Alexander Kuzmin Hungry for a Victory in Biloxi

When Alexander Kuzmin won the Southern Poker Championship, Mike Sexton asked him how he felt. Kuzmin’s answer? “Hungry.” No, not metaphorically hungry for a win or a big score. He wanted something to eat. Starving and exhausted, Kuzmin was clearly happy to be the latest WPT champion, but it was certainly no walk in the park for him at the Beau Rivage final table, as he had to contend with tough competition, rally from the short stack, and survive a marathon affair that lasted almost 12 hours before coming to a close.

When the final table began, Kuzmin was the chip leader, but many pointed to Allen Carter as the favorite to win this event. Carter was in this very situation once before at the Beau in Season VII and he prevailed. Though no player has ever won the same WPT twice, this seemed like as good a chance as any. However, with deep-stacked play at a final table full of pros, anything could happen.

Despite the deep stacks, it took only eleven hands before the first major all-in confrontation, when Pat Mahoney got it in against Ryan Hughes on the flop holding top two pair to Hughes’ combo draw. Hughes turned a flush to take the lead in the hand, but Mahoney filled up on the river in dramatic fashion to leave Hughes short on chips. Hughes hit the rail a few minutes later at the hands of Shannon Shorr, who vaulted past Mahoney to third in the counts.

The chips continued to move around with Carter chipping up, then dropping down slightly after doubling up some shorter stacks. Leif Force doubled through Carter to get up over one million chips, then sidelined Mahoney in 5th place to increase his stack even further when his pocket queens ran out a four-flush against Mahoney’s pocket kings.

Shorr’s run in the early stages of the final table was a little rockier. He dropped down in chips after hero-calling Carter, then doubled through Carter and Force to get back in the running. A big pot where Shorr doubled Kuzmin up in an overpair vs. flush draw confrontation left him critically short. Shorr tried to steal the blinds, shoving with [Jh7d], but Carter was waiting in the big blind to pick him off in fourth place with [QhJs].

At that point, Carter, who was the massive chip leader before eliminating Shorr, had well over three million chips and looked to be pulling away from the pack. But things started to go awry for Carter, as he doubled up Force to put him over 2 million chips and drop himself down to the shortest stack. Carter remained in good spirits, but was growing frustrated, even joking to Force that he should, “buy a lotto ticket.”

Carter’s run ended after nearly 60 hands of three-handed play when he made a move preflop with [Jc9d] and Kuzmin called him with [AdQd]. Carter turned top pair and was on the brink of doubling up until a third diamond came on the river, giving Kuzmin a flush and the KO.

That left Kuzmin and Force heads-up for the title with Kuzmin holding a 2-1 advantage over his opponent. Force tried to build his stack, but every time he made a little progress, he would fall back again. Force kept it a contest though, as the two kept at a stalemate for two and a half hours He doubled once to get back to what he started heads-up play with, but it was not to be for the Tallahassee native who missed his girlfriend’s birthday to be at the final table.

In the early hours of Friday, Kuzmin prevailed. Force was getting down to the felt and Kuzmin put him all-in with [Kd4s]. Force called with [Jc9c] and got zero help from the [Qd5s4d3h2c] board. Kuzmin celebrated and offered his condolences to his opponent. He was more than happy to pose for pictures with his winnings, but the first thing on his agenda was a rewarding snack after a long and hard-fought battle.

Here are the final table results from the Southern Poker Championship:

1st: Alexander Kuzmin – $601,469
2nd: Leif Force – $315,790
3rd: Allen Carter – $218,471
4th: Shannon Shorr – $144,985
5th: Pat Mahoney – $113,208
6th: Ryan Hughes – $89,375