WSOP Event #46: Derek Raymond Takes The Bracelet

The 23 survivors led by Mark Tenner entered the final play day of the
$2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split Eight-or-better Event #46. Mike Matusow was
amongst these survivors, but not for long, as he was the first player
to get eliminated.

Besides doing some of his usual complaining, Matusow found time to take
part in a hand which was also his last one in the tournament. After his
stack went down to just 20,000 in chips, he moved all-in against James
Dempsey and said, "I only looked at the first two, I know I have two aces." Matusow revealed and Dempsey showed . Dempsey rivered a seven-high straight with a bad low on the board and gathered the new chips while Matusow left the table to collect his $7,411 in prize money.

James Dempsey continued his rollercoaster ride through the day while
others kept falling. He lost most of his stack only to double up
several times afterwards and then lose most of it, again. He needed
some chips and luckily for him, he got them. He moved all-in with and Pat Poels called with . The board ran . Dempsey scooped the pot which put him up to 65,000 and commented, "Never in doubt. I was never worried." Not exactly being honest, but apparently it is never too late to bluff, even if the hand is over.

Dempsey's good run couldn't really last forever, could it? The answer
came when the field was down to just 14 players. Michael Keiner raised
from under the gun, Fabio Coppola re-raised from the cutoff, Pat Poels
called on the button, Dempsey four-bet from the small blind, Keiner
folded and the other two players called. The flop came ,
Dempsey put last of his chips in and that was the end of all action for
that hand, as Coppola and Poels checked down the turn card and the on the river. Poels quickly mucked his hand after Coppola showed and Dempsey was busted in 14th place, as he held .

The official final table was reached when John Monnette had to wave
the white flag and pack his bags in 10th place. Action began with
Monnette making a raise and Michael Keiner was the only one interested
in taking part in the hand, though instead of making the call, he
decided to re-raise. Monnete called all-in and showed while Keiner tabled . The board came and Monnette was busted as the official final table bubble boy.

The
play continued between the remaining nine players with Josch Schlein in
the chip lead. Mark Tenner was trailing close behind, meanwhile Mark
Gregorich and Pat Poels were down to their last 90,000 in chips.
Ironically, the first elimination was avoided thanks to a a single
chip. Poels raised and then called a re-raise from Scott Hohlman. The
flop came , Bohlman bet and Poels called. The turn brought and both players got their remaining chips in the middle. Bohlman showed and Poels revealed . The river came
to give Bohlman a flush and when the stacks were counted down, it was
discovered that Poels had Bohlman covered by 1,000, in other words - a
single chip.

Thanks to this little chip, Poels managed to stay
at the final table for a few more minutes. He even managed to get up to
4,000, but that was about as far as he could get, making his way out in
9th place.

The action slowed down a bit at this point and the
biggest problem were not eliminations, but the pots. Fabio Coppola
opened one of such troublesome pots with a raise, Mark Gregorich
three-bet, Mark Tenner called and so did Coppola. Tenner bet out on
every street until the final board read .
Gregorich was all-in on the turn, thus creating a side pot between
Coppola and Tenner which included some of the turn bets and all of the
river bets.

Tenner turned over , Coppola showed and Gregorich tabled .
Tenner's nut low and two pair, kings and fours, was enough to grant him
three-quarters of the side pot. Coppola received one-quarter of that
pot and regarding the main pot, Tenner got half of the low and half of
the high, with Gregorich and Coppola each taking a remaining quarter.

To make things interested for the dealer, another three-way all-in
situation came up and again, without an elimination. Mark Gregorich was
all-in preflop, Michael Keiner was all-in on the turn and their
opponent was Fabio Coppola. The board read and Coppola showed , Gregorich held and Keiner held .
Coppola grabbed the high half of the side pot and the main pot,
meanwhile Coppola and Keiner split the low half of the side pot, and
all three players split the low half of the main pot. This left
Gregorich with 30,000 in chips and Keiner wasn't in much better shape
either.

Besides interesting pots, players also showed some nice reading skills.
Scott Bohlman flopped quads but only managed to get one extra bet out
of Derek Raymond. On a flop of , Bohlman raised after Raymond led out and Raymond check-folded to a bet on the turn. Fabio Coppola asked, "You got quads?" Bohlman tabled A--3 and Coppola added with a laugh, "I know you so well, buddy."
Being a former Thai boxer, Coppola is probably not the person you would
like to see tilt, though his reading skills seem to be one of his main
assets in poker.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

The final table finally started losing players again after all the pots
with multipe all-ins and no eliminations. Mark Gregorich was probably
all-in during most of his time at the final table and his end
eventually came in a hand against Josh Schlein and Mark Tenner. It took
a full house, kings full of eights, for Tenner to bust Gregorich out in
8th place.

Short-stacked Michael Keiner was busted next in a
hand against Derek Raymond (pictured right). He was followed by Sirous Jamshidi in 6th
place and Josh Schelin in 5th. The room turned somewhat silent by this
point, as some of the fans departed but the fireworks at the table made
more than up for it. Derek Raymond raised and then called a re-raise
from Fabio Coppola. Raymond check-called all streets and the final
board read . Coppola bet all-in on the river and Raymond paused for a moment before making another call.

Raymond showed for jacks and sevens and Coppola tabled
for complete air. Coppola was in disbelief, "He called with a seven!
How can he call with a seven?!" According to Max Pescatori, Coppola
trains Patrik Antonius in kickboxing but apparently Antonius is not
giving him some poker lessons in return. A bluff gone wrong and Coppola
was out in 4th place.

Another short stack at the table was seen making his way out, namely
Scott Bohlman, and with his elimination, everything was set for the
heads-up play between Mark Tenner and Derek Raymond.

After some back and forth battle between the two, it was Raymond who managed to win the title. In their final hand, Tenner was down to just 205,000 in chips and got them all-in from thebutton. Raymond made the call and showed and Tenner showed . The board came and Raymond snatched the last chips away from Tenner, thus earning himself the WSOP bracelet and $229,192 in prize money.

Here are the final table results: