World Series Of Poker Circuit Championship (Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Stateline, NV) - May 11th, 2005

Jon Eaton

May 14th, 2005

The lightest field to date for the WSOP Circuit, Lake Tahoe is the next to last stop on the tour before the main stop in Vegas in June. A total of 173 players put up $10,000 for a shot at the $542,500 first prize. After three days of battling, the final nine emerged for the ESPN final table. The seating was as follows (chip counts in parenthesis):

Seat 1 - Jeff Lisandro (402,800)
Seat 2 - David Pham (195,800)
Seat 3 - Phil Ivey (296,600)
Seat 4 - Tommy Reed (63,700)
Seat 5 - Joe Awada (73,300)
Seat 6 - Jonathan Schecter (347,200)
Seat 7 - Salim Bathson (148,600)
Seat 8 - James Van Alstyne (113,400)
Seat 9 - George Saca (89,000)

With most of the chips sitting in front of the aggressors at the dealer’s left, everyone else would be scrambling to try and build their stacks. The blinds started at 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante, meaning that players like Awada and Reed would have to double up a few times to have a shot at the title.

Ivey picked up three of the first four pots, as he came out swinging early. Soon after the blinds were increased to 2,000-4,000 with a 500 ante, putting an immense amount of pressure on the shortest stacks.

Few flops were seen early. It was raise-and-fold poker for the most part. Tommy Reed was the first short stack to test the waters for all their chips. Van Alstyne had opened up for 12,000 and Reed flat-called, with less than 50,000 left. The flop was 6h-3d-5d. Reed fired out a weak 6,500 bet, which was immediately raised by Van Alstyne. Reed then pushed the rest of his chips in the middle and Van Alstyne showed 6s-3s for two pair. The turn was a five, counterfeiting Van Alstyne’s two pair and giving Reed the pot with aces up.

Van Alstyne would come back to life, however, just a few hands later. Pham reraised his opening bet, and Van Alstyne pushed the remaining chips in and Pham made the call with Ad-Kd. Pham missed the board, and Van Alstyne’s pocket jacks held up, winning him the pot and doubling up in the process.

Lisandro would stay out of the way most of the opening rounds. However, on hand 16, Lisandro was involved in a key pot and turned the chip lead over to Ivey. Lisandro raised to 15,000, which Ivey called. The flop was a trio of fours-4-4-4. Lisandro’s 40,000 was called by Ivey, and then Lisandro lead out for 100,000 when the five fell on the turn. Ivey then proceeded to go all-in, which forced Lisandro out of the pot. Ivey held over 400,000 after this pivotal pot.

Lisandro’s bad luck continued in the next pot, as he opened for 15,000 again. Reed made it 40,000, and Lisandro pushed him all-in, having Reed covered. Reed made the call with kings, but was in dire straits, as Lisandro tabled aces. The 7c-7h-6s flop didn’t help either, but the king on the turn sure helped Reed. No ace on the river, and Lisandro lost yet another key pot.

As if that wasn’t enough, two hands later Awada pushed all-in for 55,000 with pocket jacks, and Lisandro made the call with pocket tens. Again, no help, and Lisandro goes from chip leader to short stack very quickly.

After almost two hours of back and forth poker, no one seemed to want to exit. Finally, we had our first victim on hand 50. Van Alstyne opened for 12,000, and Awada pushed 27,500 all-in. Reed’s pocket jacks beat Awada’s As-Qh when all the cards were out, and Awada took $32,870 for ninth place.

Eight-handed, the chip counts had shifted quite a bit. They were as follows:

Phil Ivey - 650,000
Jonathan Shecter - 319,500
Salim Batshon - 226,500
Tommy Reed - 171,500
Jeff Lisandro - 130,000
David Pham - 110,000
George Saca - 39,500
James Van Alstyne - 30,500

The blinds increased to 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante shortly after. Ivey would use his massive chip advantage over the table, raising a lot of pots. Finally he ran into someone willing to gamble for their tournament life.

