The amateur defeated a table full of pros to win

Poker tournaments are, by nature, an uphill battle, but Geffrey Klein’s win in the $1,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event is an exceptional David and Goliath story. Klein came into the final table fifth in chips and the gynecologist and poker amateur had to face a table full of tough pros, including one of the best six-handed players in the game, Jeff Papola, who had his sights set on his third top two finish in a six-handed WSOP event in the past two years.

It was not Papola who ended on top though. Instead, that honor goes to Klein, who battled back from 10-1 chip deficit at the start of heads-up play against Eddie Blumenthal to claim the bracelet and the $544,388.

“I never expected anything like this. I wanted to do well and play well and get lucky,” Klein said. The Texas gynecologist runs a practice back home in Houston and just took a week to play poker at the WSOP. Even though he was an amateur in a field packed with pros, he was never really intimidated at the table.

“I played with these guys before. I can tell you clearly that all of these guys are more skilled than I am at calculating math and reading players and things that come with doing it every day. Now I understand a lot of these principles and try to apply them as much as I can, but I’m not as verse in that kind of stuff. This isn’t chess. I couldn’t beat the World Champion chess player ever, but because of the swings and the luck factor involved I can actually play with these guys. I feel like I can.”

Papola began final table play as one of the shorter stacks, but jumped to the chip lead early when his set of fours held up against Anthony Spinella’s straight draw to give him a massive double up. His stack only got bigger when he finished off Spinella a few orbits later. Spinella got it all-in preflop holding the best of it with pocket queens, but Papola’s pocket tens spiked a set to eliminate Spinella and extend his chip lead.

Papola’s stack went from big to monstrous when he eliminated Bryan Colin in fifth place. After a series of preflop raises, the two got it all-in with Papola holding AQ to Colin’s TT. Papola flopped a flush draw when the cards came 953 and hit the flush when the turn brought the K. Colin headed home in fifth place and Papola chipped up to over 4 million, nearly twice that of his next closest competitor, David Vamplew.

Vamplew went from second in chips to out in fourth in a matter of minutes though. First, Vamplew and Eddie Blumenthal, who was making his second final table appearance of the series, got it all-in on a 972 flop. Vamplew had the bigger stack and the best of it with 99 for top set, while Blumenthal was behind and at-risk with 24 for a pair and a flush draw. The J on the turn was no help to Blumenthal, but the K on the river completed his flush and gave him the double up.

Getting down to the felt, Vamplew moved all-in preflop for this last of chips minutes later and both Blumenthal and Papola called. There was a little side action as the board ran out A7658. Blumenthal held KQ for the nut flush, which was good enough to beat Papola’s A5 for aces up and Vamplew’s AJ. Vamplew exited in fourth and Blumenthal assumed control of the chip lead.

It looked as though Geffrey Klein would be the next to go, as he had been battling a short stack all afternoon. However, it was Papola who headed home in third place after he and Blumenthal clashed in the biggest pot of the tournament. The fireworks went off on the K94 flop and the chips ended up in the middle with Papola holding KQ for top pair and Blumenthal showing A3 for the nut flush draw. Papola remained out front with the 9 on the turn, but the river 5 left Papola on the outside looking in as Blumenthal raked in the pot.

The monster pot gave Blumenthal a 10-1 chip advantage against Klein going into heads-up play, but Klein was not giving up.  He doubled on three separate occasions, taking the chip lead with the third double.  Blumenthal tried to stage a rally of his own, but in the end the bracelet came down to a coin flip.  Klein’s AK prevailed over Blumenthal’s pocket sevens and the amateur defeated the pros to take the bracelet.

Now the thing Klein has to worry about is his family coming to collect.  His three teenage children are back in Houston cheering their dad on from home.  According to Klein, his oldest son asked about getting a cut of the winnings.

“I told him, ‘Forget it,’” Klein admitted with a laugh.  ”But maybe it will inspire him to want to play, which I think is a great thing.  Poker is a social game, it challenges your mind, it makes you think about things.  I think poker is a great thing for kids to learn and I’ll bring him out here when he’s 21.”

Here’s hoping that when it comes to poker; Like father, like son.

Here are the final table results for the $1,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Event:

1st: Geffrey Klein – $544,388
2nd: Eddie Blumenthal – $334,756
3rd: Jeff Papola – $214,410
4th: David Vamplew – $141,030
5th: Bryan Colin – $95,333
6th: Anthony Spinella – $66,199

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