SWEET
AND LOW
Advice:
Don't tug on Superman's cape and don't
play in a low-draw game with Billy Baxter.
There
were 115 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In,
RAZZ for a total prize pool of $162,150.
Two tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
Gerald
Regnitzer was doing a great Ratso Rizzo
imitation, 'I'm dying here.' Running
back and forth between the remaining three
tables, renting his clothing and wringing
his hands Gerald lamented, "I don't WANT
to be the 17th out." Looking for any
other short stacks and finding none, Gerald
continued, "But who else is it going
to be, but ME?" It wasn't anyone else
but him. George Fisher put poor Regnitzer
out of his misery and everyone else in
the money. (BTW, did I mention how well
Mr. Fisher--the Director of Poker Operations
at the Horseshoe--played all day to get
into the money with almost no chips?
Have you guessed yet that Mr. Fisher is
my boss?)
The
Final Table was setup Wednesday night
when Peter Brownstein tossed in his last
$3,000 and made a J 8 7. No good said
Chico Flynn. Flynn showed a J 8 6 to
pimple Brownstein out in 9th.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
90 mins left of 90
The ante is $200, bring-in $500
playing $1,500/$3,000
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat
1 David Rabbi Las Vegas NV $17,900
Seat 2 David Levi Pacific Palisades CA
$37,300
Seat 3 Stan Goldstein Los Angeles CA $24,600
Seat 4 Chico Flynn Las Vegas NV $27,300
Seat 5 Jon Brody Hollywood FL $22,200
Seat 6 Robert Williamson III Dallas TX
$14,200
Seat 7 Hassan Kamoei Indio CA $ 5,100
Seat 8 Billy Baxter Las Vegas NV $24,000
Like
Jennifer Harmon a few days ago, Jon Brody
was also playing in the next day's event
that was running concurrently with today's
Final Table. In fact, Jon had a stack
of $100 bills sitting behind his chips
at this table for the upcoming rebuys
and add-on in the Pot-Limit Omaha that
he was also playing in. Since first place
in the Pot-Limit tournament would be
about three times that of the RAZZ, it
might be understandable if Jon Brody
was somewhat distracted as he was being
blinded off elsewhere. Still, Brody did
have enough chips in the RAZZ to do some
damage so why not go for it? Jon did
go for it and was the one who ended up
damaged. A couple late bricks killed
him in a hand with Billy Baxter's 9 8.
Then Brody covered Hassan Kamoei's all-in
with a 9 6 only to have Hassan squeeze
out an 8 7 on the last card. Jon dumped
his all-in hand and quickly left the table
in 8th when Chico Flynn showed him a
6 4.
Under
no such pressure like Brody from any other
commitments, Bob Williamson's problem
was that he had so few chips. If he was
going to move up the money ladder, he
had to win his one big all-in hand. It
wasn't to be. With a 9 8 made, Williamson
was drawing dead on 6th St. to David Rabbi's
6 4. Now there were six.
Stan
Goldstein may wear contacts. That might
explain the wide-eyed intensity of his
stare. In fact everything about Stan's
game is intense. You almost think he
should win every time he plays. He's that
intimidating. But for some reason, Goldstein
hasn't had very much success at Final
Tables in the last few years. He's proven
he can get here with chips, but something
bad usually happens when he arrives.
Starting third in chips this time, the
'something bad' that happened to Stan
Goldstein this time was Chico Flynn.
Let's
take a second to describe Chico Flynn
because he is truly unique. Chico was
born Michael Alvarez and was raised in
Miami Beach, Florida. Chico Flynn is
his chosen name. That should tell you
something. Chico fronts this goofball,
Jack Lemmon-esque demeanor that hides
a highly disciplined player. Flynn is
so naturally friendly and completely nervous
that he talks all the time. It wasn't
bad enough for Stan Goldstein that Chico
was sitting just to his left and chattering
constantly. Stan also couldn't beat the
guy in a hand. In a telling exchange,
Chico was running hot and Stan was running
cold. Chico wanted Stan to play faster
before Chico's cards cooled off. Stan,
justifiably, bristled at that. Chips sinking
quickly to the felt, Goldstein made a
stand, all-in for his last $900, against
David Levi. Stan Goldstein finished 6th
when his 10 9 lost to David's 8 7.
