Cliff Cantor Rushes to Win in No-Limit
After 3-Way Chop for Most of Prize $
With three players left, all nearly even in chips, a deal was struck to chop the prize pool and play for $10,000 and the trophy in the eighth event of Cal State 2005, $500 no-limit hold'em. Cliff Cantor, whose employment resume nearly matches his tournament resume, then went on a rush. After he knocked out Moises Lopez, a plumber, he had about a 3-1 lead over clothing importer David Limor. Cantor volunteered to give up a couple of thousand dollars to end the evening and take home his trophy.
'Dave's a nice guy,' he said.
Cantor, an ex-night club owner, is a semi-pro player/entertainment executive who owns a production company, and he also offers poker tutoring. He cashed in two of the three World Series events he played in this year, has back-to-back wins at Legends of Poker, and won the World Poker Challenge in Reno. This was his first Cal State event this year.
While there were the usual draw-outs and beats in this tournament, the worst beat was suffered by Limor's older brother, Yarom 'Yo Yo' Limor. When the two brothers signed up to play, Dave suggested a 50 percent save. 'Nah, I'm running good,' Yo Yo replied. 'Let's play for 5 percent.' David suggested 10 percent, Yo Yo agreed, and his refusal to accept his brother's original offer ended up costing him about $14,000.
Only eight players made it to the final table when three were knocked out at the same time at the last two tables, a pretty rare if not totally unprecedented event.
At one table, Dillon Chow was in a pot against Amir Vahedi and Jim Ferrel. Chow had A-J and flopped a jack. Two diamonds also came. Vahedi, who had just been crippled when his A-K had run into Limor's pocket kings, was all in with 10d-6d. He was in very bad shape because Ferrel, also all in, had the nut flush draw with Ad-9d. No diamond came, and Vahedi and Ferrel were gone.
At the other table, Cantor had A-A and made a small raise. Jamey Ekerling, thinking Cantor was on a steal, tried a re-steal with just 6s-5s and re-raised all in. Cantor called, So did Oren Alkalay, all in with pocket 9s. Alkalay made a set of 9s and took the main pot, Cantor's aces took the side pot, and Ekerling took the exit.
When players in the money get knocked out simultaneously before the final table, tournament rules dictate an even split, no matter who started with the most chips. So Vahedi, Ferrell and Ekerling tied for ninth and each got $2,250.
There was just 4:22 on the clock when the final table sat down, playing with $200 antes and $800-$1,600 blinds. Lopez, who only started playing poker this year, led with 87,100. On the second hand, he moved up to about 100,000 after he check-raised on a flop of A-Q-8 to force Chow, who had bet 10,000, to lay his cards down.
Blinds went to $1,000-$2,000 with $200 antes. Dong Li, a store manager, moved all in for 5,600 with Ks-Js and stayed alive when he flopped a jack to outrun Chow's pocket 8s. But a few hands later he moved in again with A-J. Lopez had K-7 and hit a Broadway straight on the river. Li got $3,376 for eighth.
A few hands later, Lopez raised 2,000. Chow picked a bad time to move in for 30,500 with 7s-4s, because Lopez had As-9s. The flop came Ks-6s-5d. A deuce of spades turned, and Chow's smaller flush was dead. He cashed out seventh for $4,220 while Lopez increased his dead to about 140,000. Chow is a teacher with one tournament win, at the Ocean's 11 Memorial Day event this year.
Alkalay, a computer consultant, was third out. He moved in for 7,600 with Ah-7h. Lopez called with Q-10 and put him away when a queen flopped. Sixth place paid $5,907.
Dudley Sewell, an auctioneer, took some ribbing from Lopez when he folded pocket 9s after Joey Clapper raised pre-flop to 20,000. 'Give me those cards, I'll show you how to play them,' Lopez jibed.
We now were playing with $1,500-$3,000 limits with $300 antes. On hand 34, Sewell moved in for 11,500 with 7h-5h. Limor called from the big blind with 9-5. Sewell flopped a 7, but Limor turned a 9 and Sewel cashed in fifth for $7,595. 'He lays down the best and bets with the worst,' Lopez quipped after Sewell left.
Ten hands later, Joey Clapper, a jewelry manufacturer with final tables at Legends, Commerce and the Bellagio, looked at a flop of K-Q-10 and pushed in for 38,000 with K-5. Cantor, in the small blind with J-9, had a straight, and Clapper took home $10,127 for fourth.
With blinds of $2,000-$4,000 and $500 antes, Lopez had the lead with roughly 160,000 to about 96,000 for Cantor, 90,000 for Limor.. A deal was discussed, but Lopez wasn't interested. A few hands later, Limor beat Lopez in a pot and took a slight lead. 'Talk now? He asked. 'If I wouldn't deal when I had the lead, I won't now,' Lopez retorted. But, soon after, when Lopez caught up, the deal was done.
Cantor surged ahead when he held 7-3 and hit a gut-shot on the river to beat Limor and stack up about 160,000. At the next break, Cantor held the lead with 166,500 to 96,000 for Lopez and 85,500 for Limor.
Blinds were now $3,000-$6,000 with $500 antes. On hand 70, the first at this level, the flop came 10-10-4. Cantor moved in with pocket jacks and Lopez, who A-4 and paired his 4, called. A queen and then a trey came, and Lopez was out in third place.
Heads-up, leading with close to 350,000, Cantor made his proposal, Limor accepted, and the tournament was over.
-Max Shapiro
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