John Juanda talks us through the epic final day at the 2008 WSOPE main event…
We all started with a lot of chips at the final table, and when everybody has a big stack I tend to treat it like a cash game, playing suited connectors and small pairs. Usually it’s only towards the end, when the blinds get really high, that you have to shift gears into more of a tournament style.
I was very happy to have position on Bengt Sonnert and Daniel Negreanu. I’ve been playing with Daniel for over 10 years now so I know his game pretty well. He’s said many times that he’s not able to play his normal game when I’m on the table, especially to his left, and I think I was able to take advantage of it.
Big laydowns
One of the key hands of the final table was against Alekhin. I raised with K?-5? and the flop came 6-5-2 with a King on the turn. I had two-pair and a flush draw, but there were also two hearts. Alekhin checked the flop and turn, calling my big bets each time. He then checked the 3? river, bringing a possible straight and flush. I bet around 340k and he check-raised me all-in. I had less than 600k left, so it was really tough to fold, but I laid it down. I just went with my read – I didn’t think he would check-raise me with nothing, and at the end I was told he had a flush. Later, he made almost the same play against me. I bet the river and he moved all-in with a possible flush on the board. I had two-pair with A-6, but I called this time and he showed a bluff.
When we started the heads-up I was super confident. Alekhin played great, but I had more chips than him and I was the more experienced player. Also, even though he’s younger than me, I have more stamina. I grinded him down to 1.3m, then I kind of rushed it a little bit as I wanted to finish it, so I made a couple of bone-headed plays. I went crazy with A-2 when he had A-Q and doubled him up. I may have been feeling too confident as I had 5m in chips, but I should have been thinking that I wasn’t getting the best of it. After a few hours he had me down to 1m or so. I wasn’t going to give up but I started to have doubts about winning.
I then doubled up when I had A-K and he had K-J. He flopped the Jack, but I ended up hitting one of my cards on the river. That hand took a lot of wind out of his sails and I could sense he was a little frustrated. In the final key hand, I raised pre-flop with K-6 and he called me with 3?-4?, which is reasonable. The flop came K-Q-7 with two clubs and he came out betting, which is an unorthodox play. I was sure my King was the best hand and I didn’t want to give him any free cards, so I moved all-in for over 3m. I think he knew he didn’t have the pot odds to call, but he called anyway saying, ‘I’m tired.’ He was about a two-to-one underdog to make his flush.
After I won, I was like, ‘Wow, this is it?’ I was almost disappointed we had to stop! It feels great to have won – satisfaction, relief and happiness all rolled into one. I hadn’t won a WSOP event since 2003 and it was starting to get embarrassing. I said after, ‘Most people have to keep up with the Joneses, but I have to keep up with the Iveys, Negreanus and Seidels!’
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