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November 21st 2006
23-year-old scoops $1.7 million at Foxwoods World Poker Finals
Nenad Medic, a 23-year-old cash-game poker pro from Niagara Falls has become the latest World Poker Tour champion with victory at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, worth $1.7 million.
The Foxwoods World Poker Finals is always one of the busiest World Poker Tour events of the year, and 2006 proved no exception. 609 players coughed up the $10,000 entry fee to create a mammoth prize pool in excess of $5.5 million, with almost all the world’s top name pro’s in attendance.
With the elimination of Farhad Sinaei in seventh the final table was set, and history had been made. For the first time since the WPT began two female players had made the final six, and much to the TV producers’ excitement, these were not just any two females. Mimi Tran and Kathy Liebert are two of the world’s best known players, and what’s more, they would be starting the final table second and third in chips respectively.
When play began on Thursday evening the chip counts were as follows:
EG Harvin $4,680,000 (Seat 3)
Mimi Tran $2,518,000 (Seat 4)
Kathy Liebert $2,500,000 (Seat 2)
Nenad Medic $1,281,000 (Seat 6)
Mike Perry $682,000 (Seat 5)
Michael Omelchuk $533,000 (Seat 1)
It took just one hand for the table to spring into life. Mike Perry, with two black kings, must have been jumping for joy when E.G. Harvin re-raised him all-in with just two red twos. It was short lived joy however, as the flop came an agonizing Ah-Kh-3h, giving Harvin a flush draw that materialized on the river.
Harvin was the Moneymaker story of the final table, a 58-year-old amateur who had qualified for the event via a $120 satellite, and had proceeded to lead the tournament from almost start to finish, ultimately knocking out four of his five opponents on the final table.
He didn’t waste time getting rid of his next opponent, Kathy Liebert. For Liebert the final table was an experience she will hope to forget in a hurry. Starting off effectively second equal in chips she fell inside the first twenty minutes, on just the ninth hand of play. Liebert could consider herself unfortunate to be on the wrong side of a mistake by EG Harvin, who was forced to retract a re-raise after he announced “I’ll call your $127,000 and raise another $400,000”, the tournament director ruling that he had announced call first. Holding the 5-4 of hearts Liebert would probably have folded to the re-raise, but instead both players saw a flop of Kh-Js-Th. Liebert then called Harvin’s $400,000 bet on the turn, and both players checked the two of hearts on the turn. On the river, the six of spades, Liebert, having made her flush on the turn, bet $1 million and called when Harvin moved all-in, bowing out when Harvin showed Ah-Jh for the nut flush. Had Harvin’s raise stood Liebert would probably still been in the tournament.
Whilst Harvin was busy busting players (he knocked out Michael Omelchuck 11 hands later) and Mimi Tran was busy raising 80 percent of the pots preflop, Nenad Medic was playing a very patient and solid game, letting the others do the work for him.
Tran meanwhile, with just three players left, was getting more and more aggressive, raising almost every hand, with mixed success. It seemed as though Tran was setting herself up for a fall, and her increasingly predictable raises allowed her opponents to set the trap. Eventually she was undone when Harvin moved all-in with a flush draw on the turn, forcing Tran to lay down the best hand, and leaving her with just $790,000 in chips. Rather than adapt her play Tran continued to raise consistently preflop, and at one point she was re-raised all-in on three consecutive hands, having to muck her cards each time at a total cost of $450,000 chips.
A few hands later it was all over for Tran. Holding Q-J, Tran bet $60,000 on a flop of Q-6-2 and then bet $200,000 when an ace fell on the turn. Harvin, holding A-9, moved all-in and Tran called, exiting after missing her outs on the river. For a performance full of guts and determination, and no little entertainment, Tran was rewarded with a $472,228 payday.
When heads-up play began “Marvellous” Harvin had a very slender chip lead over the young Medic. It would (and should) have been much bigger but Harvin had doubled-up Medic just prior to eliminating Tran, choosing a very poor moment to try and pull off an all-in bluff, when on a flop of T-T-2 Harvin bet $300k, Medic re-raised to $1.1 million, and Harvin moved all-in. Medic held T-2 for the flopped full house, and Harvin was drawing dead with A-8o, a total bluff.
It may be some time before Harvin forgets that hand, and is may well be that it cost him the title. Having eliminated every player at the final table so far, and built a big chip lead, Harvin allowed Medic to go into the heads-up stage with parity, and with momentum. Medic, a high-stakes cash game pro, was not about to waste the opportunity he had been given.
On about the ninth and eleventh hands of heads-up play Medic took two large pots off Harvin, worth about $2.2 million and $1.5 million, when on each hand he turned two pair. He then lost a big pot on the thirteenth hand when Harvin made queens full, but on the very next hand the tournament was over. After a flop of 5c-5d-3d Medic bet $150k and Harvin re-raised to $650k; Medic called. The turn card was a black nine and Harvin now bet out $1 million. Again Medic called, this time after a short think. The river was the other black nine, and Harvin now moved all-in. Medic thought about the bet for over a minute, before finally calling, and much to everyone’s surprise, given the time he spent thinking, he turned over a five for a full house, fives full of nines. The title was his.
It was Medic’s third major final table, and the 22-year-old said afterwards that “once you’ve come that close you really just want to get that title”. He also gave a tongue in cheek compliment to his heads-up opponent EG Harvin, saying: “I gotta give it up to E.G., he did all the work for me.” Not music to Harvin’s ears, but the news that Harvin plans to “give this money back to the poker community” will delight the high stakes cash game players.
The final standings were as follows:
Nenad Medic - $1,717,194
EG Harvin - $904,389
Thithi "Mimi" Tran - $472,228
Michael Omelchuk - $343,439
Kathy Liebert - $257,579
Michael Perry - $200,340
Submitted: 21/11/2006 11:31:22
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