PartyPoker.com Million I

The final rounds of the inaugural PartyPoker.com Million - the world's largest limit Hold’em poker tournament – got underway on Sunday, March 10, 2002 as 139 players boarded the Carnival Cruise ship Elation in Los Angeles, CA, setting sail for the Mexican Riviera.

As the ship sailed out of port, the tournament players and their guests enjoyed complimentary food, drinks, gifts, music and entertainment at a private party hosted by Mike Sexton, PartyPoker.com's host - and creator of the PartyPoker.com Million tournament - and Linda Johnson, the 'First Lady of Poker.'

Later that evening, the 100 players who fulfilled a dream by qualifying online at PartyPoker.com, and 39 other players who paid $8,000 to enter the PPM, registered for the tournament and drew their seat assignments.

A total of 70 players started play on Monday and played down to 27 players. The remaining 69 players started play on Tuesday and played down to 18 players. 45 players then remained to play for their dream of winning the first PartyPoker.com Million Championship Title and becoming a millionaire.

Monday, March 11 brought some much-anticipated action as the first hand of the first PartyPoker.com Million tournament was dealt at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Many of the world's top poker players were dealt in, including former World Champions Phil Hellmuth, Tom McEvoy, Johnny Chan, and Huck Seed. Other notable players included Marsha Wagonner, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, T.J. Cloutier, Barbara Enright, reigning TOC champion Brian Saltus, former TOC champion David Chiu, Ken Flaton, Card Player Magazine mogul Barry Shulman, and Phil Ivey. When play resumed after dinner, the final 27 from day one were determined with less than two hours of play. Of these 27 players, 20 had qualified directly via PartyPoker.com (some with as low as $22 investment) and seven bought in to the tournament for $8,000 per seat.

On Tuesday, March 12, the second day of the finals started with 69 players including reigning world champion Carlos Mortenson, former World champion's Dan Harrington, Scotty Nguyen, and Chris Ferguson. Other notable players included David Pham, Melissa Hayden, Jack Fox, Jim Lester, Eric Seidel, Kathy Liebert, Daniel Negreanu, and Layne Flack.

Play was fast and furious as the field played down to 28 players by the time the dinner break arrived. Of these 18, nine had qualified on PartyPoker.com, and nine bought in for $8,000.

The 45 remaining players now had three days to rest and relax as they prepared to fight for a seat at the final table. Kathy Liebert was the current chip leader with $64,500.

Play began for the final 45 players with 30 minutes remaining at the $1,000/$2,000 level. The first player to depart was Vadim Svecharnik in 45th place. Although play was mostly cautious, players were dropping fast.

While still at the $1,500/$2,000 level, the next players to depart were Jim Lester, Yosh Nokano and Michael Lilley. Play resumed at $2,000/$4,000 and play again sped uWith two tables remaining, there was a redraw for seats. Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson had played next to each other almost all day. When the redraw was done they drew the same seats side by side. Phil and Chris were the only two former world champions left in the tournament and they were playing side by side.

Play resumed with 18 players at the $3,000/$6,000 level. The first to go was Kenneth Robison in 18th place. Shortly after Kenneth, David Oppenheimer and Timm Miller went out in 17th and 16th place respectively. When the bell rang sounding the end of the $3,000/$6,000 limit, the players were sent on a 3-hour break for dinner. Friday night was formal night on the ship; so all players got to enjoy a glamorous night of fine dining as they dressed their best.

After dinner, play resumed at the $4,000/$8,000 limit and was immediately fast and furious.

With 10 players remaining, the tension was thick as these players were one away from the final table. Play continued hand for hand at the $5,000/$10,000 limit. The bubble is a tough place to finish. Ross Brandberg thought he had picked the perfect spot to pick up some chips to take to the final table. He got all of his chips in the pot with A9c against Chris Ferguson's A7h. When the flop came AK5, an innocent deuce on the turn and the only card that could knock Ross out was a 7. The tension mounted as the dealer burned and turned a river card 7 that set up the final table for SaturdayThe final table of the tournament featured six very skilled professional poker players that included two former WSOP champions and a former U.S. Poker Champion. As they introduced the nine players, cheers broke out like it was a rock concert.

The first player to exit was Mel Judah. Ken Flaton made his move with the 78 of spades. Unfortunately for Ken, Mike Yuwiler with the A6 of spades called him. No help to either player and Ken left in 8th place with $15,500. Mike Yuwiler started the final table with $103,000 and ran into some bad luck quickly. After bleeding his stack down, he raised in first position with KTo. Normally a strong hand short handed, Mike was 3 bet by Scott Buller, who had picked up some chips early to add to his stack. Everyone else folded to the big blind, where to everyone's surprise, Kathy Liebert called 2 bets cold. Mike also called the raise. The flop came down KQ9, and Kathy bet out. Mike was forced to go all in with his top pair and straight draw.

