Russell Salzer Muscles His Way to Win
The $1,000+70 buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo field was only 45 deep yet the final table did not complete until 14 hours later. The 3,000 chip starting stack and hour-long rounds provided plenty of play. The final table was set with nine players at the stroke of midnight. Even the short stacks have play left in them as the blinds are only on Level 8 at $300/$600. The top five players would be in the money.
The first elimination occurred on hand #14 when David Boyett, a mortgage broker, was all-in against Spring Cheong. The board was 9-6-6-8-6 and Spring's 8-6-3-2 was the second set of quads of the final table for Spring. No low was available and David mucked his cards. David Boyett was eliminated in 9th place.
On hand #28, Michael Woo, a professional player, found himself all-in against two opponents. Randy Holland and Larry Brill made it to the river with a board of Js-5-2s-J-8. Randy showed A-4-J-J for quads, Larry held As-2s-4s-6s for ˝ of the low. Michael Woo mucked his cards and finished in 8th place.
With seven players left, a deal was made to include all seven in the money. Play actually increased considerably once this deal was in place. On hand #49, around 3am, Larry Brill was all-in against Russell 'The Muscle' Salzer. The board was Ks-9s-8-J-7 with Russ completing his straight on the river for the high and no low qualifier. Larry Brill finished in 7th place.
The next big confrontation would not occur until hand #79 when Barry Rosenbloom was all-in against David Flores, the champion of the $500 Omaha Hi-Lo event last week. The board was A-A-J-5-J and David showed A-2-4-7 for trip Aces and Barry held Q-Q-J-10 for trip Jacks. Barry was eliminated in 6th place on the money bubble.
On hand #92, there was three-way action with Spring Cheong all-in. The board was K-6-2-2-J. David Flores scooped the pot with J-6-x-x (2 pair) and Spring showed her 6 and mucked her other 3 cards. Glen Cozen showed his A-3-7-7 for 2-pair but smaller than David's holding. Spring Cheong finished in 5th place for $2,250.
About 4:30am, on hand #119, David Flores was all-in against Randy Holland. With a board of K-5-5d-Ad-6d, Randy Holland made his flush with Jd-10d-9-6 and eliminated David Flores' two pair (A-Q-4-4). David Flores would not win back-to-back Omaha events but would finish in 4th place earning $4,500.
Three-handed play would proceed until hand #149 when Glen Cozen was all-in against Russ Salzer. The board was Qh-8-7h-5h-Q and Russ held Jh-10h-9-3 for the flush which bested Glen's K-Q-9-4 for trip Queens. Glen Cozen finished in 3rd place for $6,750.
Approaching 6am, both Randy and Russ made a deal and the tournament was finally over. Russ was declared the winner and Randy humbly took 2nd place.
-Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Russ Salzer, a professional player, has been playing poker for over 25 years. He played 'hundreds' of tournaments in Las Vegas throughout the years. Many hours were spent in the Orleans and Caesars Palace (old room) poker rooms. Russ finished in 29th place in the 2005 WSOP Main Event and has cashed in 11 other WSOP events in the last two years. Russ prefers playing Stud H/L, Omaha H/L, and mixed games but considers himself capable of playing any game. Prior to professional poker, Russ was a Stock Market Broker in Manhattan. He spent 'more than a few' off duty hours at the famous Mayfair Club. Russ moved to Las Vegas and lived there for 20 years. He now resides in Florida and limits his travel to several events and a WSOP run. Russ shared stories from the old school days of poker, including mob stories at The Stardust, playing with Stuey Ungar, and reminisced with Glenn Cozen when Glen finished 2nd place at the WSOP Main Event by letting the 2 big chip stacks battle it out for 3rd place.
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