Starting
with just over a third of the chips of
anyone else at the table, Hassan Kamoei
managed to climb all the way to 5th. Usually
a stack this short is doomed from the
beginning, but Kamoei is no ordinary player.
The guest announcer at the Final Table
today, 'Miami' John Cernuto describes
Hassan as "patient and thoughtful." In
the hand Hassan had to win early, his
first all-in, Kamoei took an A 2 in the
hole up against Stan Goldstein's A 4.
Hassan made a 6 5 and was off and running.
Later came what Billy Baxter called a
'classic' hand for Kamoei.
But
first a description of the circumstances
is required. Hassan Kamoei and David
Levi both live in Southern California
and both play on the daily tournament
circuit there. That means that Hassan
and David are at the same table dozens
of times a year in tournaments or satellites.
That would explain how David Levi could
put Hassan Kamoei on a stone cold bluff.
Hassan tried to buy a pot with a K 10
in the hole. Levi somehow knew Kamoei
didn't have the hand he was representing
and called Hassan to the river. Unfortunately
for Levi, Kamoei spiked a low card for
an 8 that won. "Imagaine making an 8
with a K 10 in the hole, that's a classic."
Billy Baxter marveled. Later, Levi got
his revenge by putting the all-in Kamoei
out of the tournament with a 7 6. In
the end, Hassan's initial chip deficit
was just too much to overcome.
This
was a table for A.K.A.'s. Michael Alvarez
is also known as Chico Flynn. Then we
have David Rabbi. What David's real last
name is, isn't important in poker. He's
David Rabbi and everyone knows him. Ever
struggling, ever lamenting his luck,
David Rabbi is one of the most colorful
characters in the game. With his long-suffering
and devoted wife Debbie sitting nearby,
David hung on for 4th with almost no
ammunition. David's problem is that everyone
knows how solid his play is and won't
pay him off. So he never gets a lot of
chips. It's a dogfight for survival every
time. Rabbi was rooting for Levi in the
"Middle East conflict" against Kamoei,
not for religious reasons, but because
David wanted the extra $1,600 for 4th
over 5th. As soon as Hassan went out,
David was safe go all-in. Rabbi caught
enough bricks to build a synagogue. Billy
Baxter made a 10.
One
of the hottest players in the game currently,
gentleman David Levi had a disappointing
Final Table. David seldom speaks above
a whisper except to do his hilarious
'7-11' owner imitation, "I own seven 7-11's,"
David will sing in his fake Indian accent.
Levi's stack was crippled by the Kamoei
K 10 catch. He never fully recovered.
And there was the problem of Billy Baxter.
From the starting bell, Billy Baxter put
on a clinic. The owner of six WSOP gold
bracelets, all in low-draw games, Baxter
was untouchable. By the second break,
Andy Glazer was predicting that "It's
over..." That's how dominant Baxter was.
We were watching a 'Master At Work.' By
the time it was three-handed, Baxter
had more than twice the chips as the other
two players combined. Levi and Flynn
were playing for second. Since Flynn had
a chip lead on Levi, he was playing very
tight. It was up to David to make a move.
Levi went all-in with an A K 9 to Baxter's
10 8 3. Goodbye, David.
Heads
up, Billy Baxter had a 5-1 chip lead on
Flynn. Outside the Final Table area,
David Rabbi was offering a 20-1 on Baxter.
Even with the enormous overlay there
were no takers on Chico. This seemed on
the surface to be as big a mismatch as
there could be. Chico Flynn had no game,
really. He didn't bluff. He didn't semi-bluff.
So when Chico bet, Billy simply folded.
All the other times, Baxter was all
over Flynn. "You can look all the way
though my brain, can't you?" Flynn said
in admiration of Baxter. The end took
much longer than anyone expected but it
was inevitable. When the levels went
up again, Chico had no defense left. Baxter
finally trapped the super-careful Flynn
into going all-in against Billy's nut
hand. A J 8 for Flynn, 2 3 4 for Baxter.
"Chico and the Man" may have been the
clich� for this mismatch, but that's
what it was. Billy Baxter's game is sweet
and low. Chico tugged on Superman's cape.
Mike Paulle
|
