Crew Believer

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JOE BARTHOLDI EXPECTED TO WIN. In a field of 605 players, that may seem crazy, but that’s what the Vegas-based member of “The Crew” (the group of young players, led by Scott Fischman and Dutch Boyd, that scored big at the 2004 World Series of Poker) told Mike Sexton as they briefly chatted at the conclusion of the WPT Championship at Bellagio in April. After Bartholdi’s bold statement, Sexton gave his customary congratulatory toast, everyone raised their drinks, and the 26-year-old Bartholdi proceeded to knock back the entire bottle of beer in one continuous chug.

In fact, he almost seemed more excited to have that beer than to have just won over $3.7-million. But then again, Bartholdi knew he was going to win the tournament, so what was there to be excited about?

By contrast, runner-up David Matthew did not have any serious championship expectations. Back in November, the businessman from Toronto won a satellite at Bellagio, which got him into the Festo Al Lago tournament. Matthew quickly busted on Day One. Two days later, frustrated yet hopeful, he entered a $25 online satellite through ParadisePoker and won it, gaining him entrance into a higher buy-in tournament. He won that one also, which earned him a seat worth $25K at the WPT Championship.

When Matthew got into town for the big tournament on April 18, he checked into his hotel and signed up for a sightseeing tour. Eventually, the tour wended its way to Bellagio. Just for kicks, he decided to check out the poker room he’d be playing in the next day. It’s a good thing he did, because the tournament had already begun; Matthew had confused the starting dates, and having missed six hours of play, he’d been blinded off to the tune of 5,500 in chips.
But everyone in the tournament started with 50K (double the buy-in) in chips, and the blinds structure was relatively slow, so Matthew was able to recover, finish Day One in the top 10 percent of the field, and eventually find himself in middle chip position at the final table.

To accommodate the tournament’s record-setting field size, Day One was split into two flights. On Day 1A, play was slow and a relatively low number of players (around 50) busted out. Among them were seasoned pros Sam Farha, Gus Hansen, Nam Le, David Pham, and Gavin Smith.

Smith’s bustout was a little peculiar. He had raised a pot to 1,600 pre-flop, and a player meaning to call accidentally threw in an extra chip that made for a raise. Smith moved all in with pocket queens, the other player called with sevens, and a seven on the flop made him a set and bounced Smith from the action.

In one of the day’s most exciting hands, an hour before the end of play, Barry Greenstein checked on the river to a board of A-A-9-Q-J. He opponent bet 6K, Greenstein raised to 26K, and his opponent called and turned up pocket jakes for the boat. But Greenstein turned over the nuts, the other two aces, for quads.

Devoted law student Vanessa Rousso was late to play on Day 1B because she’d attended class that day. But she made up for the three-hour late start by doubling up with quad queens through Liz Lieu and getting pocket cowboys to knock out an all-in player—not bad for her first two hands.

At the start of Tournament Day Two, the $25 chips were raced off and the remaining 473 players (more than entered the tournament last year) all redrew for seats. Because of the slow play the previous days, they would play five levels without a dinner break. The carnage was quick and fierce. The first half of Day Two saw as many bustouts as Days 1A and 1B combined. And by the end of the day, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Alan Goehring, and defending champ Tuan Le were among the 269 players felted.

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While plenty of well-known players dropped, many top pros survived. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth represented the top veterans on the leader board. And Rousso, Patrik Antonius, and Erica Schoenberg represented the younger—and let’s face it, much more good looking—crew. But poker’s not about pulchritude, it’s about smarts and stamina.

By the end of Day Four, 12 of the surviving 19 players had over a million in chips. Day Five ended with the departure of Rousso on the bubble in seventh place. She was sassy, spunky, and had a great run. But the crowd-pleaser missed the TV final table by one spot.

The player who started with the shortest stack at the final table also happened to be the most well-regarded. Men “The Master” Nguyen has cashed in every season of the World Poker Tour. Nguyen has six World Series bracelets. And he holds the record for most top-three finishes at the WSOP.

