2006 Grand Casino Tunica World Series of Poker Circuit Events Event #4 $500 No Limit Hold'em Tournament Report
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‘Blue Collar Man’ Turns Aggressive To Run Over Final Hold’em Player
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After Wayne Harvey, a self-described “ordinary blue collar family man” had
played 40 hands heads-up with J (his full first name) Hijar, they were still
about dead even in chips. During the break, Harvey decided that
conservative play and luck had gotten him this far, but for heads-up action,
he needed to be more aggressive. Returning, he souped up his play and,
aided by some good cards, steamrollered Hijar in a few hands to take down
event four of the WSOP Circuit at Grand Casino Tunica, $500 limit hold’em,
winning $28,756. (Yes, they still play limit hold-em, though the turnout of 183
players was noticeably fewer than for the three prior no-limit tournaments,
further evidence of how no-limit has taken over poker).
Harvey, 35, a resident of Rincon, Georgia, is married with two children. He is
self employed in the vinyl siding and electrical contracting business. He’s
been playing poker for 16 years, but hold’em only for a few months, and this
is the first large tournament he’s ever entered. The victory earned him
$28,756.
Forty-two minutes were left when the final table assembled. Blinds were
1,000-2,000 and limits 2,000-4,000. Harvey, with 89,000 chips, had the lead.
The starting chip count:
In early action, Doug Paxton had one chip left when a fourth-street ace
pairing his A-K also gave Joseph Baumgartner a straight. Waiting a full round
until his big blind, Paxton didn’t have much hope when he was dealt 7-4 with
five-way action, and lost to Sonny Perry’s pocket kings. Paxton, 58, is from
Weatherford, Oklahoma and is a custom harvester/poker player who
harvests for various growers, also finding lots of time for poker. His
credentials include wins in the Oklahoma State and North Dakota State
Heads-up championship events, and a second and fourth in pot-limit Omaha
at the World Poker Open. He earned $1,775 for finishing ninth.
Two hours into play, with limits now at 4,000-8,000, there were still eight
players left, while Harvey had increased his lead to 112,000. Two players,
Salim Kassab and Jack Lee, narrowly escaped elimination when river cards
rescued them. Finally, Lee succumbed when he and Ryan Kennedy were all in
pre-flop in three-way action. Kennedy had pocket 8s, Lee had Ac-Qc. The 8s
held up, Kennedy tripled up, and Lee, who is 67 and retired from the Air
Force, finished eighth, cashing for $2,663. Lee, who learned poker in the
military, has been playing for 40 years.
Three hours had gone by before we lost our third player. Jason Munson, a 38-
year-old real estate developer from Atlanta, was all in for the fifth time for
8,000 with A-K. He got two callers, and Harvey, with 10-9, picked him off by
pairing a 10 on the river. Munson has been playing poker seriously for five
years. His main tournament finish was third in a $500 event at the Gold Strike
Poker Classic. Seventh paid $3,550.
Limits moved up to 5,000-10,000. Harvey, who had been getting a lot of
good starting hands that didn’t always hold up, had dipped to 92,000, a few
chips behind Hijar. Asked about his unusual initial first name, Hijar explained
that for generations in his family, it was traditional to give the first-born male
a name starting with J. But since his parents couldn’t agree on a name, they
settled for just the letter.
Two players went out quickly at the new limits. Kassab, from Syria, was
down to 2,000 when Harvey took it from him by making a Broadway straight
on the river Kassab, 39, is in real estate. He has one prior final table. Tonight
he got $4,438 for sixth place.
Joseph Baumgartner, a 59-year-old salesman from Cedar Park, Texas, soon
followed. He was all in for his last 10,000 with 7-5, no match for Harvey’s
pocket aces after no help from a J-10-5-4-9 board. Baumgartner, a dedicated
outdoorsman, finished fifth in a WSOP $2,000 event in 2001. Tonight’s finish
was worth $5,325.
Harvey then knocked out yet another player. This time it was 22-year-old
student Ryan Kennedy, who has a heads-up tournament win to his credit.
With a board of K-6-3-5-5, Harvey bet his A-K, only to have Kennedy raise
and go all in. He hesitated, then called, and was surprised when Kennedy
could only show pocket queens. Kennedy, typical of so many young players,
learned poker on the Internet. He got $7,100 for finishing fourth.
Harvey had now increased his lead to 144,000. He later got knocked down
some by Hijar. Both had flushes, Harvey had queen-high, Hijar king-high.
Both thought they had the best hand, and had maneuvered to get the most
chips out of each other.
Hijar then took another big pot, this time from Sonny Perry. Holding 6-4, he
check-raised with a full house when the board showed J-8-6-6-8. He now had
taken over the chip lead.
“I’m starting to play a lot of hands like you,” Hijar said to Harvey.
“Six-four?” Harvey replied. That’s the kind of crap I’d play.”
Down to 25,000, Perry soon went out. He decided to re-raise Hijar and go all
in with J-8. Hijar had K-9, which held up when the board showed Q-6-2-2-6.
Perry, 64, is from Nashville and is retired from the construction business. He
twice won Circuit rings in New Orleans and came in third in Grand Casino
Tunica’s championship event last year. His third-place finish tonight was
worth $8,876.
Heads-up, Hijar had about 220,000 to around 145,000 for Harvey. The blue
collar guy then pulled even when he held 5-4, made a straight, and check-
raised when the board showed 9-6-3-9-2. Hijar, giving him credit for a hand
like that, made a good laydown.
Harvey moved in front again as action continued, until a monster pot
developed. On the 30th heads-up hand, he had pocket treys, flopped a set
when the board came J-3-2, and filled when a second jack came on the river.
He reraised, only to see Hijar turn up J-2 for a bigger filly.
With limits now at 8,000-16,000, they were even again. But now Harvey was
in an aggressive stage, and Hijar, unable to take a pot, went steadily
downhill. On the final hand, the board showed 8-J-5-8-6. Hijar raised. Harvey,
betting his A-Q all the way, gave Hijar credit for a better hand, but called
anyway and was surprised to see Hijar had raised with 10-9 for a missed
straight draw.
With his first big cash-out, Harvey said he definitely planned to play a lot
more tournaments now. Hijar, a system software architect with Cingular, had
no prior cash-outs of any size either. He’s 30, is from Atlanta, and took home
$15,088 for second place.
— Max Shapiro
Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director
World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s Entertainment – Jack Effel
Harrah’s Grand Tunica Poker Room Manager – Karen Kaegin
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Wayne Harvey
J Hijar
Joseph Baumgartner
Ryan Kennedy
Doug Paxton
Jason Munson
Jack Lee
Salim Kassab
Sonny Perry
89,000
33,000
27,000
53,000
23,000
32,000
30,000
35,000
46,000
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Seat Name Chip Count