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#071 – Heads-Up Championship Part VII – Round 2 Preview
By the time many of you read this, the matches I’m previewing will be long completed. But read on! The great thing about a competition like this is that anything is possible. When they haven’t played the matches yet, you can imagine anything. While the reality sometimes matches the imagination and on rare occasions exceeds it, every matchup is full of possibility before it happens. This is how the Final 32 shape up:
CLUBS BRACKET (HEAT A)
Shannon Elizabeth v. Jeff Madsen – The Kid plowed through old pro Steve Z in round 1. It looks like he is spoiling for a third round match with Barry Greenstein. But Shannon and Jeff have hung out together talking poker. Doe-eyed Elizabeth may have been working on the kid.
Vanessa Russo v. Barry Greenstein – We’ll see on NBC how Russo defeated Erick Lindgren but it looked impressive from across the room. Greenstein’s a tough customer, though, even if word hasn’t reached him of MY poker prowess. (See Entry #064)
Humberto Brenes v. Phil Laak – For poker purists, the type who considered last year’s Ferguson/Forrest final a confection for the connoisseur, this is Meat for the Masses. Humberto Brenes is such an obnoxious presence when the camera is focused on him that I don’t care now nice a guy he is; I’m glad I “accidentally” stepped on his foot at the pairings party. Possibly the loudest of the 16 matches.
Huckleberry Seed v. Chip Reese – I’ve got the inside dope on this one. (Both men play too conservative a game.) But they have eight bracelets between them so they must get lucky year after year after year.
SPADES BRACKET (HEAT A)
Tuan Le v. TJ Cloutier – I hear Tuan has been playing EXTREMELY well and I know TJ had to get lucky to beat Cyndy Violette. But Cloutier is THE Old Pro and it just feels like that generation will get represented somehow.
Joe Hachem v. Paul Wasicka – Both flashes in the pan. You’ll never hear of them after their World Series moments in the sun.
Shawn Shiekhan v. Ted Forrest – Another rematch for Forrest, whose motto is “winning ugly.” Shawn ran very well to beat Gus and has angered the poker gods by mentioning in an interview how many top pros don’t show requisite skill in Badugi.
Annie Duke v. Nam Le – When I saw Annie after her first round victory, she said, “I’m so happy I lost my cherry!” She admits getting outplayed in round 1 two years ago but clearly got unlucky to lose to Mike Sexton in round 1 last year. Against Jeff Shulman, he seemed to win all-in after all-in after all-in. But when I see that from across the room, I think, how can someone keep doubling up yet never get the lead? I think she was picking his pocket so bad that she might have chipped his hip bone. Because I’m unfortunately not familiar with Nam Le’s game (other than the number of straights he hit against Greg Raymer – that must be how he became one of the best tournament players in the world over the last year or two), I’ll ask this question: WILL JOE REITMAN BE THERE TO WATCH? Joe is Annie’s boyfriend and he was invited to play in the WPT Celebrity Invitational. It’s fun and for charity but he’s negotiating over the phone about whether they are going to make him sign their obnoxious release. The one his girlfriend is embroiled in litigation over. We don’t know yet.
HEARTS BRACKET (HEAT B)
Allen Cunningham v. Andy Bloch – This match will be a treat. I think I sucked out to beat Cunningham in a big pot during one of the FTOPS, so he obviously doesn’t have much game. How he won $7 million at the World Series of Poker is a mystery. Bloch, on the other hand, robs me blind in every hand we’ve ever played on Full Tilt, so he’s obviously lucky beyond belief. How can either man win such a match?
Mike Matusow v. Michael Mizrachi – After Matusow beat Negreanu yesterday, I said to him, “Just remember Mike. You rule at Caesars.” Mike won the Tournament of Champions here, and I brought with me the pen he signed some stripper’s ass with after he won. I hope it proves to be lucky. I get the idea that the Grinder uses astronomy to make some of his moves, based on how his match with John Juanda went. All I can tell you about Mike’s win over Negreanu is that Daniel twice got amazingly lucky in all-in confrontations, and won another all-in where he actually had the lead. Yet somehow, he never had a chip lead. When they’re sober, Daniel can’t touch Mike.