When Scott raised Kathy, Kathy re-raised making this one of the key pots of the tournament. Kathy bet and was called by Scott on both the turn and river. The two hands were turned up for the side pot, pocket 9s for Kathy and AA for Scott. Mike failed to improve his hand and exited the tournament in 7th place, collecting $18,720 for his efforts. Former WSOP champion Chris Ferguson had run into some problems of his own. With his few remaining chips he raised all in with A9o, a very familiar hand for him. Bruce Yamron just happened to find QQ in the big blind and of course came along for the ride. When the flop came down T95, chants were heard for the dealer to put up the 9 of hearts, the same card Chris won the WSOP championship with in 2002. The turn and river brought blanks and Chris was the 6th place finisher collecting $24,960.

Scott Buller finished in 5th place, collecting $37,440. At this point, 4 players remained. Two of these players are well known pros, Phil Hellmuth and Kathy Liebert. Bruce Yamron is a high stakes player and Berj Kacherian was the last player standing that qualified online. Bruce Yamron had been playing a solid game of poker for 3 days. He was fighting to pick up chips 4 handed when he raised in first position with AJo. Phil Hellmuth re-raised out of the small blind, which will usually allow the hand to be played heads up. For both of these players there was a small problem. Kathy Liebert called time in the big blind to evaluate the situation. When she called the double raise cold, eyebrows were raised in the audience. Kathy had made the same call in the big blind earlier with 99, and my evaluation was that she had a big hand here.

Bruce capped the betting and Phil called. The flop came 367, Phil bet, Kathy raised, Bruce re-raised, Phil called and now Kathy got to cap the betting. This put Bruce all in and started a small side pot between Kathy and Phil. An innocent deuce fell on the turn, Phil checked and called. A ten on the river, Phil again checked and called, and when the smoked cleared Kathy scooped a huge pot with KK. Phil mucked his hand and Bruce showed AJo. Bruce Yamron finished in 4th place and collected $46,800. This hand turned the tide in Kathy's favor as she had gained a huge chip lead.

Phil's fate would be sealed a few hands later when Kathy turned over K6s on the turn as the board showed K226. Phil, with T6s, was drawing dead and exited the tournament with class in a very respectable 3rd place. 3rd place was worth $62,400 for the former world champion.

The PartyPoker.com Million Tournament was now heads up between Kathy Liebert, a professional poker player, and Berj Kacherian, a novice player who not only qualified on PartyPoker.com for this tournament by buying into a satellite for $22, but was also playing his very first poker tournament. As Mike Sexton mentioned several times, this final pairing would make history in poker. If Kathy won it would be the first time a woman had won a major poker tournament. If Berj won it would be a first for a player that had no poker tournament experience. The fact that Berj got this far in the tournament after a $22 investment even surprised him as he clearly stated he loved the fact he was playing with people he had only read about previously.

Heads up play began at 4:10 p.m. between Kathy and Berj. Kathy held the lead with $700,000 in chips while Berj had $400,000. They were playing $20,000/$40,000 and with over $1.1 million in chips on the table the possibility that this heads up match could take a while was very real. Kathy slowly chipped away at the blinds and had taken an $800k to $300k lead when Berj made Jacks full on a very big pot. With that pot Berj had almost drawn even with Kathy.

Kathy brought her lead back to $700k to $400k when she made two pair with the 7Tc and a board of AT735. Kathy again increased her lead to $800k to $300k when she re-raised before the flop with AQ and got paid off on a board that showed A9336. Berj was showing no fear and brought the chips back to even when he checkraised the turn as the board showed AT32. He was holding AT and the 3 on the river changed nothing. Kathy never showed her hand. This pot of well over $400k was the largest of the tournament at that point.

The limits were increased to $30k/$60k and Kathy had taken another lead of $700k/$300k when she made a straight on the river. But as had already happened so many times, Berj was able to regain the lead when he rivered a flush and now held his own slight lead of $500k/$500k.

Things were seesawing back and forth when a hand happened that almost brought the tournament to an end. Berj raised pre-flop and Kathy called. The flop came 457 and both players put in three bets. When a ten fell on the turn, Kathy bet and Berj called. The river Queen brought two checks and when Berj turned over KTo Kathy mucked her hand. This pot brought the chips stacks to a commanding lead for Berj…$950k to $150k.

Many spectators thought the end might be near, but Kathy being the professional she is started to build her chips back up with a string of small pots. After about only 20 minutes, Kathy had evened the chips without showing a big hand. Small pots and blind steals meant the tournament was now back to even and anyone's game. They had been playing heads up for almost two hours now and both players were putting on a spectacular show for the audience.

Kathy increased her lead to $1,000,000 vs. $100,000 by winning four pots in succession that were bet and called all the way to the river. The final hand of the tournament was anti-climactic as Berj was forced to go all in in the big blind with 45o. Kathy having to only put in an extra $5k in chips obliged and when the final board showed KQ3QT, Kathy Liebert had become the very first winner of the PartyPoker.com Million Tournament. She also became the first woman to win a major poker tournament. Berj Kacherian picked up his first tournament payday of $93,500 and received a rousing ovation from the crowd for his tough play.