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Final raise heightens poker stakes
Published: 2005-06-19
 Final raise heightens poker stakes
By Steve Rosenbloom
Chicago Tribune
Poker players call it putting your opponent to the test. It's the art of power poker. It generally involves making the last raise because you need a better hand to call than to raise.
Phil Laak, known as "The Unabomber" for his trademark gray hoodie over dark sunglasses, thrives in that type of play, but even an aggressive player can misread the situation and lose his tournament life.
At the final table of the 2003 World Poker Tour's "Legends of Poker" no-limit hold 'em main event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, Laak had been playing aggressively enough to run legendary T.J. Cloutier off some good hands.
"I could feel T.J. was stewing," said Laak, whose hyperactivity at the table can involve kneeling beside the dealer in an effort to cajole good flops, or thrashing all over the floor upon hitting a miracle card. "He was used to running the show. I was just pounding and pounding. If he raised, I would re-raise."
Laak picked up wired 7s in the small blind and raised it to Cloutier in the big blind. An underpair is about a 53 percent to 47 percent favorite to win the hand against two overcards.
"I knew he was going to be very aggressive," Laak said, "but since I knew that most hands he wants to be aggressive with will have two overcards to the 7s, I want to have two ways to win: One by having the 53 to 47 percentage matchup, and two, by being the last aggressor."
Problem was, Cloutier came over the top with a re-raise about 15 times Laak's bet.
"It was an obscene overbet," said Laak, who is part of a new poker instructional DVD called "Going All In" with Antonio Esfandiari and Gus Hansen. "I thought about it, and it was worth about a quarter of a million, a huge number.
"I went through everything. If he had a sick demon of a hand, he doesn't want to lose me, so I put him on ace-jack, ace-9, king-queen (instead of a big wired pair)."
Now it was Laak being put to the test. If he called, he would be all in. If he lost, he would be out of the tournament. Laak made the call. Cloutier had A-10, a 10 came on the flop, and Laak was gone.
"I should've gone all in and put him to the test," Laak said. "I could've made the sick last bet. He went sick with his big raise.
"The lesson would be to calculate the number of raises that are available with reasonable aggression on both parts, and if you like your hand, then structure it so you get the last raise."
Steve Rosenbloom is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at srosen@bloomtribune.com.
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Josh Arieh win World Series of Poker Event #12
Published: 2005-06-16
 Josh Arieh win World Series of Poker Event #12
by Paul McGuire filed under World Series of Poker
Josh Arieh Event # 12 Winner
Josh Arieh was looking to add a second WSOP bracelet to his collection after a third place finish at last year's main event. He survived a field of 212 players and had to beat out three other bracelet winners at a tough final table in order to accomplish his goal. The Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys event had a prize pool of $1,180,080 with 395 rebuys. First place paid out $381,600.
Here's the final table lineup including chip counts:
Seat 1: Erik Seidel (Las Vegas, NV) $67K... Erik won his 7th bracelet a few nights ago.
Seat 2: Josh Arieh (Atlanta, GA) $229K... Josh won a WSOP bracelet in 1999 for Limit Hold'em.
Seat 3: Max Pescatori (Milan, Italy) $62K... The Italian Pirate has three money finishes so far this year.
Seat 4: Tony Sevnsom (Houston, TX) $171K... His nickname is "Ted."
Seat 5: Ron Graham (Tacoma, WA) $90K... He's also a WSOP bracelet winner.
Seat 6: Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (Pacific Palisades, CA) $109K... The former World Champion has won five bracelets. With the toss of a single card, he can slice bananas and pickles.
Seat 7: Doug Lee (Calgary, Alberta) $160K... Doug won the WSOP circuit at the Rio. He's a real estate investor who is representing Canada.
Seat 8: Arturo Diaz (San Diego, CA) $279K.... Arturo is the chip leader. Born in Mexico, he's known as "Turi" to his friends.
Seat 9: Dave Colclough (Birmingham, England) $50K... Dave was born in Wales and is a computer consultant.
