Shrike’s Day One at Foxwoods WPT - Why Hasan Habib Owns
Jeff Henry
November 25th, 2005
The $10,000 buy in WPT main event at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in Connecticut started as they all do these days, with the first round divided into two different starting days. I started on day two, which was November 14. We started with 10,000 chips, and blinds at 25 and 50. Amir Vahedi was at my starting table, playing lots of hands, while mixing in equal doses of whining and joking. We were upstairs in the poker room, whereas most tables were downstairs in the Sunset ballroom. Within a couple of hours, we were all moved downstairs as they collapsed a few tables.
They kept our table together from upstairs, but then broke the table shortly thereafter. My new table sported Richard Brodie and Dewey Tomko. Brodie was quite fun, Tomko quiet and seemingly tight.
I wasn’t getting any cards at all, for a couple of levels, so I was steadily declining, and stayed alive by stealing here and there with K-10 or baby pairs. My apparent tightness probably allowed me to take those pots down without resistance. In these long events with large stacks, it’s not always a bad thing to go hand dead, as it keeps you out of trouble and you avoid bad beats that could bust you. All in all, I would have preferred to have some cards early and build a stack to play with, but I managed all the same.
As we got past dinner break and within a few levels of the end of day 1, I was still quite short and getting desperate. My modest goal, being short most of the day, was to survive to day two. It wasn’t looking good, but I was still in.
I watched as one person after another busted at my table. Most were victims of Hassan Habib, as he joined the party, and they were all pretty much ugly. The first victim was Tomko. He raised with K-9 suited, the flop was 9 high, and he pushed. Tomko had a decent stack, he was above average, but Habib was huge and prepared to gamble. Habib called with 6-6 and rivered a 6.
The next one was a short stack. The guy had a little over four times the big blind, which was Habib. He pushed with 5-5. Habib muttered about hating to call with the hand, but said he was getting 2 to 1 and called with 62 off-suit. He spiked a river 6, and said “Oh man, that’s just brutal,” then laughed and collected his chips. He then had almost 100,000 chips, and started raising nearly every pot.
Being short, I decided he was making loose calls, and he was my path to getting back in the thing. I looked down and saw 55, and he raised in front of me. I pushed, and my fives held against his QJ off-suit. A few hands later he raised again, and I woke up with pocket queens, and pushed. He was nowhere near committed, but called with pocket eights. My hand held and I was above average.
It scarcely put a dent in Habib’s stack, but helped me survive the day. It certainly didn’t slow him down any, as he kept right on raising more than half the hands. His next victim was Tony Cousineau. Tony had been as hand dead as I was, but I knew he had a monster when Habib on the button, raised his big blind. Cousineau pushed and said, “I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar this time.” Habib cursed his bad luck and then said he had to call because he was getting two-to-one pot odds. Habib’s K3 off-suit was too much for Cousineau’s pocket aces. Habib hit the last two threes in the deck (I folded one myself).
OK. Before you start to think Habib is just a lucky fool, hang on a minute. Yes, he was getting lucky, but some players would have folded the hands he called with just from the sheer ugliness of them. It was beginning to remind me of Tuan Le sucking out repeatedly on Temp Hutter in last year’s main event.
But then he showed me what I already knew, that he was much more than a luck box. The player under the gun raised, someone called that raise, and Habib re-raised big time. The under the gun guy re-raised all-in, and the caller also went all-in. Habib mucked pocket kings and stated he was sure the caller, not the under the gun guy, had pocket aces. He was right. It wasn’t the most brilliant fold I’d ever seen, but it was damn good. The two guys in the pot had been fairly aggressive, so aces weren’t a certainty to me, and Habib had a monster stack and could have afforded the call easily with plenty to spare. But he knew what he was up against, and mucked the kings.
That’s one of the reasons why he has had so much success, I guess.
Anyways, back to me. I made it through the night, thanks to Habib. On day two I had long stretches of no cards, but I was playing well. I made some correct lay downs, which was nice, but I needed some pots. I managed to steal enough to survive. I even played ace rag, which I hate. Long story short I made it into the money. They paid 120 spots, and I finished easily in the money, at 86th. I took home $11,000, a smile on my face from the charm of Richard Brodie, and a healthy dose of respect for guys like Hassan Habib.
