Eduard “Eddie” Scharf, a 26-year veteran pilot for Lufthansa Airlines, flew away with the sixth event of the of the World Series of Poker, $1,500 limit Omaha. The victory was worth $83,810. Scharf, 47, who spends half his time in a plane and half at a poker table, has titles in hold’em and Omaha from events in Amsterdam and Vienna. He plays mostly in Europe, but has been coming to the World Series for the last three years for the side action and a couple of tournaments.
Not familiar with the players, he said he played very tight until the short stacks got broken, then shifted gears into high and relentlessly rolled over the table. When he finally got heads-up with Michael Davis, who owns three pizza delivery stores, he had a massive chip lead of $170,000 to $46,000. After a break, Davis won four hands in a row to just about reverse the chip count, but Scarf recovered, regained control and powered to a win.
Limits began at $1,000 and $2,000. Tournament poker author and WSOP champ Tom McEvoy arrived 15 minutes late after being pulled over by a cop when he tried to skirt freeway construction that was tying him up in traffic. He sat down just as the first hand was being dealt and made a little speech expressing his appreciation for the delay in starting. He could have saved his breath. On the 20th hand he was the first player out when his kings lost to jacks-up made by Ben Tang, a host at Casino Arizona.
Another author at the table was David Sklansky, whose books on theory and strategy set the standard for future poker writers. Sklansky holds three bracelets, including one for draw poker and mixed doubles, games that were played back in the Paleolithic era of the WSOP. He easily qualified for a part in the next episode of “Survivor,” starting with lowest chip count, going all in six times and surviving and hanging on all the way up to fifth place.
In early going, retailer Eli Balas was the aggressor. With six players left, he had collected more than $100,000 of the $216,000 in chips at the table. Then he began getting cautious, fell back and eventually ended up third. “I don’t understand why Eli put on the brakes,” Scarf later commented. Davis, who started out perilously low-chipped, soon went all in twice, but stayed alive twice, the first time when he made aces-up, the second when his kings stood up.
Thirty hands after McEvoy cashed out, two players were broken in the same hand. In four-way action, with limits at $1,500-$3,000, Tang held J-7-9-8. He bet out when a flop of 9-6-2 gave him top pair and an open-end straight draw. Allen Cunningham, with A-A-Q-6, raised all in. An eight turned, giving Tang top two. He bet, but the eight had also given Balas, who had Q-
J-10-7, a straight. Eli raised to put Ben all in and then busted both him and Allen when a four came on the river.
Sklansky, meanwhile, still walking on water, escaped his sixth all-in encounter in a pot that was raised five times. He made an ace-high club flush to Balas’ king-high, and then filled up on the river for good measure.
Don Barton, a real estate broker, had also been successfully aggressive in early going, but got hurt when he got raised holding marginal hands and wouldn’t back off. He entered a family pot one off the button with 6-6-7-2. On a flop of 4-3-2, he called Scharf’s bet for his last $2,000. Eddie had flopped a set of fours, and the broker went broke. Next, Sklansky at last missed his escape hatch. The author went all in for $4,500 with 7-5-4-3 and got his rejection slip when Balas flopped a set of kings.
Now Scharf started to make his move. In a pot with Davis, there were four bets on the turn. Scharf already had a straight made, and then picked up a flush on the river. Starting to gain altitude, the pilot moved up to about $80,000 against Balas’ $100,000. A hand later, he tooks on Tony Cousineau, a rising young pro with a limit hold’em title from the Taj Mahal. All in, Tony was leading with 8-8-Q-5 to Eddie’s 3-3-A-J with a board of 9-7-4-2. “No ace or five,” he cried, forgetting about a three or jack, which would also beat him. An ace came on the river and Cousineau settled for fourth. “The good news,” he said, is that I can come back tomorrow and play pot-limit Omaha.”
On a rush, Scharf moved into the lead with relentless, pounding play, soaring into the stratosphere with over $160,000. Seemingly unstoppable now, he raised with A-10-Q-J, flopped a nut straight and put Balas out of action.
It was now the pilot against the pizza man, and Scharf, with his huge lead, seemed ready for a happy landing. But right after the break, with limits at $4,000-$8,000, he ran into severe turbulence. The pizza man won four straight hands, first with two pair, next with queens-full, and then with two straights. Suddenly Captain Eddie was in a nose-dive, down to altitude $80,000.
But then he managed to recover and in a few pots pulled up just about dead even. The shaken Eddie was now more than happy to make a deal. When play resumed, Mike had trouble finding cards and started going south. After Scharf made his second straight flush of the night, Davis was down to only $16,000. That went in on the next hand after a flop of 8-6-4 with two spades. Eddie had Q-J-9-5 and two spades, Mike had J-J-K-Q, and when a seven of spades hit the river, pilot Eddie Scharf brought his plane in for a three-point landing. ?
Max Shapiro
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