WSOP Event #45: John Kabbaj Takes The Title

With two Team PokerStrategy.com members and two PokerStrategy.com community members going into day two of the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em World Championship, expectations were high to see one of them reach the final day. Unfortunately, both Nazgul and ragen had to take an early leave as they busted before reaching the money, on 57th and 53rd place respectively.

Things were looking better for Allanon85 and fa_morgoth who both made it past the bubble. While the former was forced to get active with his short stack and failed to double up, leaving on 26th place, the latter was able to hold on until the very end of the day and finished 16th. In the end, no one was able to come back as one of the final 14 contestants on the last day of the tournament.

Things were very different for John Kabbaj - he came back for his third day as the dominant chip leader, and with more than 2 millions in chips, second in chips J.C. Alvarado couldn't even muster half of that stack at a bit less than a million.

The shorter stacks soon started taking their leave as the play approached the final table and Thomas Pattersson was first to be eliminated when his JT failed to catch against Billy Kopp's A5. Similar stories unfolded for Ken Lennard who busted with QT against Isaac Haxton's AK and Michael Kamram who couldn't improve his J9 against Billy Kopp's A7.

Mohsin Charanio was a bit luckier when he picked up KK and could double against Darryll Fish's 66. The same was true for Davidi Kitai who doubled through Billy Kopp when his KK held up against the opposing 99, and it looked like it would take a while for the next player to hit the rail when Jason Lester's 99 held up against Kirill Gerasimov's AK.

In the end, Billy Kopp was next to exit the tournament area when his AQ lost out to Davidi Kitai's JJ. From then on, it would take quite some time before the final table bubbly boy was found in the form of Mohsin Charania: after being crippled with QQ against Jason Laster's AK, his AJ also failed to catch against Davidi Kitai's 99 and Charania had to watch the final table from behind the rails.

John Kabbaj still was the chip leader when the final table started, but
his dominating position had definitely been compromised. With 1,867,000
chips, he was followed closely by Davidi Kitai at 1,737,000 and both
Isaac Hexton and Eric Baldwin had over a million at their disposal, too.

It was a tough final table as nobody seemed to be willing to be the first to leave - even short stack Darryll Fish managed to stay alive by doubling up once more. In the end, he still had to give in as his A8 couldn't catch against J.C. Alvarado's 77 and he was eliminated on 9th place for $77,136.

About two hours and a half into the final table, the general table climate hadn't drastically changed as all players more or less held on to their position. The blinds however kept increasing mercilessly, so another hour and a half and several double-ups later, Isaac Haxton was the one to go out on KQ versus AQ. No king showed up on the board and we had our 8th place finisher.

J.C. Alvarado however hung on to the trend of not busting and managed to catch the said king to double up with his KT against Davidi Kitai (pictured left) who held AJ. It would take almost three more hours before the next victim was finally found: it was Eugene Todd who was sent home when his AQ failed to improve against Kirill Gerasimov's QQ.

Just minutes later, Jason Lester had to take his leave on 6th place is his JT couldn't catch against Davidi Kitai's A5 and we were finally down to five-handed play.

John Kabbaj - who had long since lost the chip lead - took a  big risk when he
called J.C. Alvarado's all-in 3-bet, but in the end he was able to win
the race with his AT catching and ace on the board against the opposing 66.

Alvarado was able to subsequently double up his extremely short stack
and to successfully steal the blinds from time to time, but in the end
it was all for nothing when he was eliminated on 5th place.

Moving all-in to one of John Kabbaj's raises, the latter made the call with TT and when Alvarado couldn't catch with his AQ,
he had to exit the tournament area.

Just minutes later, Davidi Kitai
shared the same fate as he re-raised all-in against Kirill Gerasimov,
but the latter could catch a king on the river to win the coin-flip
with KT against Gerasimov's 55.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

A long back-and-forth would ensue, and after a while, Kirill Gerasimov was able to establish himself as the chip leader; with almost 4 million in chips, he was comfortably ahead of Kabbaj's 2.5 million and Eric Baldwin was stuck at a bit less than 2 million.

When Baldwin took out a huge chunk of Kabbaj's chips after a tricky check-raise on the river, they went to 3.2 and 1.2 millions respectively.

Reversing the situation once more, it would only take John Kabbaj (pictured right) minutes to double through Gerasimov's A9 when his 99 made the full house.

In a follow-up pot, Baldwin was crippled in a bad beat when Gerasimov's A9 caught two-pair against his AJ.
With only 420,000 left in chips, Baldwin was over-and-out when Kabbaj's A5 hit aces-up on the flop against his J6, while Gerasimov could enter the heads-up with an about 5.5 to 3.5 million chip lead.

Through aggressive play, Gerasimov was able to extend this chip lead, but he finally had to let go when he lost a coin-flip which could have won him the bracelet.

Kabbaj's A4 flopped a full house and pretty much left Gerasimov drawing dead with his 33. Kabbaj immediately took over the lead as he check-raised Gerasimov out of a few bigger pots.

The deciding hand was yet another all-in that could as well have taken place before the flop. Gerasimov raised and Kabbaj made the call. On the 437 flop, the outcome was inevitable when he raised Kabbaj's bet and then called the ensuing all-in with his KK.

Kabbaj revealed AA and Gerasimov was in for one ugly setup. He failed to catch the miracle king on turn or flop and John Kabbaj was crowned World Champion of Pot Limit Hold'em, taking home one of the coveted bracelets and $633,335.