Roland De Wolfe (a.k.a. “The Sheep”) used to play pool for money when he was younger. He’s also the former poker editor for Inside Edge, a British gambling magazine. He remains an avid online player. And as the final table’s only Season Four winner (of the WPT Grand Prix de Paris event), DeWolfe got into this tournament for free.

David Matthew runs a small private ATM operation with a couple of employees. A couple of years ago, after taking a poker lesson in a casino, he was hooked. Both directly and indirectly, that lesson has paid serious dividends.

Claus Nielsen has cashed a total of three times in the past two World Series. Since those prizes totaled $15,855, he was sure to rocket up his career earnings—a minimum of twenty-fold.
With this event, Joe Bartholdi now has 10 top-10 finishes, including winning a couple of smaller tournaments. His highest previous payout was for placing fifth in Event 43 at last year’s World Series. In that second-chance event (just after the Main Event), he outlasted Marcel Luske and Erik Seidel to earn $71,445.

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James Van Alstyne is a well-known and respected local grinder with numerous cashes in WPT and WSOP events over the last dozen years. He won the 2004 Plaza Ultimate Poker Challenge. But despite having officially made two other WPT final tables (seventh at Season Four’s UltimateBet.com Aruba Poker Classic and 10th at Season Three’s Bay 101 Shooting Stars of Poker), this was his first World Poker Tour TV final table. He started out as the big stack amongst the six.

With nearly 9-million in chips at the start of final table play, Van Alstyne tried to establish his strength right from the start by raising from the cutoff. It worked the first time, but then Bartholdi (starting in second chip position, with over 7-million) took over as the table bully. Bartholdi won five of the next six pots by raising and calling from both early and late positions. Then Matthew won a few in a row.

Anxious to get in on the action, Nguyen went all in under the gun for almost 1.1 million. Tournament Director Jack McClelland, who’d previously made fun of Nguyen for taking a while to act, joking that he must be trying for more TV time, now said Nguyen must be looking to go to dinner. The Master replied, “I’m hungry. I’m not hungry for food, I’m hungry for chips!” The move worked that time, and everyone folded. But when he tried it again less than 10 minutes later, he got a quick call from neighbor Nielsen on the button. Nguyen had pocket tens, but was dominated by Nielsen’s wired queens. The queens held up, teaching The Master a lesson and leaving him in sixth place.

About an hour later, on Hand 27, Van Alstyne went all in from the cutoff and got a quick call by De Wolfe. Van Alstyne’s K-6 of spades was in rough shape against De Wolfe’s pocket cowboys. Van Alstyne flopped a gutshot straight draw, but got no help on the turn or river. After recounting the chip stacks, it was determined that Van Alstyne was all the way down to his last 10K—not even enough for the next ante. All in by default, Van Alstyne found himself in decent shape pre-flop with A-K against Bartholdi’s J-10. But Bartholdi paired his ten on the turn, and the table’s initial chip leader was out in fifth place while Bartholdi was sitting pretty behind over 10-mil in chips.

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An hour later, with the antes (30K) and blinds (150K/300K) both up, Matthew had quietly but aggressively clawed his way into a slight chip lead over Bartholdi. On Hand 54, Nielsen raised to over a million on the button and Bartholdi called. The 9-7-2 flop with two diamonds went check-check. The board paired its seven on the turn, Bartholdi bet a million, and Nielsen called. Bartholdi checked the queen of diamonds on the river, Nielsen bet 2-million. Bartholdi raised all in, and Nielsen called. The queen had hit both players, Nielsen (with A-Q) for a second pair, and Bartholdi (with K-10 of diamonds) for the flush. Nielsen’s ratings went down and he was out in fourth place.

Going into three-handed play, Bartholdi had a commanding chip lead. With a pile of 18-million, he lorded 3-to-1 over his opponents, each with around 6-million.

