Anthony Reategui Wins Shootout by TKO

There are shootouts and then there are shootouts.

The World Series of Poker $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout final table truly lived up to its name, as Anthony Reategui lit a chain of fireworks that didn’t stop exploding until he was in complete control of the table and on his way to a $269,100 victory.

The evening started calmly enough. The players were fairly tight, dinking and dunking around each other, mostly afraid to get into confrontations. Occasionally, someone would move all-in, only to see everyone else fold. This caution may have stemmed from the fact that Reategui and young Allen Goldstein each had more than twice the chips of the next closest opponent, so the players may have not wanted to be the first to take a risk. At the beginning of play Saturday night, Goldstein had $287,000, Reategui had $284,400, and nobody else had more than $116,200.

Two and a half hours into play, two players had been eliminated. Seemed like any other final table, with a few big hands here and there, and looked like it was going to be a long night.

But then, the roof was absolutely blown off the Rio Pavilion. Witness the following sequence of events:

10:45pm

Goldstein raised to $12,000 pre-flop. Reategui re-raised from the button to $30,000. Goldstein, perhaps having imbibed one too many Coronas, went all-in and Reategui, without hesitation, called. The crowd let out a collective gasp, as the two monster stacks were now engaged in battle and one of them was either about to make his exit or be crippled.

Reategui showed pocket Queens and Goldstein was in deep, deep trouble with his pocket 9’s. By the time the board showed As-10c-2s-7s, Goldstein was drawing dead to one card, the 9 of clubs, as Reategui held the Queen of spades and would hit a flush if the 9 of spades appeared. The river card was the 4 of hearts and Goldstein was gone in 8th place. His inexplicable move with a middle pair may have cost him as much as $50,000-$100,000.

The audience was in a state of shock, trying to understand what had just happened. Reategui now had over $800,000 and nobody else had more than the low $100,000’s.

10:50pm

Phil Gordon goes all-in and Dariush Imani, who had been hanging on by a thread for a while, calls, putting himself all-in. Gordon’s hand is dominated, K-4 vs. K-10. The K-3-2 flop paired each player and left Gordon praying for a 4 or runner-runner straight. The turn card, an 8, left Gordon with only two outs. Then, as if what happened five minutes ago wasn’t enough, Gordon caught his 4 on the river, eliminating Imani.

11:00pm

Reategui raised pre-flop to $16,000. Robbins, the second stack, put his $106,500 all-in. Young Pham thought about going all-in himself for a little bit, but decided against it. Ted Lawson didn’t decide against it, however, and went all-in along with Robbins. Now the action turned back to Reategui, the original raiser. He thought about his move for a minute and decided to take the chance (he had about eight times as many chips as the other players, after all) and called.

Reategui had 9-9, Robbins K-K, and Lawson J-J. Robbins looked to be in good shape to almost triple-up.

The flop was 5-4-2, all hearts, which now gave Reategui nine more outs for the flush, as he held the only heart of the three players. When the 9 of clubs appeared on the turn, the room exploded. Robbins and Lawson were now left with one out each to avoid elimination, the non-heart King and Jack, respectively. Neither of those cards came on the river, and both competitors were out.

Robbins then proceeded to go on a tirade, upset that Reategui would call two all-ins with pocket 9’s. He stormed around the table, stopping to say things like, “You think I’m gambling? I’m the second stack and I move all-in, you think I’m gambling?”

Robbins had several more choice words unfit for print before collecting his check. Apparently, he didn’t realize that when someone only has to call off an eighth of his stack to knock two guys out, it’s an easy risk to take.

11:05pm

Young Phan, who had found the all-in fest extraordinarily entertaining since it moved him into the top four, decided it was his time to move all-in with A-9 after a pre-flop raise by Reategui. Of course, Reategui called, showing K-Q.

The flop of Ad-8d-8s paired Phan’s Ace, but the turn Jack of diamonds gave Reategui a flush draw, as he held a diamond, plus a gut-shot straight draw. What happened next? You guessed it. Diamond on the river and Reategui collected another player’s chips.

When the dust settled after twenty minutes of insanity, the wreckage was mind-boggling. There sat Reategui with a mountain of chips in front of him, flanked by Gordon on his left on Paul Kroh on his right, each with no more than a large handful of chips.

The tournament concluded with little fanfare. After a break about 25 minutes after the carnage, Reategui had $1,046,000, Kroh had $90,000, and Gordon had $34,000.

Gordon went all-in blind on the first hand back from break and was eliminated. He was in good spirits, however, calling it the best third place he’s ever had.

Kroh put up a fight for a while, but David isn’t going to defeat Goliath every time, and Reategui went on to take the bracelet.

Ok, you can breathe now.

Originally published June 19, 2005