| Goldstein Racks Up 3rd Win!
Stan Goldstein, with two 7-stud hi-lo wins, chalked up his third Legends victory, this time in $1,000 Omaha hi-lo. His final opponent for the second time was Londoner Mel Judah. They began nearly even and battled for 17 hands before Goldstein prevailed, moving up to second spot in the points race behind John Juanda, who finished third in this event.
Toto Leonidas missed the cut after Daniel Negreanu beat him with jacks and fours. The final table started with $1,000-$2,000 limits, and Tony Ma went out fast after suffering a double whammy. On the second hand he ran into Negreanu's four kings. Daniel slow-played the turn, bet the river and got a call from Tony, whose lone remaining chip went in on the next hand. Holding 10-8-3-6, Ma made a straight on a flop of J-7-9, only to see Mel Judah catch two runners for a full house.
A big pot developed on the fourth deal. With a board of 6-3-6-K and three spades, Scotty bet with three sixes, Daniel called with draws to a nut low and a straight flush, and Van Pham raised with kings full. Judah called with a nut flush along with the other two players. A river 10 shut out the low draws, Van hauled in a huge pot and Scotty was left with $2,000. That disappeared on the eighth hand when he missed his nut low draw while Stan made queens-up.
On the 10th hand Steve Badger folded with only $2,000 left after Gary Lent bet a flop of 9-5-4. The Omaha specialist hung around for a few hands, but finally went all in with limits at $2,000-$4,000. After a 10-8-4-10-4 board was checked down, Badger, with A-6-8-K, lost to Negreanu's two queens.
On the 21st hand, Juanda made the first of numerous all-in narrow escapes by splitting with a flush. Finishing sixth was Lent. He flopped a pair of jacks and an open-end straight draw, but Negreanu filled. Meanwhile, Juanda went all in and scooped three out of four pots to suddenly build up a stack of $33,000. That went to $40,000 after he knocked out a low-chipped Negreanu. On a board of 8-8-9-4, Juanda bet and Daniel, who started with A-2-8-10 and now had three eights, raised all in for $3,500 more. But John, starting with A-3-4-4, had fours-full and scooped after no low came.
Judah ran his chip count to more than $100,000 after scooping a big pot with aces and kings against Pham’s aces and fours. On the 64th hand, Stan busted Van. They had almost identical hands: A-2-8-9 for Stan, A-2-7-8 for Van, but a board of 9-8-6-9-K gave Goldstein a full house. A few hands later, Juanda’s lucky streak ended. In three-way action, he called all in with just 2-5-8-J. The board was checked down. Juanda had the lead on fourth street when the board showed K-K-9-J. But a third king on the river gave Mel, with 3-3-A-Q, a full house.
Heads-up, Goldstein had a slight lead over Judah. On their 10th hand, Stan flopped a set, Mel a straight. When the betting ended, Mel had $94,000 to Stan’s $40,000. But after that the game was all Stan’s. Down to $11,000, Mel went in with J-J-K-Q. Stan had a low hand, A-3-4-7, but a board of 9-8-4-7-Q gave him a tournament-ending two pair. Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Halfway through the final table, Stan Goldstein was convinced that Mel Judah would again be his final opponent, because he judged him the strongest opponent left. "Van had a lot of chips, but I knew his style. He's aggressive, he'll put extra bets in before the flop. One hand he had kings and I had A-2-7-K with nut spades. It came 7-6-3, which gave me top pair and the nut low and a three-flush. I knew he had sevens beat, but I raised it right on the flop to let him know I was free-rolling and it would be expensive if he called me down and I got there. Some people think they’re going to make plays and trap, but if you play straightforward, it works out pretty well sometimes.
“John Juanda,” he said, “played great as usual and caught some miracle cards to last longer than I thought he should have. I had ups and downs all the way but I just got lucky at the right time.”
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