Arkansas Lad Wins Hold’em!
Justin Westmoreland, an Arkansas lad who came here two years ago to make his mark in poker, added one more win to his list by taking first place in the sixth event of Winnin’ o’ the Green, $200 limit hold’em.
First out at the final table, on the fourth hand, was James Jockheck, who finished fifth the day before. The board showed Q-6-4-2. Holding A-5, with an inside straight draw, he semi-bluffed for his last $2,200. Justin picked him off by calling with A-10, then caught a river 10 for good measure. A hand later, limits went up and telecommunications executive Timothy Doherty went down. He raised to $6,000 and Ben Camo Yoram put him all in for another $1,400. Tim had the lead with A-9 versus K-Q, but a flop of A-J-10 gave the-full time player from Israel a straight.
Two hands later, a telecommunications rep/poker player named Anthony Lazar showed some gamesmanship. When an A-8-7 flopped, Ben bet and he raised. Ben folded and turned up two queens to show he made a good laydown. Then Anthony turned up two 10s to show he made a better bluff. “That makes me sick,” Ben moaned.
Andy Glazer, the talented poker writer, got erased on the 10th hand. Caught in the big blind with 5-4, he made a stand by calling Sun Yi’s raise with his last $1,400. The Korea-born day trader held K-9 and flopped another cowboy. Meanwhile, the player from Israel has been raising aggressively but not always successfully and finally goes all in when he is re-raised by Anthony. His K-Q is in big trouble against Anthony’s pocket kings, but he’s saved with another straight when the board comes J-10-5-9-9.
Sun Yi dips low on the next hand after folding on the river against Anthony and goes broke a hand later. He goes all in for $3,700 with A-7 when Anthony raises pre-flop. Yda McCaskey, a Vegas pro from France calls with pocket fours. She bets a flop of 10-9-5 and they both check the turn. Anthony can’t help his A-Q but bluffs on the end when a six falls. “Good call,” he says when Yda sees him. “Overcards don’t make the best hand against a pair,” she replies, having figured him correctly. A few hands later, she guesses wrong. She bets a three-spade flop and then the turn; both times she’s flat-called by Hustler shift manager James Miller. Then, when she bets the river, he raises and she lets out a little cry. She finally calls, saying, “Rotten call.” It is. Miller had flopped a nut flush. Then, with limits at $5,000-$10,000, she raises all in for $7,100 with pocket queens and goes broke against Anthony’s pocket rockets.
Three hands later, Justin fails to put Ben away when the Israeli is all in with pocket queens against A-9 of spades. The board comes 10-10-9-3 with two spades. Justin calls for a spade on the river. The good news is that he gets it. The bad news is that it’s a queen, filling Ben. On hand 35, Jim bets a board showing two aces and a king and Anthony calls all in for $8,000. He has a king, but Jim has an ace, and now three are left.
It gets down to two on hand 39 when Justin, with Q-7, flops two pair. Ben calls all in on a board of Q-7-5-6 with K-5 and can’t improve on the river. The two finalists, roughly even, agree to chop and it’s all over.
–Max Shapiro.
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BIOGRAPHY
Justin Westmoreland, 34, is from Texarkana, Arkansas and was just a child when his father taught him how to play poker. He was a regular home game player, and when he made a big score, winning $42,000 in a 1999 no-limit tournament at the Silver Star in Philadelphia, he decided to move here. Since then his cash-outs include hold’em wins in events at Hollywood Park and the Peppermill in Reno, and an Omaha hi-lo tournament at Ocean’s 11.
Justin plays all games but likes stud the best. Tonight, he said, he had a steady climb upward, though he dipped down to $1,500 with two tables to go when his pocket jacks were beaten by pocket queens. “I liked the 40-minute rounds,” he said. “There’s not too much pressure that way.”
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