Johnny Chan won his tenth World Series of Poker bracelet and proved why he is considered one of the best poker players in the world. He was tied with Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth who won nine bracelets a piece. After his victory early on Monday morning, Johnny Chan holds the record for most WSOP bracelets along with the honorable distinction of becoming the first player ever to win ten.
Johnny Chan doesn’t play as many tournaments like he used to. That’s yet another reason why his win was extra special. Around Las Vegas he’s considered a cash game specialist. Chan has a regular seat in the “Big Game” with the best players in the world such as Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Chau Giang, Chip Reese, Bobby Baldwin, Lyle Berman, and Phil Ivey.
With the fields of players swelling to record numbers at this years WSOP, it seemed impossible than Chan, Brunson, or Hellmuth could make a final table, let alone win another bracelet. Once again Johnny Chan defied the odds. He’s been a fighter his entire life and came from behind to win once again.
Only Phil “The Unabomber” Laak stood in his way of achieving poker immortality. The Unabomber was outchipped and outmatched once they sat down to play heads up. Within 16 hands, Johnny Chan won all his chips and was awarded his tenth bracelet.
Johnny Chan won Event #25 $2500 Pot Limit Hold’em and beat out a field of 425 players who were competing for a prize pool worth $977,500. The second day of action started with 20 players with some notable names such as Humberto Brenes, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, Paul Wolfe and Tracy Phan still in the hunt. Johnny Chan ended day one 12th in chips and he began day two with a lot of work ahead of him. Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth were playing in a different event a few tables away and they both were keeping close tabs on Chan’s progress.
Costa Rican Humberto Brenes appeared that he was going to be a major force at the final table. He knocked out two players early in day two and amassed over $300K in chips. He took a few hits but still reached the final table with a decent chip stack.
Here are the final table seating assignments and chip counts:
Seat 1: Jerri Thomas (Hamilton, OH) $64K
Seat 2: Tony Hartmann (Minneapolis, MN) $195K
Seat 3: Richard Osborne (Martinez, CA) $55K
Seat 4: Johnny Chan (Las Vegas, NV) $70K
Seat 5: Ivo Donev (Austria) $50K
Seat 6: Frank Kassela (Germantown, TN) $169K
Seat 7: Richard Harroch (San Francisco, CA) $75K
Seat 8: Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica) $127K
Seat 9: Phil Laak (Dublin, Ireland) $83K
Seat 10: Ashok Surapaneni (Las Vegas, NV) $173K
Ivo Donev was the first player eliminated from the final table in 10th place. He won $11,730. Phil Laak got his game rolling when he doubled up with pocket aces against Ashok Surapaneni’s Big Slick. Johnny Chan crippled Humberto Brenes when his AK failed to improve against Chan’s 66. Humberton Brenes finished in 9th place after he was busted by Richard Osborne. Humberto won $19,550. Ashok Surapaneni moved all in with A-10 against Frank Kassela’s Hilton Sisters. Surapaneni didn’t catch any cards and he was knocked out in 8th place. He won $29,325.
With seven players remaining, Frank Kassela moved into the chip lead. Phil Laak kept the table loose with his freakish antics. At one point after he won a pot, he offered to show his cards for $4 in cash. Johnny Chan agreed and Laak flipped over AK. Chan’s smallest bill was a five and he tossed it over to Laak, who gave him one dollar for change.
Robert Osborne must be a fan of pocket nines. He moved all in with them on two consecutive hands. He was seriously shortstacked on the first hand and pushed. Phil Laak called with 8-7o and flopped a 7 with an ace high on the board. Laak caught an eight on the turn to take the lead. On the river, an ace fell which paired the board and gave the lead back to Osborne. On the next hand, he doubled up against Rich Harroch’s Big Slick.
Phil Hellmuth wandered over for a little verbal jousting with Phil Laak and Johnny Chan. He was aware that Chan had a shot at history and passive aggressively attempted to get Chan on tilt. Phil Laak rushed to Chan’s rescue and joked with Hellmuth.
“If it weren’t for luck you’d win every time, right Phil?” Laak exclaimed as the huge crowd that flocked to the rail burst out with laughter. Phil quietly returned to his game.
Richard Harroch and his short stack moved all in with A-J. Chan called with 44. Harroch outflopped Chan with J-8-5. On the turn, Chan picked up a gutshot straight draw. A 6 spiked on the river and Chan eliminated Harroch in 7th place. At that point, everyone watching got a strong feeling that it was going to be Johnny Chan’s night.
