NO-LIMIT
IS LADIES NIGHT
AS WOMEN FINISH ONE-TWO
There
was no limit to what women could do in
tonight's no-limit hold'em tournament,
the fifth event of the 2003 St. Maarten
Open. For the first time there were two
ladies at the final table and they ended
up whipping their male competitors and
finishing 1-2.
Carol
Everton, making her second final table,
arrived lowest-chipped with a mere $12,500.
She fearlessly moved all in three times
in the first seven hands, then kept pounding
away as she caught cards, building a huge
chip lead and taking the title, trophy
and first-place prize money when the tournament
ended in a three-way deal. Everton, who
travels a lot to play poker, has won a
number of small events at her local club
in Worcester, England, but this is the
interior designer's first major tournament
win. Pot-limit hold'em is her preferred
game of choice.
Runner-up
Barbara Enright started in much better
shape with the second chip lead after
tripling up at the second table. She had
moved in with pocket queens and they held
up against two opponents, each of whom
held A-K. Enright, one of the world's
top women players, has three World Series
bracelets (two ladies championships and
one for pot-limit hold'em) and is the
only woman ever to make a final table
in the $10,000 championship event.
A
minute and a half after play started at
the final table, blinds went to $2,000-$4,000,
with $500 antes, meaning it cost $11,000
to play each round.
Ian
Dobson was near the cloth after Everton
beat his pocket jacks when she flopped
an ace to her A-Q on hand seven. On the
next hand, Antonio Turisi also had A-Q
under the gun and moved in for $32,000.
Dobson called with his remaining chips
holding 8d-7d, and Canadian businessman
Vahan Amirian overcalled for about 20k
with pocket aces. Two sevens flopped,
and Dobson had miraculously tripled up.
A
few hands later, Enright briefly took
the chip lead when Tys Mul raised to 10k,
then folded when she moved in. On hand
12, Everton grabbed the lead after she
put Turisi out of action. He moved in
for 11k with A-4, she called with 7h-5h
and flopped a five.
The
next hand saw three-way action. Dobson
moved in for $13,500 with pocket 10s,
Amirian went all in for $14,500 with 9-9,
and Everton covered them, calling with
A-K. Dobson took the main pot when a 10
flopped, then Everton took the side pot
and broke Amirian when a king rivered.
Dewey
Morris, a retiree living in Nashville,
Tennessee, was playing only his second
tournament. He finished eighth. He raised
all in for $6,500 with Qc-Jc and Mul took
his chips with A-Q. Mul didn't get to
keep them long. Soon after, he raised
to 20k with A-8, and then Bernie Rygol,
a Munich businessman with several European
titles, moved him in and won with pocket
sixes.
Everton
relieved Rygol of his $20,000 pre-flop
raise on hand 31. When a 9-7-6 flopped,
she moved in. He pondered for long time
and finally folded. He should have acted
sooner, because he had to take the big
blind on the next hand when blinds rose
to $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000 antes. At
this point, Robert Nappe, a New Jersey
retiree, had moved up and shared the lead
with Everton, both in the 80k range.
Five
hands later, Rygol bowed out in sixth
place. He raised all in for about $24,000
with K-Q. Harald Casagrande, an Austrian
who came to the final table with the chip
lead, covered him with A-Q, winning when
the board showed Q-9-9-5-6.
Enright
then gave the table a lesson in poker
psychology. She was in the big blind with
pocket queens, and the pot was folded
to Dobson, who was in the small blind.
"There's no shame in folding,"
she cooed. Conned into thinking she was
weak, he replied, "There's no shame
in raising," and made a macho all-in
move for $52,500 with just 4c-2c. Enright
had a scare when a flop of Ac-3c-2h gave
him a pair and a straight flush draw,
but he missed and finished fifth. Enright
now had the lead again as she zoomed up
to $127,500. But she couldn't hold onto
it as she ran into a dry spell and gradually
got blinded down.
Everton,
meanwhile, proceeded to rake in chips
with four consecutive all-in moves. On
hand 40 she took the antes and blinds.
On hand 41 she forced Nappe to fold when
after he raised to $32,000. On hand 42
she took the antes and blinds again, and
on hand 43 she moved in after Casagrande
raised pre-flop to $25,000, and he folded.
By
the time blinds rose to $6,000-$12,000,
with $1,000 antes, Everton had half of
the $381,000 in play. Enright was second
with $101,500, followed by Nappe with
$58,000 and Casagrande with $31,500.
Hand
56 was to be the final one. Everton raised
to about $28,000 and Casagrande called
all in for $18,000. He had 9-8, she had
pocket treys, and she proceeded to make
a set when the board came A-10-8-3-2.
Everton
now had $221,000 in chips to $101,500
for Enright and $58,000 for Nappe.
Protracted
negotiations now got under way for a deal.
After back-and-forth offers, everyone
finally agreed and the tournament was
over, with the interior designer from
Britain locking up her biggest win ever.
-- by Max Shapiro
|
