Magic Card Gives Rit a Win!
Richard “Rit” Radford, a retired commercial builder from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, put a brutal bad beat on third-place finisher Sinh Quach to take down first place in $100 Omaha hi-lo. Rit was tied for low and trailing for high when a miracle river card gave him a scoop and the chip lead and knocked out Sinh. He and Kevin LaMonica then made a quick deal to end the fifth event of Winnin’ o’ the Green.
International journalist Don Larrimore finished tenth. Hanging on by his fingernails for a long time, he expired in the small blind when Sinh made a straight. At the final table, Rit had a big lead of $41,500 while Tricia Frick, up from the Lake Elsinore area, trailed with $4,200. “I’m ready to go,” she said on the first hand, betting all in with A-4-6-J on a board of A-Q-9. She made a third ace on the river, but LaMonica had already filled on the turn.
Di Quach, cousin of Sinh, was next out. On the sixth hand, holding A-3-5-J, he had a wraparound low draw to a board of Q-8-2 and bet all in for his last $2,200. But a jack and a king fell, and cousin Di lost to two kings. Then Frank Hamany bowed out two hands later. He started with an A-2 but got double-counterfeited and lost to LaMonica, who made a nut flush and a six-low. Hamany, a retired janitorial supply businessman, also is from Lake Elsinore. His biggest win was a $16,720 cash-out in a hold’em event at Commerce in 1999.
Right after limits were raised to $5,000-$10,000, James Jocheck went all in for the 16th time in the tournament, but survived, splitting with LaMonica. Meanwhile, Kevin, who does tooling work for high-tech companies, and with a prior Omaha win at Commerce’s L.A. Poker Classic, had taken pulled the chip lead with very aggressive betting and raising, while Rit had steadily dropped. Finally, Kevin raised with J-J-A-6 to put Rit all in. But Rit, ending up with winning trip queens, started his climb back up again.
James Baker, who retired four years ago from publishing Winners, a southern California magazine, lost his last $2,700 on the 17th hand. He had A-A-5-7, but Kevin, with K-5-4-2, scooped with two pair. Jocheck, meanwhile, playing his first major Omaha tournament, goes all in for the 17th time, starts to leave, but ends up with a surprise scoop with a third trey on the river. But two hands later the game is up for him when he’s stuck in the big blind with K-J-8-4. The board comes 9-4-2-3-6, giving Kevin, holding A-2-4-6, two pair and a six-low.
A couple of hands later, Jeff Sotman, who publishes Horseplayer magazine, and is playing his first game of Omaha, either in live action or tournaments, holds A-3-4-6. Rit, with A-4-10-6, raises and Jeff adds his last $600. The board comes A-A-J-Q-8. They both have trip bullets, but Rit’s 10 kicker plays.
The 27th hand is the final one. Sinh, a professional whose best finishes were seconds in limit and no-limit hold’em at Hollywood Park, holds A-2-K-J. Rit has A-2-3-9 with a suited ace of spades.
With a board of J-7-5-8 and two spades, Sinh bets all in with nut low and two jacks. But a deuce of spades on the river counterfeits him and gives Rit a nut low and nut flush scooper. He now has the chip lead, $91,700 to Kevin’s $81,000, and with limits so high the two finalists decide to make a deal. – Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Rit Radford is 64 and bears a striking resemblance to Sean Connery. Originally from Alabama, he retired from his commercial building and development business and now travels the country in his motor home with his wife, playing tournaments all over. This is his third trip to the L.A. area since Thanksgiving. He’s won a lot of little tournaments and one big one, a hold’em tournament at Garden City 12 years ago that paid $21,800.
Radford plays all games, including pot-limit and no-limit hold’em, but his preference is 7-stud hi-lo. Tonight he had to struggle in the early going, and went all in a number of times at his first table before making a full house that started his climb to the chip lead when he arrived at the final table.
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