GGPOKER

One year removed from Chris Moneymaker’s incredible Main Event victory, the so-called ‘poker boom’ happened, and the realm of poker exploded. The World Championship of 2004 had three times the 839 entries of 2003, as a jaw-dropping 2,576 played the $10,000-entry World Series of Poker Main Event. In the end, if Moneymaker’s breakthrough year was all about new blood coming into the game, the 2004 world champion was something of a fossil.

Preliminary Events Hint at Madness to Come

A grand total of 32 events took place in 2004 prior to the 33rd and final event, the World Championship. The Player of the Year award was also introduced, and Canadian poker legend Daniel Negreanu, also known as ‘Kid Poker’, won it. Negreanu cashed six times, reached five final tables, and won the 287-strong $2,000 Event #15: Limit Hold’em bracelet event to take the overall title above closest challenger Ted Forrest.

Ted Forrest may have just missed out on winning the inaugural Player of the Year race, but he did scoop 2 bracelets that year. The first coming in Event #3: $1,500 Seven Card Stud and the second in Event #23: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, earning a total of $411,740 from just those tournaments. Early bracelet tournaments were also won by Future Hall of Fame players such as future Poker Hall of Famers T. J. Cloutier (Event #26: $1,500 Razz) and Barry Greenstein (Event #16: $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw), as well as Kathy Liebert, whose burgeoning reputation as the best female poker player in the world was bolstered by her victory in Event #17: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for $110,180 where she beat Kevin Song who had won a bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament in 1997.

Ted Forrest wasn’t the only player that year to win 2 bracelets. Scott Fischman also won two events, claiming the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #9 and $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event #12. Liebert’s bracelet-winning heroics were reproduced by fellow female player Cyndy Violette in Event #10: $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, and by Annie Duke, who won the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Event #19 for $137,860, defeating Erik Seidel along the way.

Records Broken and Harrington Doubles Up

If the 32 events that took place before the Main Event kicked off showed us anything in 2004, it was not only that poker was booming, but that truly anyone could win. The schedule was packed with tournament buy-ins that appealed to players of all levels.

The 22-year-old Gavin Griffin became the youngest bracelet winner in WSOP history when he won the $3,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event #25 for $270,420, beating a final table that included Phil Hellmuth and Ram ‘Crazy Horse’ Vaswani. Vaswani was part of The Hendon Mob, a four-piece British poker group who set up the pioneering website of the same name which catalogues every ranking tournament and result from the world poker since 2000. The site continues to add thousands of events and results to it’s archives, keeping a living record of the history of poker.

Legends of the game such as John ‘Johnny World’ Hennigan (Event #29: $5,000 Limit Hold’em) and T.J. Cloutier won bracelets before it was time for the Main Event. In previous years, the WSOP Main Event had taken two, three or four days to conclude. In 2004, it would take a week to find a world champion. And the story would be one for the ages.

The Other Bracelet Winners

The other bracelet winners from that year were Carl Nessel (Event #1: Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em), James Vogl (Event #2: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), Aaron Katz (Event #4: $1,500 Limit Hold’em), Curtis Bibb (Event #5: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better), Minh Nguyen (Event #6: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Gerald Drehobl (Event #7: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em), Chau Giang (Event #8: $2,000  Pot Limit Hold’em), Eli Balas (event #11: $2,500 Limit Hold’em), Thomas Keller (Event #13: $5,000 No Limit Hold’em), Hasan Habib (Event #14: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better), Phi Nguyen (Event #18: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout) Hung Doan (Event #20: $1,000 Ladies Limit Hold’em), Antonio Esfandiari (Event #21: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), Brett Jungblut (Event #22: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship), Joe Awada (Event #24: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Championship), Farzad Bonyadi (Event #27: $1,000 LImit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball), Gary Gibbs (Event #28: $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em), Mike Sica (Event #30; $3,000 No Limit Hold’em), Ted Lawson (Event #31: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha), and Norm Ketchum (Event #32: A-5 Draw Lowball).

With so many entrants into this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, the first issue for debate was how many players would be paid from the thousands that entered. As it turned out, the organizers settled on 225 paid places, with previous two-time runner-up Duane ‘Dewey’ Tomko sneaking into the money in 225th place to get his $10,000 buy-in back.

Others to cash but fail to make the latter stages included British poker newcomer and former bookmaker Neil Channing (205th), Israeli-American mixed games player Eli Elezra (170th), Finnish professional Juha Helppi (167th), Danish talent Gus Hansen (150th), regular Main Event player John Esposito (108th), Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow (87th), Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott (72nd), the two-time champion and poker legend Doyle Brunson (53rd) and the late, great Canadian Gavin Smith (52nd).

