One wild ride on the river

By Jeff Haney

Monday, April 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

If it wasn’t clear as he was staring across the poker table at a mountain of chips, knowing that behind the mountain lurked Gus Hansen, one of the game’s trickiest and most aggressive players, David Chiu might have sensed he was in trouble when the announcer solemnly read the official chip count to the crowd at the World Poker Tour Championship.

“Gus has a lot. David doesn’t.”

Even Chiu had to laugh, although Hansen did own a commanding chip lead of better than 5 to 1, or nearly $23 million in tournament chips to Chiu’s $4.5 million, by the time the field of 545 entrants had been pared to its final two Saturday night at the Bellagio.

To hear Chiu tell it, he had Hansen right where he wanted him.

“When I come into a final table, I’m always confident that I’m going to win the whole thing,” Chiu said after completing an improbable comeback to win the sixth annual World Poker Tour Championship and its $3.38 million top prize.

“It’s not because I think I’m the greatest. It’s not like that. But you have to think that way. Otherwise, if you come to a poker table thinking ‘I’m a loser,’ why come at all? You have to have that confidence.”

With his victory, Chiu denied Hansen what would have been his fourth — and biggest — World Poker Tour title. The $25,000-entry championship tournament, conducted annually at the Bellagio, marks the conclusion of each season of the World Poker circuit. Loaded with top-level professionals, the championship is considered by many in the game to carry more prestige than any tournament except the World Series of Poker main event.

Chiu, who was born in China and grew up in the U.S., made his name as a professional poker player in 7-card stud and limit Texas hold ’em. Before his victory Saturday, he had amassed $2.8 million in tournament winnings.

“In no-limit hold ’em, anything can happen,” said Chiu, 47, who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin as well as English. “I know even if he has a 5-1 chip lead on me, I can win twice and even it up. That went into my game plan.”

Heading into the six-man TV final table (GSN, Cox cable channel 344, Aug. 25), Chiu had a two-step strategy he executed with precision. Figuring Hansen would be looking to mix it up, Chiu opted to duck out of his way until it became heads-up. Chiu got involved in only two hands before the field was narrowed to two.

Once it reached the heads-up stage, Chiu employed a modified rope-a-dope, confounding the hyper-aggressive Hansen with a series of well-timed calls and re-raises.

“My strategy was to let Gus play his style and try to take advantage when I have position on him,” Chiu said. “I’m going to let him do all the dirty work.”

On the final hand, Chiu called a big all-in bet by Hansen, who had two pair with one card to come. Chiu held the ace-9 of spades for a pair of aces and a flush draw. The ace of hearts on the river gave Chiu three of a kind and the title.

“I had nothing to lose (after starting) with the 5-1 chip (deficit) anyway,” Chiu said. “If I don’t gamble with this hand, what am I playing for?”

Hansen dominated play during the early part of the night. He started with the chip lead and extended it by eliminating each of the four other players.

On three of those key hands, Hansen came from behind to win it on the river. In the most crucial encounter, Hansen made a diamond flush on fifth street to oust Cory Carroll and win a huge pot.

It wasn’t lost on the audience at the Bellagio that the river came back to haunt Hansen at the end.

“You’re kind of catching me at a bad time,” a punch-drunk Hansen told the World Poker Tour’s Mike Sexton afterward. “I just lost a big hand.”

Without missing a beat, Sexton countered, “Now you know how those other guys felt.”