Over the next 20 hands, the trio saw a handful of flops and no major shifts in power. Then, on Hand 73, Bartholdi raised from the small blind up to 900K, De Wolfe went all in from the big, and Bartholdi called. Bartholdi not only had De Wolfe covered in chips three times over, but dominated in the hand about four to one, with pocket ladies over De Wolfe’s sixes. To make matters worse for De Wolfe, the Q-8-5 flop gave Bartholdi a set, but De Wolfe did have a backdoor inside straight draw. The turn four kept the dream suckout alive, but the three of clubs on the river dashed those hopes and De Wolfe huffed and puffed and went out in third.

With a large cheering section chanting “Joe-o-O-o-o” (to the tune of the Atlanta Braves’ tomahawk-chop chant) and confetti cannons roaring, Bellagio babes brought the millions in coveted cash out onto the table. At the start of heads-up play, Bartholdi had almost 22-million in chips, more than a 21/2-to-1 lead over Matthew. But even when the ante and blinds shot up (to 50K and 250K/500K), Matthew mostly remained calm, composed, and kept his head in the game.

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At one point, Matthew did get a little anxious. He’d limped into the pot, they’d checked the flop, he had raised on the turn, and Bartholdi had announced a re-raise. Before Bartholdi had said or pushed in the specific amount, Matthew jumped the gun by blurting out “All in,” and Bartholdi was only held to the minimum raise (which he then folded). Bartholdi was still in the lead with 17-million, but Matthew was getting closer. And several hands later, he actually muscled his way into the lead, about 16.5-mil to 13.5-mil.

On Hand 106, Matthew limped from the small blind and it went check-check on the flop and turn. With A-8-6-Q-A on the board, Bartholdi bet out 800K and Matthew called. Bartholdi showed his 9-2 bluff, and Matthew turned up 10-7 to win with ten-high. It was either a brilliant read, or the loosest call you’ll ever see (or maybe both).

Ten hands later, with Bartholdi back in the lead, the limped pot flopped A-9-8 with two hearts. Bartholdi checked, and Matthew bet 800K. Bartholdi raised another 2-million, Matthew re-raised all in over the top for another 7.3-million, and Bartholdi called. Bartholdi was holding a nine again, this time with a mighty five kicker. And Matthew was holding a ten again, this time with a suited four. Talk about aggression: Matthew had raised all in on a flush draw, and Bartholdi had called with middle pair. The 2d on the turn helped neither player. One the river, Matthew needed a ten or a heart to stay alive and double up, but he didn’t get it. The ace of diamonds fell and signaled Joe Bartholdi’s cheering section to go wild.

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Before he knew it, Bartholdi was being raised up in the air and carried on the shoulders of all his friends and family. Following a week-long battle and a six-hour final table, Bartholdi was the WPT World Champion. After reluctantly posing for a bunch of pictures, Bartholdi and his posse went off to Jet (the hoppin’ new nightclub at The Mirage). He’d beaten a field of over 600, earned a nice shiny bracelet, and won entry into next year’s championship as well as more than $3.76-million. But none of that seemed to matter much to him. Bartholdi just wanted to hurry up and start spending some of the biggest payout in WPT history on drinks.

In The Money
Here’s how the WPT Championship’s almost $15-million prize pool (50 percent more than was awarded in all of Season One) was split amongst the event’s top 100 finishers:
1 $3,760,165 Joe Bartholdi
2 $1,903,950 David Matthew
3 $1,025,205 Roland De Wolfe
4 $659,120 Claus Nielsen
5 $439,375 James Van Alstyne
6 $292,915 Men Nguyen
7 $263,625 Vanessa Rousso
8 $234,330 Espen Saltnes
9 $205,040 Chad Brown
10 $175,750 Carlos Zambrano
11-15 $146,460
16-20 $117,165*
21-30 $87,875*
31-40 $73,230
41-50 $58,585
51-100 $43,935

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*Ross Boatman and Dapo Fadeyi were eliminated on the same hand at different tables, therefore tied and split the money between 20th and 21st place, for $102,520 each.