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'The Prince'Â Wins 2006 World Poker Open Championship
After several WPT final table appearances, Scotty 'the Prince' Nguyen finally breaks through and earns victory; Mike 'the Grinder' Mizrachi is runner up in wild finale
Poker tournaments are won and lost not necessarily at final tables and in front of television cameras. What the public rarely sees are the hundreds, if not thousands of mind-numbing hands played out on previous days leading up to the crescendo. Small pots, blind steals, semi-bluffs, tough calls and excruciating laydowns are the building blocks of a final table appearance, and ultimately of a tournament victory. And, as any poker champion will surely attest it takes a little luck to win, too.
Scotty Nguyen's most fortunate moment came on Day Three, with four tables still to go. Nguyen, like 326 others in this event, had put up his $10,000 entry fee hoping to win the nearly $1 million first prize. With many in the field already eliminated, Nguyen was sitting comfortably with about 100,000 in chips when he looked at his two hole cards and saw pocket queens. Nguyen moved 'all in'Â at the worst possible time. His opponent had been dealt pocket aces. Both hands were turned face up, and it appeared Nguyen would be eliminated. 38th place paid about $15,000. Not bad, but not Scotty Nguyen-type prize money. As luck would have it, four diamonds were dealt out matching his queen of diamonds. Nguyen's eyes glanced over to the black aces. The diamond flush was good. Nguyen had not only dodged a bullet (two of them, actually), he had doubled up into serious contention with over 200,000. That proved to be the turning point. It was, in fact a flush that netting Nguyen $950,000 in extra prize money.
Four hours later, Nguyen had over a million in his stack and was the chip leader. A day later, 'the Prince of Poker'Â took his seat at the final table with over two-million in chips. The World Poker Open championship finale was set and the Scotty Nguyen Show was about to begin.
6th Place: Bau Le arrived with the lowest chip stack. But it still took over an hour for the former software engineer from Atlantic City, NJ to hit the rail. On his final hand of the night, Le was dealt pocket tens. Raul Paez had A-J and more than enough chips to cover Le. A jack flopped and Le was out. Bau Le, one of three Vietnamese-born players at the final table, also managed to win WPO Event #2 good for nearly $100,000. He added $88,099 more to his poker bankroll for sixth place.
5th Place: Of his final table performance, An 'the Boss' Tran would later say, 'Nothing went right for me. I never caught a hand. The only pair I got was (pocket) deuces.'Â Tran's misery was played out on his final hand of the night when he was short-stacked and ended up in a three-way pot against Raul Paez and Michael Mizrachi. With Tran 'all in'Â both opponents checked down a board showing J-8-5-3-3. Tran sheepishly showed K-10 (no pair) and Mizrachi scooped up Tran's final chips with a pair of eights. An Tran, the second Vietnamese-born player in the finals earned $125,856 for fifth place.
4th Place: It took a few hours for the next player to go out. Three of the four survivors Gavin Smith, Scotty Nguyen, and Michael Mizrachi turned the final table into what seemed like a typical Monday night poker game. All that was missing was the potato chips. After (more than) a few drinks, Smith and Nguyen traded some good-natured taunts which brought the capacity crowd to life. 'I raise,'Â Nguyen would say. 'That's not a raise, Smith retorted. 'This is a raise,'Â he countered, pushing his entire stack onto the felt. Mizrachi joined in the fun and for over an hour, every hand came with verbal jabs and running commentary. Spanish-speaking Raul Paez was fortunate enough to only pick up a few words of the exchange. He must have wondered what all the babbling was about.
Smith played near perfect poker for four days. He had a commanding chip lead during much of the tournament and each time he lost momentum, he somehow managed to crawl back into the chip lead. But his final hand was puzzling to the most savvy poker aficionados.
