John Hennigan Wins Borgata Winter Poker Open

John Hennigan had never won a World Poker Tour title before Tuesday. The way he won the Borgata Winter Poker Open was not pretty, but suffice it to say that “Johnny World” is just fine with that. Not to mention the $1.6 million he won.

We’ll skip right to the punchline. Hennigan entered heads-up play with Chuck Kelley as about a 2-to-1 chip leader. The two battled surprisingly long for a WPT televised, which are generally known to essentially be all-in fests. Kelley fought hard, putting as much pressure as he could on Hennigan, a pro’s pro. Both players took turns making small runs, but Kelley could never get over the hump to make a serious challenge.

On the final hand, with the big blind at $200,000, Kelley raised to $550,000 to initiate the pre-flop action. Hennigan called and the two saw a flop of 7-3-3. Kelley bet out $700,000 this time and Hennigan once again called. When the turn brought an Ace, Hennigan check-called another $700,000 bet by Kelley.

And then the river card was dealt….oh, wait….no it wasn’t.

After Hennigan called on the turn, Kelley inexplicably flipped over his cards, thinking the hand was over. The announcer saw it coming, but just as when that glass of red wine seems to topple to the white carpet in slow motion, he couldn’t stop it from happening. Kelley’s Q-7 was declared live and now Hennigan was first to act when another 3 hit on the river. And act he did, pushing all-in.

Now Kelley had an interesting dilemma. Hennigan knows that he has a full house, Threes over Sevens. Was his all-in move made because he had him beat Eights or better in the hole or perhaps an Ace? Or was it a bluff, knowing that Kelley would have to think that Hennigan wouldn’t be dumb enough to push knowing he was losing? How many levels of trickery were going on here?

Well, Kelley felt Hennigan was bluffing and called, putting his tournament life on the line, as WPT television analyst Mike Sexton would say. Unfortunately for him, Hennigan was not bluffing, as he held A-5 for a better full house.

Ugly, but he’ll take it.

Originally published 2:07 PM Wednesday, January 31, 2007