| Vinci is Victor in Pot-Limit
Restaurant owner and tournament specialist Paul Vinci had half the chips in play when a four-way deal ended the 13th event of Winnin' o' the Green, pot-limit hold'em. The key pot came when he picked off mortgage broker Keith Dabols and surged into a big lead. The mortgage broker had been playing wildly and riding an up-and-down elevator. Vinci was waiting for him. On hand 43, the flop came 6-5-2. Dabols, thinking his J-5 was good, bet the pot. Vinci raised and Dabols, putting him on just an ace, re-raised Vinci all in. Vinci showed him pocket 10s, and Dabols handed over 21,400 chips after an A-2 didn't change anything. Vinci now had a commanding lead which he held onto until the end.
The final table arrived after screenwriter 'Hollywood' Tony finished 11th on a tough beat. He had A-K. Dabols had Q-J and flopped a straight. Action started with 33:13 left and blinds of 200-400, which allowed initial raises of between 800 and 1,400. The first casualty came on hand six. Alex Limjoco, winner of yesterday's limit hold'em event, opened for 3k with pocket jacks and Mike Hauptman, a sales manager, moved all in for a few hundred more, losing with As-Js. Deputy sheriff Mike Mercado who finished ninth in the sixth event, finished ninth tonight (on hand nine) after getting his pocket aces cracked by Schonden, the starting chip leader. Schonden, with Ks-7s, flopped a king and spiked another on the river.
Two hands later, Ronnie McMillan was eliminated when he bet all in with A-9 and couldn't catch Vinci's A-10. Four hands later, Paul Rowe, the pro who was ranked number two in no-limit by Card Player in 1999, went out in three-way action. He went all in from the big blind with 10-9. He flopped a 10, but real estate investor George Rechnitzer had him out-kicked with K-10.
Schonden increased his lead to close to 30k on hand 17 in a pot against Limjoco. On a flop of 10h-9h-6c, he bet 3,400. Limjoco raised the pot and then folded when Schonden moved in.
Blinds now went to 300-600. On hand 33, Limjoco was left with 3,300 after betting 1,800 into a flop of 8-7-3, then folding when Dabols raised the pot. He lost it and finished sixth on the next hand when his K-7 was crushed by Dabols' pocket aces.
Raising aggressively, Dabols took the lead in the next few hands. Then came the turning point when he blew off most of his chips to Vinci's pocket 10s. He was down to about 3,500 but vowed, 'I'm coming back. Vinci now led with more than 46,000 to about 20,000 for Gebrehiwet Goitom, who had been playing very conservatively; 17,000 for Schonden; and 6,000 for Rechnitzer.
Blinds went to 500 and 1,000. 'I'm not dead yet,' Dabols said as he picked up a couple of pots and made a modest recovery. But he got knocked down to the cloth again when Schonden, with 8c-7c, hit a river flush to outrun his A-10. On the final hand, Dabols had Jd-6d and got knocked out by Schonden's pocket aces. He left as new all-around points leader with 111. He hadn't wanted a chip-count deal, and with his departure one was made. The count was: Vinci, 46,300; Schonden, 23,800; Goitom, 15,100; and Rechnitzer, 9,200. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Paul Vinci wasn't at all happy with his play last month at Commerce's Los Angeles Poker Classic, but felt his game was at its peak tonight.
'He played flawlessly. No mistakes,' George Rechnitzer said admiringly. Vinci, who owns a pizzeria restaurant in San Luis Obispo, has been playing poker since 1999. Until two years ago he played only tournaments, but now also plays no-limit and Omaha side games. His biggest score came when he won $70,000 in the 2003 Los Angeles Poker Classic pot-limit Omaha event. In 2004 he had another LAPC win in no-limit hold'em. He also boasts a best all-around at the National Poker Championship in '97.
Vinci, who classifies himself as a very aggressive player, credits his poker prowess to two friends and tutors, John Bonetti, who taught him hold'em, and Eskimo Clark, who gave him lessons in deuce to seven lowball.
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