Saca pushed all-in for 26,000 and received callers in Pham and Ivey. Pham checked the Th-4c-3d flop, and Ivey fired out a small bet. Pham folded and Ivey showed top pair, which had Saca drawing to two outs with pocket eights. No help came for Saca, who took $49,305 for eighth place.

Pham’s continued aggression didn’t win him many pots. He reraised Van Alstyne on hand 71, but Van Alstyne held pocket aces, which were a huge favorite over Pham’s sixes. The aces held, and Van Alstyne doubled up.

From there, the table slowed down significantly. No all-in bets were called and no one was playing many flops. The blinds then went up to 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante. Pham would finally win a pot, as he got all of his chips in with As-Ks, and Ivey’s pocket eights went down on the ace high flop. Pham was still relatively short, with just 130,000 chips.

However, Pham’s luck ran dry on the next pot, sending him home in seventh place. On a flop of Js-Td-4d, Ivey bet 25,000. Lisandro made the call, but Pham pushed 109,000 more into the middle all-in. Ivey made the call, and Lisandro folded. Pham shows K-Q for a straight draw, and Ivey had Qc-Jh for top pair. The three and two on the turn and river eliminated Pham, but he collected $65,740 for his efforts. Ivey now held a commanding chip lead, with 900,000 (over half the chips on the table).

Lisandro, the one time chip leader, was down to a little over 100,000 when he finally got his tournament back in shape. On hand 134, Lisandro put the rest of his money in the middle with Qs-Jh and raced against Reed’s pocket sevens. Lisandro needed all five cards, as he spiked a queen on the river to win the pot.

Batshon, relatively quiet thus far, would take sixth place. With Ah-Kd, Ivey opened for 25,000 and quickly called Bathson’s all-in with pocket sevens. Again, a river card would decide the fate, as Ivey spiked an ace to take out Bathson. For sixth place, Batshon collected $82,175.

Reed, who was involved in a lot of key pots, would bite the dust just two rounds later. Reed opened for 25,000, with both Schecter and Van Alstyne calling. The flop was 6s-6c-4d, and both players checked to Reed. Reed pushed his last 45,000 forward and Van Alstyne made the easy call with 7d-6d. Reed’s Ah-Kh would need runner-runner to survive, and the turn bricked, sending Reed home in fifth place. He collected $98,160 for his efforts.

Four-handed action started, with the chip counts as follows:

Phil Ivey - 1,100,000
James Van Alstyne - 257,000
Jonathan Shecter - 196,000
Jeff Lisandro - 165,000

Lisandro would get back in better shape, doubling up with a trap play with pocket kings versus Ivey’s A-J off-suit. Play sped up with players taking a lot of flops short-handed. Shortly after, the blinds increased yet again to 5,000-10,000 with a 1,000 ante.

Now, Ivey’s lead was just 844,000 to the surging Lisandro, who held 469,000. Lisandro would drop a few chips though, doubling up Van Alstyne. Lisandro’s Ad-Th went down to Van Alstyne’s Ac-6c, which made the nut flush.

Schecter would be the next to double up. Ivey would push all-in from the small blind, and Schecter called the extra 86,000 with pocket sixes. Ivey’s Ac-5h missed the board, and Schecter collected the pot. Ivey would then double up Van Alstyne, calling his all-in after betting the T-9-3 flop with K-9. Van Alstyne held T-9 for two pairs and survived the turn and river.

On hand 191, we found our fourth place finisher. With the button, Van Alstyne made it 30,000 and Schecter called from the big blind. The flop was Ac-Kc-Ts, and Schecter pushed all-in for 73,000. Van Alstyne made the call with A-4 off-suit, and Schecter’s 6c-5c would fail to make the flush. Schecter took fourth and won $131,480 for his tournament showing.

