BMW
ENGINEER KOLLMANN
ENGINEERS 7-STUD VICTORY
Erich
Kollmann, an engineer at BMW, survived
three all-in situations to win the fourth
event of the 2003 St. Maarten Open, limit
7-card stud. Stud, which is popular in
his hometown of Vienna, is his favorite
game. He started as second chip leader,
just behind Russia's Oleg Shamardin, faltered
in the middle stages, then came on strong
to register a decisive victory.
Kollmann
plays many international tournaments.
His biggest cash-out came when he placed
second in a 3,000-Euro no-limit event
in Amsterdam. He finished 12th in this
year's European championship, eighth in
a 10k no-limit tournament in Melbourne
and has a batch of small wins in Vienna.
His
final opponent tonight was Finland's Juha
Helppi, who has made the final table in
all four buy-in events here and is the
current all-around points leader.
The
final table started with $200 antes, a
$400 low-card bring-in and limits of $1,200-$2,400,
with 15:04 remaining. Play began very
cautiously. Through the first two levels,
only three hands even went to the river.
The first time, Helppi, without showing
an open pair, turned up a full house to
beat Kollmann. The second came after limits
rose to $1,500-$3,000, with $300 antes
and a $500 bring-in. On that hand, Antonio
Turrissi of Germany started with buried
fours, went all in and caught a second
pair to outrun Steve Jelinek's buried
nines. The third time, Helppi chased down
a short-chipped Markus Schaffarczyk but
failed to put him out of action.
Finally,
the first player went out on hand 32.
With limits at $2,000-$4,000, Turissi
was down to $200 after putting in his
$400 ante and had to go all in with just
(10-4)A. The best he could make was two
10s. In three-way action, Graeme "Kiwi"
Putt also went all in when he caught a
third five on sixth street and "putt"
Turissi away. Putt is a retired dairy
farmer from Melbourne who won a 7-card
stud championship in Slovenia.
Five
hands later, Jelinek, from Manchester,
UK, went broke. He went all in with split
10s and made a second pair, not good enough
against Schaffarczyk, who started with
split aces and made aces-up.
Kollmann
was all in for the first time on hand
43. He raised his last chips with split
kings against Shamardin and went on to
make kings full.
Farina
Valter is a Las Vegas resident with a
1995 World Series bracelet in 7-card stud.
The best he could do tonight was seventh
place. Split fives were all that Kollmann
needed to eliminate him when Valter ended
up with just ace-high.
Two
hands later, Schaffarczyk, who lives in
Munchen, Germany, put his last chips in,
starting and ending up with split queens.
He lost when Helpi paired an ace on fourth
street.
Just
before limits went to $6,000-$12,000,
with $800 antes and a $1,500 bring-in,
a still-struggling Kollmann went all in
for the third time, but survived with
aces and eights. Two hands later, in three-way
action, he made the same two pair. Putt,
meanwhile, had put his last $4,000 in
with a nine door-card. On the river the
kiwi man mucked without showing his hand
and cashed out in fifth place. Suddenly
Kollmann had taken the chip lead with
about $55,000.
A
few hands later, Kollmann knocked out
Shamardin, who tried a bluff raise with
(3-2)10 and ran into Kollmann's pocket
aces. Shamardin bet all in when he paired
his deuce, but it was too little too late,
and he finished in fourth place.
Kollmann
now had a big lead with about $75,000
to roughly $55,000 for Christoph Volters
of Germany and around $25,000 for Helppi.
He then moved up dramatically when he
tangled in a pot against Wolters. It was
capped on third street, and then Wolters
abandoned ship on the next card showing
2-6.
By
the time the next level arrived, on hand
71, Kollmann's chip count had increased
to $100,500, against $29,000 for Helppi
and $27,000 for Wolters. Limits were now
a stratospheric $8,000-$16,000, with $1,000
antes and low card bring-ins of $2,000.
On
the second hand at this level, the tournament
became a heads-up match. Wolters completed
with (10-4)A and Helppi called with A-Q)3.
Wolters then was dealt 7-8-J-3, going
all in on fourth street and ending up
with A-J high. Helppi caught 8-7-K-J,
and his A-K high was enough to edge Wolters
and leave him with a third-place finish.
Another
18 hands went by as the final finishers
dueled. Then, on hand number 90, Helppi
folded showing 7-3-Q-J after Kollmann
snagged a second open king. Helppi was
now left with only $7,000 in chips. He
doubled up on the next hand when he made
a pair of nines. But he was still out-chipped
10-1, and there would be no miracle finish
in this tournament.
Two
hands later it was all over. Kollmann
started with 6-5 in the hole against Helppi's
split kings, then picked up two more sixes,
and the man from Vienna won going away
and picked up a nice $12,305 payday.
-- by Max Shapiro
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