The World Series of Poker does an amazing job of providing tournaments for every type of player. Whether it be buy-in, age, or gender, no players are shut out from the World Series of Poker. This was demonstrated by the wildly successful $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold ‘Em Championship in Event #42. Last year, 1,882 players showed up for this event, whereas this year a nice improvement of 2,218 players showed up. Here were the stack sizes going into the final table:
Dale Eberle: 1,414,000
Dan Lacourse: 1,364,000
Marc Fluss: 873,000
Jerry Yamachika: 558,000
Charles Wood: 531,000
Fred Berger: 518,000
Ed Clark: 504,000
Martyn Wilson: 454,000
Peter Silverstein: 435,000
And here’s what these nine gentlemen were playing for:
1. $368,832
2. $235,141
3. $156,424
4. $131,194
5. $106,974
6. $84,771
7. $64,588
8. $49,450
9. $34,312
The blinds were starting out at the final table at 12k/24k with a 3k ante, so none of the remaining nine players were in any real trouble, with a lot of play left. While some people may have the misconception that this Seniors final table would be a long, boring grind filled with tight play, they were indeed wrong. These players wasted no time, and the first elimination happened just a few hands in.
Martyn Wilson got his remaining chips in with pocket eights, and after a long think, Fred Berger called him down with AQ. The flop was a disaster for Martyn Wilson, coming down QQK, with two hearts. Hearts would be no good for Martyn despite holding the eight of hearts, as Fred held the ace of hearts. The turn was the jack of hearts, giving Fred the unnecessary royal flush draw, and the river was the seven of spades, shutting the door on Martyn. He exited stage left, taking away $34,312 in 9th, and vaulting Fred towards the top of the leaderboard.
The pace continued, as Yamachika doubled through Wood with JJ vs. TT, and not long after, Wood doubled through Lacourse with KT vs. Lacourse’s 99.
Not long after, another player departed the final table. Ed Clark had whittled down a bit, and got his stack in with A7 vs. Marc’s 99. The board came out Q5QJ9, and Marc’s full house bested Ed, as Ed busted in 8th for $49,450. Soon after this, the blinds climbed up to 20k/40k with a 5k ante.
Peter Silverstein came into the final table as the short stack and grinded for awhile, but unfortunately he got unlucky with A6 vs. Fred Berger’s JT to double Berger up, and soon after he was gone in 7th for $64,588. Berger would once again double a few hands later through Marc Fluss on a T35 flop with AT vs. Fluss’s KQ.
With this, the blinds shot up to 25k/50k with a 5k ante.
And this re-ignited the breakneck pace at the final table, as Charles Wood would bounce out on a bluff in 6th place, pocketing $84,771.
Fred Berger got it in with two black deuces vs. Dan Lacourse’s jacks. Unfortunately for Berger, an already dire situation got worse on the flop as it came down J48. No running twos came, and Berger finished in 5th for $106,974.
Lacourse continued his destruction of the final table, as he made it 200k to go preflop, and was met by an all in by Yamachika for 610k total. Lacourse made the easy call with AQ, holding a nice lead over Yamachika’s KJ. The QTJ flop was an exciting one, but ultimately yielded nothing for Yamachika, and he was eliminated in 4th, for a hefty $131,194.
The players took a short break, and when they returned the blinds were 30k/60k with a 5k ante. And of course, Dan Lacourse continued destroying the final table. The very first hand after the break, Lacourse and Fluss butted heads in an enormous pot. In a blind vs. blind battle, Lacourse bet out 160k on a 653 flop with two clubs. Fluss then moved in over the top for an additional 665k! Lacourse made a gambling call with Q4 offsuit, while Fluss held 6T of spades. The turn was an 8, keeping Fluss in the lead. However, the river was a cruel 2, and he was eliminated in 3rd for $156,424.
And staying par for the course, heads-up was short and brutal. Dale Eberle made a standard raise of three times the big blind, bumping it up to 180k on the button. Lacourse called, and they were off to the flop. The board came out 99K with two spades, and Lacourse checked to Eberle, who bet 200k. Lacourse called. The turn was the two of diamonds, prompting Lacourse to check yet again, and prompting Eberle to bet 500k. This time, Lacourse came over the top, putting Eberle all in. Eberle made the call, flipping up K4 of diamonds for two pair. Unfortunately, he was way behind Lacourse’s 97 offsuit, good for flopped trip nines. The river was a blank eight, and despite coming in the day as chip leader, Dale Eberle fell just short of the goal in second place, leaving with $235,141.
Dan Lacourse was a one man wrecking crew for the second half of the final table, eliminating the last four players en route to an impressive victory, and $368,832. All in all, a great performance from Dan Lacourse.
That’s all from Event #42, be sure to keep posted to FTR Blogs as we continue to cover WSOP 2008.