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#358 – NBC Heads-Up Championship #9 – The February 29 Effect

Posted by Editor | Filed under Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, NBC Heads-Up Championship, Tom Schneider

February 29 comes only once every four years. Maybe that means we should expect unusual things to occur. It’s not much of an explanation, but it’s better than “internet poker is rigged” when similar things happen online. Between writing up the information from the Diamonds bracket and, frankly, being stunned by what happened to Phil Hellmuth, it wasn’t until about 6:25 PM, about 75 minutes in, that I really caught up with the action in the Clubs bracket. Six of the eight matches were still going on.

The second casualty of the bracket had come a few minutes earlier. Hooman Nikzad was all-in against Greg Raymer. They got it in after a jack-high flop. Greg had 7-7 and Hooman had J-8. Raymer hit a seven on the turn to move on.

At 6:28, Scott Clements and Kenny Tran got it all-in before the flop. Scott, with a chip lead, limped on the button. Kenny raised, Scott pushed, and Kenny called. (I’m seeing a fair amount of those limp-traps day, or at least it seems like it.) Scott had T-T, Kenny Ac-6c. Kenny caught a six on the flop, along with one club. Then he hit king of clubs, queen of clubs to make a flush and double up. Matusow, a couple tables over, yelled, “God bless poker!”

A moment later, Patrik Antonius had a chip lead on Gabe Kaplan and they got it all-in preflop. Gabe had A-J to Patrik’s J-T. The flop came 8-9-3 to put Antonius back in the hand. Gabe caught an ace on the turn, which took away three of Patrik’s outs and left him just one card to come to hit his straight. There was another three on the river and Gabe doubled up. Several minutes later, after Antonius bet a river, Gabe moved in and Patrik folded, giving Kaplan a substantial lead.

At 6:39, with Scott Clements having a very small lead, he and Kenny Tran get all-in before the flop. Scott has A-K, Kenny A-7. Scott’s hand holds up and he advances. Two minutes later, Jonathon Little’s 4-4 busted Erik Seidel’s A-9 and he too advanced.

At 6:45, Gavin Smith moves in with his last 10,000 before the flop and Tom Schneider quickly calls. Tom has A-J, Gavin K-J. It takes 5 minutes before the cameras get over, and this is what Schneider was rewarded with:

2-3-4-6 … 5

Gavin pulled out a chop!

Matusow was in command seemingly the whole way against Joe Hachem but at 6:54, he doubled Joe up to 12,000 pushing with K-4 when the 2005 Champ woke up with A-K.

At 6:56 PM, Gavin moved all-in for 16,000 and Tom called with pocket queens. When Gavin showed 7-8 offsuit, I said to the person next to me, “It’s a race, Gavin-style.”

The flop comes K-5-6, so now Gavin has eight outs. “When does it end?” Tom asks.

As if he was invoking a jinx on himself, the turn brings a four and Tom and his pocket queens are drawing dead on the river.

With 32,000 chips, huge blinds, and a squadron of angels on his shoulders, it seems the Phoenix players (Schneider and Hooman, both guys I knew from Casino Arizona who, along with Robert Goldfarb, Shoes, and several others, made a core of really tough players in a busy room teeming with guys throwing chips around) are doomed.

Jordan, the tournament announcer, is doing a terrific job, bypassing no opportunity to needle the players. He says, “It’s hard to suck out on Gavin because he’s always behind.”

On the very next hand, Tom pushes all-in for his last 7,500 and Gavin calls. Schneider has 9-9, Gavin Q-T. Smith hits a king on the flop and, though the rest of the board raises Tom’s hopes of a straight, the miracles are clearly flowing in only one direction at the end of this one. He is eliminated.

After the match, Gavin showed me Tom Schneider’s book, OOPS I WON TOO MUCH MONEY, which he signed by Gavin. I had to ask: “Did he sign it before or after the match?”

“Before. And he wrote something really nice. I wonder if he still means it.”

I glanced at the inscription. It was very nice. Tom Schneider is an excellent poker player and a class act. (So, of course, is Gavin Smith for that matter.) He simply got none of the breaks, and Gavin got lucky at the right time.

Just after 7 PM, I hear Mike Matusow complaining about being cursed, about having Hachem dominated, about them both flopping top pair and Hachem pairing his lower kicker. But when it is all unwound, it appears Mike is merely having a waking nightmare. He’s got Hachem all-in with after the flop with T-4. He has J-T. The board is T-2-3. He’s complaining about the unfairness of what COULD happen. (Of course, maybe the whole thing triggered Matusow’s memory of 70 minutes earlier, when he had Joe down to a double-gutshot straight draw with one card to come and Joe hit it. Even after Hachem hit, Matusow had a 7,000 chip lead and was laughing about it. Not anymore apparently.)

Matusow’s going to worry himself into premature old age. He had a big chip lead and was way ahead. It stayed that way and he moves on to the second round.

To no one’s surprise, the longest match of the bracket was Chris Ferguson and John Juanda. At 7:06 PM, Chris Ferguson had John Juanda so short-stacked that when Chris moved in, John called him in the dark. He had Chris dominated with J-8o to J-4o and doubled up. Ferguson eliminated Juanda one hand later. 70 minutes earlier, Chris was down to 4,500, a great comeback against an incredibly savvy opponent (though at one point he had to catch a king on the river for his K-9 to pass John’s T-T to extend the match).

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