| ‘HAUB’ OUTGUNS AMIR IN
LENGTHY FINAL BATTLE
California pro Amir Vahedi and retired accountant/manufacturer Gary “Haub” Haubelt went to war for nearly 70 hands in the $500 no-limit hold’em final match-up. Amir used small-arms fire, constantly making his opponent surrender pots with bets and raises in the $10,000 range, but every so often (nine times) Haub would return fire by letting loose with all-in cannon blasts. Amir won most of the battles, but Haub won the most important one, the last, as he took down his first major tournament.
Haub, 54, who used to manufacture garage doors, considers himself a “cut-up” specialist. He scored thirds at a Harrah’s $500 pot limit hold’em event and a $1,500 no-limit tournament at the Rio, but collected far more than the posted amounts after deals were cut.
With this event, hosted by Layne Flack, the prize money for the World Poker Challenge passed the million dollar mark.
Bruce Peek, a salesman, was first to vacate the final table. On the 10th hand, with blinds at $1,000-$2,000, he went all in for $2,900 with A-10 and was called by David Pham, a full-time player, and Mike “Shoe” Gambony, a former pool player from Arizona. Pham had K-7 and won when a 7 flopped. One hand later, Shoe was dealt 10-5. When Q-10-7 was dealt, he thought the Shoe fit the flop, and moved all in for $8,000. But David, with Q-J, had a much better fit, and Shoe was shooed away.
Meanwhile, the lone lady at the table, Joanne Bortner, was proving that she was no pushover. On the fourth hand, when Pham raised to $4,000, she re-raised all in for $23,000 more and he folded, and when he tried the same thing for $5,000 on the 12th hand, she played back at him again for another $19,600, and again he dove for cover.
Two hands later, Vince Shaw bet all his $25,000 with A-J of spades and Haub covered him with A-K. The board came K-9-6-5-6. Vince finished sixth and Haub, with about $80,000, took the chip lead away from Amir, who had been pretty quiet so far, nursing his stacks. Tom McEvoy, also uninvolved and getting eaten up by the antes and blinds, suddenly raises $10,500 all in with 10-9 of spades. He’s in big trouble when Haub calls with A-K. But Tom has an open-end straight when 8-7-5 flops, and closes it with a jack on the river.
A dozen hands later, Joanne, a computer system engineer with a fourth-place finish in a WSOP limit hold’em event, tangles again with David, and this time comes out on the short end. When she raises $10,000 with K-Q of clubs, David plays back and puts her all in for $12,000 more with A-K. She doesn’t improve, and when four diamonds fall, David wins going away with his king of diamonds. “She raised too much,” he later explains. I knew she was trying to buy the pot. If she had made a smaller raise, I would have just called.”
Later, against David, Amir again makes his favorite $10,000 raise with
K-J of spades, and slow-plays when he flops a flush. Another spade turns with no bet, and when David finally bets $15,000 on the end, Amir wins with a mere call, fearing a black ace. Though many consider no-limit to be the most skillful of all games, luck can’t be discounted. This is proved when businessman Manawel Han Han tries a $24,000 bluff with K-2. Amir calls with pocket 9s, and Manawel then makes kings full!
One hand later, Haub makes it $10,000 to go with A-K. David raises all in with A-J and goes bust when he can’t catch up. Limits have moved to $$2,000-$4,000 with $1,000 antes when Haub moves all in with a board of K-K-A, forcing Amir to fold and the spectators to murmur when he shows pocket 8s. “What’s wrong with two pair?” he asks innocently. It’s about the 70th hand when Han Han bets all in for about $37,000. “Okay,” says Haub, calling with pocket 7s. When the board comes A-7-4-5-A, Han Han has three bullets, but Haub chases him out in fourth place with 7s-full.
Three-handed, Haub has $147,700, Amir $105,700 and Tom trails with $39,700. They make a deal and agree to play for $3,500. As play continues, Amir steadily picks up chips with relentless small raises, Tom does the same with a bunch of all-in bets and Haub goes steadily downhill, losing the lead, as he can’t find a hand. Tom moves all in seven times and lives to tell about it. (“I’ve got third place locked up, but you two don’t have second and first locked,“ he explains.) But the eighth time, when he bets all in for $49,000 with A-3 offsuit, Haub calls and busts him with pocket queens. “I definitely made a mistake trying to steal,” Tom later admits. “I should have bet about $10,00 so I could get away from the hand.”
Now starts the heads-up Marathon.
The two begin roughly even, but Amir slowly grinds down his opponent. Haub wins a big hand when he flops a straight against Amir’s two pair, but he’s still down 2-1 when limits jump to $5,000-$10,000. But then Haub suddenly doubles up when Amir raises $10,000 with queens and Haub moves in for the eighth time heads-up with K-Q and catches a king on the turn. On the last hand, facing huge blinds and antes, Amir tries a desperation bluff. On a flop of 9-5-5, he bets his last $60,000 or so with 3-2. Haub calls with A-9 and wraps it up when a deuce and 8 are dealt.
—Max Shapiro
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