The Thril of Victory, the Agony of Defeat
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It was apparent early in the evening that it might be a big night. Brandon Cantu was among the chip leaders of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold-Em tournament, while Matt Graham was the chip leader of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship. I followed both final tables as they played down, with Brandon bounding up and down the leaderboard while Matt held steady near the top.
For a time it looked like Alex Jacob might put a hammerlock on the Hold-Em event, but he lost a huge pot to Ray Foley and was eliminated soon after. Just a few minutes later Cantu eliminated Wei Mu and we were down to heads-up play. The players took a brief break and I ran back to get a pop. A near-fatal mistake–as I walked back to the final table I saw the crowd suddenly press forward against the rail. I broke into a run and arrived to find Brandon out of his seat and the dealer spreading cards on the felt. All the money went in before the flop and Cantu had Foley dominated, A-Q to A-7. The 5s-8h-8d flop kept Cantu in the lead, but when the 6c fell on the turn Foley picked up a straight draw. His fingers steepled against his lips, Brandon watched the dealer burn and turn over the…5h. That put two pair on the board, both their Aces played, and the pot was chopped up.
That didn’t seem to discourage Brandon, who was the more aggressive player and won the majority of pots large and small. On the hand that proved to be the turning point Foley raised to 300,000 and Brandon shoved. Foley called and his pocket tens needed to hold off Brandon’s K-9. This they failed to do–Cantu caught a King on the flop and the crowd went wild as Brandon jumped out of his chair and circled around the table. He pressed the balls of his hands into his mouth, as if to keep himself from screaming out of anticipation and anxiety.
And then, on the turn, the dealer revealed the…10s. Foley hit his two outer and Brandon slumped forward on the table. So close to victory, twice, and now the two players reversed stacks and it was Foley who had the 2-1 lead. The end came soon after–Cantu raised preflop, Foley called, and the flop came Jh-3d-9c, and when Ray checked Brandon bet 450,000. Foley check-raised all-in, and after some thought Cantu made the call.
To find that his J-7 was dominated by Ray’s Q-J. This time there was no come-from-behind story–the board ran out 10c-5s and Ray Foley was mobbed by his friends. While Brandon Cantu stood, shook Foley’s hand, and slowly walked off the stage and out of the Amazon Room. It’s hard to imagine how one must feel after playing poker for three days, outlasting 2,713 players, being THAT CLOSE to your ultimate goal, and then see it snatched away so cruelly. And maybe it is a good thing it’s hard to imagine, because it had to be utterly devastating, especially after how well Brandon had played over the last three days.
I didn’t have much time to dwell on Brandon’s unfortunate end because Matt Graham was about to take on Vitaly Lunkin for the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha crown. Lunkin, who won the $40,000 No-Limit Hold-Em tournment that kicked off this World Series, built up a big chip lead as the night wore on. But after Graham knocked Van Marcus out in 3rd place the two entered heads-up play nearly even in chips.
And Matt had the best of it early on, taking a few sizeable pots from Lunkin and building a 1.8 million chip lead. But then followed a huge hand where Graham flopped top two and Lunkin bottom two and the nut flush draw. All the money went in and Lunkin made his flush on the turn. Matt failed to make a full house on the river and Vitaly seized a big chip lead.
Things looked bleak until Matt doubled up when he turned the nut straight and Lunkin made the 2nd-nut straight. That got Matt back up to 3.2 million chips…but not for long. Again the money went in before the flop, with Matt holding Qs-Qh-8s-7h to Lunkin’s Ac-Kc-5s-3d. Matt seemed amazed Lunkin called his all-in bet with that hand, but his amazement turned to disbelief when the flop came Ad-2c-4c, giving Vitaly a wheel and the nut flush draw. The 2d on the turn gave Matt some outs but the 6d fell on the river and Lunkin ran out to a massive 8.25 million to 600,000 lead.
But Graham refused to lose. He doubled up, doubled up again (both times dodging the usual gaggle of outs you find in PLO) and then doubled AGAIN when he cracked Lunkin’s Ad-Ah-9c-6d with 9h-8c-7s-5c. Lunkin flopped top two pair but Graham picked up a wrap, and he made his straight on the turn. This time it was Vitaly who wasn’t able to boat up, and just like that Matt was back in the chip lead. “This was the hand we were waiting for!!!” said Matt’s friend Scott Seiver. “Wait until Vitaly has aces and trap him!”
And the end came just ten minutes later. After a 6d-4h-10 flop Graham check-raised Lunkin and the Russian chose to call. The turn brought the 9s, Matt bet 1.1 million, and Vitaly moved in. Graham quickly called and showed that he’d flopped a set of tens, while Lunkin had a gutshot and flush draw. Standing now and with his friends gathered just a few feet away, he shouted “Hold!!” as the dealer set the As on the felt. And then, pandemonium, as Matt realized he’d won the hand and rushed into arms of his ecstatic friends.
There was a bit of drama still left, however. The players’ stacks were so close that it wasn’t quite clear that Matt had Vitaly covered. It took a minute to count down the stacks and verify that, yes, Matt Graham was the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Champion. Another round of high-fives and hugs, and a friendly handshake with the classy champion Vitaly Lunkin. And then it was time to sit at the table with the chips and the bracelet and smile for all the cameras, what every poker player dreams happens to them when they sit down at a World Series of Poker Event. For Matt Graham, last night was the second time that dream came true.
I’ll be posting more pictures of the two final tables tomorrow…err, today. It’s 6AM and I have to be back to the Rio by 2PM at the latest to photograph Matt’s bracelet ceremony. Wonder if Sao Paolo is serving breakfast this early…
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Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Matt Graham, matt graham second bracelet, matt graham wsop bracelet, world series of poker, WSOP
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Congratulations to Matt and Brandon for excellent play and great results!
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
[...] sue me, I got home around 6:30 in the morning after watching Matt Graham win his second World Series of Poker bracelet and writing up a post about it. I got home and the sun was UP, man, and it didn’t help that [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 12:45 am
[...] now you know that Matt Graham won his second World Series of Poker bracelet last night, so there’s no news to break here. But I took some pics of the final table last [...]