Mortgage Broker Jon Lukash Destroys
Final Table by Making Five Straights!
'Ooh, you are Mr. Straight,' Steven Dubin said in awe as Jon Lukash hit his fifth straight at the final table to knock out Jun Jae Kwon and get heads-up with a very short-chipped Dubin. Lukash proceeded to finish off his final opponent on the next hand and coast to victory in event five of Cal State 2005, $500 limit hold'em.
Lukash is a mortgage broker who has been playing poker for less than two years. He plays mostly side games, and this is about his 10th tournament.
It was about as dominating a performance as you could ever hope to see. Lukash was virtually untouchable, kept building his stacks, and when it got three-handed, had about 120,000 of the 166,000 chips in play.
Pretty much conceding first place, Kwon and Dubin tried to make a deal to split second and third, but the deal was disallowed because tournament rules require all players to participate in any deal. The ruling was a windfall for Dubin, a record-producer/songwriter, who eventually came in second.
We started the final table with $500-$1,000 blinds and $1,000-$2,000 limits, 29:05 left. Chip leader was Cindy Dang, the first lady to make a final table.
On the second hand, a big pot developed between Lukash and Marwan Abdelal. With the board showing 10-9-5-J-5, Lukash turned over a K-Q for his first straight. Abdelal obviously had a big hand because he snapped his finger against his cards in frustration as Lukash showed his hand. Abdelal was now down to about 3,000.
A hand later, Lukash, with pocket kings, made his second straight, this time against Paul Falsone, when the board showed A-J-10-Q-7. This gave him the lead with about 45,000 chips, and he was never headed after that.
The first player departed on hand 11, right after blinds went to $5,000-$15,000, with 15k-30k limits. Falsone raised all in for 1,000 more. Everyone folded to Kwon, in the big blind. Kwon, short-chipped himself, shrugged and did the dirty work by calling'I was hoping nobody would call,' Falsone said, turning up A-9. He was the favorite, because all Kwon had was 6-3, but a 6 turned and Falsone was our 10th place finisher.
Two hands later, local tournament regular Param Gill, holding pocket 8s, was all in on a flop of 10-3-3. Jim Buckley had J-10 and his bigger pair stood up to knock Gill out of action.
Hand 19: Chris'Doc' Benedict raised with Ah-Qh and Jose Castillo called all in with As-2c. Two hearts flopped. Benedict missed his flush draw, but his queen kicker was sufficient to beat Castillo and cut the field to seven.
On the next hand, Lukash hit his third straight. This time he had 10-9 against Steven Dubin's pocket kings. A flop of Q-J-10 gave Dubin a draw to the higher end, Lukash the lower. An 8 turned, and now Lukash piled up about 60,000 chips.
Lukash suffered one of his rare losses when he flopped a paired king but lost when an all-in Kwon made a flush on the turn. But he more than made up for this small loss on the next hand when he went up against Dang. The pot was capped on a flop of Ad-Ks-Js. Dang had a set of kings while Lukash, with Q-10, against all odds had made his fourth straight. The betting eased up when a third spade hit the river, but Lukash's straight won. Dang was left badly short chipped while Lukash now owned about 75,000 of the 166,000 chips in play.
A few hands later another player departed when Abdelal, resplendent in an orange coolie hat, got cooled. He was all in from the small blind with K-4 on a flop of K-Q-Q. Buckley was in the big blind with Q-9, and his trip queens did the job.
Dang, meanwhile, hadn't been able to do anything at the table since arriving as chip leader, and went out on the next hand. She had K-10 and was all in against Lukash, who was in the big blind with 9-4. The flop came J-9-2-7-7, and this time Lukash settled for a paired jack instead of a straight to knock out another player.
By the time blinds went to $1,000-$2,000 with $2,000-$4,000 limits, Dubin had been all in and escaped a couple of times, once when he paired a king on the river to outrun Buckley's smaller pair, later when he paired an ace, again against Buckley.
On hand number 50, Chris'Doc' Benedict bet all in with Q-9 when the flop came A-Q-5. Dubin had him with an A-6, then hit a 6 on the river for good measure. There were now four left.
One of the players asked about a possible deal, but Lukash, sitting behind a growing mountain of chips, said no.
On hand 55, the field got down to three. Lukash three-bet pre-flop, and Buckley called. The flop came As-Jd-9c. When a 10c turned, giving Buckley, with Jc-2c, a flush draw as well as second pair, he bet all in. Lukash with Ac-4c, had him covered every which way with top pair and a nut flush draw. Buckley missed his four-outer and finished fourth.
Three-way, Kwon had about 25,000, Dubin 20,000 and Lukash all the rest of the 166,000. When the deal for second/third was nixed, play resumed. The two short stacks hung on for a while, with first Kwon surviving an all-in, and then Dubin doing the same twice. It was just a question of who would finish second. That was answered on hand 72. Kwon went all in with J-10 when the board showed 8-4-2-10. Lukash had J-9 and caught a river 7 for his amazing fifth straight.
The inevitable came on the next hand when Dubin, with A-J, couldn't catch Lukash's A-Q. —Max Shapiro
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