It was almost as though it was fated. Shawn Buchanon, having just taken a decisive chip lead over heads-up opponent Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby after making a remarkable read with a pocket pair of threes on a Q-9-4-9-K board, turned over another pair of crabs a few hands later just in time for Hamby's all-in shove.
Buchanon, who had dominated the chip-leaderboard in the World Poker Tour's Mandalay Bay Poker Championship since Day 1 and who was now one call away from his first WPT title, deliberated for a few long moments before finally sitting up, leaning forward, and telling those assembled, "All right, I call."
A few long moments later, Buchanon had earned his place in WPT history, taking down first place at Mandalay Bay for $768,755 and all of the other baubles that go with such a title. I talked to Shawn immediately after his victory.
How are you feeling right now?
Pretty excited. It's going to be a fun night.
Pocket threes must your favorite hand right now.
Yeah. (Laughs.) Definitely.
Before we get into the craziness at the end, can you talk a bit about how the final table as a whole went down?
The final table actually went by fairly fast, it seemed. We lost guys pretty fast; I was fortunate to get kings against David Haddad's jacks and won that big pot early. I coasted from there.
I lost a couple big pots to David Levi, but it was good. It was fun.
What was your strategy going into heads-up play with Jared?
Heads-up, I just wanted to play a lot of small pots, keep the pots small because the blinds were so big, and just chip away.
Let's talk about that first hand with the pocket threes.
Well, I felt I had the best hand, even though he re-raised me preflop. The flop was kind of hit or miss, and he bet. I called to see what he did, and then on the turn I still felt, when he asked me how many chips I had, that he was just firing a couple shots. He bet enough to kind of leave himself outs to get off the hand, so I called again.
The river was kind of a scary card, but he checked, so I knew my hand was good and I checked behind. If he fires on the river, no matter what the card is, I'm going to have to think and decide what he has, and probably fold.
What was going through your mind when Jared shoved a few hands later and you turned over that second pair of treys?
The last hand, I knew he had a random hand. I was pretty sure he didn't have a pair. He made such a big bet that I figured I was ahead, and I was willing to gamble. If we lost the hand we'd be back to even and we'd play again, so it wasn't a huge problem if I lost.
Greg Mueller looked more excited than you did that you'd won. You're both from Vancouver; are you two pretty tight?
Yeah, we room together on the road and he's taught me a lot over the last few years, so he was excited.
What are you going to do with the money?
I don't know. Hopefully invest some, help out my family and stuff, and I don't know, have some fun with it. (Laughs.)
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Buchanon, a 25-year-old pro from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, is a protégé of Greg "FBT" Mueller. During a dinner break from the $5,000 Mixed Hold'em World Championship at the WSOP, Mueller hightailed it to Mandalay Bay, arriving sweat-soaked and out of breath, just in time to see his young associate accept Mike Sexton's victory toast.
Mueller, hysterical in the face of Buchanon's unflappable calm, had to be restrained by a WPT staffer from bursting onto the stage. Eventually he broke free, and joined Buchanon in his victory celebration, posing for pictures and interviews with a bigger grin than the champ's himself. Then he hurried back over to the Rio, where he proceeded to final-table his event under the watchful eye of the victorious Buchanon. Mueller is second in chips going into tomorrow's final day, and if all goes well for FBT and his champion cheering-section, the first weekend in June could prove to be an auspicious start to what promises to be a tremendous summer for the two Canadians.
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