| Alex P has Easy Stud/8 Win
Alex Papachatzakis, a fast-food restaurant owner and stud hi-lo specialist, picked up a fairly easy win at the 11th event of Winnin' o' the Green, $300 7-card stud hi-lo. He started the final table with the chip lead, was never far behind, and ran over his final two opponents by winning the last seven hands. Heads-up, he enjoyed a better than a 2-1 chip lead against Mike Shin, and a deal was made.
It took 45 minutes to eliminate the ninth player. Finally, Lance Bruk busted when his pair of 5s lost to Papachatzakis' 8-8. During this time, Doug Saab was embarrassed to get a 10-minute penalty by mumbling a bad word when he was talking to himself. He returned to only 400 chips, built it back, but still was lowest-chipped with 2,600 when he made the final table
Seconds remained when play started with $200 antes, a $300 bring-in and 1k/2k limits. After one hand it became $300 antes, a $500 bring-in and 2k/4k limits. Starting with the third deal, Hon Le played four consecutive hands, losing the first and third, chopping the second.
On the fourth, the Kamikaze Kid went broke when he started and ended with pocket 4s after missing a flush draw. Papachatzakis started with low cards and caught kings on sixth and seventh streets.
After surviving another all-in, Saab departed in seventh place on hand 11. He had pocket 4s and caught two 8s, losing to Seyed Mazarei's kings-up. Saab is a veteran tournament player from Birmingham, Alabama, with a stud/8 bracelet. He's in L.A. to play poker and go fishing. He talked Tim Kennedy, a Birmingham friend, into playing tonight's event, and Kennedy finished fifth.
Real estate investor George Rechnitzer busted out with pocket aces two hands later. On sixth street, Shin showed 7-10-2-3, then turned up an A-4-5 for a wheel. A big pot developed on hand 16. It would have been even bigger had Shin not missed an end bet.. In three-way action, Mazarei made kings-up and Kennedy, going all in on sixth street, made a 7-6 low. Shin, whose up-cards were 2d-Q-4d-Jd, scooped with a 6-low and a flush, but for some reason, perhaps overlooking the strength of his hand, he checked the river when last to act! In any event, Kennedy, a landscaper, was gone in fifth place and Shin took the lead with about 45k.
Right after limits went to 3k-6k with $500 antes and a 1k bring-in, lowball and draw specialist Bruce Smith went broke. He had a great low start with (3-4)2, but ended up with just two treys, losing to Papachatzakis' two 8s.
A dozen hands next by with very little action. At one point, Mazarei raised on third and Papachatzakis prudently folded even though his opponent had only one chip left. Mazerei, who owns a pizza business, then became very aggressive, raising four times in a row. Then he folded a big pot on sixth street against Papachatzakis, who retook the lead with about 50k. With a lot of chips, Papachatzakis went on a tear, aggressively raising and winning six pots in a row. On the seventh hand, he knocked out Mazerei, who went all in with (9-9)10 and made a king-high straight. It wasn't good enough. Papachetzkis started with split 6s and filled. The two-way deal was made, and Papachatzakis had one more stud hi-lo win. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Alex Papachatzakis is a native of Greece who has been playing poker since about 1997. He loves 7-stud hi-lo because it's the kind of game where you can miss the hand you were shooting for and still end up getting half the pot. He's done very well with this game. In 2000 he was ranked number one in stud/8 by Card Player magazine (and number 20 in best all-around); number 2 the next year, and number five the year following. In 2001 he won $79,540 for finishing second in stud/8 at the World Series. Among his numerous other cash-ins, he has a third-place finish in the $10,000 championship event at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in 2002.
Papachatzakis, who describes his play as selective/aggressive, spends the majority of his poker time at tournaments. Tonight he was in good shape throughout, and was especially confident at the final table. 'Chips are bullets,' he said. 'Once I had plenty of them, I felt I could win.'
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