Davide Suriano Crushes Dan Colman and Sam Stein, on way to $10,000 WSOP Heads-Up Championship Victory

I get to the Rio, excited to see the 136-runner $10,000 WSOP Heads-Up Championship, which features the likes of Max Silver, Erik Seidel, and Daniel Negreanu (still in search of his elusive WSOP prop bet win) in the final 16. Unfortunately, all three have busted by the time I arrive. I am enthused to see Dan "mrGR33N13" Colman, who is considered the best online heads-up Sit-and-go player of his generation. Looking for all the world like an entitled frat boy, he recently bested Dan “Jungleman” Cates heads up in the €100,000 euro buy-in EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final, winning a more than $ 2.1 million first prize. Naturally, this prize was divvied up between Coleman, Cates, and Igor Kurganov, all of whom were apparently backed by the same party––ah the complexities of high-roller poker. In Monaco, Dan Colman gave off a cocky, bordering on obnoxious vibe, jawing with a visibly tired Cates and announcing in so many words that he was the top gun at the final table. In person, I realize that Colman is just naturally upbeat and self confident. There is certainly nothing fake about him––if anything he is more real and less jaded than 90 percent of poker players and props to him for that. (Colman contacts me a couple weeks after the article and lets me know that "I have played a lot with Jungleman and we have a mutual respect for each other's game.") I realize, looking back at the EPT coverage that a lot of what Colman did was simply what you do against any player in the heat of battle––find ways to unsettle them or put them off their optimal game. Props to him for that too––it certainly was effective.

Davide Suriano also comes into the tournament with a strong reputation––he won the 2013 £1,000 EPT/UK IPT & Ireland Poker Tour heads-up in London.

Suriano––heads up technician

Up against Tommy Chen, Dan Colman is self assured and far from gun shy––the first hand I catch involves Coleman smooth-calling a min 32,000 bet on a K-2-6 board, with two clubs. With a 7 falling on the turn, Colman takes the reins and bets 80,000 to Chen’s check. When the river peels off with an ace of clubs, bringing a potential flush home, Colman puts in a major bet of 200,000––about one-fourth his remaining stack. Tommy Chen sighs and calls down with K-3, which turns out to dominate Colman’s 9-8 bluff. Despite being caught out, Colman continues his uber-aggressive style. When Chen bets 60,000 on a 9-6-Q-J-10 board, Colman re-raises 250,000. Chen tanks and finally gives it up, muttering “that’s so sick, that’s so sick.” Chen now starts to up the aggression factor as well, betting out on a number pots and taking them down. 

Dan Colman vs. Tommy Chen 

With Chen ahead of Colman 1.1 million to 850,000, a huge hand goes down that virtually decides the match. Colman three-bets Chen’s button raise to 78,000 holding 9-6 off suit and watches an 8-7-5 flop come off for a nut straight. He checks and calls Chen’s 100,000 bet, with a 7-5 two pair holding. When a jack peels, he continues to slow play, calling a 150,000 Chen bet. Colman still does not pull the trigger when a king comes on the river, letting Chen shove and calling down his last 307,000 chips with the stone cold nuts. Colman’s passive play––a change-up from his usual aggressive approach, has won him a major pot and he now sits on 1.7 million to Chen’s 220,000. Not able to contain his frustration at himself for failing to control pot size, Chen comments “I knew you had the straight when you called the turn. Good hand, good hand.” Chen is out a minute later when his Q-9 fails to hold up against Colman’s K-10. 

Tommy Chen –– frustrated at himself, mostly 

The three other heads up matches are Scott Baumstein vs. Sam Stein, Davide Suriano vs. Ankush Mandavia, and Scott Davies vs. Dee Tiller. The latter match is over in record time, as Dee Tiller––a WSOP throwback in sunglasses and cowboy hat––inexplicably shoves his full starting stack of 960,000, or 90 big blinds, with pocket fours and gets looked up by Scott Davies’ pocket jacks. 

