Chip-Burner
Turner Has Easy Win
For Zillionth Tournament Victory
Robert "Chip Burner" Turner, the good
ol' boy from Huntsville, Alabama who reckons
his lifetime tournament wins in the hundreds,
had a pretty easy time of it tonight.
Never in trouble, never all in, he held
the chip lead lead or was close to it
from the git-go as he coasted to victory
in the sixth event of Hustler Casino's
Grand Slam of Poker, 7-card stud hi-lo.
Making his second straight final table,
he also moved into a tie with Chris Grigorian
in the all-around points race.
Turner, who also has several best all-arounds,
has held posts with various local casinos,
and is currently an executive host with
the Bicycle Casino. Also at the last table
was the colorful T.J. Cloutier, considered
by many to be the greatest tournament
player alive.
Two players were nearly eliminated in
the same hand just before the final table.
T.J. had buried aces and was betting all
the way. On sixth street, he had (A-A)K-3-5-7.
An all-in Scotty Philips had (A-4)2-6-9-Q.
And Richard Tatalovich, also all in, had
(3-6)5-9-7-10. The river card changed
everything. A four gave T.J. a 7-5 low
to go with his aces. Philips, who had
started with four cards to a 6-4 low,
caught a third brick queen and was out.
Tatalovich, drawing to a 7-6 low, instead
hit an eight to make an inside straight
and survive.
The final table started with $100 antes,
a $200 low-card bring-in, playing for
$800-$1,600 with 14 minutes remaining.
Talovich didn't look like he had many
minutes remaining when he went all in
on the second hand, but made a scoop flush.
Three hands later he got involved in a
four-way pot, ending up heads-up with
Turner. He played with such agonizing
deliberation that the hand, by T.J.'s
reckoning, took seven minutes! In the
end, he couldn't improve his sevens, lost
to Turner's two small pair and was left
with $1,700.
With $200 antes, a $300 bring-in and 1-2k
limits, David Tran was first man out at
the final table. On the seventh hand,
he was in the lead with kings and queens
until Turner hit a third jack on the river.
Two hands later, Tatalovich went all in
for $1,100 with split aces. When Craig
Hartigan bet out on sixth street instead
of checking the hand down, an annoyed
T.J. remarked, "You must be brand new
on this planet." Hartigan in turn chided
T.J. for checking out of turn. In any
event, Tatalovich escaped with aces while
T.J. took the low end with an eight.
As play continued, T.J. complained about
"bricks, bricks, bricks" as he twice missed
a low with two cards to come. A few hands
later Tatalovich was all in again with
(6-7)8, T.J. with two 10s and an ace,
decided to gamble with him. He caught
a third 10 and busted Tatalovich, who
ended with two pair.
Soon after, Craig had buried kings and
put himself all in. He couldn't improve
and lost to Turner's eights and fours,
while T.J., starting with a promising
(2-3)4, just managed to make an eight
on the river.
As play continued, the contestants took
turns going all in and catching what they
needed to stick around. Finally, Ted Cooke,
who's made 17 final tables over a long
span of playing, went all in, starting
and ending with (A-5)J-J. He was up against
a professional player named Richard Prozanski
who began with four great cards--(4-5)3-6--then
snagged a deuce on the river for a six-high
straight to leave Cooke in fifth place.
At this point, the approximate standings
were: Turner: 45k; T.J., 16k Prozanski,
15k; and the Captain, 7k. Turner then
dipped down a bit when he made trip threes
for the second time, only to have T.J.
catch a king to complete an open-end straight.
Later, T.J. was all in with pocket kings.
He took half the main pot with two pair
while Turner took low with a 7-6 and the
Captain salvaged something by getting
half the side pot with two sixes.
Still struggling, T.J. next chased a seven-low,
missed and got torpedoed by the captain's
eight-high straight. Two hands later,
T.J. went all in fo $2,400, confidently
showed a set of nines and was shocked
when Prozanski turned up two fours for
fours-full.
Three-handed, Turner now had close to
50k of the $83,200 in play. Just one hand
later, he put the Captain all in holding
a pair of sevens. He couldn't improve,
but the Capltain, who had two fives, couldn't
either. The Captain went overboard and
now just two were left. The Chip-Burner
had a $50,700 to $34,000 advantage, and
after some discussion, the two agreed
to a deal and event #6 was a wrap.
Max Shapiro
|
