Standings at the end of Day 3
6 remaining
| 1. | Stu Ungar - Las Vegas | $1,066,000 |
| 2. | Ron "Carolina Express" Stanley - Las Vegas | 694,000 |
| 3. | Bob Walker - Las Vegas | 612,000 |
| 4. | Mel Judah - London, England | 301,000 |
| 5. | John Strzemp - Las Vegas | 245,000 |
| 6. | Peter Bao - Las Vegas | 204,000 |
I don't know why this adds up to $3,122,000 rather than $3,120,000. I may
have copied a wrong figure, or there may have been $2,000 extra $'s put
intp play during chip race-offs.
1997 Prize Money Breakdown
| $1,000,000 | 1st Place |
| 583,000 | 2nd Place |
| 371,000 | 3rd Place |
| 212,000 | 4th Place |
| 161,120 | 5th Place |
| 127,200 | 6th Place |
| 95,400 | 7th Place |
| 63,600 | 8th Place |
| 48,760 | 9th Place |
| 33,920 | 10th - 12th Place |
| 29,680 | 13th - 15th Place |
| 25,440 | 16th - 18th Place |
| 21,200 | 19th - 27th Place |
|
Las Vegas, May 14, 1997.
Today's competition was moved out of the normal Final Table area, so as
to accomodate three tables and larger bleachers. I left my recorder home
today, so that I wouldn't be tempted to do any card-by-card data, and I
didn't use my Press access privileges at all, until after tomorrow's
Final Table had been decided. I only used them then so that I could get
the Final Table chip positions and get home as soon as possible.
I did write down some information on every hand that resulted in an
elimination during today's play. My data is less than complete, because
in most instances it was impossible to get the preliminary betting
information, and sometimes I couldn't (or didn't) even get pot size
information.
My main man, Steve Brecher, viewed most of today's play with me, and I'm
going to relate a Steve Brecher story, before I get into today's
elimination hands. Let me first say to those of you who don't know Steve,
that in addition to being a fine Poker player, he is a very nice, quiet,
reserved person, and anyone would do well to listen and heed anything
that emanates from Steve. Steve not only gives the straight scoop on
things, he also knows and uses the English language correctly, and he and
I have gleefully pounced on each others shortcomings in this area. I
hasten to add that Steve does most of the pouncing, because although I
usually know better, I don't worry too much about some of the niceities,
unless Steve has made a boo boo.
While sitting on the top row of the bleachers today, we became somewhat
annoyed at some of the photographers who were blocking our view at times.
I suggested to Steve that a public hanging of all offending Press people
might be the answer (although I didn't feel that way yesterday, when I
was an offender at times), but Steve took a more reasonable and effective
proactive approach. He addressed a photographer who was not taking
pictures, but was blocking our view, with a firm and authoritative
"Either take pictures or move, Please!". The photographer turned around,
faced the bleachers and said daringly "Who said that?". I'm sure that
this photographer had successfully bluffed anonymous bleacherites into
submission and acceptance with this response on many previous occasions,
but it didn't work today. Steve promptly responded just as firmly and
authoritatively as before with "It was me." The Photographer moved, and
stayed moved.
I was impressed with Steve's handling of this situation, and asked if he
minded my recounting the story to my captive WSOP audience, to provide a
little color on today's play. Steve said that he had no problem with my
doing so.
Now here is the additional Steve Brecher twist that is so like him. About
a half hour later he asks to see what I had written down, to report to the
WSOP readers. I asked why he wanted to see it. He said that it might be
embarassing. I quickly assured him that I wouldn't use the story if it
would be embarrasing to him, as I dug out my notes and showed him what I
had written down. He looked at my notes and said "That's wrong". I said,
"I thought that was what you said". Steve said "It is what I said, but
it's wrong. It should have been 'It was I'".
Antes are $500 with $1,500/3,000 blinds.
#27. George McKeever
Play started at 1305, and on the first hand George was all-in with pocket
4's against Tormok Roren's pocket A's before the flop. The board didn't
help either, and George was gone.
I delivered some Email well wishes to George from two of his son's in
Ireland, along with my best wishes right before Day 3 began. No help.
#26 Rupert Housden
All the money went in pre flop, and Tormok's A K flopped an A against
Rupert's all-in pocket 4's and the A held up. This was the third hand of
the day at Tormok's table, and the intervening hand also saw an all-in
situation where Michael Schichtman survived.
#25 Matti Kvorti
Eskimo's pocket nines improved on the river and bested Matti's all-in
pocket 7's. Board was 6 8 K A 9. All the money went in pre flop.
