| Paul Darden is Cuffed by Lady Cop
Liz Heim After Three Big Drawouts
Paul Darden was coasting along with a comfortable lead for most of the final table in tonight's 7-stud hi-lo event. Then he heard sirens as Liz Heim, a patrol sergeant with the L.A.P.D., pulled him over. First she took the lead when she hit a third four to beat his two pair. Then she crippled him when a river ace gave her aces-up, outrunning his queens-up. And, on the final hand, he started with split kings and she caught a bunch of clubs to flush him out of the tournament after a marathon heads-up match that lasted 67 hands.
Darden proved to be a very elusive quarry, surviving seven all-ins before Heim could finally collar him.
Heim has made a lot of final tables, finishing in every slot from second to 18th, but this is her first win. Her best prior finish was a second in Legends in 1996. She also came in fourth in stud/8 at LAPC last year. This is her favorite game, and she gave up hold'em for a while, but returned to that game when stud became scarce in tournaments.
Darden shook his head afterwards. 'Was I unlucky or what?' he asked. Well, Heim may had her share of luck, but she also played extremely well in facing down Darden, a top pro with two wins at the U.S. Poker Championship and a WPT victory.
The final eight began play with $300 antes, a $500 low-card bring-in and limits of $2,000-$4,000, 32:25 remaining. Darden led with 77,100 in chips, followed by Heim with 68,300.
Two players were badly low-chipped. Henry Uranga had only 2,400 and Brian Hegstad, a student, 4,200, and they went out one-two.
On the first hand, Uranga was the bring-in with (K-3)3. Dr. Max Stern raised with pocket 9s to put Uranga in, then eliminated him with two pair. On the second hand, Hegstad raised with (6-Q)A, and Darden re-raised him all in with split 4s. Hegstad caught a second bullet, which wasn't good enough when Darden made two pair.
Vegas pro Paul Honas also started low-chipped with only 5,400. He lasted until hand 10. Frustrated by a series of low-card bring-ins, he threw in his last 900 chips and had three callers. On sixth street he had a lot of outs with 8s and 2s and a low draw, but he caught a river 9, losing to Saundra Taylor's aces-up, while Stern took low with an 8-6. At this point, Darden and Heim were the two big leaders with 76k and 65k in chips respectively.
Roberto Flood, a jeweler, took a big hit on hand 14. He had a great hi-lo start with (2-3)4, but ended up with two pair. On the river, Taylor, showing 8s and a possible flush, went all for 700 chips. Flood reluctantly called for the small bet, and lost to her flush.
A few hands after limits went to $3,000-$6,000 with $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, Flood put in his last 3k with (3-9)2. The best he could make was deuces, while Taylor, starting with (K-5)10, caught a king on fifth street.
Hand 41 was strange. Darden, showing 6-10-J-6, check-raised Heim, who had K-6-K-4 up. On the river he bet, and she pondered for a lengthy time, finally called and showed a low to his full house.
'Looks like a slow-roll,' Darden observed. (With a low, Heim had a freeroll and obvious call.) 'I never slow-roll' she declared. She explained she had misread her cards, thinking she paired her 6 on the river, and nearly threw her hand away.
The players returned from a 10-minute break with new limits of $4,000-$8,000, $500 antes and a $1,500 bring-in. Heim had now taken the lead with 72k, while Darden had dropped into second place with 61.5k. Stern had 39.5k and Taylor was fourth with 22k. Two hands later, Darden was on top again.
The two women now got involved in a hand. Taylor, with (4d-5d)Kd, completed and went all in. She missed her flush draw and made two 5s, while Heim, missing a low draw, paired a 7 on the river instead to cut the field to three.
Stern, holder of three WSOP bracelets, took a crippling beat when Darden caught a queen on the river to make a higher two pair. Left with 2,500, he went in for his last 1k with (10-6)K. He missed an inside-straight draw on the river, making two pair but losing to Darden's 7-high straight.
Heads-up, Darden led Heim by about 120k-75k. That all changed 35 hands later. Heim, showing 4-Q-4-K, check-raised on sixth street. She showed a third 4, and Darden, down to about 40k, mucked. A couple of hands later, Heim made aces-up on the river, hammering Darden down some more.
Finally down to 6k, he survived once, splitting with a low; a second time when he won with jacks; a third time with aces; a fourth time with queens; a fifth time with an 8-low split; a sixth time with a better 8-low and ace-high scoop; and a seventh time with a two-pair split.
But Heim was patient and dogged, refused to bleed off chips, and never let Darden recover to any extent. Finally, on hand 131, she hit a club flush on the river to outrun his split kings and finally locked up her first tournament win.
Max Shapiro
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