HOWARD LEDERER

There were 99 entrants in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo for a total prize pool of $495,000. One table was paid, a total of 9 players.

Hemish Shah caught a couple bad brakes. If one more player signed up for this event, they would have paid two tables and Shah's 10th place finish would have been deeply in the money. The next bad brake came when no one would go out for an hour and a half of 10-handed play. Shah went all-in with his last few shekels when the board came 8 8 5. Allen Cunningham had pocket 6's which were enough to end the long evening.

Coming back Saturday afternoon, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson had only a slight lead over a tightly packed field of mostly well-known players.

THE FINAL TABLE 23 mins left of 80. The blinds are $1,500/$3,000

Player	Hometown	Chip Count
Seat 1 Mel Judah	London UK	$50,500
Seat 2 Danny Dang	Los Angeles CA	$63,500
Seat 3 Layne Flack	Las Vegas NV	$40,500
Seat 4 Mark Wilds	Gulfport MS	$39,500
Seat 5 Vince Oliver	Las Vegas NV	$34,500
Seat 6 Chris Ferguson	Pacific Palisades CA	$76,000
Seat 7 Howard Lederer	Las Vegas NV	$77,000
Seat 8 Allen Cunningham	Bloomington CA	$59,500
Seat 9 Jack Culp	Phoenix AZ	$54,000

On one of the first hands of the day, Mark Wilds got cold decked out of most of his chips. In the small blind with A's against only the big blind, Wilds had the nut flush draw with his overpair. Vince Oliver picked up A B C D in the big blind, turned two pair and rivered the nut low. Damaged beyond repair all-in, Mark was sent to the Wilds of the rail in 9th by Jack Culp and Jacks full of Aces.

The curse of the one seat continued as even Mel Judah couldn't find a hand there. "I take this over a random hand," Mel said as he went all-in in front of his blind. Mel had a K 5 4 2. The board came Q J 6 10 Q. Layne Flack's two Aces were good enough to put Judah down under in 8th.

No Picasso today, Chris Ferguson couldn't draw flies. From one thousand dollars short of the chip lead to the felt with barely a split to show for it. The next-day syndrome whupped up on Chris, hot one day cold the next. Ferguson was making his third Final Table appearance in WSOP 2000. He won an earlier event, which may take the sting out of his last hand today. Chris flopped two pair with top pair, top kicker, nut low and nut flush with A Q 2 7. Nothing serious. For this he got to put in all his chips and get 7th place in return. When a deuce hit the turn, it killed his low. Then a King came on the river giving Layne Flack a full house.

Near the chip lead early for about a minute and a half, Danny Dang's stack went south from then on. He couldn't hit a flop and ran out of donations. All-in for his last $7k and A K 6 3, Danny couldn't scare Jack Culp, in the big blind, out of the pot with his one extra chip. Danny was robbed as Culp played I Spy when he flopped the nut flush and rivered a low with K 7 3 2. What could the cause be, Danny must have thought, as he was presented the bill for 6th.

Getting a lot of great hands early got Vince Oliver all the way to 5th. Then Vince saw the hands disappear like more porridge in an orphanage. In a cruel twist of fate, Vince wasn't put all-in for his last chip on a big pot and had to wait to see who would buy it. He doubled up to two chips before Allen Cunningham put him out of his misery with the nut straight.

It wasn't Jack's fault he was 4th. He wasn't Culp-able in doing that to himself. Jack went all-in with K K 5 4. The two meanies who chopped up Culp's last few chips were Allen Cunningham with 6's full and Howard Lederer with nut low.

No one plays faster than Layne Flack. Every bet is splashed out of his hands like he's got a taxi waiting. This puts a lot of pressure on some players to speed up with Layne. Flack was running with the wrong two dogs three-handed, though, as you won't find too many more deliberative players than Howard Lederer and Allen Cunningham. They refused to be intimidated by Layne's act. "Do you guys play live action," Flack kept asking Howard and Allen factitiously as they turned over monster hand after monster hand on him. Finally, Layne could speed to the rail in 3rd and Howard Lederer cracked his Aces with a middle wrap straight.

It wasn't the last hand that got Howard 'Bubba' Lederer his first bracelet on his 13th Final Table, it was the hand before the last one. This was The Kid, 24-year-old Allen Cunningham's first Final Table and he took the chip lead briefly at one point. But a failed nut nut draw nearly wiped him out. Then all-in before the flop, a nut low draw and a double belly-buster failed to hit for Cunningham and Howard Lederer finally got his bracelet on the 13th try.

Super Satellite Update

Recent Women's Super Satellite winners to the $1,000 Women's Championship Final are: Susan Abraham (Alameda CA), Colette Doherty (Ireland), Marie Gabert (Incline Village CA), Shellie Gray, Barbara Enright (Hollywood CA) and Vivian Dinh.