#24 Parviz Roudi
Parviz was all-in with A 8 against Chris Bjorin's K K and John Strzemp's
J J. Board was J 5 7 2 9, and all the money went in pre flop.
Antes are $1,000 with $2,000/4,000 blinds.
#23 Dewey Weum
Dewey's all-in A J loses to Kev Nettles' A K with a 5 6 9 2 7 board. Pot
was about 80K, and all the money went in pre flop.
#22 Billy Baxter
Kev Nettles' 2 2 beats Billy's 5c 6c. Board was A 6 2 4 Q with an 80K
pot that all went in pre flop.
#21 Phil Helmuth
Phil raised about $8,000 pre flop with his 8 8, and Tormop raised all-in
with 99. Phil, perhaps a little upset from losing the previous hand,
called all-in. The J x x A x board didn't help either in the $200,000
plus pot.
#20 Mori Eskand
All money went in pre flop, and a T 8 2 8 7 board favored Rod Peate's A A
over Mori's A K.
#19 Eskimo Clark
Ron's Ks 9s makes a spade flush to emiminate Eskimo's As J. Board was
2s 2 8s 3s 8h.
#18 Ken Flaton
Strzemp's J J beat Ken's T T in a $140,000 pot. Board was 2 Q 4 7 8 and
all of the money went in pre flop.
Two successive hands on different tables occurred where an all-inner held
pocket A's and survived against pocket K's.
#17 Michael Schichtman
In a 200K pot, Bob Walker's A K wins over Michael's A Q. Board was 9 8 2
9 7 and all the money went in pre flop.
#16 Doyle Brunson
Pao makes it 20K to go, and Doyle's Kd Jd raises about 80k all-in on the
button. Ron Stanley either raises or calls with A A, Pao folds and a 3 5
8 T x board sends Doyle home.
#15 Rod Peat
K 4 3 8 x board combined with Tormop's A K eliminates Peat's As Js. All
of the money went in pre flop.
Antes are $1,000 with $3,000/6,000 blinds
#14 Andrew Black
Black's pocket 7's are over matched against Bjorin's flopped set of A's. The
board showed A 5 4 8 3, and all the money went in pre flop.
#13 Jay Heimowitz
Neither improved as Ron Stanley's A A beat Jay's A Q in an 80K pot. All
the money went in pre flop.
Jack Binion wandered through the Poker room and quipped to one of the
players "You're only as good as your last time at bat".
#12 Marsha Waggoner
The last lady exits when Bob Walker's A Q makes a straight against
Marsha's A K in a 100K pot. The board was K 3 T J A and all the money
went in pre flop.
#11 George Gerds
Most of the money in this 400K pot went in on the flop. Stu Ungar's J 8
made two pair against George's K J on a J 8 6 3 2 board.
Ante is $2,000 with $5,000/10,000 blinds
Jack McClelland quipped that one former world champion and eight wannabes
were remaining in the 1997 $10,000 Main Event.
#10 Kev Nettles
Mel Judah's Ah Th makes the nut straight on the turn in a 250K pot, and
Kev exits with his Ks Qs. All of the money went in pre flop.
Chip count: Ungar 1,002K - Stanley 600K - Pao 298K - Judah 294K - Roren
283K - Stremp 232K - Walker 157K - Bjorin 369 - Roepke 117K
#9 Chris Bjorin
Bjorin's J J lost to Ron Stanley's Ac Qc after an A 8 3 8 2 board. Ron
made it 40K to go pre flop, Chris raised about 130K all-in, Ron called
and the board came A 9 8 6 3.
#8. David Roepke
All the money went in after the 7 6 2 flop and Stu's K Q beats David's
Ks Js when the turn and river showed another 7 and an A.
#7 Tormop Roren
Ron Stanley's A A beats Roren's K Q with a board of 5 K 9 4 T. Most of
the money went in pre flop.
Tomorrow's Final Table participants recorded their chip count on a chip
count sheet which was then verified by Jack McClelland. When I checked
Ron Stanley's sheet, I wished him well and advised him that his
computation of $690,400 was unlikely, since the lowest chip denomination
was $1,000. Ron laughed and said he had never written down that much
money before, and changed it to $694,000. I had a similar conversation
with Mel Judah who had recorded $300,001 instead of $301,000. Doing a
chip count probably wasn't the uppermost thought on their minds at that
time.
The Final Tableists were hanging around to give ESPN some info before
dining and then they were going to do ESPN interviews afterwards.
There's an awful lot of pressure and strain on the Players after three
long days of WSOP competition.
