Frazer the Razor cuts it fine to stay alive in Vegas - 17/02/2010
Ian Frazer won heat five of the PartyPoker.com Premier League Poker IV at the M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas to keep his tournament alive.
Playing in the tournament for the third time, Frazer came into the match knowing he had to score well to stay in with a shot of reaching the final but he did more than that, beating Luke Schwartz heads-up to take maximum points and break into the top four with one heat to go.
“This is the interview I’ve been waiting to do – a winner’s interview!” said Frazer, who has 26 points from his four matches. “The game plan in these things is patience – I knew I had to get in the top three to get into the heads-up but now I’ve won this heat, I could end up in the final anyway.” 
Ian Frazer still in contention in Las Vegas - Photo by Mickey May
Frazer – who won the Team Party qualifier to reach the main event – needed all his concentration levels to be sharp when Schwartz and Giovanni Safina were up and down like yo-yo’s before Schwartz finally got the better of the Italian qualifier – with Luke leaving the table for most showdowns. Frazer admitted Luke was a quality player, but had a clear plan to play his enigmatic fellow countryman.
“I’m not the greatest heads-up player in the world but I think I got a decent read on him when we were three-handed,” said Frazer. “I like to keep my foot on the accelerator and that’s exactly what I did – I’m delighted with how it went.”
Schwartz and Safina traded swings so often that Schwartz was completely exasperated at one showdown, complaining to the lawyer from Palermo: “you just won’t go away will you?” But Luke eventually got the better of Giovanni, moving all-in from the small blind again with J6 of diamonds and eventually getting called by Safina’s A2 – “what a slow roll – finish this guy!” said Schwartz. The flop came QJ10 to Schwartz’s obvious and audible delight, and he did indeed finish on top in his battle with the Italian.
Frazer held 1,590k to Schwartz’s 880k heads-up and made it count, playing with aggression and coming out on top after Luke raised to 120k with A9, Frazer raised all-in with the red kings and Luke called. The board ran 104398 and Schwartz had to settle for second spot and 11 points, with Frazer punching the air to celebrate winning when it really mattered.
Alongside some entertaining histrionics with Safina and co, Schwartz made several bold and successful moves at the table to show that he has got to grips with the league format – adding this second place spot to third and fifth place finishes, looking in good shape to make the final table.
“I don’t make bad decisions when I’m tilty – I don’t really make bad decisions full stop,” said Schwartz after his all-action performance. “The hand where I lost with A6 to Frazer’s K6 was pretty sick, but it didn’t affect me and I never let things like that interfere,” he added, referring to Frazer holding K6 of spades and hitting a flush on the turn, Luke held the ace of spades but didn’t hit the redraw and dropped down to ten big blinds.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko had been punishing limpers all through the tournament but that line of attack bit him hard in heat five, leaving him going out in eighth spot. Just into the second level, Tony G limped with pocket nines and Timoshenko attacked with a 16k raise with KJ and Safina called as did Daniel Negreanu with A7. Safina got smacked with the flop again as it came down Q43 and when Tony and Timoshenko checked, Safina bet 22k. Negreanu folded as did Tony, but Timoshenko raised to 67k and Safina called. The ten of spades gave Yevgeniy the open ended straight draw which he checked; Giovanni bet 70k and Timoshenko checked-raised all-in for 236k and Safina snapped him off – the river was the six of clubs and Yevgeniy was left with just 4k. That meant he was all-in from the big blind in the next hand with A10 and Frazer picked up AhQs on the button and checked, winning the hand with four spades on the board for the flush, leaving Timoshenko with no points from the heat and with 16 in total after his four heats.
As the players returned from a short break the blinds moved to 3/6k and Phil Hellmuth was soon joining Timoshenko on the rail in seventh place. He opened with 17k holding AQ and Schwartz reraised to 47k with AK – Hellmuth moved all-in for 223k and Luke called after a few minutes thinking. Schwartz jumped out of his seat and out of the filming area, but once a camera tracked him down, the board was dealt – Phil missed and had to go out with two points. Tony G had a bike on standby for him and showing he is a good sport, Phil cycled it around the room for a few minutes before exiting the heat, and Luke returned to the table when he saw Hellmuth in the saddle.
Defending champion JC Tran was next to go, just after poker pack pal Nam Le had stopped railing him. He bet holding A6 on a 9842 board into Schwartz who held two pair with 98 – Luke just flat called, and when Tran hit a pair of sixes on the river, he checked, Schwartz bet enough to put Tran all-in and JC made the call, picking up three points in his final match of the heat stage and leaving Schwartz with over 800k.
After helping Hellmuth onto the bike when Phil got knocked out, Tony G had to use it for himself moments after Tran exited as he fell to Negreanu. Luke raised with A2 into Negreanu who reraised with pocket tens. Tony looked down at pocket nines and moved all-in, Schwartz folded and Negreanu snap called, avoiding a nine to eliminate Tony G in fifth spot with four points.
Back from the dinner break and the levels at 10/20k, Schwartz’s play had earned him a handy chip lead with just under one million in front of him, and he was assured of a top three finish when Negreanu fell foul of Frazer to finish in fourth spot. Negreanu raised all-in from the button with K6 and Ian called in the small blind with AK – Daniel felt confident he was going to hit, but the board ran J8410J and he had to settle for six points.
The final heat takes place on Wednesday where Schwartz will be aiming to cement a place in the top four and the final table, with those placed from fifth to eighth facing heads-up matches to take the final two spots. Luke will be up against the top two – Phil Laak and David Benyamine – as well as the bottom five players in the league: Roland De Wolfe, Vanessa Rousso, Daniel Negreanu, Tony G and Phil Hellmuth. PokerNews.com has live reporting on what will be a tense and dramatic final heat.
Heat Five result
1 Ian Frazer – 16 points
2 Luke Schwartz – 11 points
3 Giovanni Safina– 8 points
4 Daniel Negreanu – 6 points
5 Tony G – 4 points
6 JC Tran – 3 points
7 Phil Hellmuth – 2 points
8 Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 0 points
League Table after Heat Five
Phil Laak Pld 3 Pts 48
David Benyamine Pld 3 Pts 35
Giovanni Safina Pld 4 Pts 29
Ian Frazer Pld 4 Pts 26
Luke Schwartz Pld 3 Pts 23
JC Tran Pld 4 Pts 20
Yevgeniy Timoshenko Pld 4 Pts 16
Roland De Wolfe Pld 3 Pts 14
Vanessa Rousso Pld 3 Pts 12
Daniel Negreanu Pld 3 Pts 10
Tony G Pld 3 Pts 9
Phil Hellmuth Pld 3 Pts 8
|
