Young Pro Ryan Dersch Plays First Omaha Event, Scores Lopsided Win
Ryan Dersch was studying business finance in college when, "as happens a lot" he decided to take a stab at mostly playing poker a year ago. Entering his first Omaha tournament, the 25-year-old from Evansville, Indiana scored a resounding win in pot-limit Omaha, the seventh event in the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Indiana. He arrived at the final table with about half the chips, continued to build his stacks with aggressive play using his chips and good cards as cudgels. When it got four-handed, his three opponents all had a mere 12,000 or 13,000 each, while he had the rest of the 328,000 chips in play.
Five hands later it was all over. The last hand was a stunner. Nathan "Butch" Wade and Christopher "P. Master" Viox were both all in pre-flop, Wade with A-K-J-7 and Viox with K-J-10-9, while Dersch was far behind with K-8-4-2. A flop of K-4-2 put Dersch in the lead with kings and deuces. Next a jack turned to give both his opponents a better two pair, kings and jacks. And then a two-outer deuce came on the river to give Dersch a full house, the win and $28,635.
Dersch was close to the lead all through this tournament until he won a big pot with two tables left, surged ahead and could not be stopped after that. He is primarily a cash game player, partial to no-limit hold’em or pot-limit Omaha.
Even more remarkable than the chip disparity was the pace at the final table. An astonishing three hours and 15 minutes went by with all players still in action. Then three players were knocked out in three hands, and the rest in another 18.
Dersch arrived at the final table with 146,900 chips, and nobody else was close. Blinds started with 400-800, with 41 minutes and 20 seconds remaining.
Here were the seat positions and chip counts:
SEAT 1 Scott Gullett 66,800
SEAT 2 Michael Lutes 20,400
SEAT 3 Larry Romine 18,000
SEAT 4 Christopher Viox 18,000
SEAT 5 Dallas Flowers 24,700
SEAT 6 Nathan Wade 7,900
SEAT 7 Ryan Dersch 146,900
SEAT 8 Anthony Schoenlein 13,400
SEAT 9 Lawrence Kozlove 11,800
On the second hand, Anthony Schoenlein was left wth 4,400 when his paired 7 lost to Dersch's paired queen. Otherwise, there wasn’t much action through the first 15 deals, with the best hand shown being two pair. Dersch was far and away the most aggressive player to this point, bullying the table with nonstop betting that let him increase his lead to about 170,000.
Finally, on hand 16, Schoenlein went all in for 2,000 with 10d-6c-7d-4s. Viox got heads-up by raising with a great Omaha hand: A-K-K-J- J. He made a set on the river, but it was a third diamond, and Schoenlein survived with a flush. Two hands later, Viox was all in with pocket aces on a flop of 6-4-2, in big danger from Dersch's wrap straight draw. Dersch, with 8-7-5-4, needed either an ace, trey, 5, 7 or 8, but missed.
Blinds went to 600-1,200, and the entire level then went by with nothing much happening. On the last hand, Larry Romine, all in, stayed alive with pocket 7s, the seventh straight time an all-in player had survived. With 44 hands and 100 minutes gone by, not a single player so far had the decency to bust out. Dersch still had his 170,000.
Then another 50-minute round dragged on, and by that time, 12 players had gone all in and all of them survived, one with just ace-high. Three hours, and nobody out yet? Is this a joke? Come on, guys, I'm not being paid by the hour to write this, and I'm running out of note paper. Oh, yeah, the bully, taking just about everything but the all-in races, now had 206,000.
We were now at 1,000-2,000 blinds, playing hour rounds. Finally, 15 minutes into the level, on hand 76, sanity prevailed and three players were knocked out in three hands.
First to go was Romine, a Louisville retiree with 40 years of poker experience. He had pocket queens and Wade had Kd-Qs-Js-3d. Four diamonds gave Wade his flush, and Romine went out ninth, earning $2,386.
Next was Larry Kozville, a 61-year-old Louisville banker whose nickname is “Wizard of Koz.” He had pocket aces, Dersch had pocket kings, and a king on the turn gave Dersch his winning set. Kozlove has been playing 50 years, and his other hobby is bridge. He has a pretty good record in Omaha tournaments. He won it here last year, and finished second in the initial event here three years ago. Eighth paid $3,182.
The third consecutive player eliminated was pro player Dallas “Big Dee” Flowers, 51, from Glasgow, Kentucky. He had Q-J-5-4, had queens-up on the turn, then lost to Wade’s river flush. Flowers was a backhoe operator before turning to poker. He learned poker in home games and has been playing for 35 years. He cashed out for $3,977.
A few hands later, Anthony “Louisville Tony,” Schoenlein, a 41-year-old engineer, was all in from the big blind for just 1,500 with a weak K-6-5-2. Dersch and Wade went after him. Wade had Q-Q-8-3 and clubs. The queens didn’t play, but after four clubs came, the flush did. Schoenlein, 41, is from Indianapolis and learned poker at Caesars 20 years ago,
Schoenlein is married with three children, and his other pastime is golf. Sixth place paid $4,772.
With the accelerated pace and very few chips for his opponents to fight back with, Dersch continued his mop-up. Four hands later, an all-in Scott Gullett was lucky enough to make a king-high flush on the turn, and unlucky enough to see Dersch make an ace-high flush. Gullett is 41, from Prospect, Kentucky. He is in sales, and enjoys golf. He's played poker for 20 years, and tonight he picked up $4,772 for fifth.
With four players left, and all of his opponents having just enough for a few blinds, the outcome didn’t seem to be in much doubt. The end was near when Dersch made a full house on hand 96 to knock off one of the four survivors. Michael "Mikey" Lutes moved in for his last chips with J-J-10-2 double suited. All Dersch had was K-8-7-6, but it was enough. He flopped a 7, made a second pair when a 6 turned, and then filled with a river 7. Lutes, 45, married with two children, is from Bloomington, Indiana, and in real estate. He likes to bet sports and has been playing poker for 15 years. Fourth place was worth $5,568.
Two hands later, Viox and Wade were knocked out simultaneously when Dersch rivered another filly. With fewer chips, Viox, 30 got third place. Married with two children and from Glen Carbon, IL, Viox is a pro who has played for eight years and was in investments before that. At this year’s WSOP, he finished third in $2,000 pot-limit hold’em and also had a third earlier this year at the main event of the Midwest Poker Championship. He also enjoys fast-pitch softball and biking. Third place paid him $8,749.
Wade, 60, from Powell, Tennessee, got $15,908 for second. He has nine tournament cash-outs, including two in the Vienna heads-up championships. His best payday was $34,604 when he finished eighth in the $10,000 Fiesta al Lago championship event in 2004. —Max Shapiro |
