9th Place – Brandon Adams arrived as a crowd favorite. The amateur player from New Orleans who lost so much in Hurricane Katrina was playing for far more meaningful reasons than just a poker championship. Adams pledged that ten percent of his tournament win would be donated to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. It was a remarkable gesture since he and his family lost many of their possessions in the hurricane and flood. Had Adams won the TOC, it would have been the ‘feel-good’ story of the year. As it turned out, Adams could not recover from the devastating early beat. Adams collected $25,000 in prize money.
8th Place – The hand which eliminated Keith Sexton was even more cruel. He went from big dog, to big favorite, to big dog within a 45 second span. Sexton was dealt pocket Tens. Hoyt Corkins picked up pocket Queens (again). Sexton moved all-in with a re-raise before the flop. Corkins quickly called. Corkins was a definitive favorite when the flop fell with all blanks – 9-4-2. But a Ten rained down on the turn and shocked the room full of spectators. Just when it looked like Corkins would lose in the same manner where he doubled-up, the river was dealt. Wham! A Queen rocked the table and Sexton’s dreams were crushed. All Corkins could do was shake his head in disbelief and rake in a huge $305,000 pot. Keith Sexton earned $25,000 in prize money, but was clearly disappointed with the outcome.
That extraordinary hand was the first in a series of earthquakes which shook Phil Hellmuth. The 1989 world poker champion went card dead during the early stages of the final table and watched as his tall towers of chips slowly disappeared. By essentially busting the first two players, Corkins rocketed into the chip lead for the first time and surpassed the $300,000 mark. It was the first occasion since late on Day One that Phil Hellmuth was not the tournament chip leader.
7th Place – David Levi’s patience earned him an extra $25,000. Hopelessly short-stacked from the start, Levi survived two full hours and catapulted into seventh place, moving from an anticipated $25,000 in prize money up to a cash of $50,000. Levi had an opportunity to move up even higher. He moved all-in with A-Q and caught a Queen on the flop. But Mike Matusow hijacked the top pair with his pocket Aces and crushed Levi’s dream of staging a comeback. David Levi, a former pro soccer player from Israel who now plays poker full time, earned $50,000 in this freeroll. Not bad for three days of poker playing.
6th Place – An hour passed before the next elimination. Grant Lang went out on a hand that was baffling to the casual observer. But given the scenario, the hand actually serves as a demonstration of what tournament poker is like at the highest level. After not playing a big pot for a while, Lang was dealt 9-5 of diamonds in the big blind. He called a raise by Tony Bloom, sitting in late position. The flop came K-J-10, normally a fold situation for the 9-5, but Lang played his opponent and the situation, hoping (wrongly, as it turned out) that his opponent might fold a stronger hand. Lang moved all-in after Bloom bet out. He said later that he hoped Bloom had a small pair and would fold. Lang went on to say he hoped Bloom would give him credit for A-K (top pair, top kicker). Unfortunately, Lang picked the wrong time to be creative. Bloom had pocket Aces all along, and Lang’s mental gymnastics resulted in a crash and burn in sixth place. Lang, a.k.a. “G-Money” collected $75,000 for sixth place.
With that hand, Corkins still retained his chip lead with nearly $400,000. Bloom was second with $230,000. Meanwhile, Hellmuth continued to lose ground. He was down to $145,000 when play became five-handed. Then, more fireworks came.
Tony Bloom took a tough blow when he had Steve Dannenmann all-in and drawing slim. Dannenmann was dealt A-4 of hearts and tried to steal, but Bloom woke up with A-K and called. Desperate for hearts, the deck delivered. Two hearts flopped and a third heart came on the turn, giving Dannenmann new tournament life. Dannenmann flashed a big smile, looking like the cat that ate the canary. Suddenly, Dannenmann was back in the race with $185,000 in chips.
Then, it was Bloom who caught a big hand, doubling up against Hoyt Corkins. Bloom moved all-in after the flop came A-10-2 (all spades). Bloom had K-Q, with the Queen of spades. Corkins thought for a while, then called holding J-10, with the Jack of spades. Bloom was facing elimination, and then caught a lifesaving Jack on the river which completed a straight. Corkins two pair hit the muck and Bloom was back in the game. That marked Corkins’ first serious setback at the final table.
