JIMMY ATHANAS

There were 235 entrants in the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool of $470,000. 3 tables were paid, a total of 27 players.

An Tran found out you can go home again. And that's what he did. Tran went home in 10th when his pocket fours, all-in, ran into pocket Aces held by Thomas Wolf. We all got to go home, as we were through for Tuesday night.

Coming back on Wednesday afternoon, our first Final Table repeater of WSOP 2000, Jimmy Athanas was chip leader. Jimmy made it here in Event #2.

THE FINAL TABLE 27 mins left of 80. The blinds are $1,000/$2,000

Player	Hometown	Chip Count
Seat 1 Leonard Leth	Las Vegas NV	$35,600
Seat 2 Jason Lester	Los Angeles CA	$67,000
Seat 3 Jimmy Athanas	St Louis MO	$94,000
Seat 4 Phil Hellmuth, Jr	Palo Alto CA	$16,000
Seat 5 Wayne Chang	Baldwin Park CA	$60,500
Seat 6 Dave Colclough	Smethwick UK	$54,000
Seat 7 Cowboy Wolford	Las Vegas NV	$42,000
Seat 8 Peter Nathan	Jupiter FL	$14,000
Seat 9 Thomas Wolf	Shien Norway	$86,500

There were two severely short stacks as we started. One belonged to Peter Nathan and the other belonged to Phil Hellmuth. One of these two was most likely to be first one out. By sheer force of will it wasn't going to be Phil Hellmuth, so that left Peter Nathan as the hot dog in 9th. In resignation, Peter tossed his last few chips in a three-way pot from the big blind. Nathan had 8 7. Thomas Wolf was sending more people home again with pocket Aces.

This game is easy, or so must Leonard Leth be thinking. Leth has already won three seats to the Big Dance which means he's $20,000 up before we start to mash potato. Now here he is at a Final Table in a WSOP event! Why didn't I start playing this game years ago? It's found money, Leonard must be thinking. Suddenly reality strikes! Leth looked stunned when his pocket Kings in the big blind got cracked by Cowboy Wolford's A Q all-in. This can't be happening to me, Leonard must have thought. All-in himself with an A 3 of Diamonds, Leth found out you can lose with pocket Kings or lose to pocket Kings held by Jason Lester.

Frustration got the best of Wayne Chang. He couldn't win a hand so he tried to steal the blinds from middle position with K 9. Jason Lester thought stealing was immoral and called with A 9 in the big blind. Ka-Chang! You're 7th.

Andy Glazer, Phil Hellmuth's biographer, rated Phil's exit in 6th place a 3.5 on the Richter scale. It wasn't a huge scene but it was big enough to ripple the table. Phil had fought his way up into decent chip position, but he couldn't get a hand past David Colclough. Several times Hellmuth would raise only to have Colclough reraise. It seemed personal. David had a lot of chips and was pushing the six-time bracelet winner around with them. This is not something Phil Hellmuth is going to take without some vocal pyrotechnics. At last Hellmuth thought he had a hand to punish Colclough with. Phil flopped two pair, 2's and 4's. "I hope you have 10's," Hellmuth told Colclough. David had 9's which was an overpair to the board. When a 9 hit the river, Phil Hellmuth went all-in for his last $40k, which was just fine with David Colclough. Fireworks!

Before Phil Hellmuth left he made sure Jason Lester was coming with him in 5th. Lester raised with pocket 10's on the button. Hellmuth went all-in with A 7. "You got me, I thought you were stealing," Phil said as he put his hand down on the table. No worries, an Ace hit the turn and Jason Lester was down near the felt. Lester went all-in with the Q 9 of Hearts against Thomas Wolf's J 10 of Clubs. It was a bad day for Lester's best hands as a Jack flipped right off the top of the deck.

Even Wolf's can go home again. After playing brilliantly for two days, the cards started to go dead for Thomas Wolf. When a Jack flopped, Wolf thought he might have the best hand. He called Jimmy Athanas' bet all-in with his last $36k. Thomas had J 10, Jimmy had A J kicking Wolf out into the cold in 4th.

David Cloclough had most of the chips and took most of the money in a deal that satisfied everyone. A little later Cowboy Wolford said, "I can't win anymore money, I'm getting tired." Wolford reraised Jimmy Athanas all-in for his case $35k and a Q 9. Athanas didn't need the King that flopped, his A K of Clubs was good.

After the blinds were raised to $10/$20k and the levels were shortened to 20 minutes, Jimmy Athanas won his first gold bracelet when an 8 flopped. Jimmy had 8 7. Dave Colclough had bubkis with the K 5 of Diamonds. The Final Table was lovelier the second time around.

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