WSOP Event #21 $1,500 NLHE Shootout - Negreanu takes shot at bracelet

Entrants for Event #21 the $1,500 NLHE shootout exceeded expectation and tournament staff had to extend the initial planned maximum field of 800 up to 900 players to accommodate those wanting to take part.

The shootout format of the competition is completely different to a normal tournament format and each table is effectively it’s own little mini-tournament with only the winner progressing to the next round with each of the other players being eliminiated.

This format means that in each stage you have to show a variety of skills from deep stack play, to short handed and heads up play in order to progress through each stage.

There were three stages to this tournament, the first stage narrowed the field down from 900 players to 90 players and then the second stage cut this down to the final table of 9 players.

The star studded final table took place in the Bluff tent ready for the slightly delayed live broadcast of the event over the internet. Due to the format of the tournament each player starts the final table with 300k in chips (having eliminated the same amount of players each and acquired their chips).

The final table line-up was as follows:

• Seat 1 — Don Baruch
• Seat 2 — Daniel Negreanu
• Seat 3 — Jared Davis
• Seat 4 — Thomas Fuller
• Seat 5 — Fred Goldberg
• Seat 6 — Brendan Lee
• Seat 7 — Michael Wehner
• Seat 8 — Doug Baughman
• Seat 9 — Erick Lindgren

The action started off slow and cagey and we didn’t have any eliminations for the first couple of hours as the players jostled for position.

It was in fact one of the favourites Erick Lindgren who was knocked out first when he hit an Ace on the board with his A-7 and found himself all in against the two pair of Don Baruch. Despite his success in other events around the world Lindgren was left still without a WSOP bracelet to his name and left in 9th place with $12,899.

Soon after this there was a big three way hand involving Daniel Negreanu, Doug Baughman and Don Baruch. The flop came and after a check raise by Negreanu following a bet by Doug Baughman, Baruch released his hand. Baughman then moved all in and was called by Negreanu who was holding A-K for top pair top kicker. Baughman turned over for a massive draw with both a straight and flush possibilities. No help came however and Negreanu’s hand held up to eliminate Doug Baughman in 8th place with prize money of $15,971.

Negreanu continued to build his chip stack and really showed his class with a great call to eliminate Brendan Lee. After a flop of 10-6-2 Negreanu only held K-6 for a middle pair and after Lee moved all in, Negreanu made the call and forced Lee to turn over a complete bluff with A-8. Lee was eliminated in 6th place and took home $22,113.

Throughout the table Daniel Negreanu was really impressive with his reads and plays, and he once again proved this on the next elimination. After he had opened the pot before the flop raising with K-Q it was met by Michael Wehner moving all in. Negreanu said out loud before calling the modest extra amount “You must have ace-four” and to the crowd’s amazement Wehner turned over A-4. A king on the flop and then another on the river ensured that Michael Wehner exited in 5th place with prize money of $36,855.

Negreanu was now the big stack at the table and held more chips than all three of his opponents combined. Jared Davis made his attempt to close the chip gap down by eliminating Thomas Fuller in 4th place sending him home with $68,796.

Then it was Don Baruch who doubled up through Negreanu to also bring his chip stack in line. Not long after things had changed around slightly and the chip stacks looked like this at the Dinner Break:

• Don Baruch — 1,060,000
• Daniel Negreanu — 874,000
• Jared Davis — 766,000

After dinner Baruch continued to move ahead in the chip stacks winning some big pots and severely denting Negreanu’s stack.

It was actually Jared Davis holding pocket 5’s who eventually eliminated Negreanu who was holding A-8 and the 5’s held up to eliminate Negreanu with a prize of $101,351.

Going into heads up play and Baruch held a massive chip lead:

• Don Baruch - 2,093,000
• Jared Davis - 607,000

Heads up played out for quite a long time, with no real dangerous moments for either player, until the decisive hand when Davis made a move with A-5 to be called by Baruch’s K-Q. After a queen came on the flop Davis was eliminated in 2nd place and Baruch won the bracelet and the first prize of $264,107.

The final standings for Event #21 of WSOP 2007 were:

1. Don Baruch — $264,107
2. Jared Davis — $149,263
3. Daniel Negreanu — $101,351
4. Thomas Fuller — $68,796
5. Michael Wehner — $36,855
6. Brendan Lee — $22,113
7. Doug Baughman — $15,971
8. Erick Lindgren — $12,899
9. Fred Goldberg — $9,828

There’s still time to qualify for the WSOP main event by winning one of the many satellites taking place on Pokerstars.

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