Final thoughts on the final table

The 2010 edition of the World Series of Poker main event final table will go down in history as perhaps the most dramatic and entertaining WSOP final tables of all time. I’ve had a couple weeks to digest how it all went down; here are my thoughts.
OH CANADA!
Congrats to Montreal native Jonathan Duhamel (pictured above) for becoming the first Canadian to win the main event. He didn’t play the best poker at the final table (more on that in a minute) but he got lucky in some big spots, and then finished things off with overwhelming aggression.
Certain members of the poker media have wondered aloud whether Duhamel’s win will cause a poker explosion in Canada, similar to what happened when Chris Moneymaker won in 2003. I tend to think that’s not going to materialize. The thing is, Canadians already love poker. The game has been well-exposed in Canada on TV, and most of those who might be inclined to play, already do.
If there’s a poker explosion, it’ll be in Quebec. The French-speaking media apparently loves Duhamel – RDS, the francophone arm of TSN, sent a camera crew down to Vegas to document the 23-year-old’s every move leading up to the final table. How to you say check-raise en francais?
I WAS RIGHT ABOUT CHEONG (SORT OF)
Back in July, I predicted Joseph Cheong would win the main event. I really admired his perseverance and sharp play in rebuilding his stack after Filippo Candio gave him a sick beat leading up to the final table.
By and large, Cheong’s performance at the final table justified my faith in him. He looked awesome on TV during the early stages, and from reading various hand-by-hand blogs after watching the telecast, he absolutely dominated the table to an extent that wasn’t really reflected in the TV coverage. I was particularly impressed with the way he induced Matthew Jarvis to bluff off half his stack on one of the early hands.
What folks are going to remember Cheong for, unfortunately, is one of the all-time great blow-ups. He built his stack from 23.5 million at the start to over 100 million when it was down to three-handed between himself, Duhamel and John Racener. Racener was short-stacked, and it seemed like just a matter of time before Cheong and Duhamel locked horns heads-up.
But then Cheong decided to six-bet all in against Duhamel with A7o, and was called by the Quebecker’s QQ. The queens held, crippling Cheong, and he was eliminated a couple hands later.
I listened to audio of the post-tourney media scrums with the players, and Cheong basically said he made a read and went with it. He said he’d probably do it the same way if he found himself in the same spot again. Obviously it was an epic mistake, but I respect that the guy has so much confidence in his reads. If you’re not confident in poker, you’re screwed.
Part of Cheong’s thinking was, he felt he could get Duhamel off a hand like QQ. And honestly, if I’d been in Duhamel’s shoes, I would have been hard-pressed to call off my chips in that spot. In his post-match interview, though, Duhamel said it was an “easy call” – which implies that because of Cheong’s constant aggression, he didn’t give him credit for a big hand. Failing to consider his table image was Cheong’s biggest error, in my mind.
It says a lot about Cheong’s skill that even after he blew off such a huge stack, the folks at ESPN.com were still blown away by the clinic he put on prior to that.
MIZRACHI BLEW IT
The most recognizable pro at the final table was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. After starting the day seventh in chips, he grinded his way up to the chip lead at the dinner break. He had the biggest stack when play got to five-handed, but he managed to bust in fifth place.
Grinder’s tournament came down to three crucial hands – two of which he played badly, and one of which he got unlucky on. On the first key hand, he open-raised with A8 suited, and then the short-stacked Racener shoved all in. Racener had been playing tight all day, but Grinder decided to take an ill-advised shot at him. Racener had Mizrachi dominated with AK, and his hand held to take a big chunk out of Grinder’s stack.
Later on, Racener gave Duhamel a sick beat when his AQ sucked out against AK, all in preflop. The very next hand, Duhamel raised in the small blind with A9o. Mizrachi shipped it from the big blind with 33, and after humming and hawing for a long while, Duhamel called off his stack. I think this was a brutal call by Duhamel – the best he could have hoped for there was a coin flip, and he could have easily been dominated. Mizrachi had an incredulous look on his face when Duhamel showed A9. At any rate, Duhamel was extremely fortunate to flop a nine and double up.
The eventual champ executed a lovely trap to knock out Mizrachi. Duhamel limped in the small blind with AA, and the Grinder checked with Q8o. The flop came queen high . . . Duhamel checked . . . Grinder bet . . . Duhamel check-raised . . . Grinder snap-shoved . . . and Duhamel called. Two cards later, Mizrachi was busto.
When Mizrachi took the lead at the dinner break, everyone expected him to run over the table from that point. That he managed to blow off all his chips in short order was quite stunning.
TIGHT PLAYERS HAD THE RIGHT IDEA
Racener and Candio were by far the tightest players at the table, and I have to give them both a certain amount of props for that. It ain’t sexy to play snug, but there’s something to be said for moving up the pay scale. Candio netted just over $3 million for fourth place, and runner-up Racener won $5.5 million for essentially sitting there and waiting for everyone else to beat each other up.
John Dolan, who began the day second in chips with 46 million but busted in sixth, might be a richer man today had he played as conservatively as Racener and Candio.