Ivey held nearly one million chips three-handed, with Lisandro at about a half-million and Van Alstyne holding a quarter-million. On hand 202, everyone would limp in to see the flop come down Ad-Tc-8s. Van Alstyne bet out 15,000, and Ivey made it 65,000. Ivey then called the all-in bet and showed Ac-5c, but Van Alstyne held Ts-8h for two pairs. Ivey caught runner-runner twos to make aces up and eliminate Van Alstyne in third, sending him home $164,350 richer.

Heads-up action began with Ivey holding almost 1.3 million to Lisandro’s 435,000. Players traded pots back and forth for a while, neither wanting to get too involved early on. The heads-up battle ended up being a marathon test of both players, lasting over two hours.

Ivey’s normal aggressive style was countered a bit by Lisandro’s fearlessness. Lisandro pushed all-in early a number of times after getting action on the flop. At the first break, Lisandro had made up some ground, but was still clearly trailing in chips.

Finally, Lisandro caught a break. Ivey called the raise pre-flop and both players saw the flop come down Kc-9c-6h. Ivey check-raised Lisandro’s 30,000 bet to 125,000, and Lisandro paused before going all-in. Ivey called, showing 7c-4c for a flush draw. Lisandro held Kh-Qh, and it held up. The chip counts now had Ivey at 930,000 and Lisandro holding the other 797,000, making it a horse race yet again.

Ivey would play very fast and rebuild his stack up, taking the lead yet again. The blinds went up to 6,000-12,000 with a 1,000 ante, speeding up action a bit. Ivey would chip away with pre-flop raises and re-raises, but finally won a large confrontation on the turn on hand 248.

Ivey raised Lisandro’s minimum bet out of the big blind to 47,000, which Lisandro called. The flop was 7d-4c-4s, and Ivey bet out 60,000, which Lisandro called. Ivey checked the three on the turn, and Lisandro bet 120,000. Ivey then pushed all-in, getting the crowd on their feet. However, Lisandro relinquished the pot, folding his hand. Ivey had slyly checked after leading out two times, which had prompted Lisandro to make a bet. Every other time this situation arose, Ivey would fold or call and then fold to a bet on the river. Ivey had turned the tables with a slick trap play, though we won’t know what their hands were until this summer’s TV broadcast.

Shortly after the chip counts showed Ivey with 1.3 million to Lisandro’s 430,000. The two fought through small-pot poker and Lisandro started to rebuild his stack yet again. Ivey would start to pound Lisandro back, winning quite a few pots.

The end would draw nearer on hand 277, as Ivey raised to 36,000 from the button. Lisandro called and saw the flop of Ks-Td-4s. Lisandro check-raised all-in, which Ivey slowly but surely called, smiling and showing the Qh-Jd. Lisandro had slow played pocket queens, and was ahead. No help came for Ivey, and Lisandro took a slight chip lead, the first time he held it since the start of the day.

Just two hands later, Ivey limped on the button and then called Lisandro’s raise. Both checked the 5c-3s-2s flop, but Lisandro bet on the ten on the turn. Ivey made the call. The river was a queen, and Lisandro bet out 150,000. Ivey studied for a bit, and then declared all-in. Lisandro studied for even longer, then made the call with Jc-Td. Ivey was caught bluffing, showing 9d-2d.

Lisandro, a PokerStars regular, won the title and took home $542,360 for first. Ivey took second and collected $299,360 for his runner-up performance.

Final Results:

1st - Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) - $542,360
2nd - Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV, United States) - $299,360
3rd - James Van Alstyne (Las Vegas, NV, United States) - $164,350
4th - Jonathon Shecter (Las Vegas, NV, United States) - $131,480
5th - Tommy Reed (Chapel Hill, NC, United States) - $98,610
6th - Salim Batshon (Foster City, CA, United States) - $82,175
7th - David Pham (Cerritos, CA, United States) - $65,740
8th - George Saca (Folsom, CA, United States) - $49,305
9th - Joe Awada (Las Vegas, NV, United States) - $32,870