Arnold Spee Wins the WPTs WPC with Feelings of Destiny
RENO, NV
Event: No-Limit Hold'em Championship Final Day
Buy-in: $5,000
Number of Entries: 361
Total Prize Pool: $1,750,850
Do you believe in destiny? Arnold Spee does. Whether you believe him or not, last year he told some fellow players that he would win a World Poker Tour event in 2005 -- this World Poker Tour event, the 2005 World Poker Challenge at the Reno Hilton. How confident was he? At his lowest point in this tournament, he was all in with pocket jacks up against pocket queens, and he had the shorter stack, facing elimination. The flop brought no help with three rags on the board, and Arnold Spee had to catch a jack to stay in the tournament. He wasn't nervous, because he knew a jack would come. It had to, or else he couldn't win the tournament he was destined to win. Sure enough, Lady Destiny revealed a jack on the turn, only confirming Spee's feelings of predetermination.
Whether you believe in predetermination or not, Arnold Spee (pronounced "spay") won this event by playing excellent poker. He battled his way through a field of 361 players, including many of the best pros in the world, just to reach the WPT Final Table. Mike Sexton said Spee played very solid poker at the final table, avoiding risky plays and making the right moves at the right times. The only time he really needed to catch a card was on the last hand, and even then he had enough of a chip lead to absorb the damage if his card didn't fall.
This was a fairly quick final table, taking less than four hours from the first hand to the last, but it was very evenly paced. It took about an hour for the first elimination (with two people going out on the same hand), another hour for the fourth place finisher to be sent home, and another hour before it was down to the final two players. You could set your watch by this final table. Once it was down to heads up play, the final two players traded the blinds and antes back-and-forth a few times before the first -- and last -- big showdown.
While it took less than four hours (including all breaks), there is still plenty of footage for the editors to work with. Each two-hour episode of The World Poker Tour only includes about 90 minutes once you remove commercials, and some of that time is filled by Shana Hiatt's sidebars, player bios, and exit interviews. The telecast should be fairly accurate of the action, and they should show all of the important hands.
Now for a recap of the day's action. The final six players entered the day with the following chip counts:
1. Michael Yoshino - $937,000 (seat 4)
2. Russ Carlson - $802,000 (seat 1)
3. Arnold Spee - $721,000 (seat 3)
4. Phil Ivey - $490,000 (seat 6)
5. Blair Rodman - $478,000 (seat 2)
6. Mark Chapic - $182,000 (seat 5)
There wasn't much action early, which was surprising considering the blistering pace witnessed on day three. These players seemed reluctant to call bets and raises, perhaps waiting for the short stack to bust himself out. An average stack would be about $600,000, so Mark Chapic was the only one feeling any real pressure.
Chapic wasn't involved in most of the early action, but we don't know if he was waiting for a decent hand, or simply hoping that another player or two would bust out before he had to risk everything. After about 45 minutes, Chapic lost a lot of ground to the blinds and antes, and made a move with Q-J suited. He's called by Arnold Spee's pocket nines, but a jack on the flop holds up for him, and Chapic doubles up. Unfortunately, that confrontation only puts him back where he started, and he was still the short stack at the table.
Chapic is quickly forced back into action, and this time pushes all in with A-J. Russ Carlson says he came to gamble, and comes over the top all in. Blair Rodman asks for a chip count, learning that Carlson's bet was $236,000. As he thinks about calling, Chapic asks Rodman if he's ready to triple him up. Rodman says he is, and pushes his chips into the pot as well. Unfortunately for Chapic, his A-J is dominated by Rodman's A-K, and Carlson is feeling okay with pocket sevens, especially after the flop falls Q-9-6. But the turn card is a king, putting Rodman way out in front, and when another queen falls on the river, Rodman has eliminated the two shortest stacks at the table in one hand. Since Mark Chapic had the fewest chips at the start of the hand, he finishes in sixth place, earning $60,387. Russ Carlson earns $77,641 for fifth place.
That hand put the final four players almost even in the chip counts, which allowed them to play some real poker for a while, with plenty of post-flop play. It also became obvious that Phil Ivey was the clear fan favorite (as the only famous player), and the audience cheered his every move.
Blair Rodman picked a bad moment to push all in with A-Q suited, because he was called immediately by Michael Yoshino's pocket kings. The flop gave Rodman no help whatsoever, but he caught running queens to make trips, and that last card took him from elimination to the chip lead.
Michael Yoshino was now very short-stacked, but he chose a strange moment to go all in. Blair Rodman raised the blinds to $100,000, and Arnold Spee reraised that to $400,000. Rather than sitting back and hoping somebody else would be eliminated (moving Yoshino up in prize money), Yoshino called off all his chips with 5-4 of spades. Rodman folded, and Spee showed A-K. The flop brought an ace for Spee, but it came A-6-3 with two spades, giving Yoshino an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. Unfortunately, the final two cards offered no help, and Yoshino was eliminated in fourth place, earning $103,521.
Down to the final three players, they battled back-and-forth for a while, with the crowd seeming to cheer Phil Ivey more than ever. At one point, Ivey took a very long time to make a decision when Arnold Spee pushed all in on a board of 10-6-4-8-Q, and Ivey ultimately folded. The crowd chanted "Show it! Show it!" to Spee, and he complied, showing pocket aces. Ivey dodged two bullets there.
Phil Ivey seemed to be annoyed by the skyrocketing blind structure, because it increases the element of luck, and therefore decreases the advantage a world-class player might have. Ivey had the chip lead when he found himself all in with pocket sixes against Rodman's pocket queens, and just like that he became the short stack. Then he went all in with pocket nines, but he was up against Spee's pocket kings. The board offered no help, but the poker gods teased Ivey with an open-ended straight draw on the turn before eliminating him in third place, earning $163,908.
Arnold Spee and Blair Rodman traded the blinds and antes for a while, folding to each other's bets. Then they saw a flop of 9s-7s-3c, and Spee bet out for $270,000. Rodman pushed all in, and Spee called. Rodman showed Kd-7s for middle pair, and Spee had 4s-3s for bottom pair and a flush draw. The turn card is a blank (2d), so it all came down to the river. Spee needed a 3, 4, or any spade to win the tournament. As Lady Destiny would have it, the 4d fell on the river, giving Spee two pair, eliminating Rodman, and awarding Spee the title he predicted for himself many months ago.
Blair Rodman played an excellent match, earning $327,815. He is a well-respected player among fellow poker pros, and this final table appearance should also earn him some respect from the general poker public as well.
Arnold Spee won $638,380, a $25,000 seat in the WPT World Championship, a plaque, a silver watch, and an official World Poker Tour poker chip set. If you ask him, destiny played a hand in this tournament. She may have done nothing more than putting a jack on the turn to save him earlier in the tournament, but that was enough. Arnold Spee took care of the rest