The Davide Suriano vs. Ankush Mandavia match also features tight, aggressive play, with the two players battling neck and neck for some time. Preflop action begins with Mandavia raising to 40,000 with 3-2 suited spades and Suriano three-betting to 100,000 with 10-5 offsuit. The flop comes J-6-5 with two hearts and checks around, and the turn brings a five of hearts. When a queen of hearts falls on the river, Mandavia reps a heart with a 75,000 bet and Suriano calls with his bluff-catcher trips. His call is correct and the next hand he takes down the tournament shoving all-in preflop K-7 vs. K-3. Ah, the wide shoving and calling ranges of heads up. The call was more than a little wide, considering that Mandavia had a healthy stack of nearly a million, or 50 big blinds. And what of Suriano's equally wide shove? Based on his play in the subsequent two matches I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and call it a very sick move.

Suriano vs. Mandavia

Suriano celebrates victory with the always enthusiastic Italian rail.

Stein vs. Baumstein is running at a slower pace, until Baumstein decides to shove his larger stack with K-8 offsuit to Stein’s three-bet and comes across pocket kings. Down to a (still healthy) 670,000 chips, Baumstein again picks an inopportune time to shove all in, with his pocket twos dominated by Stein’s Q-Q. Baumstein mutters to himself, “I jam twice and he’s got pocket kings and pocket queens.” A gracious winner, Stein says “I just have it when you make a move––otherwise I have 8-5 off."

Stein vs. Baumstein –– not 8-5 off, this time

Now we are down to our final four, Daniel Colman vs. the Italian Davide Suriano, and Sam Stein vs. Scott Davies, vying for a $335,000 first-place payday. In the early going Colman seems to be calling down a lot of hands on small flop and turn bets, and then folding, as Suriano makes pot-sized river bets. Without any major showdowns, Suriano is quickly up to 2.6 million. 

Suriano vs. Colman

Colman takes a major hit on a 10-6-6 flop with two clubs, which Suriano bets 50,000 and Colman check-raises to 130,000. Colman seems to be on a 10 or chasing a flush, as he calls a 200,000 bet from Suriano and a jack comes out. A three of clubs peels on the river and Colman check calls 400,000 and grimaces, seeing Suriano's full house 6-3. 

Colman resignedly drops 400 K into the pot and gets a peek at Soriano's 6-3 boat

Colman repeatedly pushed off holdings

Colman does have a last hurrah, doubling up to 1.4 million with pocket queens vs. Suriano’s J-10 when a J-9-flop comes out. Meanwhile, in the Sam Stein vs. Scott Davies match, Stein has gotten out to an early lead on an A-4 that connects with an A-Q-4 board. Scott Davies calls down 150,000 and then 275,000, ultimately mucking. “See? You got your cooler,” he mutters, clearly indicating that he held A-K. 

"You got your cooler"

Davies takes the lead back when he hits a flush on the river, holding 4-2 of diamonds on an A-6-3-7-8 board. When Stein bets out 45,000 Davies raises to 188,000 and Stein comes over the top for 450,000. Davies tanks for  a while before finally nit-rolling, telling Stein that he considered folding the baby flush. Sure, I buy that. Stein and Davies get into an unavoidable all-in situation when an A-9-5 flop gives Stein trip nines and Davies trip fives. Down to 260,000, Davies does achieve a critical double up the next hand A-3 vs. K-Q and fist bumps the similarly short-stacked Colman––”Next double up brings me to a million––then two million, I have a blueprint!” Unfortunately, these nascent hopes are snuffed when his K-7 falls to Davies’ A-9. 

Give me a K!

Nada––good game

Meanwhile, Suriano is wielding his large stack masterfully, making well-timed river bets that repeatedly cause Colman to fold hands with no showdown value. Colman cannot get any momentum going and ultimately risks his last 850,000 with A-5 vs. Suriano's pocket eights. Suriano hits trip eights and Colman is drawing dead.

Trip eights!

