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The Great Dane Danish player wins first poker tournament and $118,379 Experts in any one field tend to be extraordinary in other areas, as well. For instance, those with a special talent for languages can learn a third or even a fourth language much easier than the rest of us. Great thinkers tend to understand multiple sciences – physics, chemistry, and mathematics, for example. Inventors are likely to initiate multiple discoveries, not just one. Intellectual aptitude extends to game theory, also. As proof – consider the winner of Event #12 at the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open. Danish-born master gamesman and 2002 Backgammon World Champion Mads Andersen topped a highly-competitive field of 135 players and earned his first poker victory. Not since Paul Magriel has any backgammon expert broken into the sanctified winner’s circle of a major poker tournament. Magriel, renowned for his backgammon expertise and achievements during the 1970s and 80s, made a number of poker tournament final tables in recent years. Now, Mads Andersen has invaded the poker world and is taking no prisoners. He arrived at the final table sixth in the chip count, overcame several short-stacked situations, staged a startling comeback, and by wiping out one of the world’s best Pot-Limit Omaha players, made a bold statement that he has arrived on the poker scene. On Day One, 126 players were eliminated short of the prize money. The final table was played on Day Two and the players were eliminated as follows: 9th Place – This was Raul Paez’s second time to make it to a final table. He won the Pot-Limit Hold’em event a week earlier, earning nearly $100,000. Unfortunately, Paez was knocked out 40 minutes into the finale. He was short-stacked and made his last stand with Q-Q-x-x. However, Dale Morrow had 8-8-x-x and flopped an Eight, bouncing Paez out in 9th place. Paez, from Barcelona, Spain added $9,865 to his JBWPO money winnings. 8th Place – Ayaz Mahmood, from Houston, TX has now attended the JBWPO for five straight years. This was the cash-game specialist’s second appearance at a final table. Mahmood played his final hand with A-A-x-x, normally a very powerful starting hand in Pot-Limit Omaha. However, Robert Williamson caught a full house with 8s full of 10s, and destroyed Mahmood’s chances of victory. Mahmood received $13,153 for 8th place. 7th Place – Paired Aces proved to be the downfall of another player, when Tony Lay was dealt A-A-x-x and raised ‘all in’ against Mads Andersen, with A-K-Q-J. The final board showed two Kings and a Jack, giving Andersen a full house. Tony Lay – who finished second in this same event last year – collected $16,441. 6th Place – When one thinks of the nation of Afghanistan – poker is probably the last thing that comes to mind. Sherkhan Farnood (from Kabul), Afghanistan’s #1 ranked poker player – got unlucky when flopped the ignorant end of the straight with 9-8 after the flop came 10-J-Q. Unfortunately, Dale Morrow caught the better end of the runner, with A-K, and Farnood was out. This was Farnood’s best poker tournament finish in the United States – good for $19,730. He won the Australian Open poker tournament in 2003. 5th Place – Larry Kozlove started with fewest chips, but moved four spots up the money ladder and took 5th place. He was crippled when he lost to Karl Limbert’s flush, and with his last 1,000 was ‘all in’ on the following hand. Kozlove was eliminated and collected $23,018 in prize money. Remarkably, Kozlove has now played in only two Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments in his life – making the final table each time (he was 3rd in the Mid-America Poker Classic in Tunica, last summer). 4th Place – Dale Morrow, a real estate developer with multiple homes in Tunica, MS and Myrtle Beach, SC, went out next. He flopped top-two pair but ended up losing to a straight. Morrow has made final tables at the Bellagio, Binion’s Horseshoe Las Vegas, and here at the JBWPO. His win amounted to $26,306 for 4th place. 3rd Place – British bookie Karl Limbert was low on chips early, then doubled up twice with A-A-x-x. In fact, he had the best run of anyone in the finale – moving up from dead last in chips, ultimately to 3rd place. Limbert’s last hand was a real heartbreaker. He was dealt A-K-7-7 and flopped the nut-flush draw with clubs. However, Mads Andersen had A-Q-10-9 and flopped the nut straight. The final board showed K-J-9-J-6 – for Limbert, one club short of the flush. Limbert, making his second final table at this year’s tournament, received $36,171 for 3rd place. The head’s up confrontation between backgammon superstar Mads Andersen and former JBWPO and WSOP multi-tournament champion Robert Williamson III was one of the most spectacular in recent memory. It was one of the few final tables where the amount of spectators actually swelled as the competition became more intense, and overtly theatrical. It lasted about an hour, and for most who watched – it was too short. This two-player finale had literally everything anyone could want in a poker match – including Williamson drinking and clowning, both players toasting each other and the crowd, wives and girlfriends laughing and cheering, Gus Hansen at tableside serving as a sort of mentor to Andersen, guest commentary by John Bonetti and George “the Greek,” and side bets between the players and spectators. At one point amidst the poker circus, ringmaster Williamson made the mind-boggling offer to pool both first and second-place prize money -- and play for it all. Andersen nearly agreed to the deal, but passed. Brit bookie, Karl Limbert (out third) made Williamson a $10,000 side wager he wouldn’t win, and tossed two $5,000 chips onto the felt, which Williamson covered. Meanwhile, the cocktail waitress could not bring drinks fast enough, and Williamson must have consumed two dozen shots and beers – nearly the amount of re-buys he put into this event (a staggering ‘27’ by Williamson’s own admission). The $27,000 ‘investment meant that Williamson had to finish third or better in this event to make a profit -- and to his credit, he accomplished that. In fact, the heavy booze, the clown act, the intimidating stares, the jive-talk, the overbearing human volcano that is Robert Williamson at a poker table disguised the fact that behind all the verbal lava is a great poker player. But even great poker players….lose. In fact, they sometimes run into players who are just as good, if not better. Andersen was down 3 to 1 in chips at one point, and was ‘all in’ and one card from elimination. However, he managed to patiently wait for the cards to turn, never gave up, and seized the chip lead – much to the astonishment of Williamson and a packed poker gallery. On the final hand, Williamson flopped three Queens with Q-Q-x-x. However, the three flop cards were all made up of clubs. Andersen had the 5-3 of clubs in his hand – good for the ‘made’ flush. Williamson had plenty of outs, and needed the board to pair. But in the end, the club flush held up and Mads Andersen was the new poker champion. Amazingly, Williamson won this event previously in 2003 and also won a gold bracelet in Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2002 World Series of Poker. So, defeating Williamson in heads-up play was quite an accomplishment – even for a master gamesman like Andersen. “In backgammon, it’s all about playing percentages. If I know I have a 55 percent edge, I’m going to fire at it,” Andersen remarked. “I think backgammon was good for me in that way, because I’m not afraid to bet everything when I know the percentages are on my side.” After the win, poker icon Gus Hansen sat alongside Andersen – unquestionably the most powerful 1-2 punch in Danish poker. In the years ahead, poker historians may make a convincing case that 2003-2004 was the “Gus Hansen era.” No other player quite made such a name for himself nor dominated both tournament and live action poker the way Hansen did. But now, there’s a new Dane in town. And the question is -- might this be the start of the “Mads Andersen era?”
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2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open Event #12 Results
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