Andrew Cimpan made it two WPT titles in a year at the latest Foxwoods Finals.
THE LOWDOWN
FOXWOODS WORLD POKER FINALS
WHERE: Foxwoods Resort Casino, Connecticut
WHEN: 5-10 November
BUY-IN: $9,700+$300
ENTRANTS: 353
Last year the biggest casino in the world saw the little man of poker, Jonathan Little, outlast a field of 412 players to win his second WPT title and claim $1.2 million, beating a stacked final table that included Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and David “The Dragon” Pham in the process.
Although this year’s Foxwoods Poker Finals field was a more intimate affair, the 353 players present were all hoping for big performance to take home the chunkiest portion of the $3,321,377 prizepool. As ever a gleaming roster of big name players were milling around the registration area before the start of play including recent Festa al Lago champion, Tommy Vedes, Michael Mizrachi and Foxwoods phenom Nick Schulman.
SUCH A SICA LAYDOWN
With their senses finely tuned and running like clockwork many WPT stalwarts were ticking over nicely in the early stages of the tournament. One player for who time usually stands still is the WPT’s resident rock, Allen Kessler. The metamorphic miser was busy taking advantage of his uber tight image in a hand involving Mike Sica.
After watching Sica limp under the gun, Kessler made a raise to 800 and it was met with an equally aggressive retort by Sica to 2,800. Not one for preflop heroics Kessler flatted and took the action to the flop. A relatively dry flop of Kc - 9c - 4d prompted a check from Sica and a 3,000-chip bet from Kessler. Without a moment’s hesitation Sica flipped over his cards, exposing pocket aces, and slid his hand into the muck. With WPT regulars Will Failla and Jonathan Aguiar desperately trying to uncover Kessler’s hand the “Chainsaw” was content to calmly place his hand in the muck, adding, “I don’t want to ruin my image.” Whether Sica’s incredibly tight fold was justified will never be known but when you’re as solid as Allen Kessler you can probably make a squirrel lay down the nuts.
ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND POKER
Rivalries across the felt aren’t uncommon, especially when there’s big money to be won, but those feuds rarely, if ever, spill over into the bedroom. When Foxwoods hostess and poker pro Christina Lindley and her boyfriend Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp tangled in a pot the repercussions threatened to force a bout of celibacy on Kopp after he almost ended his girlfriend’s run in the tournament.
Two players who won’t be swapping pillow talk anytime soon, however, are Theo Tran and ClubWPT.com qualifier, Alan Sasser. After oversleeping and missing the first few levels of play, Tran wished he’d stayed in bed as he was outplayed and out lucked within the space of a few hands. After firing a bet and being called on all three streets by Sasser, Tran eventually declared, “I have ten high,” on a final board of 8s-5s-3s-9d-8s. Sasser turned over Ac–Qs for just ace high, much to the shock of Tran who could only compliment the internet qualifier on his amazing read. Just one orbit later, luck was waiting to give Tran a kicking. After moving his stack in with deuces he managed to flop a set against tens and aces, only to be cruelly over-setted on the turn by the pocket rockets.
BUBBLE TROUBLE
With the hours turning into days and the throngs of players began to slowly disperse only the echoing of chips could be heard immense poker room. Leading the chip counts going into the penultimate day were Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Kenna James and previous WPT winner Andrew Cimpan. With a whole day to play and only four exits before the chips were bagged up the pace floated along at an even tempo with no one player lifting their heads too far above the parapet. That was until a three-way chip massacre left one player severely injured and one being escorted to the recovery room on a stretcher.
After Soheil Shamseddin raised, Matt Stout called from middle position and after a barrage of re-raises three players eventually had their chips in the middle. Shamseddin, Stout and Tom Dobrilovic were the ones exposing themselves and when the chips were down it was Stout who had the biggest pair. His pocket aces were comfortably ahead of Dobrilovic’s kings and Shamseddin’s nines and if the odds were to be believed then he would be ushering the pair out of the tournament area. However, the flop ran out a precarious Jh - 10h - 8d. A swift 7s on the turn gave Shamseddin the best hand and ensured that Dobrilovic became the tenth place finisher. A meaningless 6c on the river completed the action, breaking the deadlock and making Dobrilovic $46,500 richer. After a near miss moments later where two all in players chopped the pot the action subsided long enough for the remaining nine to take a short break before they were back into the fray.
