Poker Star
EPT Copenhagen
The transformation is close to complete; the shift from older generation to new; a stark clearout of what used to be allowing the new force to take hold. These are the Internet days of poker. These new cover boys will soon gloss over the black and white heroes of yore, that generation that found itself in the right place at the right time but now, slowly and surely, is allowing kids emerging from bedrooms to pass by.
Like the spread of digital TV the phenomena will gradually reach new areas and force out the old. In Dublin, Annette Obrestad narrowly missed out, finishing second. In the Caribbean, ‘ElkY’ Grospellier won his first EPT whilst in Dortmund, 18-year-old Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald bunked school to become the youngest ever EPT winner.
So what was a 46-year-old building contractor with bills to pay, the IRS on his back and a young kid to look after, doing winning DKK6,220,488 at the EPT Copenhagen–the most cut throat tour stop typically reserved for Scandinavian clout–ahead of local man Soren Jensen and literally hundreds of this new breed?
Well he did just that, beating a field of 460 that featured older names; Negreanu, McEvoy, Black, Boatman, Hollink and Hansen; as well as new names like Obrestad, Eidsvig, Ryan, Mattern, Sahamies, Thorson and Kongsgaard.
It was still a locally flavoured final, more madcap than most expected and also far longer, beating the previous record from Copenhagen season two, when Mads Andersen defeated Edgar Skjervold with twenty minutes of TV tape remaining. But this one broke another unofficial record–that of dullest heads-up.
The contrast with the Internet game was never greater. Instead of fast action nine hands in every ten were checked down from flop to showdown. No aggression, no reads, no plan. Both players kept their eyes tight shut at all times.
Earlier in the week another event had captured the media’s attention, the hushed up announcement of Betfair’s latest signing to join its ranks, revealed as Canadian Sorel Mizzi.
Say his name to any poker player under 21 and their right hand will twitch towards the fold button. Mizzi is another player able to market ‘Poker Fridge Poetry’ where you take words like ‘sick’, ‘aggressive’, ‘mental’ and ‘fearless’ and re-arrange them in whatever order you please.
But Betfair’s shrewd investment typifies its approach to bagging the players casual fans might miss, but those in the game dread to play…
“My personality suits Betfair. It’s a younger site, more ambitious” he said in an interview. “I really felt like we went together really well.”
Mizzi is known as one of the premier readers of the Internet game, a tricky skill in light of what little information is available.
“You can get a lot of reads if you really pay attention. You could be playing eight tables and see in your peripheral vision how a player is reacting to it” said Mizzi, with no idea how different the Copenhagen final would be. “I don’t know if it’s a talent–something I was born with or I developed–but I can almost see the person behind the screen and how they’re clicking–really fast or angrily.”
Yet there remains that issue of credibility. The jump from Internet requires a result fast before anyone takes you seriously, particularly for Mizzi who was once dubbed ‘Internet Boy’ by Phil Hellmuth after a hand with the Canadian (Hellmuth lost the hand).
“I’m definitely focused on as many live tournaments as I can. I’ve played a few but I’m really focused and I think that I’m going to show some good results in the next year.”
How we could have used him at the final table…
Tim Vance was an endearing Midwesterner far from home who played hands from a standing position, talked endlessly, sang the best of the Beatles out loud and struggled to keep thought patterns inside his head–play often pausing for Vance to run through scenarios before making his play. But this did make for solid, unscripted drama.
In perhaps the most memorable hand of the tournament, Vance faced the all-in of Kristian Pedersen at the end of day three. Vance correctly put him on an optimistic ace-king. As he talked himself into calling with his pocket nines the crowds and cameras closed in to capture the moment when Pedersen turned over his ace-king.
The final table was cast…
- Seat 1 Rasmus Hede Nielsen Denmark 789,000
- Seat 2 Timothy Vance USA 1,408,000
- Seat 3 Daniel Ryan USA 557,000
- Seat 4 Patrik Andersson Sweden 283,000
- Seat 5 Simon Dørslund Denmark 267,000
- Seat 6 Nicolas Dervaux France 336,000
- Seat 7 Søren Jensen Denmark 500,000
- Seat 8 Magnus Hansen Denmark 458,000
It took an hour for Sweden’s Patrik Andersen to be eliminated first, K-6 against Daniel Ryan’s A-5, and another two and a half hours for Simon Dørslund to do the same with A-8 to Tim Vance’s A-K. Frenchman Nicolas Dervaux said nothing on his way to a sixth place finish, partly because he couldn’t speak English. But suddenly there were only five chairs left–he must have gone.
