Day 5 - June 17: Slowly on our way to the Final Four

With only eight players left, we had four consecutive matches at the Televised Table today. I was fortunate enough to be right on top of this action, and I had a great time being there for you. Now, of course, I hope that you guys will have as good a time reading this as I had watching it. Well, as a reminder, these are the final players in this event, and this is how they got there.

Rumit Sumaiya
1. Stuart Fox 2. Alex Kravchenko 3. David Harris 4. Bruno Fitoussi

Angel Blanco Puras
1. Jose Talens Forcada 2. Angelo Yu Zuoping 3. Danut Arama 4. Rob Hollink

John Cernuto
1. Alison Graham (walk) 2. Simon Trumper 3. Morten Semback 4. Cheng Guosem

Carlos Mortensen
1. John Kabbaj 2. Evgeny Ivanov 3. Antony Lellouche 4. Erik Sagström

Mats Tornros
1. Isabelle Mercier 2. Antonio Mammone 3. Margarita Gonzalez 4. Roy Brindley

Dave Ulliott
1. Kirill Gerasimov 2. John Duthie 3. Jacob Bennett 4. Bo Estefan Enberg

Andreas Rossander
1. Peter Frampton 2. Michael Willavage 3. Surinder Sunar 4. Vladimir Troyanovsky

Mark Bannin
1. Cyril Jassinowsky 2. Rino Mathis 3. Paul Zimbler 4. Raul Paez Corral

Match 1: Dave Ulliott * - Mats Tornros (1h09)

"No need looking for clues in me, kid. I don't have a clue myself."

I had a great time watching this match, a) because the Devilfish is such a colorful character, and b) because his young opponent wasn't impressed and was as aggressive as in previous matches. When "The Kid" (who is just 19 years old - really!) tried to stare down his opponent for the sixth or seventh time, Dave said: "I'm so good-looking. This kid just can't stop looking at me." But it seemed that Mats indeed had a pretty good feel for his experienced opponent's game, because exactly when I expected Dave to be strong or when in fact he was strong, young Mats was able to throw away his cards. But Dave stole a lot of pots too, got into an early lead and even though the young man crawled back from a 35,000-125,000 to only a 60,000-100,000 chip deficit, the man from Hull stayed in control most of the time. Mats was aggressive enough though, like for example when he raised Dave's 10,000 bet all-in to 34,000 on the turn 9758 (Dave folding J8), or when he raised preflop and then moved in against a K33 board. Dave thought for a while, and then said: "Hmm, you've got the Big Slick? Well, I've got the Big Lick", and he folded his six-nine offsuit.

Either way, at the table things didn't look that bad for Mats having recouped quite a few chips, but then in only five or six hands he was gone. Dave won three pots in a row, and had the young man severely crippled. Mats then raised to 6,000 and got reraised to 20,000 with Mats calling. Flop: Ad 7c 5c, Dave said "All-in", and the young man called all-in for 24,000. The hands: A2 for the Devil with the ace of clubs, K7 for Mats who said "I've got five outs" but couldn't hit any. The Kid, who is even too young to play poker in the States and thus "still has two years of practice for the World Series", this Kid had played some fearless and refreshing poker this week, but in the end it was still the top favorite to go through.

Match 2: Anders Rossander - Mark Banin * (1h45)

A match with a lot less action, a lot less table talk than the previous one, and thus a match that could be considered "boring" by some. But the fact of the matter was, Mark played some good poker and chipped away at his opponent very well. Without having to play any single big pot, without having to rely on luck even once, he had gained a 120,000 to 40,000 chip lead - and this despite the fact that Anders was able to snap off a few bluffs (Mark betting one time with a queen high, and one time with a jack high). There was one crucial pot in this match though, a pot that gained Mark a serious chip lead. Mark raised to 6,000 from the small blind / button (SBB, blinds 750-1,500 in the first hour, then 1,000-2,000 and finally 1,500-3,000), and Anders called. Flop: Kc 9c 8d. The young Swede checked, Mark bet 6,000 and got called. Turn: 5c, creating a possible flush, and now Anders check / called a 12,000 bet. When another club came on the river it was check / check, and Mark won with two black jacks against T7 for Anders with the ten of clubs for a smaller flush. A check-raise semi-bluff on either the flop or turn would undoubtedly have earned him the pot, especially when taking into account Mark's reluctance to play big pots where there is a lot of luck involved. Now, Banin could keep earning chips with relatively little risk, and the one time when it was a big pot before the flop, his hand dominated the one that his opponent was holding. He came over the top of the young Swede's 6,000 raise for all his money, and Anders then made a somewhat rash call in my opinion. Because he had just won a pot against Mark, Anders had about 56,000 at the beginning of this hand, and he decided to call about 50,000 more with just a KQ of hearts. Mark had AQ offsuit, and that held up.

Match 3: Rumit Sumaiya - Angel Blanco Puras * (0h45)

In the third match of this day, it was the hometown favorite who gave the excellent Rumit as much headache as he had given Rob Hollink the day before. The reason was simple: Any time Rumit would put a few chips into the pot, within seconds his opponent would exclaim: "All-in!" Now, while of course one would love to see this happening if you're holding the nuts or close to it, the sad nature of poker is that most of the time you will only hold a decent, marginal or even a bad hand. And even if you do have a fairly good hand, if you call and are wrong, or if you are right but get outdrawn, you will be out of the tournament. This is especially true if it is your opponent who is holding the chip lead - which was exactly the case here.