THE ASSASSINATION OF KENNA JAMES
The next player to find the felt was Adam Levy when his Ac-9c couldn’t overturn the pocket queens of Shamseddin. One place away from being a “seventhbok” was Steve Brecher who won $99,600 for his eighth place finish but finishing in the second most painful position in the tournament (second to the actual money bubble) was the singing cowboy Kenna James. Unsurprisingly it was one-man wrecking machine Soheil Shamseddin that found a way to overturn the cowboy’s six-shooter with Jh-10h. Two jacks on the board were enough to oust Kenna and his pocket sixes and book six lucky players a place at the TV final table.
FINAL TABLE ACTION
Final Table Stacks
Seat 1. Lee Markholt - 240,000
Seat 2. Curt Kohlberg - 1,042,000
Seat 3. Eric "Efro" Froehlich - 1,010,000
Seat 4. Andrew Cimpan - 3,771,000
Seat 5. Soheil Shamseddin - 2,950,000
Seat 6. Matt "Allinat420" Stout - 1,575,000
For the viewing public at large the line-up of players may have not screamed superstars but for the poker aficionados the individuals on display certainly had star quality. Matt “Allinat420” Stout and Eric “Efro” Froehlich are well known figures in the online world and both Markholt and Cimpan are previous winners on the WPT.
A MARKHOLT MAN
A short stack and a table full of aggressive maniacs is a recipe for disaster, something Lee Markholt knows only too well, which is why he took the earliest opportunity to sprinkle in the remainder of his chips. The outcome was largely inevitable and with six big blinds discreetly merged into the stack of Matt Stout within the first two hands the final table resumed in earnest. With one short stack out of the way it was the turn of chip desperado, Eric Froehlich, to push the action and try and defy his position as table underling. Although “Efro” was happy to gradually chip up it was the two table captains that produced the biggest pot in the early offing.
After gradually working his way up the chip ladder and is if the exit order was written in the stars, or stats, it was Curt Kohlberg who was the next protagonist to make his exit stage right. With the dealer counting out Kohlberg’s $199,000 the final four continued their play and after a brief interval the next act was brought to a close when Eric “Efro” Froehlich bowed out. Again it was a case of stack sizes dictating the cut as a short-stacked “Efro” found a perfect spot to double up when an ever-active Soheil Shamseddin made a customary raise from under the gun. Piling in his 975,000 chips from the small blind with Ac-Ks wasn’t enough to deter Shamseddin calling with his pocket fours and with his fate resting on a coin flip Froehlich watched nervously as the board ran out 10s-5c-2d-9s-8d. With no twist in the plot, “Efro” had to be satisfied with $232,496 and the sympathetic applause from the rail.
THREE’S A CROWD
After Eric’s curtain call the remaining three players got ready to give the performance of their lives as the penultimate scene got underway. The deep stacks and relatively low blinds meant the trio was able to engage in some stichomythic chip dialogue across the felt. The small ball etiquette was soon infringed though as Andrew Cimpan doubled through Matt Stout before tournament executioner Soheil Shamseddin put the final nail in Stout’s coffin. With all their money in the middle and the board showing 9h-6h-6c, Stout’s admission, “I have the nut low,” was a sure sign that his 3s-2h was in major trouble against the Ac-6d of Shamseddin.
CIMPAN MAKES IT A DOUBLE
Having eliminated almost every player from the final ten it was no surprise that Shamseddin held a commanding chip lead going into the final act against Cimpan. With one WPT title already under his belt Cimpan wasn’t content to play understudy to Shamseddin and set about stealing back the limelight.
Almost immediately he was able to increase his stack by two when his pocket queens crossed the finishing line ahead of Shamseddin’s As-Kd. A flourish of pots and a crescendo of action ensued before Cimpan made an audacious final play with As-Jh. His big move over the top of Shamseddin’s 500,000 chip opening bet was perfectly timed as Shamseddin instantly made the call only to discover he was hugely dominated. Only a king could salvage the hand for his Ks-Jd and as the board ran out 8h-7h-3d-Qc-7s, it was Cimpan who completed another encore performance on the WPT stage. Shamseddin was quick to congratulate Cimpan and walked away an extremely happy man with $463,332.
The tour de force performance came from Cimpan, however, who banked over $900,000 in cold hard cash as well as booking his seat in the $25,000 WPT World Championship. Well played, Sir.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
1st Andrew Cimpan $910,058
2nd Soheil Shamseddin $463,332
3rd Matt Stout $265,710
4th Eric Froehlich $232,496
5th Curt Kohlberg $199,283
6th Lee Markholt $166,069 |