Inside the top 50 places, players including 2002 Main Event runner-up Julian Gardner (32nd for $80,000), 2000 world champion Chris Ferguson (26th for $120,000) and 10th-placed Dutch crooner Marcel Luske ($373,000) all got close. When the final table payouts were announced, players were besides themselves with excitement, with an incredible $5 million top prize, double that of Moneymaker’s bounty in 2003.

Harrington Sees Action

As the action began at the final table, ‘Action’ Dan Harrington was the name on everybody’s lips. In reaching his second consecutive Main Event final table in the Texas Hold’em Championship, he had achieved what looked almost impossible with the increased field sizes of the most recent two Main Events. Harrington held firm during the early eliminations at the last table in the tournament, as Michael McClain (9th for $470,400), Mattias Andersson (8th for $575,000) and Matt Dean (7th for $675,000) all slid out of contention.

Al Krux hit his ace on a flop of A-K-5 and moved all-in with ace-nine, only for Greg Raymer to call with ace-queen. A three on the turn and seven on the river saw Krux depart for a score of $800,000. Krux, who reached three WSOP Main Event final tables in his lifetime, was arrested in 2011 with over $200,000 worth of cannabis in his vehicle, bringing a distinguished poker career to a sad end.

Glenn Hughes was the least experienced player left of the final five, each of whom were guaranteed to win over a million dollars. All-in with king-queen against Greg Raymer’s pocket fives, a flop of A-T-4 offered Broadway draws to add to his overcards.

“Give me a jack, king or queen!” yelled Hughes, until this point almost silent but now desperate for survival. A ten on the turn was no good.

“Come on dealer, you can do it! Give it to me, baby!” Hughes pleaded, but a nine on the river sent him home in fifth place, with $1.1 million, the same amount won by the runner-up just two years earlier.

A Big Name and A Big Bluff

Down to four players, Dan Harrington fell a place short of his previous year’s finish but won more than double the amount. In 2003, Harrington had taken home $650,000 in third place. In 2004, he came fourth for $1.5 million. On a board showing 9-5-2-3, David Williams, a former Magic: The Gathering card player, bet half a million chips. Harrington double-barrelled all-in with just a double-gutter and Williams called with a 2-3 for two pair. Another three on the river sent Harrington home.

“It was an honor playing with you,” said the gracious and humble Williams, as ‘Action Dan’ was congratulated warmly by all the remaining players and the packed house at Binion’s, the last time the event would take place at the original venue before moving to the Rio Convention Center a mile away from the Las Vegas Strip.

Josh Arieh went next as he lost a coinflip. All-in with pocket nines, Arieh needed to fade an ace or a queen which would give Raymer a bigger pair.

“I aint won one yet,” laughed Arieh. “Why start now?”

Sadly for him, his own prophecy came true, a crushing flop of Q-Q-J landing to put him behind. A nine and only a nine would save him and after a three on the turn, a four on the river sent play heads-up. Greg Raymer complimented Arieh, who accepted it with a polite smile before embracing Williams and whispering in his ear: ‘Bust this m*tha****a’ as he went off to collect the $2.5 million third-place prize – the same amount Moneymaker took home 12 months earlier.

Heads-up, the clash of styles, of young versus old, would go the chip leader’s way. Williams began with 8.24 million chips, while Raymer sat behind 17,125,000, just better than double his opponent’s stack.

The Finale

The final hand saw a dramatic finish as a board of 5-2-4-2-2 had fallen before Greg Raymer announced all-in holding pocket eights. Williams had ace-four and took barely two seconds to think about it before announcing ‘call’, losing with his full house to Raymer’s superior one.

‘Presto!’ yelled the champion. ‘I can’t imagine $5 million in my pocket.’ Raymer told Norman Chad later in his post-match interview.

Throughout the event, Raymer had played with a fossil acting as his card protector. This led to him becoming known as ‘The Fossil Man’, which was later shortened to simply ‘Fossilman’, Raymer was a rock throughout. He didn’t crumble at the final table, however, and while a crestfallen Williams won $3.5m, ‘Fossilman’ took home $5m – the biggest prize ever awarded to a Main Event world champion.

Within 12 months, it would look small by comparison as the World Series of Poker Main Event was about to be turned upside down.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Greg Raymer	United States	$5,000,000
2nd	David Williams	United States	$3,500,000
3rd	Josh Arieh	United States	$2,500,000
4th	Dan Harrington	United States	$1,500,000
5th	Glenn Hughes	United States	$1,100,000
6th	Al Krux	United States	$800,000
7th	Matt Dean	United States	$675,000
8th	Mattias Andersson	Sweden	$575,000
9th	Mike McClain	United States	$470,400

About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.

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Edited by Shawn A.