At a final table with so much at stake, and with so many combustible personalities, an explosion was foreseeable. What wasn’t expected was who would light the fuse. Bothered by Phil Hellmuth’s constant toying with his chips, and not stacking them in a conventional manner which allowed them to be easily counted by opponents, Steve Dannenmann had enough and insisted that Hellmuth cease his covert chip activities. Hellmuth refused. That brought about a barrage of insults that made for great television, but which certainly detracted from the jovial spirit which had characterized the final table up to that point.
“I don’t understand why you can’t stack your chips like everyone else,” the normally reserved Dannenmann declared. “You are disrespecting the game.”
Still, Hellmuth refused to comply.
“I’m here playing as an amateur, and I know I’m up against professionals,” Dannenmann said. “You above everyone else should know the rules…..you sell all those books and products. But you aren’t a professional – you’re a punk!”
Coming from Matusow, the insult might have been expected. But delivered by the normally soft-spoken Dannenmann, the words stung the crowd like diving into a wasps’ nest. Half of the audience had their mouths open in disbelief. The other half were bent over in hysterical laughter. Unfortunately, the casualty of the verbal barrage would ultimately be Steve Dannenmann himself. He lost two critical pots, which destroyed what might have one of poker’s greatest soap operas.
Dannenmann’s first blow was one for the ages. Mike Matusow, who chatted incessantly throughout the initial stages of the final table, became decreasingly vocal as his stack-size dwindled. Unable to needle his favorite target (Hellmuth), Matusow was silenced when he was all-in with A-K against Steve Dannenmann’s pocket Jacks. By the fourth card, Matusow was in serious trouble. The Jacks were best, but four hearts were on the table, including Matusow’s Ace of hearts. Desperate for an Ace, King, or heart, he leapt into the air, fists raised, when a heart tumbled down on the river. Matusow spiked his flush and the standing room only crowd went wild. As it turned out, that would be a huge hand. Even more ironic was the fact that at last year’s WSOP final table in the Main Event, Dannenmann eliminated Matusow when he caught runner-runner hearts. Payback time.
5th Place – Steve Dannenmann’s misery continued. He tried to make a move at the pot with A-10 after the flop came Q-J-3. On a semi-bluff, Dannenmann moved all-in and Mike Matusow quickly called with K-Q. The top pair held up. Dannenmann was out. Steve Dannenmann, a self-described amateur poker player who is “the fourth best poker player in his weekly poker game (quoting him from the 2005 World Series of Poker),” finished in fifth place and collected $100,000.
The real story is what took place in the post-elimination interview. With ESPN cameras rolling, Dannenmann blasted Phil Hellmuth. “We don’t need players like that in the sport,” Dannenmann said, raising a few eyebrows. Adding insult to injury, Dannenmann stated unequivocally, “Mike Matusow is the best player I have ever played with.” As they say, war and poker create very strange bedfellows.
4th Place – Tony Bloom was blinded down to his last $100,000 in chips. He made a fateful call when he took K-8 up against Phil Hellmuth’s A-Q. Both players flopped a pair, but Hellmuth’s pair of Queens topped Bloom’s Eights. Bloom wilted. Tony ‘The Lizard’ Bloom, one of Europe’s most dynamic young stars, slithered away in fourth place and collected $150,000.
It was interesting that the three players who had dominated the Tournament of Champions from Day One ended up as the final trio of combatants. Hellmuth and Matusow had the chip lead during most of the tournament. Meanwhile, Hoyt Corkins (third after Day One to Hellmuth who was first, and Matusow who was second) vacillated up and down in the chip count before catching lightning early at the final table and stealing the chip-lead away from the two chatterboxes.
The next hand appeared mind boggling at first glance. But upon closer inspection, it revealed the strategic complexity of tournament poker. Corkins, dealt 5-4 suited, made a seemingly inexplicable play when he re-raised enough to put Matusow’s all-in before the flop. Matusow had A-6 and called. The Ace-high held up and Corkins had just given Matusow renewed confidence and $150,000 in chips. Corkins would later explain that he thought Matusow was weak and would not play a big pot with a marginal hand. “My re-raise was just big enough to possibly make Mike lay down the hand,” Corkins explained. “Even if Mike had two overcards like I believed and decided to call, I was still not that much of a dog and had (correct) pot odds.”
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