by Nolan Dalla
Special to VegasInsider.com
2005 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suites Casino-Resort
Official Report
Event #5
Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $1,500
Number of Entries: 699
Total Prize Money: $964,620
Official Results:
1. Pat Poels Mesa, AZ $270,100
2. John Lukas Las Vegas, NV $139,870
3. Jeff Duvall London, England $77,170
4. Bahram Kianfar Palm Desert, CA $67,525
5. Dan Heimiller Plymouth, MI $57,875
6. ‘Minneapolis Jim’ Meehan St. Paul, MN $48,230
7. Darrell Dicken Watterloo, IA $38,585
8. Boris Shats Los Angeles, CA $28,940
9. Minh Nguyen Lake Elsinore, CA $19,290
You Gotta’ have Faith:
Pat Poels quits his job, plays poker, and wins $270,100
How many recreational poker players could walk up to their spouses and say with a straight face, “I’m going to quit my job to play poker for a living.”
Pat Poels did.
About a year ago, Poels, a 37-year-old father of three from Mesa, AZ, received the approval and encouragement of his wife to leave a secure, good-paying job in order to pursue a dream. “She actually wanted me to become a pro poker player,” Poels explained of the situation, as a confused poker audience scratched their collective heads and wondered if they were hearing voices. That faith paid off when Pat Poels crushed a record-field of 699 players in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low world championship and won a whopping $270,100 in prize money.
No one -- sans Mrs. Poels who sat in the front row cheering on her husband -- could have predicted that Poels would end up with his first gold bracelet. Consider what happened on Day One, when there were still about 200 players remaining and blinds were at 100-200. Poels lost a big pot and was down to just 300 in chips – barely enough to see a few more hands. Amazingly, Poels was just about to get up from his table and leave when he was ‘all in’ with an ace, and spiked an ace on the river – good for top pair. Those 700 in chips might not have seemed significant at the time. But a day and a half later, they would transform a previously-unknown middle-limit pro from the Phoenix area into the latest WSOP champion. In essence, hitting that ace netted Poels over a quarter-million dollars in prize money.
There were other obstacles, as well. The final table was comprised of four former gold bracelet winners (and two players with two wins each – Nguyen and Lukas). Furthermore, ‘Minneapolis Jim’ Meehan was making his third straight final table appearance in this event (2003, 2004, and now 2005), a most impressive accomplishment considering the large fields and high level of competition. Poels came in fourth in the chip count:
THE FINAL TABLE:
SEAT 1: Minh Nguyen 24,000
SEAT 2: Pascal Perrault 27,000
SEAT 3: John Lukas 168,000
SEAT 4: Jeff Duvall 123,000
SEAT 5: Darrell Dicken 190,000
SEAT 6: Boris Shats 106,000
SEAT 7: ‘Minneapolis Jim’ Meehan 87,000
SEAT 8: Dan Heimiller 149,000
SEAT 9: Bahram Kianfar 73,000
SEAT 10: Pat Poels 113,000
Players were eliminated as follows:
10th Place – Pascal Perrault’s stay at the final table was mercifully short. He arrived with barely enough chips to cover a round of blinds and was the first player to exit. Perrault, who is one of Europe’s top players, has won many poker events. However, for all his tournament success, he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. Perrault will have to wait at least another day to have a shot at his first victory stateside. He cashed for $10,610.
9th Place – Minh Nguyen, the winner of two gold bracelets, was the next player to hit the rail. Like Perrault, Nguyen arrived desperately short-stacked and was scooped on his final hand of the night. Nguyen picked up $19,290 for 9th place.
8th Place – Russian-born Boris Shats was eliminated next. The 23-year-old sales manager, who now lives in Los Angeles, has been playing poker for only a year. He picked up 29,940 as the 8th-place finisher.
7th Place – Darrell Dicken went out next. The 27-year-old poker pro from Iowa has made it to three final tables this year at tournaments elsewhere. Unfortunately, not much went right for Dicken towards the end of this event. Dicken arrived with the chip lead but could do no better than a 7th-place showing. He did receive $38,585.
6th Place – The third time was not a charm for ‘Minneapolis Jim’ Meehan. The former attorney, who is now retired and mostly plays high-limit poker and tournaments for a living, was making his third consecutive final table appearance in this event. But Meehan couldn’t establish any momentum in the closing stages. Just when it looked as if Meehan might make a move, he lost a big pot and was gradually down to the lowest stack. He was eliminated by Jeff Duvall. $8,230 was paid out for 6th place.
5th Place – Dan Heimiller was one of four former gold bracelet winners sitting at the final table. This was his 11th career final table appearance. Heimiller collected $57,785 for 5th place.
4th Place – Pat Poels took the chip lead and shifted into high gear. He became the most aggressive player at the final table, and the modification of strategy served him well. While opponents tended to play more timidly, Poels constantly applied pressure and won more than his fair share of pots. The same could not be said for Bahram Kranfar. The Iranian-born retiree now living in Palm Desert, CA, went out next and collected $67,525. That left Poels with a 3 to 1 chip lead.
3rd Place – Jeff Duvall, a London-based professional poker player, has previously made it to a final table at the WSOP. At age 56, Duvall now says that poker has become a ‘young man’s sport.” But by the looks of this final table, the older generation was doing just fine (eight of the 10 finalists were 40 years of age or older – which some might say is typical of Omaha events). Duvall was the next player to exit, in 7th place – good for $77,170.
The heads-up duel was a clash of backgrounds and styles. John Lukas was a two-time gold bracelet winner facing Pat Poels, a player who was making his first WSOP final table appearance. But Poels came into the battle with at least one crucial advantage. He had more chips – 600,000 to about 450,000. Limits were 15,000-30,000, which meant the duel was certain to continue for a while. Lukas made a small move and drew close to even in chips with Poels. Then, after about an hour of heads-up play, disaster struck Lukas.
Poels scooped five consecutive pots.
No player, not even the best player in the world, could survive the onslaught of a card rush, which is exactly what happened. Poels made two-pair twice, a flush, a straight and won one pot with an uncalled bet, which ended the tournament at 3:35 am in front of a nearly empty room of yawning, blurry-eyed spectators. Given that play on Day One took 14 hours, and play on Day Two took another 15 hours, Poels’ victory was not so much a raw exhibition of poker success, but perhaps more fittingly, an exercise in the art of stamina and survival.
The runner up was John Lukas, a former Vietnam veteran who is now retired and lives in Las Vegas. Lukas won his gold bracelets in Razz (1983) and Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split (1985). Afterward, he was consoled by his wife, who joined Lukas on what was the night of the couple’s 44th wedding anniversary. Lukas fell just short of what would have been gold bracelet number three, and was visibly disappointed that he did not win. Lukas did handle the defeat with style and grace and deserved every bit of the 2nd-place prize money, totaling $139,870
The new $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low world champion is Pat Poels. However, the real winner was the entire Poels Family -- for believing, for trusting, and for having the courage to allow a man to pursue a dream. For some, dreams do come true.
Note: The defending champion of this event was Curtis Bibb, formally from Las Vegas, NV. In 2004, Bibb topped a (then-record) field of 374 players and won $160,000. Sadly, the defending champ passed away about two months before the start of this year’s World Series. Everyone in the universal poker family, especially World Series of Poker staff, wish to extend our most sincere condolences to Mr. Bibb’s family. He will be sorely missed.
