Second
Win for Powers!
Ellix Powers keeps insisting he’s just
a bum. If so, he’s the richest “bum” in
town, because he’s now won two of the
last three events of Winnin' O' The Green
2004. His victory tonight was in event
number 12, $300 pot-limit hold’em, with
an official first place payout of $19,200.
Two days earlier he won the $300 limit
hold’em event with first place paying
$27,335. He arrived at tonight’s final
table with a very big chip lead, played
shrewdly and stayed in contention throughout.
The
key hand came when he flopped a set of
10s against chip leader David Tovmasyan,
a land surveyor. Tovmasyan was crippled,
and five hands later broke. Powers then
made a deal with Jim Miller, shift manager/tournament
director for the World Series of Poker,
who had slipped through with his own short
stack. The win moved Powers into second
place in the best all around points race.
Should he end up second, he’ll win a brand
new car he can sleep in.
This
event started with blinds of $500-$1,000,
with 37:44 left. In two hands, two players
were gone. First was Kenna James, whose
finished 13th in Card Player’s 2003 rankings.
Kenna, with A-K, was all in for $9,500
against restaurant owner Jerome Moss,
who had A-J and $500 more. The board came
Q-J-4-6-2, and James was excused. On the
next hand, Jon Engelson, the CEO of a
packing company, didn’t do any better
with big slick. He went all in from the
small blind with the last of his $5,000
in starting chips, and was clubbed out
of action by a club flush. Then, three
hands later, Tovmasyan finally showed
how to play A-K when he held that hand.
It held up and he knocked out real estate
broker Jack Gevshenian, who missed his
flush draw. Tovmasyan picked up more chips
by knocking out Emad Rayyan on hand 21.
Rayyan had pocket queens in the big blind.
Tovmasyan had K-6 and flopped a cowboy.
Tovmasyan eliminated yet another player
when he had 10-9 in the small blind against
Farrar, who was in the big blind with
pocket 4s. A 10 flopped and another hit
the river, and Farrar cashed in sixth.
One
hand later, William Muir, a drapery installer,
liked the flop. He had Q-10, and a 10-9-8
gave him top pair and an inside straight
draw. He bet and Miller, whose J-10 also
gave him top pair with an open-end straight
draw, raised. A river 7 gave Miller his
straight. He bet to put Muir all in and
left him in fifth place.
Blinds
now became $500 and $1,500. Moss lasted
three hands. With a board of K-9-4-2,
he gambled and bet his last 8k with A-J.
Tovmasyan had an K-8, and when a 10 came
on the river we were down to three. By
now Tovmasyan, who had been head terminator,
had taken over the chip lead with about
55k to roughly 40k for Powers and 35k
for Miller.
The
turning point came on hand 49. Powers
raised pre-flop from the small blind with
pocket 10s. Tovmasyan called with 10-9
from the big. The flop was J-10-3. Powers
bet his set, Tovmasyan raised, Powers
just called. An 8 turned, giving Tovmasyan
a straight draw. Powers checked let Tovmasyan
go all in for 31k, and when a king rivered,
Powers had almost all the chips. Five
hands later Tovmasyan went broke with
pocket 7s when Powers, with J-8, flopped
two more jacks.
Powers
now had about a 7-1 lead over Miller,
and they began negotiating. “You’ve got
a big job,” said Powers, looking for the
best deal. “I’ve been in this situation
before,” countered Miller. They finally
agreed and Powers had his second win.
BIOGRAPHY
Two-time winner Ellix Powers, still
pleading insolvency, says at least now
he can sleep in a hotel instead of the
park. As reported in his prior interview,
he has some 30 years of experience playing
poker and was a dealer for a short time
at the Bicycle Casino when it first opened.
He plays stud and hold’em in yellow-chip
side games and has a few tournament wins
along the way.
Tonight,
he said, he had some rough spots but got
lucky a couple of times. While his game
of preference is limit hold’em, he feels
comfortable with pot-limit, as opposed
to no-limit. “Pot-limit is pretty much
the same as limit,” he said. “You can
just bet more chips.” With these two wins,
and a lot of points, he plans to play
more events now. “I want to win that car,”
he said.
Max Shapiro
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