Paul Darden, a show promoter taking a business break while he tries the tournament circuit, booked his first big win and claimed his first bracelet by scoring an impressive victory in event 11 of the World Series of Poker, $2,500 seven card stud. Darden, 32, is also an ex-nightclub owner and performer. He was encouraged to try tournaments by his friend, rising young star Philip Ivey. He started at the top, entering the WSOP championship event last year, only lasting until the second day. His best finishes until now have been seconds at the Taj and Foxwoods.
Darden, who learned by intensely studying better players, says his great strength is in reading his opponents. “I can read anyone,” he said. “I play my opponents’ hands, not mine.”
His final opponent, “Captain” Tom Franklin, who’s played poker almost as long as Darden has been alive, also promotes acts, and the two showmen put on a show for the spectators with their good-natured bantering. Franklin also arrived with a little poker sponsorship. Since he made the $10,000 final table each of the last four years, Stateline Casino in Wendover, Nevada, where he’s booked acts, gave him a logoed wardrobe hoping for TV exposure this year.
Not surprisingly, most of the players at the final table, including Darden, were from the east, where stud still reigns. Darden arrived with the most chips, which he had accumulated steadily in the tournament. Limits started at $3,000-$6,000, with $400 antes and a $600 bring-in. Franklin, starting with only a fifth of Darden’s chips, was first to go all in, but survived when he beat Paul’s buried aces by snagging a nine on the river for a straight.
With limits increased to $3,000-$6,000, retiree Ralph Levine was first to bust out. He went all in on fourth street with pocket jacks and was beaten by hairdresser Ross Lichen’s two pair. In this event two years ago, Lichen made the final table, but suffered a heart attack before he ever got there. He was awarded fifth place by chip count.
Next, Darden made a diamond flush against an all-in Helmut “Hal” Koch, a restaurant manager. Koch quietly got up without even bothering to look at his last card. Restaurant and bar owner Larry St. Jean, meanwhile, was playing in his first-ever tournament. Not long after limits went to $4,000-$8,000, with $600 antes and a $1,200 bring-in, he went all in against attorney Andrew Bloch. Bloch could only make sevens. St. Jean was drawing to a straight with five overcards, but missed everything..
A few hands later, Bloch was down to only $12,5000 after Captain Tom’s aces-up beat his kings-up. Three hands later, his chip count was $2,700. He showed 8-5. Lichen, with open fives, bet $8,000. Bloch agonized so long that a clock was put on him and he surrendered with two seconds left.
After posting three more blinds he had $300, and that went in when his three was low card. Darden and Franklin ganged up on him. Paul made a straight and the lawyer, with only two small pair, lost his case and his seat.
Darden, missing nothing, frequently commented on hands. When Franklin bet on the river and Lichen tried a raise, Franklin showed him kings-up and won. “He will not be bluffed,” Paul warned the hairdresser. “I’d have laid the hand down.” He then added, “When you get stubborn, bad things happen..”
Down to $2,800 a few hands later, Ross prayed: “Please give me a pair.” His prayers were answered when he looked down at pocket queens and went all in. Unfortunately for him, he neglected to give the poker gods further instructions, because that’s all he got. Tom, perhaps appealing to a higher authority, beat him with aces.
With three left, Franklin now had the lead with about $170,000. Darden had around $140,000 and CPA Lindsay Jones, making his second final table appearance, had around $70,000. He was badly out-chipped and caught between two very tough players. Franklin, with 42 tournament wins and a bracelet in Omaha, was moving his mouth as well as his chips. When he check-raised with a board of 6-A-2-K, Jones folded, muttering, “You probably had nothing.”
“You read that right,” Franklin shot back. “Of course,” he added, “you said ’probably.’” Later, when Lindsay beat him in a hand, Tom playfully pretended he had a flush. “You got a toilet flush,” said tournament staffer Tom Elias.
On his last hand, Jones had split kings. He caught a third cowboy on fourth street, and check-raised when Darden bet his third eight. Darden filled up on the next card, let Jones bet all the way until he was all in on the river, broke him when the CPA couldn’t fill and hauled in a $150,000 pot.
Darden now had $257,500 to Franklin’s $122,500. A number of hands later, when Darden’s kings-up beat his queens-up, Franklin dipped to $48,000. “I’ve got one pint of blood,” Tom said. And when made a flush and left him with $18,000, he moaned, “I’m bleeding.” Later, Tom bounced back a little. “Touchdown!” he yelled, when his ace-high beat Darden’s ace-high.
The end came when Darden started and ended with tens. Franklin was dealt A-5/2, all spades, and had a straight flush draw on sixth street, but caught another five on the end.
Afterwards, Darden paid tribute to Franklin as the better player. Still, he had all the chips, first place, a bracelet and perhaps a new occupation.
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