San Rafael’s Keikoan claims WSOP bracelet
By Arnold Warner

Last year, San Rafael’s Matt Keikoan made a highly respectable showing in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker finishing 63rd out of 6,358, but this year he has already one-upped himself, taking home a bracelet and $550,601 for first place in Event 7, which had a total prize pool of $2,899,260.

The tournament began on June 4 with 1,593 entries paying $2,000 each to enter this no-limit Hold’em event, and finished two days later with Keikoan the last man standing. He felt that the improved structures at this years Series was advantageous for him, stating, “I think they made a lot of really good changes this year at the World Series. The structures are better, the facilities are better. They have extra rooms so we’re not as cramped in.”

When asked if there were any hands that stood out as he worked his way to the final table he replied, “I had a big suckout which was nice. I’m sort of used to being on the other end of those. I’ve taken a lot of rough beats over the years and I finally put one on another guy.”

He was referring to a hand in which he smooth-called a preflop raise holding 9-9, then, on a flop of 8-2-3 decided that, given the chip stacks, his best move was to re-raise all-in. He wasn’t too happy though, when his opponent showed pocket 10s, but a 9 on the turn kept him going. “It’s tough to just get your money in good in a tournament. When your chips are limited, sometimes you just have to go with a hand,” he said.

Keikoan felt that the most important part of the tournament for him was when they were down to two short-handed tables (six players each), and he noticed that most of the other players at his table were playing extremely weak. “I started raising a lot of hands and noticed they weren’t playing back at me at all,” he continued. “So I shifted into really my highest gear and just really started attacking. That’s the best situation you can get into in a tournament, if you know how to play that gear.

“I was pretending to look at my cards. It almost doesn’t matter what you have unless you get called, and even when I got called I just put out a continuation bet and they would fold, so I got most of my chips when we were six handed.”

He had a lot of praise for the other eight players that made the final table, but singled out Sacramento’s J.C. Tran as someone he considers both a good friend and an excellent player. “He’s genuinely one of the nicest guys and clearly one of the very best tournament players out there. He put on a short stack clinic at the end of the second day. He just never gave up. He really played great just to get to that final table,” Keikoan said.

The final table players and their chip counts were: Theo Tran (1,884,000), Mihai Manole (1,020,000), Keikoan (1,011,000), Carter Gill (652,000), Shannon Shorr (627,000), Mike Lisanti (358,000), Alex Bolotin (345,000), Tran (273,000), and Chris Bjorin (205,000).

Even though he was nearly tied for second in chips, Keikoan knew that his work was cut out for him. “I realized that I ­wasn’t going to just run over this table. I basically did a 180 from the day before where I was just pounding, pounding, pounding. I tightened up to the extreme.”

Illustrating an example of how fortunes can change at a tournament table depending on what different players do, Keikoan mentioned one hand at the final table that had the potential to send him into the realm of the short stacks, but didn’t. When he squeezed his hand and saw K-K in early position he raised, Shorr (who later told him he had 8-8 on the hand) cold called and another player moved all-in over the top of both of them. Keikoan quickly called and Shorr folded.

The flop came three small cards, one of which was an 8. “If that guy hadn’t had ­A-K or had decided to slow play it, there’s no way I’m getting away from K-K with that board. I would have been crippled. Instead, I won a nice-sized pot.”

It took 93 hands before they were down to the final two—Keikoan and Shorr—and another 68 hands for Keikoan to claim all the chips and the coveted bracelet. “I was so exhausted it was hard to think,” he said of his initial reaction to realizing he had won. “I gave everyone (friends and family) hugs and high fives. I was so focused when we got to heads up that I sort of just blocked everything out. I was so zoned in, and that takes a lot of energy away from you. I was exhausted afterward, and I was happy, obviously.

“Part of what made it special, other than winning a bracelet, is that I’ve never even gotten close to really winning a tournament before. I have a ninth place in Tunica two years ago and I had a 13th at the Mirage, but other than that I think my highest place at a big event was in the 20s.

“To get that close and then actually pull it off my first time, that made it a little more special also. Now I don’t ever have to worry about not having won a tournament before. Hopefully, I can have another deep run in the Main Event this year.”

When asked the inevitable question about which is more important, the money or the bracelet, Keikoan got a bit philosophical: “My friends used to always say it was all about winning. To me, it wasn’t all about winning, it was all about the money to be honest. But I have to admit now that winning … the difference between first and second is huge. Looking back at it, it’s just the way people view it. People remember who finished first and they don’t remember who finished second. But it was still mostly about the money to me!”

Also at the World Series

Keikoan wasn’t the only player from Northern California to have noteworthy success so far at this year’s World Series. J.C. Tran took seventh in this event and fifth in another, then capped it off with first place and a bracelet in Event 49 (just before we went to press). The biggest news though, had to be the fact that Stockton’s John “the Razor” Phan has come away with not one, but two bracelets.

What follows is a list of events in which Northern California players (and some of our favorite former residents) made final tables at this year’s World Series. At press time, there were still a few events left to finish, one of which is the Main Event.

Event 3, Pot-limit Hold’em, $1,500 buy-in
Greg Alston, Danville, third place, $82,725

Event 4, Mixed Hold’em (limit/no-limit), $5,000 buy-in
Erick Lindgren, Burney (formerly), first place, $374,505

Event 5, No-limit Hold’em, $1,000 buy-in
Michael Binger, Palo Alto (formerly), seventh place, $101,293

Event 15, Ladies No-limit Hold’em World Championship, $1,000 buy-in
Yesenia Garcia, Modesto, eighth place, $28,155

Event 18, No-limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with rebuys, $5,000 buy-in
Barry Greenstein, San Jose (formerly), third place, $225,552
Erick Lindgren, Burney (formerly), fourth place, $156,151

Event 20, Limit Hold’em, $2,000 buy-in
Hien Tran, Sacramento, ninth place, $18,782

Event 22, H.O.R.S.E., $3,000 buy-in
Rostislav Tsodikov, Daly City, seventh, $36,564

Event 26, Razz, $1,500 buy-in
Barry Greenstein, San Jose (formerly), first place, $157, 619

Event 27, No-limit Hold’em, $1,500 buy-in
Robert Brown, Roseville, eighth, $84,954

Event 28, Pot-limit Omaha with re-buys, $5,000 buy-in
Phil Hellmuth, Palo Alto, eighth, $100,292

Event 29, No-limit Hold’em, $3,000 buy-in
John Phan, Stockton, first, $434,789

Event 30, World Championship Limit Hold’em, $10,000 buy-in
J.C. Tran, Sacramento, fifth, $128,075

Event 34, Pot-limit Omaha with re-buys, $1,500 buy-in
Tim West, Los Altos, eighth, $72,213

Event 40, 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, $2,500 buy-in
John Phan, Stockton, first, $151,896

Event 42, Seniors No-limit Hold’em World Championship, $1,000 buy-in
Ed Clark, Sacramento, eighth, $49,450

Event 43, Pot-limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or better, $1,500 buy-in
Michael Fetter, Vallejo, third, $83,538

Event 45, World Championship H.O.R.S.E., $50,000 buy-in
Erick Lindgren, Burney (formerly), third, $781,440
Barry Greenstein, San Jose (formerly), sixth, $355,200

Event 48, No-limit Hold’em, $2,000 buy-in
Marco Johnson, Walnut Creek, second, $491,273

Event 49, No-limit Hold’em, $1,500 buy-in
J.C. Tran, Sacramento, first, $631,170