PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2004 - Day 6

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Well, the first PokerStars World Cup of Poker is in the record books.

With a huge crowd filling the "Studio B" and the WPT cameras rolling, all four semi-final teams (U.S. East, Germany, South Africa, and Costa Rica) marched in wearing the uniforms that PokerStars provided, carrying their nation's flag. It was an incredible sight.

The first match was Danny Yaffe from Costa Rica against Roy Flowerday from South Africa. In a careful and studied match, Danny finally pulled into a significant lead. With the blinds at 12K and 24K (both players started with 100K chips), Roy (SA) posted the small blind of 12K on the button and Danny (CR) the big blind of 24K. Roy moved all-in and Danny called fairly quickly. Roy was in the lead with Jd-7d, but Danny had two cards in the middle: 9c-8c. That made Roy a 5:4 favorite. But the 9-4-3 flop gave Danny a better than 4:1 edge. The ten on the turn gave Roy three more gutshot outs, but the deuce on the river ended the match in favor of Costa Rica.

I should note that whenever both players would get all-in, both teams would rush to the table side to root for their man. In a sport known for its mano a mano nature, the "team cheering" scene was both extaordinary and wonderful. The Costa Ricans were particularly vocal, and if it was there man that was drawing, Alex Brenes would start a chant of the cards they needed "Nine! Eight! Heart!" At one point one of the South African players good-naturedly asked the Costa Rican players to stop putting voodoo on the flop.

In the second match, Manrique Quesada from Costa Rica and Bill Rothschild fenced back and forth never willing to commit too many chips too soon. Eventually, however, the blinds had risen from 2K-4K, 3K-6K, 4K-8K, 6K-12K, 8K-16k, 12K-24K, and had finally reached 20K-40K and precipitious action was inevitable. At that point, Bill (SA) jammed and Manrique (CR) called. Bill had an A3 and Manrique a T8. The flop came Q-7-6, giving Manrique six pair outs and four 9's for a gutshot. The turn was a four, and the Costa Rican team whooped "Double gutshot!" en espanol. It turned out they didn't need the other end of the straight draw, because the original gutshot (a nine) hit the river, ending the match in Costa Rica's favor.

The third match was Alex Keppie from South Africa against Juan Aued (a-WED) from Costa Rica. This was another carefully scripted match with the blind being folded or a call, bet, fold sequence. Eventually, Keppie pulled to a substantial lead, and when he raised 24K (with blinds of 12K and 24K), Juan understandably made an all-in stand with his pocket 9's. Alex called like a shot and turned up ace-king. Instantly, every poker player in the room thought "coin toss", but the coin toss was quickly biased when the flop had a king in it. No miracle nine came to save Juan and the match was 2-1 in Costa Rica's favor.

The fourth match was to the first three as the weaponry of World War II was to the spears of the Roman Legions. Alex Brenes from Costa Rica and Garry Hertzberg were clearly there to play fast poker. Alex waited until only the second hand to start raising. And Garry was ready to match him raise for raise. Unlike the previous matches, these two fellows seemed to think, "Let's tossed grenades into each other's fox holes and see who's left standing." The blinds were only at 3K-6K, when Garry (SA), on the small blind, lobbed in a raise up to 24K. Alex tanked briefly, looking sideways at Garry, and then waved his hands and said "Fondo!" ("I'm all in"). Garry called quickly with A5 but found himself looking at Alex's pocket jacks. The flop of K-9-2 changed nothing, but the three on the turn gave Garry a gutshot draw too. The South African team screamed "Four!" and the South African supporters in the crowd waved their South African flags and yelled "Ace!". The dealer burned and turned a card with four - no *five* spots. Garry had made a useless pair, and the match was over - Costa Rica is the first PokerStars World Cup of Poker champion.

Oh yes - the Costa Ricans will split $50,000 for their win, the South African team $24,000, the German team $16,000, and the U.S. East team $10,000.

We had a wonderful prize presentation with Mike, Shana, and Vince, and all four teams gathered around the incredible glass trophy filled with $100 bills. After everybody hoisted beers in the traditional WPT toast, the teams all mingled, shook hands, and congratulated each other on an extraordinary event.

With warmest regards,
Lee Jones

PokerStars Poker Manager