's been fun writing these and I really appreciate all the encouragment I've received from you. It's meant alot to me that you would take the time to tell me how you felt about the coverage. Again, tomorrow night's report on Super Satellite #6 will be available along with the full story of Event #1 of the WSOP on ConJelCo.com. Please join us there. SAY IT AIN'T SO Even with 100 players still alive in the first event of the WSOP in the next room, 152 players showed up for tonight's Super Satellite. They were in a spending mood too, taking 162 rebuys out of their pockets. The $62,800 that was generated was enough to pay five Championship event entries plus over $10,000 in cash. If you've been reading these reports all along you know that the seats must be taken by their winners. Tonight, there were plenty of famous names but no previous winners at the final table.
Places 1-5 received a Championship enrty and $460 Say it ain't so, Kathy. With 10 players left, short-stacked and beautiful Kathy Kohlberg (my last sexual innuendo joke) the daughter of former world champion Jack Keller, had to go all-in with the best hand she could find. She turned over an A/J. Big blind Tony Ma called with K/9 off. Not one but two Kings came on board to break Kathy's heart. For the second straight day, Kathy Kohlberg beat all but nine players. Those nine players, each day, were all in the money and she wasn't...again. She has played brilliantly for two days and not only has nothing to show for it. But has had to face the ultimate frustration of being the last one eliminated TWICE. She's done this without rancor, yelling or whining. Simply a shrug of the shoulders. This is a very lovely and classy lady. The following was the final table with chip counts and hometowns:
Ron Weaver had to make a move. He saw an A/Q off and went all-in. JC Pearson who had been the most aggressive player at the table called him. JC had 9's. The flop favored Ron with a Queen. And just as he was starting to think it would hold up a Nine came on the river. Ron took 9th. (Probably a message there) Claud Sigmon was all-in for the big blind a little later. Tony Ma who had almost half the chips on the table could call any bet with any hand. This any hand was pretty any, 9/7 off. When one of those damn Nines came on that damn river again, Claud threw his hand away and finished 8th. Dave Cunkelton had played in every Super Satellite and this was his first final table. When he got here his cards went dead. Having to do something, he raised the big blind all-in with a pocket pair of 5's. This time Tony Ma had a real hand. KK. Dave left cursing the fates. Kings in the big blind. What's aguy to do to win one of these things? Tommy DeLoach had put up a valiant struggle. All-in three times, he'd won the first two. Finally, forced into it one more time, his luck ran out. His Q/8 couldn't stand up to Tony Ma's (that man again) A/10 when both an Ace and a Ten flopped. The seat winner were:
JC Pearson See you all at ConJelCo.com tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Mike Paulle 
©1998, Binion's Horseshoe. Some portions ©1998, ConJelCo. All Rights Reserved.
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