2007 WSOP Event #21 – Don Baruch Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout

The shootout events at the World Series of Poker are always interesting.  First, there is the unique format: rather than playing against the entire field (a record-setting 900 runners in this case), you are only asked to beat the players at your table.  No breaking tables, no moving of players.  Last person remaining at the table moves on.  And so it goes until the final table.  This year, all the winner had to do was win three single table tournaments.  Sounds easy, and yes, maybe it is easier than defeating 899 players, but it’s still no walk in the park.  The first day of the tournament is also odd, as tables finish at different times, so the winners are never quite sure when they will be needed to start the next round.  It is very weird to see the event several hours into play, but with only a handful of people still playing, scattered throughout the room. 

Don Baruch made his first major tournament cash a big one, winning the shootout event and $264,000.  As everyone started with the same number of chips ($300,000, which was 50 times the starting big blind), there were no big stacks who were able to bully their opponents from the get-go.  No short stacks who needed to push right away.  And with good friends and poker heavyweights, Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren, at the final table, it may have been one of the toughest final tables to win.

Forty-five minutes into play, Brendan Lee and Michael Wehner had made the biggest moves, up to $427,000 and $352,000, respectively, while Lindgren was the short stack at $214,000. 

At around that same time, the table saw its first elimination.  Negreanu and last year’s tenth place Main Event finisher, Fred Goldberg, got all-in pre-flop, Negreanu with A-K and Goldberg with J-J.  Through the turn, it was looking rosy for Goldberg, but an Ace on the river doubled-up Negreanu and sent Goldberg packing in 9^th place.  That put Negreanu up to $458,000, just behind Lee, who had built his stack to $475,000.  Jared Davis was also healthy at $400,000. 

About seventy-five minutes in, our eventual champion had lost almost half his stack, but after out-flopping Thomas Fuller (A-J versus K-K), he climbed back to just over his starting amount. 

Next to go was Lindgren, who just couldn’t get on track.  After the turn produced the board J-9-5-A, Lindgren moved all-in and was called by Baruch.  Lindgren had A-7 for top pair, but Baruch had him drawing dead, holding A-9.  Lindgren was out in 8^th place, while Baruch increased his chip count to a half million. 

The 7^th place finisher was determined twenty-five minutes later.  Negreanu, Baruch, and Doug Baughman saw a flop of K-J-3.  Negreanu check raised both opponents and Baughman moved all-in.  Baruch got out of the way, but Negreanu called with A-K for top pair, top kicker.  Baughman had a monster draw, with Q-10 suited, giving him an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw.  He lost outs when Negreanu hit trip Kings on the turn, but it didn’t matter, as none of his original outs came through on the river.   

Baruch was down to $340,000 after that, whereas Negreanu leapt into the chip lead with $899,000. 

Former chip leader, Brandon Lee, had seen his stack get whittled down and finally had to try to make a move to get back in the game.  On a flop of 10-6-2, he moved all-in on a bluff, holding A-8.  Negreanu contemplated and made a great call, with K-6.  The turn and river were blanks, and Lee was out in 6^th place.   

Negreanu was now dominating with over $1.4 million in chips.  Fuller was a distant second with only $510,000.  Baruch was sitting with $310,000. 

Twelve hands after Lee’s dismissal, Michael Wehner hit the rail in 5^th place.  He moved all-in pre-flop with A-4 of hearts and Negreanu called him with K-Q.  The flop paired Negreanu’s King, giving him the lead, but Wehner picked up a flush draw and gut-shot on the turn.  Another King on the river iced it for Negreanu.  The best part about this hand was while Negreanu was considering the call, he actually said, “You must have Ace-Four.”  The only thing missing in the prediction were the suits.  As Wehner was the short stack at the time, Negreanu felt he was getting the right price to call any Ace.  Negreanu was continuing to roll over the table. 

Thomas Fuller fell next, in 4^th place, fifteen hands later.  He got all-in pre-flop with A-5 against Jared Davis’s A-A and, as expected, did not improve enough. 

Going into three-handed play, Negreanu had $1.6 million, while the other two players only had about $1.1 million between them. 

Davis quickly took a decent pot and then Baruch doubled through Negreanu, bringing the chip stacks closer together.  After six hands, Negreanu was down below $1.2 million, Baruch had $745,000, and Davis had $795,000. 

Then Baruch grabbed chips from Davis, who in turn took a bunch from Negreanu, and like that, Baruch had the lead with over $1 million.  The other two players were under $900,000. 

Baruch continued his ascent, forcing Negreanu out of hand by moving all-in after the flop (Negreanu had the best hand), sending Negreanu below $800,000, and taking his own stack above $1.1 million.  By dinner, Negreanu had regained some chips, moving back into 2^nd place behind Baruch.   

Within five minutes after dinner, all three stacks began to converge, but within a half hour, Baruch had begun to separate himself from his opponents, building his stack to $1.43 million through a series of “smallish” pots.  Both Negreanu and Davis had a little over $600,000. 

On hand 161, Baruch rivered a straight after Negreanu turned two pair, giving him yet another healthy pot and increasing his already significant lead.  Baruch was now over $2 million, while Davis had $360,000 and Negreanu pulled up the rear with $310,000. 

Two hands later, Davis eliminated Negreanu with 5-5 versus A-8.   

Moving to heads-up play, Baruch had more than a 3-to-1 lead on Davis.   

Heads-up was rather boring, with both players satisfied to see a cheap flop and then fold to any pressure.  Eventually, the two played a large pot, which turned out to be the final one.  Davis moved all-in with A-5 and Baruch called with K-Q.  The flop of Q-9-9 gave Baruch the lead and another Queen on the turn cemented it for him, giving him his first bracelet of his poker career. 

Final Table Standings 

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. Brandon Lee -- $22,113
7. Doug Baughman -- $15,971
8. Erick Lindgren -- $12,899
9. Fred Goldberg -- $9,828