An
Attorney Wins Again!
For the second night in a row, an attorney
won a Winnin’ o’ the Green 2004 event.
This time it was Robert Hartmann, a criminal
defense lawyer from Dana Point who registered
his first tournament win in event number
9, $100 no-limit hold’em. The contest
came to an explosive conclusion when Hartmann
knocked out two players, hauled in all
but about 50,000 of the 704,500 chips
in play and made a quick deal with the
other remaining player.
With
four players left, blinds were $8,000-$16,000
with $2,000 antes. Cape Cod poker pro
Dean Shores had the button, accountant
Andre Maloof had the small blind and Hartman
the big. Shores looked at pocket kings
and moved in. “Well, I’m committed,” said
Maloof, calling with Qs-8s, while Hartmann,
with the most chips, overcalled with A-Q
off. The flop was 9-7-3 and Dean began
jumping in excitement. “As long as you
don’t put up an ace,” he cried out. The
turn was a 10. “No ace, no ace,” he called
out in increasing frenzy, one card away
from virtual victory. The river was an
ace and Shores hopped around in disbelief,
while the stoical Maloof just shrugged.
This
was a $50,000 guarantee tournament, and
with an astonishing turnout of 486 players
and 925 rebuys, not only was it met, but
the first place payoff of $52,205 alone
exceeded the guarantee.
Earlier
in the day the Mariani-Buss “Double Chance
Shootout Tag-Team” event was held on the
plaza. The buy-in was $5,000 + $50 per
player. It was set up as two separate
tag-team shootouts, one stud and one limit
hold’em. Teams changed tables every 30
minutes, and a player busting out of one
shootout would continue rotating in the
other. There were14 entries with a $70,000
prize pool, and Jean BelanDe won the $30,000
top prize.
At
the main event, the final table began
with $500 antes, $5,000-$10,000 blinds,
10:22 remaining. In two hands, two players
were gone. First, restaurant owner Isaac
Gonzales, left with just 3k after posting
his blind, went in with Q-2 suited. A
flop of J-10-9 gave him draws to a flush
and an open-end straight, but he missed
and lost to Mitch Potter’s A-10. A beat
later, Masood Vahedi, a limo business
owner and brother of Amir, playing only
his second live tournament, was in the
big blind with J-6. The flop came 6-5-2,
and he moved in with his paired six. Maloof
called with pocket 7s, which held up when
a 5-4 came.
On
hand six, blinds went to 8-16, and Sam
Lim immediately went out. He moved in
from the small blind with A-Q offsuit
and was picked off by music executive
Mitchell Rotter, who had Ad-Kd. A board
of 8-4-3-4-10 didn’t change anything.
Local
pro Rocky Enciso left three hands later.
He had the small blind, all in with 9-5.
Maloof had the big with Js-10s and flopped
a straight when a Q-9-8 came. Immediately
after that, retired computer businessman
William Costello raised to 20k with K-9.
Hartmann moved in with A-10, and Costello
called with the rest of his 108k. A flop
of A-Q-10 gave Hartmann two pair and pretty
much left Costello dead to a jack, which
would have given him a straight. It didn’t
come, and in just 14 hands, the table
was down to five players.
At
that point, Hartmann led with 219k, Maloof
had 167k; Shores, 139; Potter, 132k; and
Tear Kunso Khin, 48k. Khin, a banker at
the Hustler Casino, was dispatched by
Hartmann a hand later. He moved in with
pocket 6s, she called with pocket 4s and
the 6s held up. Just three hands later
came the double knockout, and Hartmann’s
arm was raised in triumph.
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Hartmann has been playing poker
since high school, but with a wife and
daughter has time for only an occasional
tournament. Previously, he had a second
and a third in no-limit events at the
Orleans. He favors no-limit because, he
says, psychology, tells, learning about
your opponents is so important. Just as
being a criminal defense attorney, “part
of my job is listening carefully to what
the prosecutors say, determining if they’re
weak with their case…a lot of the analysis
is very similar.”
Tonight,
he said, with the brevity of the final
table, psychology didn’t really come into
play. Instead, his strategy was to let
his opponents beat each other up. Earlier,
he said he re-bought several times, not
so much because he was in trouble but
because he wanted the maximum number of
chips he could have. Will he be playing
more tournaments now he has a major win
under his belt? “Absolutely, providing
my wife will let me.”
Max Shapiro
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