Good Vibrations

Riding a wave of momentum after two dramatic heads-up hands in a row, Brian Wilson captured the title of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker, taking home $370,685 and, of course, the coveted gold and diamond bracelet.

Wilson started the final table in 3rd place, not too far behind the leader, Cyndy Violette. On the sixth hand of the day, he eliminated Burt Boutin and took a chip lead that he would not relinquish for approximately seven hours.

The man who passed him, John Gale, was his eventual one-on-one opponent for the championship. Gale’s march through the field was quite possibly more impressive than Wilson’s victory – Gale had the second smallest chip stack to start the day and was able to hit big hand after big hand to assure himself a $204,440 payday.

The contest was fairly close as Wilson and Gale began the heads-up portion of the competition, with Gale holding a $695,000 to $505,000 edge. Gale extended that lead, and had built it up to a 5-1 chip advantage, when two hands completely turned the tide of the tournament.

After some raising and re-raising pre-flop, Wilson was all-in and Gale had called him. Wilson revealed pocket 6’s, while Gale showed A-J. The flop of 8-7-4 did not help Gale, as he still needed an Ace or a Jack to eliminate Wilson and win the tournament. Then the money card came – a Jack on the turn for Gale. Wilson now needed one of two 6’s left in the deck to make a set or one of four 5’s to make his gut-shot straight. Since you are an observant reader and already know who won, you can probably guess what happened next in no more than two tries. Wilson nailed his straight on the river to double-up.

At that point, Wilson was still trailing, $865,000 to $335,000. The crowd barely had a chance to sit back down when the next hand brought down the house.

Once again, after some raising and re-raising pre-flop, Gale called Wilson’s all-in. This time, Wilson was behind in the hand, pocket 4’s versus pocket 10’s. And because both players held the same suits, miracle flushes were out of play for Wilson. Aside from the remote possibility of hitting four cards to a straight, Wilson basically had two outs – the remaining 4’s. And because this story wouldn’t be a good one if Wilson didn’t hit his magic card, the flop came J-8-4 to give Wilson his set and a commanding lead in the hand. The 8 on the turn gave Gale some additional outs, as he could now win with another 8 (to give him a better full house) or a 10 (for a better three-of-a-kind). The river King was of no help, and Wilson was now the chip leader.

Gale did regain the lead temporarily a bit later, but eventually found himself all-in with K-J against Wilson’s A-Q. Neither player improved his hand and Ace-high clinched the victory for Wilson.

One nice thing to see during the entire final table match was that the two finalists, even though they were at complete opposite ends of the table from each other, seemed to develop a very strong rapport. They appeared to genuinely enjoy playing against each other, frequently laughing and commenting about certain hands. When Wilson did finally win the match, the two shared a heartfelt embrace and Gale put his arm around Wilson as they marveled at the bracelet and stack of money in the table.

Extremely animated during the two incredible hands, Wilson was speechless, almost in a state of shock, when he finally won. Any onlooker could see that he was physically and emotionally drained.

When asked by ESPN poker analyst, Norman Chad, about winning the two game-changing hands in such dramatic fashion, Wilson, referring to how hard it must have been for Gale, said, “It’s cruel. It’s very cruel. I was just very lucky.”

Chad also mentioned that Wilson’s nickname at the WSOP was “Rookie” and wondered aloud if a change was possibly in order. Wilson’s suggestion:

“I guess Lucky.”


Complete Final Table Standings

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Brian Wilson - $370,685
2. John Gale - $204,440
3. Derek Leforte - $112,330
4. Allen Cunningham - $89,685
5. Tony Cousineau - $67,400
6. Steven Liu - $56,165
7. Cyndy Violette - $44,930
8. Joe Sebok - $33,700
9. Burt Boutin - $22,645

Originally published June 23, 2005