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What
a final table for the second event of
Hustler Casino's Poker Challenge Cup!
There were two World Series champions,
one half of a pair of poker-playing twins
… and a father/son set of Illinois plumbers.
In the end, Pop the Plumber, 52-year-old
Jim Karambinis, drained the field with
his relentless all-in raising to take
down first place and $18,010 in the $200+$25
no-limit hold'em event.
Showing
no remorse, Jim repeatedly stole the blinds
of his son George, who was stymied by
a lack of hands throughout. The elder
Karambinis said he had no cards at the
final table either, but made his own hands
by being by far the most aggressive player.
Jim won a $1,000 pot-limit hold'em event
at Tunica last year, but says his best
game is 32-card no-limit hold'em, which
he's played for years at home games. "I'm
the best in the world," he boasted.
George, who finished fourth, is off to
a pretty good start himself. He turned
21 just two weeks ago, and has now made
two final tables in the only two tournaments
(yesterday and today) he's ever entered.
The
final table started with $200 antes and
$600 and $1,200 blinds, 19 minutes remaining.
Freddy Lavassani, who banks pai gow and
blackjack games with his twin brother,
had the chip lead, closely followed by
the retired attorney who goes by the colorful
moniker of "Mickey Mouse."
David Brown lasted two hands. In the small
blind with only $7,200 left, he called
all in when John Womack raised, but his
K-Q was no match for Womack's pocket cowboys.
His 10th place payout was $710. 1991 world
champion Brad Daugherty departed on hand
seven when he tried to steal Womack's
big blind by moving in for $6,000 from
the small blind with just 8-6. Unfortunately
for him, Womack, who has wins at the Taj
Mahal, Reno and Orleans, had two more
8s and turned a set as Brad settled for
$710.
Tom McEvoy fared no better seven hands
later when he moved in for about $15,000
with A-4 suited. George, with more chips,
had an easy call with pocket 10s and busted
the 1983 champ. Grand Rapids Tom's payday
was $830.
The
limits had jumped twice, to $500 antes
and $1,500-$3,000 blinds before the next
player left. By now Pop the Plumber had
been pounding the players to push to a
peak of perhaps $70,000. On hand 55, Lavassani
made it $7,500 to go on the button. Steven
Dell, who is in pipeline sales and has
numerous top three tournament finishes,
raised all in for a few more chips in
the small blind with J-3. Mickey Mouse
and Freddy the twin called. When the flop
came A-K-6, the Mouse moved in with K-Q.
Freddy folded. Dell fell when a 5 and
queen were dealt. He got $1,420 for seventh
place while Freddy kicked himself for
folding a J-10 which would have given
him a straight.
A
few hands later Lavasssani defended his
big blind with his last handful of chips
after Sanford Mendelson, another retired
attorney, raised. Freddy didn't have much
of a defense with J-5 offsuit against
Mendelson's suited A-K. Big slick won
without improving, and the twin pocketed
$1,895. Mickey Mouse got exterminated
a bit later. The chip-depleted mouse,
who won back-to-back stud tournaments
(at ages 19 and 20) in '62 and '63 at
Binion's Horseshoe tournaments that were
a precursor to the World Series, moved
in with a cheesy Q-8 and couldn't nibble
away at pop's K-8. He took home $2,370.
Mickey later said poker had helped him
get through law school, but he swore of
poker and blackjack after law school graduation
30 years. He just returned to green felt
action two years ago and has since placed
fourth in a $1 million Los Angeles Poker
Classic event.
Son
George, who had seen little action since
knocking out McEvoy 53 hands earlier,
went out in a three-way pot. He raised
all in for $6,200 with A-5. Womack called
with A-8 of spades, then called again
when Mendelson moved for $14,000 more
with pocket jacks which took the pot.
George picked up $2,845, then stuck around
to sweat his old man.
Womack, who also has several WSOP money
finishes, was running near empty but waited
an entire round waiting for something
to play. Nothing came, and he ended up
posting his last $3,000 in the big blind
with a sorry 5-3. Jim and Sandy called
to check him down and hopefully have him
check out. Three jacks flopped, then a
6 as Sandy, with K-6, made a full house.
Womack got $4,505 for his third-place
finish.
The
heads-up match began with the plumber
holding roughly $140,000-in chips to the
lawyer's $50,000. They discussed a deal
at length, but Mendelson finally decided
to play it out.
Blinds
now went to $2,000 and $4,000, with $500
antes. Sandy, a resident of Malibu, began
eating away at Karambinis' lead, and then
Jim gradually won his chips back and a
little more. On the 26th hand, Sandy nearly
pulled even. He had called all in with
A-K when Jim moved in with A-8, and was
in the lead when the board showed Q-6-4-6.
But then another queen hit the river,
and the pot was split when both of their
aces played.
Jim,
who had increased his starting lead by
5K, made another offer. It was now nearly
6:30 a.m., and the two weary combatants
sensibly agreed to a deal to end day 2
of the Poker Challenge Cup.
Max Shapiro
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