Stu Ungar seems to be back in his groove and is playing exceptionally
well. Jack McClelland quipped that Stu was a shoo in for Comeback Player
of the year.
Second hand, but reliable info: One of the player's last night said that
Stu Ungar and Phil Helmuth were operating in a different (higher) level
of play than everyone else during some of Day 2's play.
Another second hand, but reliable story: Jack Binion was heard saying
that they are looking for an employee who had been manning the tournament
chip buy-in kiosk. The employee is missing, along with about $200,000
that he/she somehow took with them. I don't know whether this has been in
the media or not, because I haven't read a newspaper or watched TV since
the WSOP began.
www.wsop.com believes that things are running much better, and reported
that they were getting many hits at their site. Their Email address is
JWidman@wizard.com for any complaints, questions, feedback etc.. The
site is expected to stay up, with access to all the TV feeds (past
present and future), for the foreseeable future.
Day 3's competition ended at 1931 hours. The Final Table is scheduled to
start at 1000 hours PST tomorrow morning on Fremont street at the
street intersection on the west side of Binion's.
1997 WSOP Final Table Statistics
| # | Event | # of Hands | Total Time | Over at |
|---|
| 1. | $ 2,000 Limit Holdem | 108 | 2:36 | 6:46 PM |
| 2. | 1,500 Limit Razz | 202 | 4:02 | 8:07 PM |
| 3. | 1,500 Limit Omaha | 129 | 3:59 | 7:07 PM |
| 4. | 1,500 Limit 7 Stud | ? | 3:58 | 8:09 PM |
| 5. | 1,500 Pot Limit Omaha | 109 | 3:41 | 7:49 PM |
| 6. | 1,500 Limit 7 Stud Hi-Lo | 172 | 3:08 | 7:15 PM |
| 7. | 2,000 No Limit Holdem | 87 | 3:22 | 7:25 PM |
| 8. | 2,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo | 114 | 3:28 | 7:36 PM |
| 9. | 2,000 Pot Limit Holdem | 131 | 3:11 | 7:21 PM |
| 10. | 2,500 Limit 7 Stud | 156 | 3:12 | 7:28 PM |
| 11. | 2,500 Pot Limit Omaha | 113 | 3:45 | 7:51 PM |
| 12. | 2,500 Limit 7 Stud Hi-Lo | 153 | 4:12 | 8:18 PM |
| 13. | 3,000 Limit Holdem | 164 | 4:26 | 8:29 PM |
| 14. | 3,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo | 169 | 4:26 | 8:30 PM |
| 15. | 3,000 Pot Limit Holdem | 97 | 2:23 | 6:31 PM |
| 16. | 5,000 No Limit Deuce/Seven | ? | 2:41 | 1:11 AM |
| 17. | 3,000 No Limit Holdem | 129 | 3:38 | 7:44 PM |
| 18. | 5,000 Limit 7 Stud | 166 | 3:48 | 7:55 PM |
| 19. | 5,000 Limit Holdem |
| 20. | 1,000 Ladies 7 Stud |
| 21. | 10,000 Final Event |
$10,000 CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRANTS
| 1. | Nevada Stupak | 2. | Chris "Jesus" Ferguson |
| 3. | Chuck Thompson | 4. | Ken Flaton |
| 5. | Ken Buntjner | 6. | Mo Fathpour |
| 7. | Amadeo Parado | 8. | Laurence Clenau |
| 9. | Jay Reisler | 10. | Joseph Winston |
| 11. | Keith Taylor | 12. | Andre Boyer |
| 13. | Kev Nettles | 14. | Tormod Roren |
| 15. | Kenneth Davis | 16. | Don Pittman |
| 17. | Marko Trapini | 18. | Steve Kim |
| 19. | Sam Merchant | 20. | Andrew Black |
| 21. | Anthony Guerriero | 22. | George Gerus, Sr. |
| 23. | MacDonald Kempf | 24. | Ron "Carolina Express" Stanley |
| 25. | "Midnight" Pete Haugan | 26. | Jack Fox |
| 27. | John Hendrix | 28. | Dave Crunkleton |
| 29. | Jim Brown | 30. | Mike Pilkington |
