My friend Mike Paulle has given me permission to post his daily reports for each event of the World Series of Poker this year to the ChipBoard! Below is his report on Event #33. Andy - Las Vegas

WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002

EVENT #33 THE SENIOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP
NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM
Saturday, May 18, 2002
$1,000 BUY-IN
$1,000 in chips

THE GEEZER'S OPEN

With scheduled nap times every second level, this event took almost three days
to finish. Matt Savage, co-Tournament Director, had the best line. Coming back
from the one-hour dinner break, Matt asked the players over the loudspeaker,
"For those of you who may have forgotten where you were sitting, we'll be glad
to help."

There were 396 entrants in the $1,000 Senior's for a total prize pool of
$372,240. Four tables were paid, a total of 36 players.

Kilgore was here. But so was the American, Buffalo. Two guys went out on the
same hand at different tables to avoid getting the dreaded booby prize. Bill
Kilgore, who's everywhere, and Charles Buffalo, who's disappeared, shared 36th
place and a couple bucks over the buy-in.

To setup the Final Table Sunday afternoon, John Biebel waited until Mike Sexton
had the stone-cold nuts before John went all-in. The only card that could beat
Biebel was a Queen on the river to give Sexton the nut straight with his A K.
Biebel slow-played his pocket Kings into oblivion before betting them and got
11th place for it.

THE FINAL TABLE 42 mins left of 75. $300 ante. The blinds were $1,000/$2,000

Player Hometown Chip Count

Seat 1 Pat Callahan Las Vegas NV $33,500
Seat 2 David Troyer Fredericksburg VA $10,600
Seat 3 Mike Sexton Henderson NV $85,000
Seat 4 Fred Brown Howell MI $43,300
Seat 5 Johnny Davis Mesa AZ $17,000
Seat 6 Chris Wunderlich Higley AZ $58,800
Seat 7 Bill Swan Wichita Falls TX $21,900
Seat 8 Dennis Lane Corte Madera CA $43,700
Seat 9 Bill Bertram Reno NV $14,200
Seat 10 Ben Battle London, UK $70,600

It was nice to see some NEW faces at the Final Table, even if the faces were
OLD. It didn't take very long for the jello to be served. In the classic poker
hand, A K against pocket Queens, Dennis Lane had raised and short-stacked Bill
Bertram reraised all-in on the button with the Queens. No waiting, the King
windowed sending Bertram off and to his rocker in 10th.

On the poker internet newsgroup: rec.gambling.poker, pocket 5's have a name.
They are called "Presto" and the hand seems to have magical powers. Repeatedly,
Presto has been known to crack far more powerful hands. Not today, however.
Today, Presto dominated two weaker hands. Chris Wunderlich raised under the gun
with the pocket 5's. Johnny Davis only had a few chips over his big blind and
"didn't look" before tossing them in. Davis had A 4 and was miles ahead on his
way out the door in 9th.

On the very next hand, Wunderlich picked up Presto again, and found a new way
to win with the pocket 5's. Chris flopped a set and let 'Fast' Freddy Brown go
all-in against him. Brown had outs, but they were Brown outs. You know what I
mean? Freddy had J 9 for a flopped up and down straight draw. He needed a King
or an 8 to stay alive. There was a power failure for Freddy and he went
downtown into 8th.

Veteran tournament warrior Pat Callahan made a move on the blinds with his last
$20k and the K J of Clubs. The incredibly hot Chris Wunderlich had a
brainstorm. Chris picked up pocket Aces in the big blind and decided to call.
Such bravado for an oldster!
Chris's bravery was rewarded immediately as Pat Callahan in 7th was drawing
dead on the flop that came A 3 3.

If you can win with pocket Aces once, you can lose to them twice. Chris
Wunderlich was only playing the rush that had brought him to the clear chip
lead when the paradigm shifted. (Poker Definition: paradigm=$2,000). After
being unable to lose a hand for the first hour, Chris had to wonder where his
luck went from then on. It seemed inconceivable that Chris could be the next
one out, but that's what happened. He ran into pocket Aces twice, once he had
pocket 10's and then pocket Queens. All-in now for his last $4.5k and an A 8,
Wunderlich got to test his wanderlust as he wandered toward the door in 6th.
Ben Battle had K J and made trips.