Suriano is wielding his large stack masterfully, making well-timed river bets that repeatedly cause Colman to fold hands with no showdown or bluff value. He cannot get any momentum going and ultimately loses his last 850,000 on an A-5 shove vs. Suriano's pocket eights. My money is on Suriano as we move to the heads up final match tomorrow. The way he picked Colman apart was masterful––nice cards didn't hurt either. 

Stein––fist pump, oh yeah!

Very impressed by Davide Suriano’s performance against Colman, I ask the Italian media members about his background and find out that he won the EPT/UK IPT in London last year. While I think that Stein is a fundamentally sound player, he has also gotten extremely lucky in the two matches I’ve observed––holding high pairs when his opponent shoved into him and getting it in good, set vs. set. 

Sure enough, the final match is a clinic in the value of aggression heads up. Just as with Colman, whenever Suriano senses weakness he puts in large bets that force Stein into tough decisions. A good example of this is on a hand where Suriano raises K-9 125,000 preflop and Stein calls with 7-5. The flop comes an ideal 7-6-3 for Stein’s hand and he calls 150,000. When an eight hits, he picks up an open ended straight draw to go with his pair, but elects to fold to the pressure of Suriano’s 600,000 overbet. This is a situation where Stein was bullied off a hand in which he could have profitably called or even shoved all in––Suriano would be betting air quite often and even if he had an eight, Stein would have 14 outs. 

Stein –– bad timing

Conversely, Stein chooses the absolute wrong times to bluff, such as on a 3-7-10 board where Suriano holds A-10 and Stein 8-5. When a queen hits on the turn, Stein bets out 435,000 and is snap called. A king comes on the river and Stein fails to continue repping his premium queen-or-better holding (arguably he doesn’t have the chips behind to do so) and mucks at showdown. On the last hand of the night, Suriano min-raises to 100,000 with A-10, Stein shoves his K-7 suited for 1.2 million and Suriano thinks for a moment before calling. When the cards are turned over Stein is visibly upset at Suriano’s nit roll, but there is nothing he can do as the cards come in his opponent’s favor. Chaos erupts as the Italians spill onto the floor to congratulate their new hero––and celebrate the seventh WSOP bracelet taken home by a fellow countryman.

Suriano –– doing it for Italia

Meanwhile in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'Em event, Florida pro Jacob Schindler is putting on a clinic against remaining contenders Ryan Jaconetti and Sean Dempsey, heading into Day Four.

Dan Smith and Mustapha Kanit on a Wild Final Table Ride

Attracting a very respectable 550 runners, Event #35: No-Limit Hold'em Eight Handed is down to its final two tables, with 15 players left. Winner of the 2013 $1,111 buy-in Little One for One Drop event Brian Yoon has a dominating chip stack of 2.2 million, nearly double that of his nearest contender, Timo Pfutzenreuter. Yoon has had the good fortune of a double up with hidden trips against former big stack Jeff Madsen, who exited 20th. In third is the affable Italian Mustapha Kanit, who has several WSOP final table finishes to his credit so far this month. Also in the running are former chess prodigy and high stakes tournament crusher Dan Smith (340,000 chips) and former soccer pro and Big One Drop second-place finisher Sam Trickett (525,000 chips). I spoke to Trickett just before this tournament started three days ago and he was determined to make his mark, having had an abysmal run at the WSOP events so far. A final table finish in this prestigious event, with a total purse of more than $2.5 million, would certainly go a long way toward making Trickett’s time in Vegas profitable, as he fine tunes his game and moves toward the $1 million One Drop. 