Gavin Smith v. Johnny Chan – Another phenomenal match-up. Chan is a monster but Gavin, like Mike, is one of those guys whose clowning around diverts your attention from his bountiful talents. Gavin will have his game face on for this.
Phil Gordon v. Jamie Gold – I actually get the idea that Jamie Gold’s a nice guy, and I’m going to assume that until he proves otherwise to me or first-hand to someone I trust. But, wow, do people not like him? There’s a chance that crowd will have their moment because Phil Gordon is no dark horse in this event. Heads-up play tends to reward solid theoretical thinking and Phil is super-smart at this stuff.
DIAMONDS BRACKET (HEAT B)
Kristy Gazes v. Isabelle Mercier – The Gaze vs. No Mercy. Jimmy Chu, Part II.
Don Cheadle v. Scott Fischman – Cheadle’s victory over Phil Ivey is going to make for some great TV. It was the longest match of round 1. When you see someone like Jeff Madsen carving up a tournament, it seems like Scott Fischman is about 75 years old but he is still highly respected and greatly feared. But Cheadle beat Ivey, who was nice enough to invite Don to play golf with him sometime soon, maybe for a few bucks.
Brad Booth v. David Williams – Booth is a high-stakes player I’m not too familiar with, but he dismantled Howard Lederer in round 1 so he may be joining that tournament tradition of Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, and Jeffrey Lissandro of players I underrate because I’m just ignorant. Of course, Williams is one of those guys who just keeps getting lucky – Main Event, Seven Card Stud, WPT – day after day, year after year. He probably got lucky when he was winning Magic, The Gathering tournaments as a teenager, too.
Gabe Kaplan v. Chad Brown – Chad apparently put one of the all-time bad beats on Yosh Nakano to get to the second round. Here’s the hand. The flop is 9-9-2. Nakano checks and Chad, with K-2, bets. Nakano moves in and Brown, after thinking it over awhile, calls. Nakano has K-K. Chad Brown picks up a deuce to prove that you CAN be good-looking and lucky. But Chad has a big league game, as does Gabe Kaplan, who truly ought to lose the cowboy hat that looks like it would be too big on Doyle Brunson.
I am the all-time worst predictor of these things, my blessing being an almost automatic kiss of death. So here is what I see for the match-ups for round 3:
CLUBS
Jeff Madsen v. Barry Greenstein
Phil Laak v. Huckleberry Seed
SPADES
Tuan Le v. Joe Hachem
Ted Forrest v. Annie Duke
HEARTS
Andy Bloch v. Mike Matusow
Johnny Chan v. Phil Gordon [Though Chan v. Jamie Gold would be fascinating]
DIAMONDS
Kristy Gazes v. Scott Fischman
Brad Booth v. Chad Brown
If I got half of these right, I’d be amazed. And yes, in a tough situation, I usually chose my friend to win.
I’m preparing for another long day, at the end of which there will be just eight players left. I’ll be following this thing through the end but, I tell you, it realy pains me not to be able to play in the $400,000 Guarantee on Sunday afternoon. I’ve given a little thought to playing it from the tournament room ….
…. BUT ….
…. Caesars Palace would throw me off the property if they caught me, and probably beat the hell out of me just for sport.
Quandry.
Pass along your comments and opinions in the forum, which I’ll try to look at, though I’ve been too addled to keep up. You can also e-mail me at suicideking@fulltiltpoker.com.
I’ll post a bunch today and tomorrow in my usual nuanced untimely way. To get the news fresh off the screen, look to www.Pokerwire.com, where they are updating the progress of the matches regularly and Katie Lindsay is conducting the interviews when she’s not taking ten dollars from me in our own picking contest.
