Wolfie
Huffs and Puffs and Blows
All the Other Players' Chips Away
The
player all the locals know as "Wolfie"
("They wouldn't know me if I gave my full
name," he said) came to the final table
of tonight's $500 no-limit hold'em event
with a good-sized chip lead and eventually
blew down most of his opponents' stacks.
When the event got heads-up, he owned
two-thirds of the 268,000 chips in play.
He made a deal with real estate appraiser
Mike Joon and was declared the winner
of the sixth event of Hustler Casino's
Grand Slam of Poker III.
For
years, Wolfie had played poker only sporadically
in Gardena casinos. "Lowball and draw
drive me crazy," he said. When hold'em
was legalized in 1987 he came into his
element, and has played only pot-limit
and no-limit since then. Wolfie, who is
retired as an operator of coin-operated
laundries, is basically a ring-game player,
favoring $5-$5 pot-limit and $10-$10 no-limit.
He's had a few small-limit tournament
wins, but this is his first major victory.
There
was a pause in tonight's event at the
end of level three when tournament co-director
Warren Karp called for a moment of silence
to honor the memory of Andy Glazer, the
brilliant poker journalist and tournament
reporter who died this past weekend and
whose funeral was held today in Long Island,
New York.
Blinds
at the final table began at $400-$800,
with $100 antes and 11:41 left. On the
second hand, Robert "Drew" Turner, who's
only been playing poker two months, was
in a lot of trouble when he was dealt
pocket queens to Sirous Baghchehsaraie's
pocket aces. Sirous milked him with a
$3,000 pre-flop raise and a $6,000 bet
into a flop of J-2-5. Turner then moved
in for $7,700 and departed in 10th place
when a trey and 10 were dealt.
Play
got cautious after that and nothing much
happened until hand 19. Blinds were now
$600-$1,200 with $200 antes. Kent Washington
opened for $3,500 from the cut-off seat,
Jeff Niedelman came over the top for $12,000
more and Washington moved in. Washington
was pushing his A-Q too hard because Niedelman
had A-K, and the Oakland poker dealer
was dealt out of the tournament in ninth
place.
Robert
Roter, who turned pro this year, was turned
out a few hands later. He started the
final table with only $6,600 and was down
to $1,200 when he took his last shot with
A-6. There were three callers. "Lots of
soldiers after you," Wolfie observed.
Wolfie was the soldier who put Roter out
of action. He had 8-6 and made a straight
8-high when the board came 7-6-4-5-3.
Blinds
were kicked up to $1,000-$2,000 with $300
antes. Wolfie ate up some more chips when
he moved in on a board of K-4-3-8-10 and
Niedelman abandoned a $39,000 pot. Niedelman
then took a bad beat that crippled him
when he had A-K against Ad-4d held by
computer consultant Dann Jones. A 4 came
on the river and Niedelman was left with
about $2,500. He lost it a couple of hands
later when he had Ks-9s in the big blind
against the A-J held by Mike Moon. An
ace flopped and that ended the evening
for Niedelman, who cashed out seventh.
Steve
Rosling, a pro with wins at the Reno-Hilton's
Pot of Gold and at Spirit Mountain, followed
him to the cashier a hand later when his
10-9 was no match for Moon's K-Q.
By
the time blinds went to $1,200-$2,400
with $400 antes, the race had tightened,
with Jones essentially tied with Wolfie,
and Moon not far behind. Hung La was second-shortest
chipped with about $24,000, and he only
lasted two hands. After Moon raised with
A-Q, La went all in with As-6s. Moon made
a straight when the board showed J-8-4-10-9,
and hung La out to dry in fifth place.
Baghchehsaraie
had the fewest chips with $1,600 when
the limits went up, but he made a quick
recovery to about $40,000. First he doubled
up against Jones when he moved in with
Kh-9h and outran Jones' Ad-2h by spiking
a king on the river. Then he later took
Jones down for more chips by moving in
and forcing him to fold.
Wolfie
then moved into a big lead by knocking
out Jones in fourth place. Wolfie opened
for $8,000 with Q-10. Jones had the better
hand, A-J, but a queen flopped and Wolfie
bet $10,000. When a five turned, Jones
attempted a rash all-in bluff for close
to $40,000, and Wolfie had an easy call.
A useless 9 hit the river, and the tournament
was down to three players.
A
rough chip count now showed that Wolfie
led the pack with about $155,000, followed
by Moon with around $80,000 and Baghchehsaraie
with $35,000. Moon was fortunate to still
be around, much less in such decent shape
because the best hand he had been dealt
at the final table was pocket jacks. He
later picked up some chips with A-9 against
Wolfie's K-7, and had about $100,000 to
$130,000 for Wolfie and $38,000 for Baghchehsaraie
when blinds rose, for the last time, to
$1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes. Proving
the old adage of "Be careful what you
wish for," he finally got the hand he
wished for, pocket aces, a few hands later.
He slow-played them, making relatively
small raises and bets pre-flop and on
the flop. All Wolfie had was 6-5, but
he made two pair on the river, bet $25,000
and got paid off by Moon. "Worst hand
I played all night," Moon later said.
The
tournament ended when Baghchehsaraie tried
an all-in move for $21,500 holding 8h-5h.
Moon called with Kc-Jc. The flop came
K-7-2. "Sirous needs two running pair
or a straight," Karp announced. "I need
a doctor," Sirous responded. Neither a
straight nor two pair nor a doctor came,
and Baghchehsaraie finished third. The
two finalists made their deal and Wolfie
had gobbled up his first big win.
Max Shapiro
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