After starting the day with the chip lead, 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event final table participant Hevad “Rain” Khan had to survive a significant deficit during heads-up action at the final table before emerging as the champion of the 2008 Caesars Palace Classic early Friday morning.
Nineteen players returned to the tables on Thursday afternoon to play down to the ten-handed final table. One of the players dismissed early in the action came as quite a surprise. Sabyl Cohen-Landrum, who had started the action on Thursday in third place on the leader board, got off to a poor start by doubling up three different players at her table within the first hour. In each of the three situations, Cohen-Landrum got her chips in with the best hand only to see her opponents outdraw her. The torture ended when she was eliminated in 16th place (good for $23,651) by Khan.
On the opposite side of the spectrum was World Poker Tour announcer and WSOP bracelet holder Mike Sexton. After starting in the lower quarter of the nineteen players who remained, Sexton demonstrated the patience that has made him one of the top professionals in the game. He eliminated Ray Qartomy in 17th place and was able to nurse his stack as the final table bubble approached. That dream was dashed, however, when Daniel Schreiber spiked a queen on the river with A-Q for a better two pair than Sexton, who had hit the 3-3-2 flop holding K-2. His Caesars Palace Classic performance earned Sexton $35,746 and set up the final table, which looked like this:
Seat 1 – Joseph Cordi – 2,420,000
Seat 2 – John Hennigan – 2,800,000
Seat 3 – Michael Katz – 2,170,000
Seat 4 – Gary Friedlander – 1,625,000
Seat 5 – Michael Fantini – 1,430,000
Seat 6 – Mike Kamran – 2,150,000
Seat 7 – Adam Junglen – 2,705,000
Seat 8 – Jonathan Aguiar – 3,610,000
Seat 9 – Hevad Khan – 8,675,000
Seat 10 – Daniel Schreiber – 3,625,000
With his large stack, it was assumed that Khan would dominate the play at the final table. This wasn’t the case, however, as the ten men played cautiously in the early going with little action of note. It wasn’t until approximately an hour and a half of play had transpired that the first significant action happened.
With the blinds at 60,000-120,000 with a 10,000 chip ante, Michael Katz, who had been decimated on the previous hand in doubling up Gary Friedlander, moved his remaining 245,000 chips to the center of the table from the cutoff with only 7-5 offsuit. Michael Kamran made the pot odds call with his suited A-8 and hit a straight on the turn to eliminate Katz in tenth place, good for a $35,746 kick to Katz’ bankroll.
On the next hand, Michael Fantini made his move and was looked up by WPT and WSOP champion John “World” Hennigan. Hennigan’s A-9 was in excellent shape against Fantini’s J-10 and an ace on the flop all but sealed the deal for Hennigan. When the turn and river brought no help, Fantini was gone from the tournament. He had earned his seat into the Caesars Palace Classic through a “high hand” promotion in the poker room and didn’t spend a dime to enter the tournament.
After the dinner break, Khan started to take some hits to his stack. He doubled up Kamran to lose the chip lead and proceeded to double up another player, Joseph Cordi. He quickly got the chips back to reassume the lead and, with only Kamran and Friedlander remaining, seemed to be on track for the title. Once Khan eliminated Friedlander in third place, he held a three million chip lead over Kamran.
As heads-up play began around midnight, Kamran went on a huge heater to yank the lead from Khan. At one point, Kamran held almost a 4:1 lead over Khan, but “Rain” refused to yield to the Los Angeles pro. After over two hours of play, the duo continued to dance with nearly identical chip stacks.
At almost 3:00am Las Vegas time and with the blinds at 150,000-300,000 with a 25,000 chip ante, the championship was decided when Kamran checked a rainbow flop of J-9-2 to Khan, who fired a nearly one million chip bet into the pot. Kamran responded with an all-in push and, after considering his options, Khan made the call. Kamran could only muster a gut shot straight draw with K-10; Khan had hit the flop with only J-6. After dodging the turn and river, Hevad Khan celebrated his victory at Caesars Palace. The final table payouts were as follows:
1st Place: Hevad Khan – $1,000,000
2nd Place: Michael Kamran – $520,320
3rd Place: Gary Friedlander – $266,073
4th Place: Jonathan Aguiar – $206,946
5th Place: Joseph Cordi – $177,382
6th Place: Adam Junglen – $147,818
7th Place: Johnny “World” Hennigan – $118,255
8th Place: Dan Schreiber – $88,691
9th Place: Michael Fantini – $59,127
10th Place: Michael Katz – $35,746
With the championship won, Khan released a scream and raised a chair in victory, reminiscent of his actions during his WSOP Main Event final table run of a year ago. He was roundly berated for those actions and, for the past year, has been much more docile at the tables. However, Khan continues to demonstrate the ample poker skills he has transferred from the online game to the live arena.