Smith was dealt pocket sevens. He raised 350,000 pre-flop. Michael Mizrachi was dealt pocket queens. He raised 900,000 more, enough to cover the whisky-drinking Canadian. Smith called the re-raise quickly and was disappointed to see Mizrachi's crippling overpair. Neither player improved. Smith was eliminated. Gavin Smith, originally from Ontario (and now living in Las Vegas), received $173,052 for fourth place. This was his best tournament performance since his WPT victory at the Mirage back in March 2005, where he won $1 million.
3rd Place: After nearly four hours of methodical play and relatively few major confrontations, the next two bust-outs would come lightning fast. In part because the blinds were so high, players could not sit around and wait for big hands. Guaranteed at least third-place prize money, Raul Paez suddenly got super-aggressive and moved his last 750,000 into the pot with Q-10 suited after an initial button raise by Nguyen. It took about a minute of deliberation for Nguyen to finally make the call, holding A-Q. Nguyen had Paez completely dominated. Five small cards on board gave Nguyen the pot with his ace-high, and Paez said 'adios.'Â Raul Peaz, from Barcelona, won a gold and diamond bracelet at last year's WPO. He collected $298,908 for third place.
The poker table is not the place to find justice. However, it was most fitting that the final two players in the 2006 World Poker Open happened to make it to the final table last year, as well. Ultimately, both were disappointed with their results back in 2005 Mizrachi getting crushed by a one-outer on the river, and Nguyen going out a disappointing fourth. Now, it was time for redemption at least for one player.
Spectators prepared themselves for what promised to be an epic poker duel. Two great players. Both players with enthusiastic cheering sections. Mutual respect. And each player had over three-million in chips. When heads-up play began, Scotty Nguyen had a slight chip lead -- 3,340,00 in chips to Mizrachi's 3,210,000. It seemed the match might go long into the night.
Instead, the Nguyen-Mizrachi poker duel lasted exactly one hand.
Nguyen was dealt A-Q of spades. He raised 300,000 in the small blind. Mizrachi, with A-J offsuit, re-raised up to 1,200,000. Nguyen pushed 'all in'Â and Mizrachi called instantly.
'I knew I had the best hand,'Â Nguyen said later. 'If he had a big hand, he would try to trap me. He would not make a raise like that (pre-flop). I had A-Q suited, and I did not hesitate to move in.'Â
Nguyen's read of the situation was dead on. Mizrachi was dominated. 'We have known each other for a long time,'Â Nguyen added. 'I could feel it. I could taste it.'Â
The board made things more interesting. The flop came K-9-2 (with one spade), leaving Nguyen in the lead. The ten of spades came on the turn, giving Nguyen a spade draw. However, Mizrachi had a possible straight if he managed to catch one of three remaining queens. The crowd rose to its feet. Nguyen and Mizrachi shook hands. The final card was dealt. The eight of spades on the river completed Nguyen's flush, purely for dramatic effect. The crowd roared. Mizrachi was out and Nguyen was the winner.
2nd Place: Michael 'the Grinder' Mizrachi made it to two WPT final tables last year, and won one (LA Poker Classic). He also earned $3 million overall in tournaments for 2005. Mizrachi sets incredibly high standards for himself and accordingly, was disappointed with the end result, despite his impressive payday totaling $566,352. Mizrachi was quick to congratulate his rival Nguyen. 'He played terrific,'Â Mizrachi said. Of the final hand (A-J versus A-Q) he said, 'You have to gamble to win, and I did some gambling to get here. That's just the way it goes sometimes.'Â At age 25, Mizrachi certainly has one of the brightest futures of anyone in the game. It's only a matter of time before he wins another WPT event.
1st Place: Scotty Nguyen is in a league all his own when it comes to playing poker or exhibiting his unique personal flair. The 1998 World Series of Poker champion and four-time gold bracelet winner has been in a dry spell during the past year. This marked his biggest tournament win in seven long years full of personal and professional ups and downs. It was his first-ever World Poker Tour victory.
First place paid $969,421.
'It's so sweet, baby,'Â Nguyen said.
Gold Strike Poker Room Manager Robin Fisackerly Tournament Director John Nieznanski Director of Poker Operations Ken Lambert
Report by: Nolan Dalla
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