Phil Laak, with his sneakers off and his hooded sweatshirt half on and half off, knocked out Tony Hartmann in 6th Place. Laak flopped a set with pocket tens and Hartmann moved all in with the Hilton Sisters. Hartmann’s hand failed to improve and he was eliminated. Hartmann won $48,175. Johnny Chan was third in chips out of five remaining players.
Phil Laak had a tough decision to make when Robert Osborne moved all in. Laak was second in chips and held “The Kournikova” a.k.a. K-Qo. He reluctantly called saying, “If I win it’s a great call. If I lose, I still have chips.”
Osborne showed Ah-Th and flopped an ace with two hearts.
“This is what four percent feels like,” added Laak to his running commentary of the hand. When another ace fell on the turn, he was drawing dead.
Johnny Chan said, “Zero.”
Laak agreed, “This is what zero percent feels like.”
Jerri Thomas played impressively for the duration of the tournament and survived a difficult final table. Jerri was shortstack most of the final table and held on. She was eventually eliminated by Richard Osborne. She pushed all in with A8 and was called by Osborne’s A-10, which held up. Jerri won $58,560 for fifth place.
Phil Laak won a big pot and offered to show his hand to the other players for $4 in cash. When the table declined, he extended the offer to anyone on the rail. Fellow writer Jon Eaton and I, who were both covering the event, chipped in $2 each. We gave the money to the Unabomber and he happily showed us Ac-Jc. That was the best $2 I spent all day.
Then the hand of the tournament occurred. Johnny Chan raised preflop. Frank Kassela reraised. Johnny Chan moved all in with the Hilton Sisters. Kassela called with pocket aces. Chan slowly counted out his chips. He was covered by Kassela. The flop was: K-K-Q. The railbirds went a little crazy. The turn and river did not help Kassela and Johnny Chan cracked Aces with pocket Queens! Johnny Chan moved into the chiplead after he crippled Kassela.
Frank Kassela and his short stack were eliminated by Phil Laak in 4th place. Kassela won $68,425. Johnny Chan held a $400K chip lead over Phil Laak who was the closest in chips. Phil Laak knocked out Richard Osborne in 3rd place. Laak raised and Osborne re-raised all in. Laak took forever to make a decision. He kept running the math over and over in his head and out loud for the crowd. Phil Laak eventually called with K-T. He got no help on the flop and the turn. He uttered, “This is what six percent feels like.”
Phil Laak had just a 6% chance to catch one of three tens in the deck. When a ten spiked on the river, the boisterous crowd went a little crazy. Laak fell on the floor and a shocked expression fell on Richard Osborne’s face. Phil Laak’s girlfriend, actress Jen Tilly ran over from the Ladies NL event and gave him a kiss. Osborne won $78,200 for his excellent work at the final table. Johnny Chan held the chip lead when play reached heads up.
The tournament directors made an executive decision to postpone heads up play until the $2,500 NL event was completed. The plan was to move the heads up match to the official TV table so that they could provide better coverage of Johnny Chan’s attempt at history for the TV audience.
When Doyle Brunson was asked what he thought about Chan possibly setting a record, he said, “I’m rooting for Johnny. He’s my friend and he’s a great player.”
I sat in the front row to witness poker history. The always energized and voluble Phil Laak could not sit still. He talked non-stop to himself, the crowd, the dealer, the tournament director, and Johnny Chan. He would do sit ups and push ups while Johnny Chan was thinking about calling his raises. He comically pulled his hooded sweatshirt over his head to hide from Chan’s inquisitive eyes.
On the 16th hand of heads up play, Phil Laak raised to $30K. Johnny Chan reraised to $92K. Laak agonized over the call and eventually moved all in. He flipped over K-J. Johnny Chan showed… the Hilton Sisters! Although Laak flopped a Jack, his hand did not improve and Johnny Chan’s pocket Queens held up. He won his 10th World Series of Poker bracelet in just three attempts at this year’s WSOP.
Johnny Chan embraced his son after his record setting victory. He handed the “lucky orange” to his father, which Johnny placed on the table. Chan definitely got lucky on several hands after he moved all in. He outflopped pocket Aces and even caught a straight on the river another time in order to survive at the final table.
Indeed, Johnny Chan can now boast that he is the most successful player ever to participate in the World Series of Poker. Johnny Chan also holds the honor of being the last player to have repeat wins at the main event. That might be a record that will never be broken. Time will tell if ten bracelets will become an unattainable milestone or if Johnny Chan can add five more bracelets to his collection likes he wants to do.