| Stan Goldstein, senior member of the poker-talented Goldstein Brothers, won the $300 7-stud hi-lo event of Legends of Poker after scooping a huge four-way pot that gave him a commanding chip lead. He wasn't in trouble after that and coasted to victory.
The final table assembled after Jun Parado, missing his draw to a six, was chopped up by King Kelly with a low and Mike Shin with a high. It was the first time that Kelly, a retired home builder from Arizona, ever played stud hi-lo. And Kham Hoang, a machinist, was playing tournament hi-lo for the first time. The other six players were all seasoned pros with considerable experience in the game.
Betting started with $500 antes, a $1,000 bring-in and $3,000-$6,000 limits. Marsha Waggoner, an executive host at Hollywood Park, exited on hand four. She raised all in with A/2-4 and caught a seven on fourth street, but then was dealt three bananas, losing to John Juanda's jacks and deuces. Three hands later, Hoang raised all in with split kings. He made kings and jacks, but lost to Chris Grigorian’s aces up while another Arizona player, Jim Pechac, made a seven.
Hand number 20 was the big one for Goldstein. Limits were now $5,000 and $10,000 with $1,000 antes and $2,000 bring-in. He raised with split fives and a nine and got calls from Juanda, Shin and Pechac. On fourth street, Shin bet after catching an ace. Goldstein raised and got two calls. Juanda caught his second small pair on fifth street and bet, but Goldstein, pairing his nine, raised his last $1,000 and his larger two pair scooped.
Shin, meanwhile, had gone all in the first two hands, surviving both times with lows, then escaped two more.times with high hands. His luck finally ended when he started with buried eights and missed a straight draw, while Grigorian, starting with 5-6/7, went from low to high by catching two more fives.
Kelly, the hi-lo novice, was still in there. He later said he was nervous with so many unseen cards that could threaten his high hands, so his game plan was to wait for low draws. But his strategy unraveled when he was seduced by a start of 9-7/10 of clubs and a six of clubs on fifth street that gave him a draw to a straight flush. All in, he missed everything while Pechac made a straight. On the next hand, Juanda was dealt buried tens and caught two nines, but lost all his chips to Goldstein’s kings-up.
Three-handed, Goldstein had a bit over $60,000 while his two opponents had roughly $50,000 each. Things got serious when limits jumped to $10,000 and $20,000. When Stan, showing A-6-J, bet $20,000, Chris went into prolonged deliberation. “Do it already, whatever it is!” Goldstein shouted jokingly. Chris finally folded, saying he had a calling hand but didn’t want to be left with just $3,000. Would Stan tell him what he had? “No $20,000 questions,” Goldstein replied. A few hands later, Chris did go all in and made kings and sixes, but Goldstein scooped him away with an eight low and a flush.
Heads up, a low-chipped Pechac, who has a 10th-place TOC finish to his credit, hung on a while by chopping a couple of pots. Finally, with not much more than an ace-high, he went all in against Goldstein’s K-7/2 of diamonds. Jim made two threes, Stan made two kings, collecting $22,725 and his second Legends title in two years. --Max Shapiro
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