Right from the start, it was Angel who took a decent lead. First, after Rumit had reraised him and then had bet out on the flop, he was raised off his hand by Angel against the scary board AK8. A few hands later, the Spaniard called a small check-raise with an open-ended straight draw, only to win when he paired one of his hole cards. And he won a third pot when he check-raised Rumit to 22,000 on an AT2 flop, and his A3 proved good. Within 20 minutes, Rumit was trailing 30,000 to 130,000. And he had heard Angel say "All-in" so many times already, that he knew he had to make a stand sometime. But Lady Luck certainly wasn't smiling on him today. On a flop K74 with two hearts, Rumit bet 5,000, Angel said "All-in" immediately, and Rumit decided to call 15,000 more with his J5 of hearts for a jack-high flush draw. He obviously thought that he was drawing, but when Angel showed him 62 offsuit for a lower flush draw, he actually had the best hand and the best draw! But when the board double-paired sevens and fours for a final board K7474, the board played: it was a split-pot, which could certainly be considered a bad beat at this stage of the match. And then it was all over for the man who had given such an excellent showing this week. All in before the flop with A7 against pocket fours, Angel caught a four and Rumit failed to make the straight that was also possible, meaning that well within the hour this match was over. Kudos to the hometown favorite Angel who had played a bold and fearless game, and who is a prime candidate to lift this year's trophy.

Match 4: John Cernuto - Carlos Mortensen * (3h46)

A match played in an excellent atmosphere. Both players obviously knew each other very well, but that didn't stop them from being nice and courteous, and from playing as fast and efficient as possible. Even though there was not as much chip movement as in most games (especially the ones that involve Europeans), the level of play was very high. It was Carlos who took an early 107,500-52,500 chip lead when he made his opponent lay down his hand on the turn after having bet 10,000, in a pot that had been reraised before the flop. And then, after only thirty minutes of play, the former world champion had John all-in with AK versus sixes, but as I said before, our reigning champion is simply excellent in coin flips. After one hour of play, Miami had a 113,000 to 47,000 chip lead, and it seemed like a matter of time for this match to end.

But then in the second hour nothing happened. For over 45 minutes, John didn't make a single preflop raise, and for the entire second hour, not a single pot had more than 20,000 in it. Carlos made quite a few mini-bets that John couldn't or wouldn't call, and this proved to be an excellent strategy for the Spanish American - because he could pick up a lot of pots while holding very little, or even nothing at all. After the second hour, John's lead had shrunk to only 86,000 to 74,000 - which was quite surprising because, as I said, not a single big pot had been played.

In hour 3 John then regained his former big lead when he won a rather large pot. On the flop 993 rainbow, he got check-raised by Carlos from 3,000 to 7,000. He called this raise and he also called Mortensen's 8,000 bet on the turn, and then Mortensen check-folded to John's river bet. Miami's lead increased even more when he suddenly raised a couple of pots in a row and Carlos was unable to call him. John now had his opponent down to 20,000.

But then one of the most crucial pots of the match took place. In an unraised pot, both players had checked on the flop K98 rainbow and the turn 3, and when the river was an offsuit deuce, John checked and Carlos suddenly bet 3,000, once again the minimum bet. Now, this seemed like a highly suspicious bet - after all, what could Carlos have that he was suddenly so proud of? But John folded against what indeed proved to be a total bluff (Carlos showing 75), and from there Carlos started chipping back again. Because John didn't put enough pressure on his opponent, Carlos was able to come back to 45,000-115,000 at the third break, and he had never been all-in during the entire match.

And then came the hand that turned things around. John flatcalled from the SBB, Carlos raised 6,000 more with John calling. Flop: K64 with the six-four of hearts, check / check. Turn: eight of spades. Carlos checked, John bet 16,000 and now Carlos check-raised all-in for 32,000 more, with John calling him instantly. It turned out they had both been slowplaying on the flop: John had the K5 of hearts for top pair + king-high flush draw, but he was up against pocket fours for a small set, and that held up. It was the first time all night that Carlos had been all-in, and suddenly he was up by a 3-to-1 margin. From there, Mortensen was able to keep the pressure on and with only 20,000 left, Miami knew he couldn't afford to wait. On the turn 754K he check-raised Mortensen's 3,000 minimum bet all-in to 18,000 total with an 87 (middle pair + inside straight draw). But Carlos had just made kings up with his K4, and that held up. Carlos Mortensen, back on home ground, had beat the reigning heads up champion, which is a great accomplishment. But both players deserve praise for their great performances, and especially for their excellent conduct at the table, in good as well as in bad times.

Some final words

All in all, after five days of great poker, we've got the following line-up for the Final Four: Dave Ulliott vs. Mark Banin (at 3 p.m.), and Angel Blanco Puras against Carlos Mortensen at 5 p.m. After that, we will also have the final to decide who will be the 2004 Multipoker.com World Head Up Champion. I have to say that I'm very much looking forward to this, and I hope you guys do too. From a warm and sunny Barcelona, I say: goodbye, and see you all tomorrow. Take care, folks - and good luck.