| Ad/Marketing Exec Dan Torla Gets
7-Stud Win After Prior Second Place
Dan Torla is a 7-card stud specialist who won a World Series bracelet and $115,600 in that event in 2002. However, he was still annoyed over his 7-stud loss to Mel Judah when he came in second at this year’s L.A. Poker Classic.
Tonight he made up for that defeat by winning his trophy in the third event of Cal State 2005, $300 7-card stud.
Torla, an advertising and marketing executive, couldn’t find any hands for the first 90 minutes of the final table, dropping down from $22,800 to about $10,000. "I had to keep grinding away," he said afterwards.
The two key hands for him came when he later beat Gebrehiwet Goitom with just a pair of 9s to take the chip lead, and, with three players left, when he crushed Spurgo Fulcher in a monster pot with set over set.
There was 5:35 left on the clock when the eight finalists sat down, playing with
$800-$1,600 limits, which soon went to $1,000-$2,000, with $200 antes and a $300 low-card bring-in. Fulcher arrived as the leader with 34,000 in chips.
In early action, there were four all-in escapes. First Larry Ziman caught an ace on the river to make a bigger two pair than Prince "J"had. Then the Prince, now all in himself, made a full house on the turn to easily beat Goitom.
Next, Massoud Satayesh was all in on third street with (7d-5d)9d and proceeded to make a five-card flush against Ki Hong. And, finally, Goitom, all in with kings and 4s on sixth street, filled with a river 4 while Prince "J" missed his open-end straight draw.
But then the Poker Warden wearied of handing out reprieves, and three players were gunned down in rapid-fire succession.
First to go was Setayesh. He raised all in for $1,400 with (Qd-3h)Kh. John Robertson re-raised with (Ac-Jc)7c. Robertson immediately caught a 5 and 6 of clubs for a flush, while the best that Setayesh could do was to pair his queen.
On the next hand, Ki had an door-card ace and Q-8 in the hole and put in his last chips. He caught nada when he was dealt 5-10-9-6. Fulcher started and ended with split treys, but that was all he needed to leave Ki in seventh place.
On the very next hand, the Prince had split deuces and put in his last $500 chip. Fulcher could afford to call with (K-10)8. He caught a king on the river to claim his second straight victim as Prince "J" dealt 9-5-4-A, failed to improve.
At this point, Robertson and Fulcher shared the lead with about 27k each, while Larry Ziman was close behind with about 23k, and Torla and Goitom trailed with 12k and 8k respectively.
As limits went to $1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes and a $500 bring-in, Goitom began winning pots. Halfway into the new level, after winning a big pot from Fulcher with queens and 7s, he had gone from the basement to chip leader with roughly 30k, while at the other end, Robertson was now down to 5k.
The first big hand for Torla came during the second half when Goitom kept betting his buried 6s. Torla beat him on the river with a paired 9 and took in a $13,000 pot.
At the break, Torla was now the leader with about 35k. Following him were Fulcher, $26,500; Ziman, 21k; Goitom, 7.5k; and Robertson, 5k.
The five remaining players returned to play for $2,000-$4,000, with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in.
On the first hand, Robertson immediately went all in with split kings, only to have Fulcher show him split aces. As the cards were dealt and Robertson kept calling for help, it was Fulcher who improved with a third ace. On the river, Robertson caught a useless third cowboy while Fulcher made an overkill full house.
It was now two hours into the final table and half the field was gone. A couple of hands later, Goitom, who had been up and down, finally went down for the count. He was all in with A-2-4 against Fulcher's K-K-6. Goitom went nowhere, while Fulcher caught a third king and then a six to blow Goitom away with kings-full.
With about 15 minutes left in the round, the pot of the night developed. Torla started with rolled-up queens, while Fulcher made a set of jacks on fourth street. The betting and raising commenced, and when the last card was dealt the three ladies prevailed, and Fulcher, after putting up his ante on the next hand, was down to just $500. He put it in with (K-Q)9 against Torla’s (J-5)J. On sixth street, Fulcher had K-Q- 9-6-6-7, and then caught a two-pair king on the river. Torla had J-5-J-3-2-4, and then a river ace gave him a winning wheel.
Heads-up, Ziman had 30,600 in chips. Holding the rest of the 96,000 in play, Torla now enjoyed better than a 2-1 advantage. Ziman counted his chips down, but there was no discussion of a deal and play continued.
The hundreds were taken off the table as limits went to $3,000-$6,000, with $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in. At this point, Torla had increased his advantage to roughly 3-1.
It took only two hands more to end the evening. On the final deal, Ziman was all in showing 6-6-4-2. He caught another 4 for two pair, but Torla, starting with K-10-8, caught a 10 on fourth street and an 8 on sixth to outrun Ziman with a bigger two pair. —Max Shapiro | 
