When Galen Kester, a southern boy from down around Tunica, Mississippi, found himself heads-up with one of the most feared Omaha players in the world, Dave “DevilFish” Ulliott of Hull, England, he wasn’t fazed a bit. “I’ve played with him before,” Kester said. He’s an excellent, world-class player, but I was relaxed. Relaxed and, more important, catching enough cards to beat Ulliott in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event and claim his first World Series bracelet.
Kester, 49, was a truck driver before deciding to play full time 20 years ago. “When you play cards and drive a truck,” he said, “it gives you lots of time to think about the mistakes you made.”
Ulliott, a jeweler by profession, holds a number of Omaha titles in European and American tournaments, and a bracelet in pot-limit hold’em in 1997. He said he favors Omaha because it allows him to “bluff and do so many things.” But when it gets heads-up, he added, “you can’t do so much and even DevilFish needs cards.”
Annie Duke, making her 16th WSOP final table finish, started as the chip leader. She badly wanted, and needed, a win to become the all-time women’s money leader again after being passed by Nani Dollison who scored a stunning victory in the first open event, $1,000 limit hold’em. Tonight, Duke could get no higher than sixth place.
Blinds started at $1,000-$2,000. On the third hand, the first player departed in a Kester versus Lester match-up. Jim Lester, a contractor with a seven stud title at the World Poker Open, held kings and called an $11,000 pre-flop re-raise by Kester. The Mississippi man put Lester all in when a flop gave him a draw to both a flush and a straight, but instead won with two pair when a ten and a five hit the board.
Jon Brody, a trader, lost when he raised all in with A-A-J-10 and was called by Kassem “Freddy” Deeb. Freddy held A-K-7-9, flopped a king and then rivered a nine. One hand later the table got down to six players when Devil Fish raised poker player Jacky Chitwood all in for his last $500 on a flop of Q-J-5. Chitwood had a pair and an open-end straight draw, but missed, losing to Ulliott’s three jacks.
After blinds went to $1,500-$3,000, the Devil Fish put local pro Bob Walker all in, but lost him when Walker made a straight. Then Jay Heimowitz, a retired beer wholesaler with five bracelets, bet all in for $25,000 and beat Deeb’s three kings with a flush.
Duke found herself with a tough decision after she raised to $10,500 and got re-raised $30,000 by Deeb. She agonized for a good three minutes, explaining to the impatient table that “I have a good hand.” “Give me that, I’ll call,” DevilFish responded. Duke finally folded, showing K-K-A-10 double-suited. The next hand she re-raised Kester $19,000 to put him in and bled off a lot of chips when he flopped a full house. In her last hand, after Ulliott had made it $14,000 to go, she came over the top all in for $20,000 more. He thought a long time, then finally called decisively by banging down his stack of chips. She had K-K-J-10. He had A-10-9-8. The board came A-Q-2-8-4. His aces beat her kings, but Annie still had a lot of events to go in her quest to regain the money lead this year.
A rough chip count showed that Deeb led with about $150,000, followed by Walker with $100,000, Kester with $75,000, Ulliott with $80,000 and Heimowitz, about $20,000. Soon after, the outgoing Heimowitz ended up going out. On a flop of Q-Q-7, Walker bet $10,000 and Jay moved in with a queen in his hand. But Bob also had a lady and he filled up.
The DevilFish a couple of times tried to bedevil his opponents by forcing them out with a raising, then showing junk cards. One time he got Kester to fold by raising a big-card board and then showing a four, five and eight. By contrast, Walker seemed to be the most prudent player in selecting hands. For example, when Deeb raised $10,000, Walker chose to re-raise all in for $34,000 with a promising hand of J-10-8-7 double-suited and won with a flush.
Deeb was left short-chipped when Kester picked off his attempted bluff on the river. Immediately after that he was left no-chipped when Ulliott made it $18,000 to go with A-K-9-2 and Freddy moved in with A-J-74. A board of A-10-3-K-9 gave David the winner with kings and aces. The DevilFish now had a big lead with about $220,000 to Kester’s $110,000 and Walker’s $105,000.
Walker played his last hand at 9 p.m. On a board of J-4-2, Bob bet $18,000 with J-Q-6-3. Galen check-raised him all in with A-A-K-2, and when a 7-4 hit, Walker walked to the cashier.
Kester now had about $250,000 of the $430,000 on the table. After a few hands, Ulliott pulled into a slight lead when his sevens-full beat Kester’s flush. But then the cards started to dry up on him and get better for his opponent. DevilFish later estimated that in the last 20 hands Kester had “aces, aces and kings” about every time.
The DevilFish began to sink to the bottom. On the last hand, Ulliott tried betting his last $63,000 into a flop of 9-J-3 with just a paired jack. But Kester had K-K-Q-4 with a draw to a straight and a flush. He made a
straight on the turn, a flush on the river, the DevilFish went belly-up and the man from Mississippi showed that he could play with the best of them.
Max Shapiro
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