Monday Final Report

John Gale was sitting in the lobby smoking one in a series of Marlboro Red cigarettes and filling out the player biography sheet for the World Poker Tour producers. Gale is not a nervous man. In fact, he's an English gentleman from Bushey, a little town outside London. But when he needs a smoke (about every ten to 15 minutes), he really needs a smoke.

"It's terrible, isn't it?" he said to me yesterday after stealing away into the lobby in between final table hands.

Now that he's made it to the televised final table, he has time to relax a little bit.


Chip-leader, John Gale

But sitting in the lobby, he had a problem.

"I can't answer this question," he said, pointing to the player bio questionnaires. His wife was hovering over him, as was the producer for the WPT. Gale was smiling.

"My biggest loss," he mused. "I can tell you about my biggest win, but my my biggest loss? My wife is standing here."

That's John Gale, the man who has only played in two live tournaments his entire life. And the first one in Belfast, Ireland?

"That didn't really count because I only played for about ten minutes," Gale said.

Gale is not a poker pro. Far from it. He makes a good living in England as a management consultant. He's been playing for about a year online, usually in no-limit hold'em tournaments. When he's playing cash games, he plays Omaha.

"There's more action there," he said.

But now, he heads into the World Poker Tour final table of six as the chip leader with $1,330,000 in chips. After starting the day with with only $425,000 in chips, Gale found good fortune twice in the hour and half of play it took to get down to the final six players.

Before we get to that however, we must recall there were eight other players vying for the six seats on the WPT.

This is how it looked as we started the day.

Seat 1: Christian Kruel (.C.K.)$237K --Online qualifier
Seat 2: John Gale (gizzimow)$425K --Online qualifier
Seat 3: Patrick Hocking $502K (TheHawk) --Online qualifier
Seat 4: Steve Zolotow $147K (AmazingGrace) --Cash buy-in
Seat 5: Greg Debora $835K (ChosenKid) --Online qualifier
Seat 6: Nenad Medic $316K (serb2127) --Online qualifer
Seat 7: Mikael Westerlund $1,048,000 --Cash buy-in
Seat 8: Miami John Cernuto $256K --Cash buy-in
Seat 9: Alex Balandin $857K (ignatiusj) --Cash buy-in

The blinds sat at 8000/16,000 with a 3000 ante. Bar-owner and poker pro Steve Zolotow sat with the lowest stack and was unfortunate enough to be in the big blind on the very first hand.

When every player folded around to the blinds, ever the quipster, Zolotow said, "I like the way this is going so far."

In the small blind, Patrick Hocking raised it to make the total bet $88,000.

"Still like it?" Greg Debora said.

Apparently, Zolotow did not and gave Hocking the first hand.


Steve Zolotow

Two hands later, everyone folded around to Zolotow on the button. Zolotow pushed all-in for a little more than a $100,000.

Debora asked, "How much?"

Again, Zolotow quipped, "It's like buying a yacht. If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Zolotow admitted, he wanted to use the joke on TV, but felt like we wasn't going to make it. Then he turned to Debora and said, "There's no shame in folding.

Instead, Debora called from the small blind and Nenad Medic, in the big blind, went in the tank. It became fairly obvious that Medic had a big hand, but not aces or kings, when he asked if he and Zolotow both lost whether he would get 8th place money because he had more chips.



When the tournament director answered in the affirmative, Medic announced he was all-in for $201,000 more, turned to Debora and parrotted Zoltow. "There's no shame in folding," he said. This time, Debora complied and mucked.

Zolotow flipped up 89o. Medic flipped two queens.

Medic cringed a bit when the flop came down J94. He cringed more when the turn came a ten. Now, Zolotow was open ended with a pair of nines. That left four sevens, two nines, and two queens. Eight outs going into the river to beat Medic's QQ.

Zolotow said, "Give him trips. He needs trips."

And there it was on the river. The queen. Medic's set lost to a runner-runner straight.

Zolotow raked his pot and lived to quip again.

It would not last long, though.

When the big blind got back around to Zolotow, Alex Ballandin made it $50,000 to go from middle position and Zolotow called from his blind. The flop came down J39 with two diamonds. Zolotow immediately moved all in for just under $209,000 more.

Ballandin buried his hands in his long hair, laboring over whether to make the call. When he emerged from the tank, it appeared he'd put on Zolotow on the diamond flush draw. Ballandin called. Zolotow showed his Q9, second pair with a queen kicker. Sure enough, Zolotow flipped up A6 of diamonds for the nut flush draw. The turn gave Zolotow his six, but no diamond. The river was no help either and Steve Z. busted out in 9th place, taking home $65,800 for his efforts. Zolotow pledged 5% of his winnings to PokerStars.com's Tsunami Relief effort, which PokerStars will match.

A few hands later, John Gale made it $50,000 to go and Greg Debora (I believe from the button) announced he was all-in. Debora still had more than $500,000 in chips. Gale immediately called and Debora flipped up AKo. I can't accuratle describe the look on Debora's face when Gale turned over AA. The flop brought Debora some hope, putting T9J on the board. The turn made it even more interesting. An eight. Any of four queens gave Debora the straight. Any of four sevens would put a straight on the board for a chopped pot. Instead, the river was a nine and Debora was crippled.


Greg Debora before the crippling hand

Later Gale would say of the nature of poker, "I could have the AK versus AA tomorrow. It can change so quickly."

While Debora was crippled, Christian Kruel would do him a favor worth more than $13,000.

With folds all the way to Kruel's button, Kruel made it $56,000 to go. Gale called from the small blind, and Patrick Hocking folded. The flop came down AQT rainbow. Gale checked and Kruel immediately announced he was all-in. Gale called immediately and Kruel showed his bluff: 84o. Gale showed his ATs for two pair and Kruel was done, cashing for $77,900.

Just a few hands later, Ballandin made it $55,000 to go and Greg Debora moved all-in from the button. Ballandin called and Debora showed KK. Ballandin showed his ATs. The flop came down A73 and Debora's king never came. The 22-year-old online qualifer from Toronto left the room with $91,700.

He left three other online qualifiers to finish the tournament: Nenad Medic, John Gale, and Patrick Hocking. Medic, from Niagra Falls, Cananda is student and poker player. You already know about Gale. Hocking is a former CPA from Medford, OR who now works in hospital administration. "I'm a total amateur," he admitted. "I don't know what to think. I can't believe it."

Hocking plays $5/$10 limit online and plays a lot of $10 and $20 Sit & Gos. He's been playing online for five years about which he said, "My wife likes that. It keeps me at home."

Rounding out the field are pro Miami John Cenudo, Mikael Westerlund, and Alex Ballandin, both of whom were profiled in the final report from last night (Sunday).

Seat 1: John Gale, England (gizzimow) $1,330,000
Seat 2: Patrick Hocking, Medford, OR, USA (The Hawk) $527,000
Seat 3: Nenad Medic, Niagra Falls, Canada (serb2127) $142,000
Seat 4: Mikael Westerlund, Gothenburg, Sweden $1,072,000
Seat 5: Miami John Cernuto, Las Vegas, NV $291,000
Seat 6: Alex Balandin, New York, (ignatiusj) $1,261,000

As for chip leader John Gale, he said, "I'm just over the moon to be here. I'll just take what comes and I'll still be smiling.

The final table is scheduled for 11am Tuesday. We're still working out the details on how we'll publish the action from this blog. Rest assured, you'll have very frequent updates as the play progresses. Check back Tuesday morning for full details.