The Battle of Britian was won by a few incredibly brave young pilots. Ben
Battle of Britian only had a proven loser on his side, A 8 all-in. Mike Sexton
shot Ben out of the sky in 5th with an A K that played.

Shortness has nothing to do with age. Shortness is usually fatal, age
inevitable. David Troyer came in 10th in chips with only $10,600. That he
lasted to 4th is a testament to David's grittiness. Troyer finally surrendered
to shortness and went all-in with A Q. Bill Swan called with A K and didn't
need the King that came.

"This is a bad call," Mike Sexton said and shoved in his stacks. Turned out
Sexton was correct, just premature. After several minutes of contemplation,
Mike called the preflop $35k reraise all-in bet of Dennis Lane. Sexton had A J.
Lane had pocket 7's. It wasn't as bad as Mike had feared, this time. Mike had
two overcards, and the Ace flopped to give Dennis more than a penny in 3rd.
Lois would have been proud of Lane's super performance.

"37 cashes and only one bracelet, that's pretty bad," Mike Sexton was making
fun of his WSOP frustration. But he might be second guessing two calls that he
made heads up that probably cost him another bracelet. It seemed clear that
Mike, the tournament veteran, could chip away at Bill Swan. Sexton didn't need
to make any 'coin toss-type' calls.

"I think I played the hand well, he could only put me on a bluff," Bill Swan
said of the first of two pivotal hands. Swan had slow-played pocket Aces to the
river. What could have been a disastrous mistake, turned golden. Bill bet $81k
all-in with the board Q 9 4 6 8. With pocket Jacks, a bluff was about the only
hand Mike Sexton could beat. Mike called and Swan turned over his Aces.

Still, Sexton was the clearly superior heads up player. He clipped Swan's stack
repeatedly until the fateful hand arrived. Mike flopped two pair with 7's and
5's. Sexton may have gotten greedy, only he knows. In any case, Mike let Bill
Swan see the turn card cheaply. The board was 7 5 3 8 K. Bill went from an ugly
duckling on the flop to a Swan on the turn when his 9 6 hit the paydirt,
gutshot straight. Bill went all-in and, again, Mike Sexton called when he
didn’t have to.

There is nothing in this world easier than playing a tournament from the
sidelines. No one but Mike Sexton can know what his thinking processes were on
those two calls. He may have made the correct play on both of them. It sure
didn't look like it from the stands. Mike Sexton is a great player, a gentleman
and a credit to poker. But may have let 'The Geezer's Open' bracelet slip off
his wrist, today.

Official Money Winners
1. Bill Swan $134,000
2. Mike Sexton $ 68,860
3. Dennis Lane $ 36,360
4. David Troyer $ 20,480
5. Ben Battle $ 14,880
6. Chris Wunderlich $ 11,920
7. Pat Callahan $ 8,940
8. Fred Brown $ 6,700
9. Johnny Davis $ 5,220
10. Bill Bertram $ 4,100

11th-12th received $4,100
John Biebel, Vince Burgio

13th-15th received $3,720
Martin Corpuz, Andre Boyer, Mickey Arden

16th-18th received $2,980
George Geros, Steve Meyerson, Morris Simmerman,

19th-27th received $2,240
Glenn Schott, Patty Pfeil, Berry Johnston, George Bartlett, James Ferrel, Frank
Okasaki Jr, Brad Daugherty, Gregg Turk, Joe Sherman

28th-36th received $1,480
Glenn Neal, Tom Schmit, Phil Goatz, Stephen O'Shaughnessy, Tom McEvoy, David
Dressner, Jim Weatherby, Harry Thomas Jr, (Tie) Charles Buffalo and William
Kilgore.