Sam Trickett––fearless

The action resumes after a 20 minute break with sustained fury, as the tournament field drops from 15 to 9  in less than an hour. Sam Stein puts his last 200,000 chips in the middle with pocket twos and is eliminated in 14th by Ardit Kurshumi's A-10. Ten minutes later, Jay Conley risks his last 160,000 with K-J and loses to Nick Grippo. Sitting on 20 big blinds, Josh Arieh calls the agressive Pfutzenreuter’s raise to 27,000 preflop and calls a similar bet on a 5-5-4 board. Pfutzenreuter bets 52,000 when a 6 peels off and Arieh check raises to 131,000. Pfutzenreuter thinks for a minute and comes over the top, putting Arieh at risk. With a K river, Arieh turns over 2-3 for the low straight and Pfutzenreuter mucks 6-3. This hand was a bit puzzling to me. While a pair and an open-ended straight draw is a strong turn holding, I’m not sure about the wisdom of Pfutzenreuter’s river shove, given that Arieh is repping a very strong hand. When the river blanked, he could have saved 140,000 chips on a hand that was ultimately an extremely unlikely bluff catcher. 

Arieh in backwards cap and Pfutzenreuter in black.

Amidst the nonstop action, some lively banter arises, with conversation between Dan Smith and Timo Pfutzenreuter centering on the upcoming $1 million One Drop event. Apparently, some pros competing in the event have a laissez faire attitude about WSOP preparation. “I want to be playing every day before the One Drop," he says, contrasting his live tourney work ethic with (good friend) Ike Haxton's with mild disgust––”he just flies in before events. That would be his f---kin’ move.” Ever optimistic, but not slated to play, Pfutzenreuter quips ”I might have a million by then––I’m working on it.” Dan Smith comments, "I’m hoping to have a big score––if I do well, I'll put it in play––otherwise if you’re American, you can’t really gamble on that.” I ask Smith on a break whether he is playing in the One Drop and he gives me a grimace that seems more yes than no––he has not officially registered, but he would clearly like to make his mark.

Pfutzenreuter––I’m working on it

Next to go is David Peters, who shoves his last 296,000 with A-J and is looked up by Dan Smith’s A-Q. With this, Smith chips up to a very respectable 1 million in chips and becomes a potent threat in the tournament. Down to 167,000, Sam Trickett is by far the most active player, moving all in seemingly every other hand and finally doubling through Bergman’s big blind 10-7 with pocket nines. At the next table, young guns Smith and Pfutzenreuter lock horns, with Pfutzenreuter calling 41,000 in the big blind. Donning sunglasses, he very deliberately calls down Smith’s bets on all three streets on a Q-10-4-8 board. Ultimately he mucks to Smith’s A-Q and is down 300,000, to half a million chips. 

Smith and Pfutzenreuter lock horns

Formerly the tournament chip leader, Sam Trickett cannot ignore the push or fold imperative of his short stack and ultimately falls to Yoon’s A-9 in 11th. Justin Kindred is out in a similar short stack coin flip, K-Q vs. A-7 and we are down to our unofficial final table.

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Sam Trickett vs. Mustapha Kanit.. take it, just take it.

Of all the players, I have been most impressed by Mustapha "Musta" Kanit, who wields his growing stack by raising in position and squeezing when he senses weakness. Yoon maintains his sizable stack advantage by picking his spots carefully and calling bluffs without fear. With nine players left, play starts off cautiously until an ultimate cooler occurs. Kanit three-bets Yoon on the button with K-K and Bergman four bets Q-Q from the button. The flop comes out Q-8-4, with Bergman improving to quad queens on the river. Down to 240,000, Kanit next pushes Tony Cousineau all-in with K-J vs. 10-10. The flop comes Q-10-9, giving Kanit a flopped straight and Cousineau trips. When the nine pairs on the turn, Kanit is drawing dead––a river 10 for quads then adds insult to injury. Death by quads, twice in a row––an ignoble end. Amazingly, Kanit is not out, managing to double up his 30,000 stack and then double up again, Q-3 versus Smith’s A-9. Musta doubles up yet again through Smith with A-Q vs. 10-10. This brings Kanit back up to a not-quite respectable 240,000 chips and Smith down to just over 1 million chips. 

