Vol. 7, No. 23 Saturday, August 25, 2001
Big Award for Attorney Fox!
When his friend Eric Holum was visiting in Reno, Jack Fox suggested they jump in a car and drive down for the Legends no-limit hold’em tournament. It was an excellent idea: Fox came in first and Holum second. The Reno attorney started the final table with a big chip lead and was never in trouble until the tournament ended.
James Hoeppner finished tenth. He had A-6 suited to John McIntosh’s J-10 and lost to a river jack. The final table started with $300 antes, $1,000-$2,000 blinds and an interesting line-up of players. Besides some top names such as David Pham and Mel Judah, it also included two gaming writers: Michael Konik, whose collection of magazine articles on gambling were compiled in two books; and Andy Glazer, a tournament writer and magazine columnist who just joined Poker Digest.
Konik started as the most aggressive raiser, going all in a couple of times with the worst hand and getting away with it. He courted disaster on the eighth hand when Pham flopped a set of aces and slow-played it. But when Pham tried to lure him with a modest $5,000 bet on the turn, Konik would have none of it. “I’ve played with you before,” he lectured. On the 11th hand, with limits at $2,000-$4,000 and $500 antes, Toto Leonidas had $500 left in the small blind with K-5. Michael Danino, a pro from Israel, raised to $10,000 with A-3. “Let’s gamble,” Judah decided, going all in for $10,500 with 9-7. Toto added his last chip and a board of 8-8-6-2-3 was dealt. Danino’s paired treys took everything, and two players were gone.
On the 14th hand, Konik raised all in for $9,500 with Q-3. Fox called with Q-Q after looking at one card. No miracle cards saved Konik, and the table was now one writer lighter. Glazer got very low on chips after losing a pot to McIntosh, but survived for a while by putting two terrible beats on 1999 TOC champ Pham. On the 19th hand he called Pham’s raise with his last $3,000. Andy had Q-J to David’s A-7, but he caught a jack on the river. Much worse was the 28th hand. In the big blind with a lowly 10-3, Andy added his last $500 chip. It looked hopeless when David turned up pocket kings. Andy was half out the door, and then a ten on the flop and a three on the river gave him two pair.
MacIntosh finished in sixth place when his A-10 couldn’t catch Holum’s A-Q. A few hands later, the second writer number got a rejection slip when he button-raised all in with K-J. Eric, who has a bracelet in no-limit, called, and his A-9 held up. Glazer summed up his evening thusly: “I kept losing with the best hand when I had a lot of chips, and winning with the worst hand when I had no chips.”
Six hands later, the 40th, the tournament screeched to a halt. Pham was still reeling from his two bad beats when Fox tried a $10,000 bluff into a board of A-10-2. Pham called all in with 9-2. “Good call,” Jack said, showing a 7-4. But a seven on the river busted David financially and spiritually. Fox now had $118,500 in chips to $54,500 for Holum and $41,000 for Danino. They negotiated a deal and it was over. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Jack Fox, 47, is originally from Detroit and has been a criminal defense attorney in Reno since 1984. Some of his other tournament wins include the championship no-limit event at last year’s California State Poker Championship and another no-limit tournament at the Masters Classic in Amsterdam, along with numerous other money finishes. He was also asked to be one of the “Shooting Star” hosts at this year’s Bay 101 event.
His main business, however, remains the attorney business. “You can’t compete with the pros,” he explains. Since the World Series, in fact, he’s only entered the final events at the Orleans and the Legends. Tonight, he said, things pretty much went his way all along. He did go all in a couple of times, but won easily. Asked his best game, he quickly replies that it’s no limit. “His best game?” chimes in Eric Holum. “It’s his only game.”
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
1. John Juanda 218
2. Stan Goldstein 194
3. Cheu Kim Lim 164
4. Phillip Ivey 162
5. Toto Leonidas 161
6. Mel Judah 154
7. Thomas Cawley 153
8. Tony Cousineau 152
9. Paul Ladanyi 150
10.Gary Lent 148
11.Tom Connors 131
12 Mack Lee 124
13.Jimmy Ngoc Tran 123
14.Jim Pechac 118
15.Daniel Negreanu 111
16.Chris Tsiprailidis 110
17.Norai Khodouzadeh 106
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