Brecher Back On Top
by Court on 03.21.09, 4:56 am
Three handed play has been exceptionally long, and continues on. Give credit, or blame, to the Matt Savage tournament structure that continues to allow for so much play. At one point Steve Brecher was all in and on the verge of elimination with his AQ against the AK of then chip leader Kathy Liebert. On the K-J-5 flop Kathy was high fiving her supporters in the stands and jumping around, seemingly sensing the victory that has eluded her 5 times in the past getting all that much closer. Her celebration was premature though, with the K-J flop actually giving Brecher 4 outs to make a straight with any ten. The T
popped up on the turn and with that Brecher went from one foot out the door to flip flopping spots with Liebert and into the chip lead.
After losing that pot to Brecher and after an extended session of 3 handed play with chips being bandied back and forth Liebert lost a chunk to Chris Moore that put her in the short stack position and significantly below the other two players. Brecher holds the chip lead with 4 million chips, Moore is up to almost 3 million chips and Liebert is the short stack with around 900k. The blinds have worked their way up to 20k / 40k with a 5k ante and are starting to put more pressure on the players but at this point even the short stacked Liebert has plenty of room to work.
As the night wears on even the rabid fans in the San Jose area have started to drift away from the set. Playing for a million dollars and to be the first woman to win an open WPT title should be providing an adrenaline rush to Liebert, but recently she has complained of being tired and has shown signs of still being frustrated over losing the huge pot to Brecher earlier with her AK to his AQ.
For now, the battle continues on. A solid Steve Brecher is unlikely to make any brash moves to give away chips, Chris Moore has plenty of experience in short handed situations and seems the most alert and attentive of the 3, and Liebert is no rookie to WPT final tables, this one being her 6th. While she may complain of being tired, when the actual decisions are being made it is very unlikely that her mind is anything but awake and sharp.