Mustapha Kanit on the razor's edge

“No Quit” Kanit achieves yet another clutch double up against Smith when his pocket tens hold against A-7 and now he is up to 444,000. Commenting "Looks like I'm back in beeznees,' Kanit does not let up on the throttle, calling Brian Yoon’s raise to 45,000 on the cutoff. Kanit bets a 5-J-3 flop and continues to barrel on a 6 turn. When Kanit shoves on a K river, Yoon ultimately folds, claiming that he held pocket tens. Musta chuckles, saying “it’s like a hero fold.” 

Yoon is still well in the lead with 2.5 million, but Kanit has finally found firm footing again, with a 25 big blind stack of 677,000. Mustapha Kanit does get a dose of reality when he drops back to 315,000 in an A-3 vs. A-9 cooler hand against Arieh, with both players hitting two pair. Cousineau falls in eighth when his pocket nines run against Yoon’s K-Q and a flopped straight. Cousineau takes home $55,000 while Yoon is up to over 3 million. Dan Smith has his chance for revenge when his A-9 is up against Kanit’s all-in K-J. The flop comes out A-10-4 with three spades and (with neither player holding spades) Smith seems poised to eliminate Kanit. Unfortunately for him, the board runs out runner-runner spade and they chop it up. 

Dan Smith (left)––consistently disappointed vs. Kanit

Musta is feeling his groove again and he chips up to 600,000 by knocking out Pfutzenreuter A-7 vs. 7-7. Pfutzenreuter has been reading “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” at the final table and he is probably feeling something of the same, as he picks up a respectable payout of $71,940 that is still not enough to launch him into One Drop orbit. 

Pfutzenreuter and Kurshumi––Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Mad respect for Pfutzenreuter from Smith and Kanit

Smith & Yoon––high level poker

Kurshumi and Smith––Don't Fear the Reaper

Meanwhile, Dan Smith is leaking chips, losing more than 300,000 on pots in which Kanit and Yoon put in significant raises and push him off his holdings. Down to 420,000, the final nail in the coffin comes from no other than Kanit, with Musta’s pocket sevens holding up against Smith’s A-10 suited. With the turn putting out a flush draw, Smith calls vocally for a third diamond, but all is in vain. He leaves the table with handshakes all around and a forlorn “what the f---k?” to his friends on the rail. Somehow or another, the Musta show must and will continue.

Small edges––Smith (leaning back) somehow loses a sixth coin flip against Kanit

The Mustapha Show will continue!

Unfortunately, Mustapha Kanit ultimately hits the impenetrable wall that is Brian Yoon. Having observed Kanit's aggressive play carefully and seen a bluff or two in earlier rounds, he waits for Kanit to make a mistake, try to level him one time too many. 

Yoon inwardly pondering "Capable of a bluff?"

Finally things come to a head. Yoon bets 65,000 with A-Q and Kanit calls with 6-5 suited––with 4.8 million and 1.36 million in chips respectively. When a flop of A-8-7 comes down, Kanit––who has hit an open ended straight draw––check calls Yoon's 65,000 bet. A blank three comes out and Yoon bets out 150,000. Kanit then takes the unlikely angle of check raising to 345,000 with his straight draw. He is repping an ace with high kicker (unlikely, given the minimal pre flop action) or a random two pair. Yoon calls and a king hits on the river. Kanit now massively over bets the pot for his remaining 875,000 and puts his tournament life at risk. 

Yoon nearing a decision

Yoon tanks and ultimately calls. Basically, it is a close decision––despite Yoon's massive stack, a wrong call would amount to throwing away one-fourth of his remaining stack. In this case, Mustapha overestimates Yoon's willingness to fold to pressure, as well as the power of his still middling-at-best stack. While a 1 million shove might seem huge to him, it will not necessarily intimidate a chip leader. Many times it would get a player off a lone ace with weak kicker, so it may be profitable against Yoon's range. I spoke with Yee after his victory and he told me that he basically called off the bluff on a feel that Mustapha had been active and that "he's a good player, capable of that." And of course there was a million dead chips in the pot and he was getting good odds with an ace and a good kicker.

Mustapha––another strong but not quite dominating performance. Yoon––hello, chips.