Daniel Ryan was a different story altogether. Had he triumphed it would have brought us back nicely to the theory of Internet domination. As one of America’s best Internet pros many saw Ryan as the talent at the final table and were disappointed to see him go in fifth place having made his second top ten cash of the season following Dortmund–A-Q costing him his seat here against A-K of Rasmus Nielsen.
Nielsen’s reprieve was only temporary. After the dinner break he moved with pocket eights on an innocent looking flop with Vance pushing in with A-Q. Nielsen called and was ahead, but Vance’s cry for luck was granted by the poker gods, already etching his name into the record books, providing an ace on the river.
That left just Magnus Hansen to concede, unable to compete in either chips or attention in the shadow of Vance and Jensen. He pushed on a T-4-9 flop with a pair, only for Jensen to call having made two.
Soren Jensen had grown difficult to ignore also for more than the slight lead he held. The Dane’s antics were less wholesome than the American’s and whilst both players at times irritated the hell out of everyone, a Vance win was for the greater good given Jensen’s threat to take a dump in the money case and sell the winner’s trophy on eBay–a sentiment to make even the most lax marketing man feel partisan.
The entire heads-up was a story of abject tactical cowardice in the face of basic heads- up poker. Through tiredness, or over caution, or both, each seemed content to wait for a hand. Vance often raised pre-flop, but checked to the showdown if he missed. The same went for Jensen who made big bets when he had a hand, but would waltz Vance to the end of the hand if not.
Four and a half hours of heads-up rested on just three hands…
The first came two hours after Hansen departed–a pot worth over a million. An ace on the board paired one in the hand of Vance and another in Jensen’s but it was the Dane’s eight that out-kicked Vance’s deuce. It ignited Soren’s mood for a 30 second firework display–yelling, arms flailing, football chanting–like some God of thunder trying to scare people too tired to care anymore.
The second hand came just twenty minutes later and gave the advantage back to Tim. Both players had slow played hands all night, never more so than now. Soren would regret the hand for more than giving the ‘big Mo’ back to Tim, but for lacking the balls to push when the turn made his two pair. Instead he checked, allowing the river to complete Tim’s flush. Now Tim was the one jumping around, up 3.7m to Jensen’s 870k.
Fears of a messy finish for the case full of money were eased at 1.40am on the merciful deciding hand. Both checked the 2-7-8 two club flop–nothing unusual about that. A three of spades on the turn saw Soren make it 150k and Tim call fast. After this epic duel was this to be it? A third spade, a four, hit the river. Soren pushed in.
There were all sorts of straight and flush possibilities but none of that would matter to Vance. He simply stood up, and with that un- holstered knack for the dramatic he’d kept as a side arm all week, said “It’s been nice playing with you sir… I call” turning over the nut flush A-T of spades.
Soren’s cards disappeared into the muck along with all hope for a Danish win. Tim Vance, the slightly scruffy oddball family man from St Louis had won the EPT Copenhagen. For Jensen, the consolation of DKK3,521,429; for Vance, over a million dollars, a seat in the grand final and a trophy destined for his mantelpiece. He promptly disappeared outside for a smoke.
“It’s just timing” Sorel Mizzi had said earlier. “A lot of these guys were just there at the right time. A lot have a passion for the game but have made their money with endorsements and stuff. They’re not thirsty for blood like the young guys are on the Internet.”
Maybe that’s part true, but Tim Vance was a welcome flash back to a generation fading away. One table at a time please–old school poker.
1 comment
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Posted by GamingNut – 27 May 2008, 3:55 AM
You know what? Maybe someday, just MAYBE I can become a poker champion and rake in some dough. The way I see it, we all have a chance at hitting it big. Why not at least try to?