| 31. | Martin Comer | 32. | Samir Khoveis |
| 33. | Gary Benson | 34. | David Roepke |
| 35. | Don Holt | 36. | J. C. Pearson |
| 37. | Tommi Han | 38. | Phuc Bao |
| 39. | James Harman | 40. | Ken Jacobs |
| 41. | Pete Dixon | 42. | Bruce Van Horn |
| 43. | Bill Fain | 44. | Myron Rosenbaum |
| 45. | Robert Henry Kojfer | 46. | David Rubin |
| 47. | Jim Mascher | 48. | Al McCoy |
| 49. | Mallie Hoyer | 50. | Angus Hill |
| 51. | Herb Potter | 52. | Allen Barker |
| 53. | Dr. Max Stern | 54. | Robert Dale Ellis |
| 55. | Peter Lameureaux | 56. | Milt Myers |
| 57. | Ken Sahek | 58. | Cal Dykes |
| 59. | Alex Horowitz | 60. | Thomas Sparks |
| 61. | Monte Kouz | 62. | Phil Helmuth |
| 63. | Jack Keller | 64. | Patrick Bruel |
| 65. | Louis Asmo | 66. | Dan Fairly |
| 67. | Jerre Juhl | 68. | John Strzemp |
| 69. | Tibor Tolni | 70. | Gustavo Weiss |
| 71. | Melissa Hayden | 72. | Paul Ladanyi |
| 73. | John Spadavecchia | 74. | Ivin Mladen |
| 75. | Tom McEvoy | 76. | Peter Brehm |
| 77. | Minh Ly | 78. | Bill Gazes |
| 79. | Praviz Roudi | 80. | Humberto Brenes |
| 81. | Pascal Perrault | 82. | Joel Chaseman |
| 83. | Marsha Waggoner | 84. | Randy Holland |
| 85. | Maria Stern | 86. | Tom Jacobs |
| 87. | David Ulliot | 88. | Noel Furlong |
| 89. | Brad Daugherty | 90. | Phil Brodrick |
| 91. | Thomas Chung | 92. | Vic Kramer |
| 93. | John Feranjesh | 94. | Billy "Crocodile" Argyros |
| 95. | Alan Brodsky | 96. | Jas Perdesi |
| 97. | Fred David | 98. | Edward Stevens |
| 99. | Charles Wight III | 100. | Michael Davis |
| 101. | Marcus Soloweiczyk | 102. | Jim Ward |
| 103. | Matt Lefkowitz | 104. | Buddy Bonnecaze |
| 105. | Mike Laing | 106. | Robert Eccleston |
| 107. | Bruce Korman | 108. | Mickey Appleman |
| 109. | Berry Johnston | 110. | Bobby Hof |
| 111. | John Galbraith | 112. | John Esposito |
| 113. | Thomas Franjesh | 114. | Jason Gray |
| 115. | Shulman Berry | 116. | Russ Hamilton |
| 117. | D. J. Keas | 118. | Doyle Brunson |
| 119. | Bob Veltri | 120. | Gustavo Echeverri |
| 121. | Lyle Berman | 122. | T. J. Cloutier |
| 123. | Scotty Nguyen | 124. | Adeeb Harb |
| 125. | Jay Heimowitz | 126. | Sam Chehab |
| 127. | Barbara Laux | 128. | Eli Balas |
| 129. | Jamie Ligator | 130. | Dean Potashner |
| 131. | Mick Cowley | 132. | Noli Francisco |
| 133. | Claud Sigmon | 134. | Jose Rosenkrantz |
| 135. | A. Fritz | 136. | Gerry O'Rourke |
| 137. | Ralph Levine | 138. | Bill Alexander |
| 139. | John Montelepre Sr | 140. | Hertzel Zalewski |
| 141. | Freddie Deeb | 142. | Billy Baxter |
| 143. | John Heaney | 144. | Hank Karwowski |
| 145. | Dave Spanier | 146. | Luis Santoni |
| 147. | Clarence Kimbrough | 148. | Gary Haubelt |
| 149. | William Woodson | 150. | Tony Bloom |
| 151. | Phyllis Meyers | 152. | Jack L. Ward |
| 153. | Bob Feduniak | 154. | Marty Wilson |
| 155. | Julien Studley | 156. | Howard Goldfarb |
| 157. | Men Nguyen | 158. | Peter Vilandos |
| 159. | Donny Kerr | 160. | Annie Duke |
| 161. | John Bonetti | 162. | Tod Brunson |
| 163. | Steve Lott | 164. | Roger Moore |
| 165. | Steve Pestal | 166. | George Rodis |
| 167. | Aidan Bennett | 168. | Cindy Violette |
| 169. | Athena Jordan | 170. | Surinder Sunar |
| 171. | Mickey Finn | 172. | An Tran |
