Optician Wins After 4th Final
Steve Austin, a young optician from La Quinta, so far has played four tournaments at the Bicycle Casino and made the final table each time. Tonight he ran over this final table, knocking out the first three players, building a massive chip lead and coasting to an impressive win, his first ever, when the five remaining players made a chip-count deal.
In this event, $2,500 was to be withheld to send the first and second-place finishers to the XTRA Sports, $25,000, winner-take-all championship round taking place in Las Vegas in December. Besides a seat, the players would also get flight, hotel and food.
At the final bell tonight, Austin had 144,500 chips, which translated into an $18,220 payout. Second was Lance Allred, with 66,000, worth $9,960. Third was Jae Chung, 58,500, for $9,175. Fourth was Gary Pagel, with 40,000, for $7,855. And fifth, with 32,500, was Gregory Caul, an electrical contractor, whose 32,500 chips were worth $6,235.
A suggestion was made that Austin give each player $100, and everyone agreed. Then there was the matter of who got the second seat for the XTRA event. The players finally decided to each draw one card, and if the high-card winner was other than Allred, who had the second-most chips, that player would give Allred $200. Caul drew a 7, which turned out to be the high card, so he transferred $200 to Allred and claimed his seat.
Action started with 300 antes, blinds of 1,000-2,000 and 30:13 left. Chung started with the chip lead with 63,800. On the third hand, Austin, first to act, made a small trap raise to 6,500. Dean Tokumaru made it 18,000 to go holding K-J. Matthew Miller, who had started lowest with 8,700, called for his last chips with A-10. Then Austin moved in for about 30,000 and Tokumaru called. The board of 6-9-3-Q-7 affected nothing. Austin now took the chip lead, while Miller took the bus home in 10th place. Tokumaru later recovered when he raised all in for 6,100 with pocket aces, got two callers and won.
Some dozen hands after Miller departed, Austin limped from the small blind with A-J, then called when Art Hagopian moved in from the big blind. 'Some limp,' he said when Hagopian turned up A-9. The board missed both players, and Austin's jack kicker left Hagopian ninth place.
Blinds became 1,500-3,000 with 500 antes. Right after the new level, Dean Tokumaru moved in for about 20,000 with 9s-8s. Austin called with pocket jacks, and when a board of 10-10-6-2-5 came, we were down to seven players. Austin had now broken three straight players, and his chip lead had zoomed to close to 150,000.
On hand 20, Gary Beck, who won a $500 no-limit Legends event in 2004, was all in with pocket 5s against Caul, who had Ad-7d. An ace flopped, leaving Beck in seventh place.
As play continued, Pagel went all in several times and lived to tell about it. The first time, he wasn't called. The next, his Ks-10s outran Allred's A-6 when a 10 turned. A third time he wasn't called again. A fourth time, he had K-Q against Peter Timinski's pocket 5s and flopped two pair.
Then, on hand 36, Chung opened for 12,000 with pocket treys. Timinski, with Kd-Jd, pushed in for 16,000. And Caul, with A-K, re-raised all in for 40,000 more. After Chung prudently folded, the board came A-8-5-5-2. Caul's paired ace won and Timinskis was out in sixth place.
Blinds now increased to 2,000-4,000 with 500 antes. Five more hands were played. There was action on only one of them when Caul, with Ks-Js, lost a big pot to Allred, all in with pocket 7s, when the board came A-Q-7-6-2.
This helped even the chip count somewhat, and the players began discussing their chip-count deal which ended the evening.
- Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Steve Austin is an optician working in his parents' optical shop. He's been playing poker for three years, splitting his time about 50-50 in live games, mostly $10-$20 no limit in the Palm Springs area, and tournaments at the Bike, where he comes down every couple of months. 'I love the atmosphere here,' he said. Austin, who was wearing an FBI tee shirt, calls himself 'the dork who wears the crazy shirts.' Dorks, however, do not play four tournaments at the Bike and make the final table each time. Other events were at Legends and Stars and Stripes.
Austin describes himself as a very aggressive player. 'But I don't bluff much,' he adds. What I do is steal pre-flop. I stole a lot of pots tonight.' Still, he was down to 600 chips with five tables left before doubling and tripling up. Once he got a lot of chips, he moved back into his aggressive style. His wife will appreciate his win, he added. 'She gets half of it.'
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