2007 WSOP Event #27 – David Stucke Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Once again, someone’s first cash at the World Series of Poker was a tournament victory.  Physics professor David Stucke outlasted one of the more anonymous final tables at the 2007 WSOP to win $603,069 in yet another 2,000+ player $1,500 buy-in no-limit event. 

With the blinds starting at $15,000/$30,000 and $4,000 antes, there were four players with fewer than twenty big blinds, meaning that some action could be expected early as they would need to make some moves. 

And there was plenty of action right away.  On the very first hand, Thai Ton, the shortest stack, moved all-in pre-flop with A-6 and was called by Seth Weinger with K-Q.  Weinger turned a King to send Ton home in 9^th place. 

On the very next hand, Michael Ium, the third shortest stack to begin the final table, doubled through Louis Sanchez.  The flop was 9-high and Ium moved in with pocket 10’s.  Sanchez made a bit of a questionable call with only A-J and did not improve.  Sanchez was crippled as a result and was knocked out on the third hand of the day by Stucke. 

The shove-fest took a break for a little while so that normal poker could resume, but the fireworks picked back up on hand 18.  First, on what was perhaps the most important hand of the final table, Stucke doubled through Weinger, who was the chip leader at the time.  Stucke had moved all-in pre-flop with 3-3 and won the race against K-Q.  On hand 19, Young Cho doubled through Tom Dobrilovic (10-10 versus 7-7), crippling him.  Dobrilovic was eliminated on the next hand. 

That was hand 20.  Double that number and we arrive at our next elimination.  Noam Freedman, who was now the short stack with only about $600,000 in chips and the big blind at $60,000, saw a flop of 10-6-3 with Weinger.  Freedman pushed with 10-8 and Weinger called with Q-10.  Freedman did not hit his three-outer and was eliminated in 6^th place.  

At that, Weinger had a substantial lead with $3.2 million.  David Woo was in second with $1.5 million, while Stucke only had $855,000. 

The 5^th place finisher almost followed the pattern of every 20 hands, but missed by one.  On the 61^st hand, Woo, who had seen his stack fall to around $400,000 (only five big blinds with the new level), was all-in in a bad spot with J-J against Ium’s A-A.  That was all she wrote for Woo. 

Over the next 20 hands, Stucke made some good raises to win pots without showdowns, building his stack up to over $2 million.  In the meantime, Weinger’s stack had dropped to about $2.1 million. 

A few hands later, Young Cho doubled through Ium and then Weinger knocked out the crippled Ium on the following hand. 

Three handed, it was very close: Cho had $2.53 million, Weinger had $2.35 million, and Stucke had $2 million.  The blinds were at $60,000/$120,000, so losing a few blinds was a big deal.  Stucke was not able to protect his blinds for a few hands after Ium’s ouster and fell to $1.4 million while Cho improved to over $3 million. 

Stucke got them back, however, doubling through Cho quickly.  Two hands after his double-up, Stucke and Weinger saw a flop of 9-9-4 with two spades.  Weinger bet $175,000 on the flop, only to see Stucke raise to a cool million.  Weinger then moved all-in after some thought and Stucke called with a Queen-high flush draw.  Weinger was on a bluff with only King-high, but it was actually the best hand at that point.  The flush came through for Stucke on the turn and Weinger was suddenly gone in 3^rd place. 

That gave Stucke a great lead going into heads-up, $5.6 million to Cho’s $1.3 million.  The match only took four hands.  On the 101^st hand of the day, Cho moved all-in with J-3 and Stucke insta-called with 7-7.  Cho couldn’t hit his Jack and Stucke had his first cash in a major tournament. 

Final Table Standings 

1. David Stucke -- $603,069
2. Young Cho -- $382,357
3. Seth Weinger -- $246,478
4. Michael Ium -- $164,319
5. David Woo -- $115,339
6. Noam Freedman -- $83,739
7. Tom Dobrilovic -- $63,200
8. Luis Sanchez -- $47,400
9. Thai Ton -- $36,340