Max Pescatori handed out red, white, and green bandanas to some of his friends who came by to sweat him on the rail. I thought it was cool that he made a final TV table. Max is an excellent tournament player and it was about time he got some recognition and exposure. His final table appearance was an opportunity to show everyone that he can play against excellent competition and bracelet winners like Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, and Josh Arieh.
Max was one of the shortstacks and he doubled up within the first orbit. Josh Arieh raised preflop and Max reraised from the blinds. Doug Lee thought for a while and called. Arieh folded. All clubs fell on a flop of Q-9-4. Max moved all in for the remainder of his chips. Since it was only about $6K more, Doug Lee called. Max flopped a King high flush with Kc-Tc-Kx-4x. Doug Lee was drawing dead with A-K-J-3. Max doubled up and did exactly what he needed to do if he wanted a shot at his first bracelet.
Erik Seidel was the first player knocked out at the final table when he was eliminated by Josh Arieh. Erik won $23,130 today and made two final tables this week. That pot put Josh Arieh into the chip lead. Doug Lee was the next player knocked out. His full house ran into a higher full house. With Ah-10h-9s-4h, Doug Lee moved all in on the turn with a board of: Ad-4d-4c-9d. Jesus held As-9c-9h-6h and had the bigger boat. The river didn't help Doug Lee. He finished in 8th place and won $34,690.
David Colclough was the next player to be sent home. He was knocked out by Josh Arieh, who caught a flush on the turn and beat out Colclough's trip Jacks. David Colclough won $46,225 for 7th place.
Jesus eliminated Arturo Diaz in 6th place. Arturo Diaz was all in by the turn and lost to Jesus' set of 6's. Diaz won $57,820. Josh Arieh retained the chip lead and Max Pescatori became the shortstack with five players remaining.
Josh Arieh added more chips to his stack when he eliminated Max Pescatori in 5th place. Max won $69,385 and cashed in his third event this year. Max moved all in on the flop with Q-Q-9-7. The flop was 9-5-2. Josh Arieh called with A-3-4-6 and caught a straight on the turn when a 6 hit. I still felt that Max can and will win his first WSOP bracelet this year.
Tony Sevnsom was Josh Arieh's next victim. Tony finished in fourth place and won $92,510. Josh Arieh jumped to a huge chip advantage over Jesus and Ron Graham.
Ron Graham moved all in preflop with T-T-8-4 in what would be one of the biggest hands of the tournament. Josh Arieh raised with A-J-T-2 and Jesus called with 5-6-7-8. Arieh had the chance to knock out both players. The flop was 7-7-3 and Jesus hit trips. His hand improved to a full house on the turn. Ron Graham had only one out and didn't catch it. Arieh doubled up Jesus and Ron Graham was eliminated in third place. Ron won $115,640 for his efforts.
It was a heads up battle between Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Josh Arieh. Jesus had $329K in chips and Josh had $879. During a short break while ESPN added the bracelet and cash to the final table, I asked Jesus how far behind in chips he was from Josh. He said, "2.6 to 1." He was almost dead on. The actual math was 2.58 to 1.
The crowd was definitely pro-Jesus. For Arieh, his wife was in the crowd along with Erick Lindgren and a few friends rooting him on. Early on in their heads up match, Jesus won a big hand against Josh. On a flop of A-5-8, Jesus moved all in with a set. Josh called with 3-4-6-9. Jesus showed 8-8-7-2. turn and river didn't help Josh and Jesus took down the big pot. Arieh lost the chip lead and Jesus gained momentum. He was looking good with $785K in chips to Josh Arieh's $420K.
Arieh picked up a few more pots and pulled within even to Jesus before he regained the lead outright. Jesus ended up being eliminated when he moved all in on a flop. Jesus had the better hand preflop with K-T-9-3 to Josh's K-9-3-2. However, Arieh flopped a 2 and Jesus could not improve his hand. Josh won his second career WSOP bracelet and $381,600. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson won $210,460 for second place. Congrats again to Josh for a big win against a final table with several excellent players.
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