RABBI'S
PRAYERS HEARD
AS HE WINS OMAHA HI-LO
This
was a fun evening for David Rabbi. He
was playing his favorite game, he was
mixing it up with a lot of familiar friends
and competitors and, best of all, he won
the $100 Omaha hi-lo event, the second
in the 2003 Four Queens Poker Classic.
It wasn't an easy win for him, though.
At the second table he had only $200,
and he arrived at the final table with
an anemic 9k, but someone must have heard
his prayers.
Rabbi
has been playing professionally and coaching
poker for the past 25 years. He has a
second-place in ace to five lowball at
the World Series and a pot-limit Omaha
win at the Orleans. His star pupil is
Stan Schrier, who finished third at a
WSOP championship.
Actually,
when it got three-handed, he made an even
chop with Jim Taylor and Robert Gray,
and after that they were pretty much playing
for laughs and points. "I need the
practice," added Gray when Taylor
at one point suggested ending it.
The
final 10 sat down with limits of $1,000-$2,000,
7:20 left. Two short-chipped players quickly
departed. Clifford Bergman, a cage cashier,
was first to be cashiered. He had one
$500 chip left in the small blind after
his A-2-3 went nowhere. When Pat Castelluco
raised, he fretted and sweated and finally
tossed his last chip in with a respectable
10-10-K-9. Castelluco had a low hand,
A-2-4-K, and made a wheel when the board
came 8-5-2-J-3.
Pro
player David Kutcher, lowest chipped with
$2,500, lasted 12 hands. With limits at
1.5-3k, he was all in with J-8-5-2 in
the big blind against Rabbi, in the small
blind with A-3-6-Q. With the board showing
4-3-2-6, Kutcher had half the pot locked
up with a straight six, but a river trey
gave Rabbi a full house along with his
6-4 low.
As
play continued, Kee Ng, Tony Bolton, Taylor
and Pat Castelluco between them went all
in a total of 10 times and got away, often
with pocket aces. Then, on hand 33, two
players had the bullets. Ng was all in
with A-A-9-10 against David Rabbi's A-A-5-6.
As it turned out, the aces didn't play
because when the board came 10-5-3-6-7,
Rabbi won with sixes and fives, and the
cook from New Orleans got fried, finishing
eighth.
Five
hands later it was Castelluco who had
the aces while all in, against Taylor,
who had 2-3-5-8. A board of K-J-4-A gave
Castelluco a set and Taylor a low draw.
"A low card would help," Taylor
asked modestly. He got more help than
he imagined. A five gave him a wheel and
Castelluco was wheeled out in seventh
place. Tony Bolton, a respected pro from
London, had been hanging tough. He finally
went all for the third time with A-2-5-6
in the small blind. Once again pocket
aces made their appearance. This time
it was Gray who had the bullets: A-A-2-8.
With a flop of J-9-6-A, he had a set and
Bolton had outs for the low half. But
a river deuce double-counterfeited him,
and now five were left.
With
limits going to 3-6k, Taylor had the lead
with about 32k, while Rabbi and Gray were
roughly tied with about 26k or so each,
while Jerry Zehr and Tip West were in
the 12-14k range. Tip tiptoed out on hand
50. He raised with Ad-3d-Q-8, and bet
all in on a terrific flop of 9d-7d-2c,
giving him draws to a nut low and nut
flush. But two bricks came and Taylor,
who had been drawing to a number two low
with A-4-6-7, put him away with just a
paired seven.
As
hands went by, the chip count began to
even up, and then Taylor began to drop
down. By the time the limits were kicked
up to 4-8k, the count was: Rabbi, 46k;
Gray, 42.5k; Taylor 13k; an Zehr, 11k.
Two hands later, Zehr, a Kentuckian, bet
all in with a paired king on a flop of
K-10-10, but Taylor, a Texan, was waiting
with a third 10. Earlier, a deal had been
made for most of the money, and now the
three chopped the rest. Still, play continued
for another 25 hands.
Two
hands after limits peaked at 6-12k, Gray,
a semi-retired salesman with a couple
of tournament wins this year at the Hustler
and Bike, was all in with K-J-9-2. The
best he could make was a pair of nines
with a board of 10-9-6-5-5, while Rabbi,
with A-2-6-6, blew him away with a full
house.
Rabbi
and Taylor now just began raising and
shoving all their chips in to get it over
with. In three hands they did when Rabbi,
with A-K-8-6, caught a river king to outrun
Taylor's pocket 10s and claim victory.
Max Shapiro
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