Poker Tournament Results

The 6th Jack Binion World Poker Open / WPT Event Season 3

Shane Shields

Tournament Report

JUST DON'T CALL HIM BROOKE The winner today was playing in only his second live tournament ever. Heads up, he was against someone who's won scores of live tournaments. No contest. For pictures of this event, please check out Mark Napolitano's videos on the homepage. A record World Poker Open attendance of 1,449 was handled beautifully by the crack Gold Strike tournament staff. 81 were paid. We got down to nine at a reasonable 2:30 am last night. FINAL TABLE Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count 1 Michael Fess Little Rock AR 95,000 2 Tim Vance Dupo IL 144,000 3 Richard Henderson Alexandria LA 48,000 4 Bob Cochran Menifee CA 163,000 5 Jarmon Peddy Whitehouse TX 52,000 6 Shane Shields Union KY 510,000 7 An Tran Las Vegas NV 93,000 8 Kevin Kelly Arlington TX 98,000 9 Dale Hackney Durand MI 247,000 21:50 remains in the 5,000/10,000 level. 1,000 ante. Immediately, it was obvious to me that this was a group of poker players. No splashing around, few bad calls, patience that yesterday's crew lacked. We were in for a little longer session than event one afforded. Of course, there were one and a half million chips on the table today. We launched out of the chute with a bang. The prohibitive chip leader, Shane Shields ponied up some dough to the young gun at the table. Kevin Kelly is younger than all my ties at 21. But he's old enough to read two aces when they appear in his hand. Kevin went all-in from the small blind. His 40k couldn't scare Shane with over 500k and K 10 offsuit. 'Come back, Shane!' Kevin might have said if he's ever seen a movie made 30 years before he was born. The rockets soared. Like yesterday, we lost our first player on hand number 4. But it was not because of poor decision making. It was a classic bad beat. Jarmon Peddy raised all-in from early position with pocket Queens. His 48k was over half of An Tran's remaining stack, but the tournament veteran Tran called with pocket Jacks. When that big hook hit the flop, Jarmon threw his arms up in despair. In 9th, unlike the rest of us, Jarmon gets to go back to the Whitehouse. I can't make these names up. Michael Fess fessed up to being 8th when he lost most of his chips on a bluff from the button when Mt. Rushmore, Richard Henderson, reraised all-in from the big blind. Michael had to throw away two thirds of his chips. All-in on the next hand with his case 15k, Michael had the best of it preflop. But the caller, Tim Vance didn't have to pay too much to see a flop with his K 10 offsuit. BINGO! The flop came K 10 6. Michael's A 4 off was no good. Although, he seemed to have misread the board and he jumped when an Ace hit the river. But I confess; I could be mistaken. Johnny Cochran said, 'If the glove don't fit, you must acquit.' Bob Cochran might have said, 'Where'd those damn Aces come from?' Cochran had gone all-in a couple of times before with only the blinds and antes in the pot, so the guys behind him were licking their chops. The pot was 46k when Bob weaved 182k all-in with the A K of Clubs. Behind him, Shane Shields woke up with the no-brainers. Pocket Aces. Again, the big boys walked. And Bob Cochran walked to the rail in 7th to the applause of the four short stacks. Meanwhile, the 'Boss' doubled up again. An Tran is called the Boss because that's what he calls everyone since, it's safe to say, he isn't good with names. If you speak to An, you will most likely hear him say 'OK, boss' in response. An Tran was once one of the most feared poker players in the world, but he's been on a prolonged losing streak for the last several years. You may have last seen him knocking out Patty Gallagher on a WSOP telecast which provoked Patty into giving the camera crew and the poker nation the two finger salute. Sixth was as far as Tim Vance could advance. (I didn't use the Cyrus Vance reference, give me a break!) He was diplomatic about his demise, however, saying he couldn't wait any longer. Tim went all-in with the 10 9 of Spades in the vain hope that he could survive. It was hand 47 and Shane Shields was back, from a short dip in chips, to manufacturing monsters. Shane had pocket Queens to happily call Tim's piddling 60k. The Hilton sisters posed for the camera as Tim advanced to the paymaster. We sped up on hand 66 to the evacuation of the nursery. Kevin Kelly looks to me to be the real deal. But he's 21, so who knows. With the $40,307 for fifth, Kevin takes the early lead on the GENERATION 20 young guns leaderboard I'm compiling this year. And he's my YOUNG GUN OF THE WEEK for the first week of the new year. Kevin Kelly. It may be a name to remember. Kevin made a move on the 55k pot all-in for 70k with Q J offsuit. Unfortunately for Kelly, An Tran was slow playing pocket Jacks for a dominating hand. Two hands later the granite crumbled. Richard Henderson probably played better than anyone at this table. Starting last in chips he finished 4th without ever having any ammo. He was so tight, no one would call him. So he could never accumulate a stack. When An Tran made it 50k on the button, Richard called all-in for 49k with A 7 off. Tran had pocket 8's which were golden. Now there were three. Strangely it a table that was controlled from start to finish by Shane Shields, three handed it got fairly close at one point until An Tran started to fade back. Then came the deciding hand of the match. Maybe you can explain this decision to me. Dale Hackney had taken the chip lead with 560k. An Tran is down to about 350k. Shields has 523k. Dale made it 100k to go from the small blind with A 10 offsuit. Shane reraised all-in. I throw the A 10 away in that spot, don't you? Dale would have to be a dog to anything Shane was likely to go all-in with, except a bluff. Anyway, Dale called. Shane turned over pocket 6's which ruled. Dale has a large dairy farm in Michigan. Perhaps it was past his bedtime. Or he thought Shane put him on a steal. Now Dale has 34k left. And to add to the humiliation he flops top set on the next hand with pocket Queens. Of course, An Tran is calling all the way. He has the 8 5 of Spades and catches runner runner Spades for a flush. Well, his cows still love him. Heads up, Shane has about a 3-1 chip lead. They talk. Shane says, 'I have the advantage, you have the experience, let's play it out.' And an odd thing happens, Shane is the aggressor against one of the great tournament players of all time. Shields said afterward, 'I picked up a tell off An. He was just calling to see the flop and then not betting.' So Shane did all the betting and wore the veteran down to the felt. I've watched An Tran for ten years. He doesn't play like that, especially heads up. I think he had completely stinko cards from the outset. It was close only once when Tran caught an 8 on the turn for 8's over Shane's flopped 7's. That got it to 850,000-600,000. Then Shane's tell reasserted itself. The last hand was anti-climatic. An Tran went all-in on a blind steal for 156k with 10 7 off. You can call him to get paid, but don't call him Brooke. You could call him Dalkon. No one was getting to his nest egg. Shane Shields had pocket Kings. Mike Paulle