Poker News

THE EVERYONE’S invited/anybody-can-win hold ’em tournaments are all the rage, from sit-and-go tables to big buy-in events.

But there is another kind of tournament played annually in Europe that would seemingly appeal to television’s desire to crown ultimate champions.

The World Heads Up Poker Championship staged in Barcelona is structured like the NCAA basketball tournament, only doubled. You have 128 contestants divided into four brackets — drawn randomly, not seeded — and if you win, you play the winner of the match next to you.

Each player starts with $5,000 in chips each round. The blinds go from $50-$100 to $75-$150 after one hour to $100-$200 after two hours. But the blinds remain $100-$200, emphasizing skill and delaying desperation all-ins.

It’s like being one of the last two players at a final table. Win seven final tables, win it all.

But strategy changes in this kind of tournament, said “Miami” John Cernuto, the 2003 champion. “Starting out with the same amount of chips, there’s going to be a lot more hands that you need to play,” said Cernuto, who came to big-time poker after President Reagan fired him and his fellow air traffic controllers for going on strike a couple decades ago.

“Against a player who’s not showing me much aggressiveness, I’d be raising his big blind, I’d say, probably nine times out of 10, and it really doesn’t matter what the hands are. It’s just two pieces of paper at that point.”

Ultimately, a player has to make a stand. Mickey Wernick made one in a quarterfinal match last year and doubled up. After taking a small chip lead, Wernick made a big preflop raise as Cernuto picked up A-K.

“I don’t know whether it was the frustration of spending 2-3 hours with this guy and getting him down to nothing and watching him come back and win it all on a bluff, or what it was, but I made a huge reraise with ace-king,” Cernuto said. “I committed myself to this pot.

“He came back over the top. I said, ‘I’m in trouble. He’s probably got two queens or two kings.’ So, I called. I put all the money on the line.”

Wernick indeed had pocket Ks. The flop came 5-5-4. The turn came a 3. The river came a deuce. Cernuto hit a straight.

“I made a wheel with the ace-king,” Cernuto said. “Super lucky. I finished him off after that.”