Mark Seif Doubles-Up

Mark Seif knows how to start a weekend off right. Last Friday, he won the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet of his career, taking the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout. Last night, he balanced out his wrists, emerging victorious in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.

Seif dominated almost the entire three days of the tournament, an astounding feat when you realize that there were over 2,000 competitors, the third largest WSOP event ever after last year’s Main Event and the earlier $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event (week 2). Seif finished the first day as the chip leader, amassing a $286,800 stack which dwarfed the $106,600 chip count of second place player, James Mordue.

The champ continued building his lead well into Day 2, until Bill Gazes caught him on a draw early in the evening. Gazes doubled up when Seif’s draw didn’t hit and Seif eventually made the final table as a middle stack, rather than the 800-pound gorilla he had been over the majority of the first two days. A familiar face, last year’s $5 million man, Greg Raymer, made a fantastic run on Day 2, becoming the chip leader going into the final table.

Seif quickly regained the lead at the final table, however. After about thirty minutes, Raymer and Seif were the only two in a hand, each playing their blinds. When the flop came A-5-3, Raymer checked, Seif bet $20,000 and Raymer called. The turn card was an 8, and the betting was the same, this time increased to $50,000. When the river paired the 8, Seif moved all-in and was called by Raymer. To everyone’s surprise, Seif flipped over 2-4, having flopped the straight, defeating Raymer’s A-10. Seif doubled-up, wrestling the chip lead from Raymer.

It was still a close race, however, and Raymer regained a small lead soon thereafter. A few hands later, Seif took another big pot from Peter Lee, increasing his stack to $860,000 and taking a fairly sizable lead. Lee got his revenge on the next hand, however, flopping quads against Seif, and then doubling-up through Seif a while later, temporarily taking over first place.

Eventually, Seif got the better of Lee, knocking him out in 5th place. From that point, there was no looking back for the dual bracelet winner. Using his trademark aggressive style of play, Seif cruised into the final two, starting heads-up play with a $1,690,000 to $1,340,000 advantage over Minh Nguyen.

Nguyen took the lead very briefly late in the tournament, but Seif grabbed it back and ended the whole thing ten minutes later. Nguyen limped from the button, Seif raised to $100,000, Nguyen re-raised all the way to $600,000, and Seif went back over the top, pushing all-in. Nguyen called, showing A-10, but Seif had cowboys, K-K. When a King hit on the flop, giving Seif his set, Nguyen’s only chance was to hit a runner-runner straight. Unfortunately for Nguyen, there were no miracles to come and Seif won his second gold bracelet in a week, along with $611,145.

Complete Final Table Standings

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Mark Seif - $611,145
2. Minh Nguyen - $329,975
3. Bill Gazes - $202,790
4. Webber Kang - $175,010
5. Peter Lee - $147,230
6. Greg Raymer - $119,450
7. James Steve Carter - $91,670
8. Steve Rassi - $63,895
9. David 'Devil Fish' Ulliott - $47,225

Originally published June 25, 2005