Bike
Floorman Wins Omaha!
When
tonight’s $50 + $10 Omaha hi-lo tournament
got heads-up, Bicycle Casino floorman
Joe Boghossian had $153,000 in chips to
the $218,000 held by a player who asked
to remain “Unknown.” A deal talk went
nowhere and play resumed. Two hands later
the count was reversed, with Boghossian
up to $213,000. The tournament ended,
Joe was victorious and, if nothing else,
this write-up contains the winner’s photo,
which it wouldn’t if Unknown had won.
Bicycle Casino employees are now two for
two in Winnin’ o’ the Green 2003, following
poker dealer Jack Jadidi’s victory in
the opening Employees event.
Limits were a punishing $6,000 and $12,000,
with $3,000-$6,000 blinds when the final
table got underway with 7.5 minutes remaining.
On the first hand, Volker Beyer was in
the big blind with A-3-6-7. Boghossian
called with a lesser A-5-6-8. A flop of
A-8-3 gave Beyer aces and treys and an
8-7 low and he bet his last $5,000.
Boghossian had aces and 8s, an 8-6 low
and a straight draw to the bargain. An
ace on the turn gave him the better full
house, and he scooped Beyer into 10th
place, which paid $400.
On the third hand, Joe DeNicola found
aces in his hand for the first of three
times and raised with A-A-7-8. He bet
the Q-9-6 flop, then went all in when
a 4 turned. He lost the high end to Dennis
Thorn’s trip 4s, but survived with an
emergency 8-low with a river 7. A hand
later, he raised again with A-A-7-8, prompting
Denfield Eudelle to ask if he planned
to raise every hand. This time he lost
to Johnny Loi’s straight.
On the next hand, with blinds now at $5,000-$10,000,
with $10,000-$20,000 limits, Boghossian
claimed another victim, again with a full
house. He held K-K-2-3 against Noel Castro’s
A-8-9-10. A flop of K-Q-6 gave Joe a set.
He bet to put Castro all in for 6k more,
then filled on the river. Noel’s ninth-place
cash-out was worth $475.
Players were dropping fast, two on the
next deal. For the third time in six hands,
DeNicola again had aces. He raised for
the last time with A-A-Q-8 and went all
in, as did Eudelle with A-5-5-7. Tae Womack
called with A-2-4-8. a board of 8-5-3-7-4
gave Womack a wheel, and DeNicola and
Eudelle were wheeled out. Denfield collected
$595 for eighth place and Joe got $750
for seventh.
One more hand, one more bust-out. When
“Unknown” raised with A-K-10-6, Loi called
all in for $17,000 with A-2-6-6. A junk
board of Q-9-3-4-10 gave the unidentified
one two 10s, all that was needed. Loi
got $1,015 for sixth place. That made
five players gone in seven hands.
Eight hands later, limits were raised
again. “The good news,” tournament director
Denny Williams announced, “is that they
aren’t doubling.” The bad news was that
they went to $10,000-$15,000 blinds and
$15,000-$30,000 limits. Shortly afterwards,
Boghossian misread his hand and thought
he had a flush. He was scooped by Unknown,
who made a wheel and 7-high straight to
take the chip lead away from the floorman.
He also broke Ray Bonavida, who lost with
10-10-A-K and walked out with $1,290 for
fifth. Unknown got even further ahead
a couple of hands later when he locked
out Thorn, who owns a garage lock business.
Thorn posted his last $15,000 in the big
blind with an unpromising Q-9-8-3. Unknown
had A-A-5-6 and made aces full and a 6-low.
Thorn finished fourth and collected $1,835.
Tae Womack finished third for $2,655.
On hand 26 he posted $7,000 in the big
blind with 2-3-5-Q. Boghossian had 9-9-10-2
and scooped with a straight when the board
came Q-4-3-J-K.
When the deal talks failed, play resumed.
On hand number 2, Unknown bet into a board
of K-10-4-2 and got check-raised. He folded,
surrendered and the floorman was the new
chip leader and winner.
BIOGRAPHY
Joseph Boghossian, originally from
Lebanon, has been a day shift floorman
at the Bicycle Casino for five years.
Before that, with his knowledge of five
languages (Armenian, French, Turkish,
Arabic and English) he was an interpreter
for an attorney.
He’s been gambling exclusively at the
Bike for 17 years, playing $15-$30 and
$20-$40 hold’em. He plays tournaments
when he can and was able to enter tonight’s
event because it was his day off. “I like
tournaments,” he said. “I wish the Bike
had them every month.” He’s had a couple
of cash-outs here, but this is his first
win. He describes his style of play as
aggressive. Tonight he was never all in,
never had a problem. “My only problem,”
said Joe, returning from a cigarette break,
“is that I’ve been coughing a lot.”
Max Shapiro
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