1989 WSOP: Furlong Finishes Sixth

It’s hard to envision a time in poker before Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat has been such a strong presence in the game’s iconography; not just in today’s poker boom, but in the decade leading up to it. At the 2002 World Series of Poker, he shaved his head. In the 2001 broadcast, nemesis Phil Gordon called him the best player in the world. In the decade leading up to that point, he was as vocal and central a character in the tournament game as anyone who ever played.

Hellmuth’s run of 10 bracelets, millions of dollars and hundreds of memorable performances in human behavior started long before the 1989 World Series of Poker, but it was in that event that he first came to the poker public’s eye. It was that year that he won his most cherished bracelet: For winning the Main Event, crowning him the world champion of poker. He was just 24 years old, a record that stands to this day.

The beginning of the Hellmuth era coincided with the end of the greatest run in World Series history. Johnny Chan won the main event in 1987, then followed it with another win in 1998, becoming the fourth - and to this point, last - player to win consecutive titles. In 1989, he made it to the final table again. Chan and Hellmuth, in hindsight, are the enduring story of the 1989 World Series.

Only the final six competitors played for the cameras in ’98: Chan, Hellmuth, Lyle Berman, Don Zewin, Steve Lott and future world champion Noel Furlong. Berman and Zewin came in with the small stacks, at T188,000 and T185,000 respectively, but it would be the aggressive Irishman Furlong who’d be the first to go.

Known for a loose style that made any two cards feasible, Furlong started the final day with just over T300,000, getting mixed up in more hands than not. Sitting in the big blind, he was happy to play when Chan and Lott limped and Hellmuth, Berman and Zewin folded. Holding pocket fours, Furlong made a play for the pot; he raised the big blind to T30,000.

Chan paused then re-raised T100,000 more. Chan’s tight reputation might have scared away some opponents, but Furlong decided his pockets made the flop worth seeing. When it came Kh-10d-2c, Furlong took the initiative, moving the rest of his chips into the pot. Chan barely paused, calling with pocket queens, then pumping his fist and jumping from his chair when he saw the edge he held.

With over a half-million in the pot, Noel needed a four to avoid elimination, but didn’t get it. The turn came 7c and the river Ks, giving Chan the hand and a strong chip lead. Furlong won $52,850, hardly the goal.

Gary Wise

gary@wisehandpoker.com

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