| 173. | Mathias Ronacher | 174. | Steve Brecher |
| 175. | Tex Morgan | 176. | Len Miller |
| 177. | Yosh Nakano | 178. | Mark Weitzman |
| 179. | David Grey | 180. | Perry Green |
| 181. | Jason Lester | 182. | Catherine Brown |
| 183. | Tom McCormick | 184. | Gary Martin |
| 185. | Dewey Tomko | 186. | Chau Giang |
| 187. | Ron McMillan | 188. | David Chiu |
| 189. | Danny Dang | 190. | Gloria Tschetschot |
| 191. | Mark McCluskey | 192. | Richard Baldwin |
| 193. | Tony Lantz | 194. | Chris Bjorin |
| 195. | Bob Walker | 196. | Jacques Sollam |
| 197. | Farim Bazzi | 198. | Dolph Arnold |
| 199. | Ron Huber | 200. | Dan Harrington |
| 201. | "Miami John" Cernuto | 202. | Kevin Song |
| 203. | Eli Elezra | 204. | Thomas Kreilein |
| 205. | Sam Korman | 206. | Erik Seidel |
| 207. | Kevin Hunt | 208. | Tony Chaskelsod |
| 209. | Don Zewn | 210. | Liam Flood |
| 211. | Peter Delanos | 212. | Jaeggi Alphons |
| 213. | Hamid Dastmalchi | 214. | W. A. Boston Jr |
| 215. | Dave Allen | 216. | Carl McKelvey |
| 217. | Herman R. Smith | 218. | Fred Brown |
| 219. | Billy Thomas | 220. | David Mosley |
| 221. | Hilbert Shirey | 222. | Howard Lederer |
| 223. | Don Williams | 224. | Al. Crux |
| 225. | Don Barton | 226. | Monsour Matloubi |
| 227. | Paul Maxfield | 228. | Brent Carter |
| 229. | Huck Seed | 230. | Jim Bechtel |
| 231. | Steve Zolotow | 232. | Alex Brennes |
| 233. | Richard Chase | 234. | Charles Cushieri |
| 235. | O'Neil Longson | 236. | Stanley Goldstein |
| 237. | Dan O'Dea | 238. | Johnny Chan |
| 239. | Paul Rowe | 240. | Glen Marsonette |
| 241. | Andy Pantuso | 242. | Brian Meyers |
| 243. | Richard Klamian | 244. | Shelby Panoff |
| 245. | Roy Flowerday | 246. | Lance Straughn |
| 247. | Chip Reese | 248. | Howard Stevens |
| 249. | Dr. Phil Earle | 250. | Poggi Cesare |
| 251. | Michael McDonough | 252. | John Aglialoro |
| 253. | Tong N. Pak | 254. | Bobby Baldwin |
| 255. | Hal Kant | 256. | Rod Peate |
| 257. | Mel Judah | 258. | Ali Sarkeshik |
| 259. | Mark Edwards | 260. | Vince Van Patton |
| 261. | Dick Carson | 262. | Roy Thung |
| 263. | Pothiptinnakon | 264. | Jimmy Jimmy Cha |
| 265. | Andrew Bloch | 266. | Barry Greenstein |
| 267. | Dan Heimiller | 268. | Matti Kuortti |
| 269. | Tommy Grimes | 270. | Mel Weiner |
| 271. | Vince Burgio | 272. | Mike Sexton |
| 273. | George McKeever | 274. | Jim Tarr |
| 275. | Don Limor | 276. | "Eskimo" Clark |
| 277. | Dewey Weum | 278. | Larry Sigety |
| 279. | Cesar Como | 280. | Buddy Williams |
| 281. | Kathy Liebert | 282. | Michael Schichtman |
| 283. | Steve Melton | 284. | Keith Sexton |
| 285. | Pat Fleming | 286. | Lee Salem |
| 287. | "Doc" Berry | 288. | Crews Johnston |
| 289. | Glenn Cozen | 290. | Mori Eskand |
| 291. | Henry Orenstein | 292. | Mark Rose |
| 293. | Jeff Lisandro | 294. | Robert Housden |
| 295. | Larry Beilfuss | 296. | Ted Forrest |
| 297. | Frank Henderson | 298. | Walter Threadgill |
| 299. | Tommy Vinus | 300. | Gabe Kaplan |
| 301. | Harry Thomas | 302. | John Horn |
| 303. | Will Wilkenson | 304. | Bob Stupak |
| 305. | Hieu Ma | 306. | Robert Turner |
| 307. | Alan Boston | 308. | Stu Ungar |
| 309. | Mike Alsadi | 310. | Vasilis Lazarou |
| 311. | Victor Schperotti | 312. | Diasimi Maurizio |
| |
