TOURNAMENT
REPORT
Former
Mirage and Bellagio poker
host Mori Eskandani played
like he had home field advantage
as the Las Vegan outlasted
a field of 113 to take the
$43,844 first prize in the
Seven Card Stud event of
the Bellagio Five Diamond
World Poker Classic.
This
was Eskandani�s seventh
7 card stud title in his
professional career. �This
one was kind of a big deal
for me, not only because
it was my seventh stud title,
but because it was at the
Bellagio, one of the greatest
poker rooms there is,� said
Eskandani.
The
veteran professional player,
who plays regularly at the
Bellagio, went to the final
table as the chip leader,
but soon found himself down
in the pack after taking
a couple of tough beats
early. Eskandani stayed
alive long enough to make
it to a heads-up match against
Young Phan of Irvine, CA,
but then thought he had
made an error that would
knock him out of action.
He was down to only $14,000
in chips when he accidentally
made a miss-bet, causing
him to complete a much larger
bet than he wanted to at
sixth street. He had determined
that he was the big underdog
at that point in the hand,
but fortunately for him,
he filled up on the river,
won a big pot and never
looked back.
Phan
received second-place money
of $25,210, and John Brody
of Davie, FL, got third
and $13,153.
Eight
places representing total
prize money of $109,610
were paid for this $1,000
buy-in event, with European
Christoph Walters of Kassel,
Germany, finishing fourth,
followed by opening day
Limit Hold'em event winner
Tom Cawley of Whittier,
CA, Phil Immergluck of Chicago,
IL, Kim Cotton of Las Vegas,
NV, and Russ Scott of East
Moline, IL.
��
Jim Sherwood
