PokerWorks

Razz is a special game that attracts a special kind of poker player, one who craves non-hold’em action and admittedly claims to love/hate the game. People claim that it’s brutal, but they line up to play it anyway. Somehow, they are drawn to the version of stud poker called razz.

But more important than the game played tonight was the result. Jeffrey Lisandro steamrolled the final table on the way to his third bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker and claimed his fourth ever bracelet. It was a historic night for Lisandro and the WSOP.

When the event began on Monday, June 22, there were 315 players interested in playing this $2,500 tournament, and they created a prize pool of $724,500. The last 32 players standing were due to be in the money, though the field only thinned to 118 on the first day of action Day 2 saw the bubble burst when John Juanda was taken out by Lisandro in 33rd place.

Day 3 began with 13 players, and it didn’t take long to see the first elimination, which occurred when Nikolay Evdakov was ousted by Kenna James, and Evdakov received $10,107 for 13th place. Ville Wahlbeck was able to double his short stack through Lisandro but finally went up against Kenna James and lost the battle to finish for $12,737 in 12th place. William Cole left in 11th place with $12,737, and Al Barbieri was eliminated in tenth place to cash for $15,570.

The last nine players were reseated at one table, and that was where play seemed to stop for quite some time. During the first two or so hours of nine-handed play, Bari doubled through Zewin and Rodawig, Rodawig doubled through Lisandro, and Warwick tripled up twice. After some more chip-exchanging action, it was finally Don Zewin who got involved with Diano and Fisler that ended with Zewin holding J-8-6-4-A against the 8-7-6-3-2 of Fisler. That left Zewin out in ninth place with $15,570 on the official final table bubble.

With that, the final table was set as follows:

Seat 1:  Michael Craig        343,000
Seat 2:  Warwick Mirzikinian    271,000
Seat 3:  Steve Diano          96,000
Seat 4:  Allen Bari          55,000
Seat 5:  Ryan Fisler        412,000
Seat 6:  Jeff Lisandro        814,000
Seat 7:  Kenna James        210,000
Seat 8:  Eric Rodawig        171,000

The first exit came when Bari called all-in on fourth street against Fisler. Bari’s hand ended with (Q-4)6-K-8-Q(A) as compared to the (3-9)4-K-6-4(5) of Fisler, and Allen Bari took an eighth place finish with $19,880.

The next to risk his tournament life was Diano, who was all-in by fourth street and saw his hand come out (4-7)6-4-4-5(J), but Mirzikinian was there for the ride with (8-7)4-5-10-A(J). Steve Diano left in seventh place with $23,669.

Kenna James came to the table strong and with a good deal of aggression but finally took a significant hit at the hands of the ever-climbing Lisandro. It was soon after that he tangled with Craig and found himself all-in with (4-8)6-A-7-4(Q) against his opponent’s (6-6)2-3-J-5(7). James was forced to accept the $29,472 for sixth place.

It was then that Lisandro was absolutely dominating. He held more than 1.4 million chips, and everyone else combined had 919K.

Eric Rodawig then decided to challenge the chip leader but came up with (K-5)5-8-Q-J to Lisandro’s (9-Q)7-6-10-5. Rodawig was drawing dead and left in fifth place with $38,471.

Mirzikinian attempted a double-up and succeeded through Michael Craig, and then he tried it again. He went into battle with Lisandro and was all-in on fifth street with a hand that ended with (4-10)3-8-A-J(Q). Lisandro had him beat with 7-6-5-4-2, and Warwick Mirzikinian left in fourth place with $52,773.

At that point, Lisandro had more than 2 million in chips and seemed unstoppable.

Fisler tangled with the monster stack only to be forced into a fold on seventh street with only 35K behind. He pushed soon after with (5-9)8-5-4-5(K) against the (6-2)4-3-J-10(5) of Craig. Ryan Fisler couldn’t beat the low and left with $76,261 in third place.

Heads-up action then began with the following counts:

Jeff Lisandro    2,153,000
Michael Craig       210,000

It took what seemed to be only moments. Lisandro took the first pot, and Craig seemed to know that he would have to move right away if he had any chance of changing the course of action.

The last hand soon panned out when the two went to fifth street before Craig was all-in with (6-8)A-A-8-J(K) against the (10-8)4-4-9-7(J) of Lisandro. The 10-9-8-7-4 was the best hand, and Michael Craig was eliminated in second place with $116,405.

Jeff Lisandro claimed his third bracelet of the 2009 WSOP and fourth overall, but as pointed out by PokerNews reporters, he boasted of three unique bracelets in stud - stud high, stud-8, and razz. A thrilling accomplishment, indeed. Congratulations!