LUIS VELADOR TAKES SECOND
EVENT, PLUS BIG POINTS LEAD
Playing a steady, controlled game, Lake Elsinore pro Luis Velador slowly built his way into the chip lead and still had it when a two-way deal ended event 13 of 2006 LAPC, $1,000 Omaha hi-lo. Velador, who also won event number two, $300 limit hold'em, was making his third final table and extended his All-Around Player Points lead to a commanding 172 points.
While he plays all games, Velador says he has a particular fondness for Omaha/8 because, while other players can get confused by the game, he says he always knows where he's at, knows when he's beat and when he's won.
We were one shy of the final table when the players assembled on day 2. Robert Durant had the chip lead with 81,000, closely followed by Omaha guru Steve Badger with 74,000. There was a redraw to even things out, because the big stacks were mostly at one table, the mini stacks at the other.
Player number 10 went out on the first hand. With a board of A-2-4-4, Dan Kim, holding 2-2-10-J, went all in when a board of A-2-4-4 gave him deuces full. He lost to Durant, who had A-4-K-K for 4s full. Durant's lead now had increased to 93,000.
Coming to the table were two WSOP bracelet holders in Omaha hi-lo, Badger and fellow pro Brett Jungblut. Starting blinds were 1,000-2,000, with 2,000-4,000 limits, 47:26 on the clock.
On hand six, we lost our first player. Steve Choi, who has a restaurant business, started lowest chipped with 13,000 and was all in with A-5-6-9 double-suited. A board of K-J-2-8-7 didn't give him much, and Jungblut, with A-2-4-10, scooped him away with a number two low and just deuces for high.
A frustrated Hieu “Tony” Ma was down to 6,000 after folding against Badger, then managed to double up. A little later, Ma laughed and taunted Badger for “stone-cold bluffing” him, when he held A-4-6-J, bet into a flop of 2-2-7, and Badger folded. Well, maybe not a total bluff, since Ma was drawing to second-best low.
With limits at 6,000-12,000 Terrence “Lucky Fish” Hastoo went all in on fourth street holding A-3-4-Q when a board of 9-6-5-4 gave him second low. Not nearly good enough. Ma, with A-2-3-K, finished him with a nut low and a 6-high straight.
Omaha is not the fastest game in the world. After 45 hands, only two players had departed. On the next one, Jungblut bet into a board of Ac-9c-2h-7s-6c, and Durant called. Ma hesitated a very long time, finally added his chips to the 40,000 pot, then jumped up angrily when Jungblut showed him the nut low and Durant a flush. Ma was now down to 11,000.
On hand 56, Velador and Danny Morgan, a truck operator and part-time pro, both started with low hands, but Velador, with A-2-3-7, hit the flop and turn beautifully. A flop of 6-5-4 gave him nut low and a straight, and an ace then gave him a wheel, as he busted Morgan out in seventh place and took the chip lead.
At the next break, the rough count was: Velador, 144,000; Durant, 131,000; Badger, 54,000; Jungblut, 42,000; Guadagni, 17,000; and Ma, 3,000. Limits climbed to 4,000-8,000. Ma folded four hands until he posted his 3k in the big blind, with Q-J-9-6 against Velador's Ah-Qh-J-7. Three hearts gave Velador a flush, and Ma checked out in sixth place.
Guadagni, who has best all-arounds at the Hustler and Hollywood Park, was next to go all in, for 6,000, in three-way action. He tripled up with a scoop with just pocket 7s, survived another all-in with a chop, then again when he scooped Badger as he built back to 40,000. Guadagni, whose nickname is “Big Bad Wolf,” kept on huffing and puffing, betting and raising quickly and decisively, as he continued going up and down all through the final table, going all in and surviving several more times. Jungblut was next to go all in a couple of times and also survived.
Limits on hand 129 went to 3,000-6,000. Then, obviously holding a low hand, Badger folded when Velador bet a flop of Q-10-9 and was left with 3,000. That went in from the big blind on the next hand. Dealt a dreary 4-5-7-Q, he busted against Guadagni's queen-high straight.
Guadagni quickly rejected any suggestion of a deal, and play continued. Still firing away, Guadagni hit a speed bump on a flop of Kh-9h-4h. “A terrible flop,” he complained, tossing in his cards as he was left with just 8,000.
Soon after, a short-chipped Jungblut, in the big blind, called all in with just 2-6-7-10, finishing fourth when Durant made a straight.
On hand 157, Guadagni, also in the big blind, committed all his chips with 5-5-Q-2. He got calls from Velador and Durant. His opponents checked the pot down. At the end the board showed 9-3-2-5-6. Guadagni's set of 5s couldn't save him because Velador, with 2-4-6-10, had a straight. One more hand was played. Then, with Velador leading, 214,000 to 176,000, the deal was made. —Max Shapiro
|
