| Goldstein Wins Second Hi-Lo!
Stan Goldstein's goal tonight was to reach third place to take the points lead for the Mercedes SUV he had promised his wife, but he did even better, scoring his second win in 7-card stud hi-lo. Mel Judah, a disappointed runner-up, had him all in after they got heads-up and was leading with two pair. But Stan hit a king on the river for kings-up to scoop and then surge to victory. Tony Cousineau, finishing third, brought $58,300 to the final table after making quads an incredible four times!
Finishing tenth was Greg Mascio. He started with split sevens, didn’t improve and lost to Mack Lee’s two pair. Starting limits at the last table were $2,000-$4000 with $300 antes and a $500 low-card bring-in. In the first four hands, Kristy Bidar, Judah and Goldstein took turns going all in and coming out with chips. On hand five, Kristy completed the first bet for her last $2,000 with a promising 2-4/6. Farzad Rouhani raised all in with 2-4/3 and Lee made a hesitant call with A-Q/2. Farzad’s eight was smoother than Kristy’s and Mack took high with queens.
On the seventh hand, Lee raised with his last $3,500 on fourth street holding 2-3/7-5. He missed everything and Cousineau scooped with eight low and two deuces. Seven hands later, Rouhani risked it all with split tens. Cousineau and John Juanda checked the pot down and Cousineau scooped with fives and sixes.
Soon after limits went to $3,000-$6,000 with $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, Judah weakened Charles Schonder II by taking a big pot with three sevens. Later, a short-chipped Goldstein, biding his time, finally bet all in after he caught a third ace on fifth street. “A real hand at the right time,” he commented. A few hands later, aces served him well again as he knocked out Schonder, who started with A-2/6 and caught bricks. Two hands after that, Goldstein became the points leader when John Juanda ended up fourth. John called all with his last $1,000 on sixth street with a draw to an eight and a low pair. Both he and Tony caught river nines, but John’s was a blank and Tony’s gave him trips.
When $5,000-$10,000 limits kicked in, Tony still held the lead with roughly $60,000, with Stan and Mel both a bit over $30,000. But after taking a couple of pots, it was Judah who had the $60,000. Cousineau, with final-table finishes in Omaha and pot-limit hold’em at this year’s World Series, played his last hand against Judah. On sixth street, Mel caught his second pair and bet out. Tony had only a pair and a flush draw, but said the pot was too big to lay down, so he called with his last $7,000. He missed and finished third.
With only about $16,000 of the $130,000 in chips, Goldstein had his work cut out for him. After surviving with kings-up, Stan hit a flush to climb to about $60,000, and a deal was struck. Two hands later he started with 5-6/2 and made an eight-high straight to cut Mel down to about $25,000. On the final hand, he hit an eight-high straight in the first five cards, then caught a deuce for a seven-low to scoop Judah’s eight and make it two out of two in 7-stud hi-lo. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Stan Goldstein, a 38-year-old Los Angeles pro with three final-table finishes at the World Series this year, said he had to grind his way up tonight, had a small rush, then never won a pot from the $1,000-$2,000 limit until the final table. He said he got low on chips after Tony cracked his kings with aces and had to play short until the very end of the final table.
“At the $5,000-$10,000 level, I caught all the cards I needed.” One of his key strategies, he said, was to try to have a high draw after making a low.
Goldstein had been an economics major in college. He dropped out to make a living playing poker, and hasn’t looked back. This is his third Legends victory, having also won the $500 pot-limit hold’em last year. He also has two titles from the Commerce’s Los Angeles Poker Classic and the U.S. Poker Championship.
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