Broker Greg has Easy Win
"I've been lucky all night," marveled stockbroker/analyst Greg Garabedian.
Taking advantage of his good fortune, he played a lot of hands, played them strongly
and ran off with a win in $500 limit hold'em after a final three-way deal. It
was his first final table in limit hold'em.
The 10 finalists began with $1,000-$2,000 limits and 24:44 left at level 12. Garabedian
had a big lead with $58,500. Not much happened until hand 27. Garabedian played
9h-3h, filled on a board of 10-A-10-3-3 and left Chris Par with $1,000. On the
next hand Par was all in with Jh-9h. Garabedian had K-Q and made another full
house on a board of K-K-7-Q-2. Par for the course, and Par cashed 10th.
On the next hand, Waleed Belleh wasn't as lucky. He accidentally dropped a card
on the floor and got a mandatory 20-minute penalty despite leniency pleas from
the other players. The players then agreed to all drop their cards on the floor
at the same time in protest, but since nobody could trust Raymond Davis, the idea
instead of the cards was dropped.
As Garabedian's luck continued to hold, he made a river straight on hand 34, and
now had 84,000 of the 228,000 chips in play. Hand 44 saw three-way action, with
one player knocked out and another crippled. Essi Faraji was all in with pocket
jacks. Davis had 10-9 and missed his straight draw when the board came K-Q-8-2-9.
The pot was taken by Belleh with A-K. Faraji finished ninth and Davis, after taking
his blinds, had $2,000 left. Five hands later he committed with Ac-3c. Belleh
gave him protection with a raise. Some protection. Belleh had A-Q and Davis finished
eighth when the board came K-5-4-10-K.
"Let's go," poker pro Chuck Cannon said 12 hands later as he went all
in with A-K. He didn't go very far. Mike "the Cop" Bradshaw pulled him
over with two jacks. They held up and Cannon had fired his last shot. Mike the
Cop, incidentally, was never a cop. He's a genial veteran pro who had the moniker
bestowed on him by Stu Ungar
Returning from the next break, the players called for a chip count. Belleh and
Garabedian were now tied with 52k each, followed by Paul Vinci, 45k; Vegen Sarkissian,
36k; Brendan Taylor, 26k; and Mike the Cop, 17k. The six did a chip-count deal,
playing for 10 percent. It was now hand 71 with $3,000-$6,000 limits. Belleh repeatedly
pleaded to chop the money and quit because he had to drive to Riverside. Vinci
wanted to keep playing. "I just have to walk across the street to the hotel,"
he said.
The final table had been going for close to three hours before we lost our fifth
player. Vinci had A-Q and got to walk across the street when Garabedian, with
8c-6c, flopped a flush. A few hands later limits went to $4,000-$8,000, and suddenly
everything speeded up.
Mike the Cop had 8d-6d and went all in after a flop of 9s-8h-7s gave him a pair
and open-end straight draw. He finished fifth when Garabedian, with Ks-2s, hit
a river flush.
Meanwhile, Taylor, a cook/poker player who was down to $2,500, began a comeback
by taking a three-way pot. At the other end, Belleh, who had the lead at one point,
began to crumble. He finally went all in on hand 103 with pocket 5s against Sarkissian,
who had A-J, and busted when an ace flopped. With Garabedian still leading with
105k, a final deal ended the evening.
-Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Greg Garabedian has been playing poker on and off for four years, mostly tournaments.
This is his first win. All the other seven final tables he's made have been
no-limit. The only reason he played tonight, he said, was because his wife and
her girlfriend had gone to Santa Barbara and he had nothing to do. He plans
to send her out of town more often now.
Tonight he was in good shape all the way, the lowest in early action being down
to $800. While he normally mixes up his play, tonight he played aggressively
because he had such good luck. One example: He had A-5, ran into a full house
when someone had pocket 6s and the flop came A-A-6, but then made quad aces
on the river. "I was advised to slow down, but if I lose, I lose."
Despite this win, Garabedian doesn't plan to step up his schedule. "I just
play for fun." |
