CAROLYN GARDNER WINS
18-HOUR STUD HI-LO GRIND
World Poker Challenge history was made when the third event, 7-stud hi-lo, lasted a record-setting 18 hours: 11 to the final table and then seven more. The winner, this writer believes, was Carolyn Gardner, a poker dealer and 1983 WSOP ladies champion. He’s not positive because he fell asleep.
With five players knocked out in two hours, it seemed as if the last table would go quickly. But the three finalists proceeded to stage a grueling five-hour marathon before Gardner finally got heads-up with a $125,000 to $8,000 chip lead and knocked out her stubborn opponent in three hands. Gary S, dwarfed between the massive stacks of Gardner and Andy Gamboa, had hung on, going all in nine times. Finally, with limits at $6,000 and $12,000, his two opponents locked horns and Gamboa was eliminated in a $100,000 pot. The three weren’t even playing for that much, because earlier, when they were fairly even, they agreed on a three-way chop, with only a couple of thousand extra to the winner.
Host for today’s event was Lee Markholt, the 2001 Northwest no-limit hold’em champion. His main message in his welcoming speech was a plea for the banishment of smoking in poker.
The final table started with $800-$1,600 limits and a $200 low card bring-in, 2 minutes and 32 seconds remaining. It was an early knight for Johnny Knight, arriving with only $650. On hand two he started with 2- 7/A and made a 7-6, but Rusty George busted him with a 6- 5 and A-J for high.
Controversy erupted on the 12th hand. Andy Gamboa, a San Jose pro who won a Shooting Star event last year, checked a full house on the river against Christina Hung, and Carolyn lodged a complaint of soft playing. Gamboa explained that he had checked dark and filled on the river. But Steve Morrow decided that checking down aces-up against Christina’s weak board was reason enough to assign a 20-minute penalty. Gamboa missed a dozen hands, so the antes and two low-card bring-ins cost him $2,400.
Hung, winner of back-to-back Omaha championships at Lucky Chances, gained little from the slow play. Two hands later she started with J-2/7, made jacks-up after going all in and was hung by Gary’s eight-high straight.
There was not much action as play streched out to the next break. At 5:30, limits rose to $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $500 bring-in. Jeff Harms, who started with a puny $4,625, continually found himself in harm’s way, going all in four times. Finally, he started with a great low hand, 2/4A, but ended up with three deuces and no low. Gary made an eight-high straight and that cut the field to five.
Tom McEvoy, meanwhile, seemed to be battling Gary heads-up about every other hand, usually coming out on the short end. In one pot, Garry took $15,000 from him, starting with rolled-up sevens and filling against Tom’s queens-up. Next, Tom lost a lot of chips when he missed a flush draw, made a crying call with two queens and got scooped by Gary’s seven low and two pair. Finally, Tom started with pocket sixes and bet all-in on fifth street on a second pair. Gary snagged a third seven on sixth street, and the four-bracelet WSOP champ and author was through.
Rusty George, making his second final-table appearance, finished fourth when the best he could make was two sevens, while Gary had him all the way with jacks and sevens.
It was now 6:15, and the three-player marathon was underway. At the 7 o’clock break, all three had more than $40,000 in chips, with Carol the leader with close to $50,000. Limits were now $2,000 and $4,000 with $200 antes and a $500 bring-in. When the three got essentially even, they agreed to the chop. As play dragged on, the repartee was much more interesting than the action. It mostly revolved around Gary’s requesting permission to visit the bathroom, and Carolyn good- naturedly telling him, “Sure, go ahead. We’ll take good care of your chips.”
Later, when Carolyn and Andy suggested shortening the rounds, Gary exclaimed: “You guys want to shorten the rounds when you won’t let me go to the bathroom!?”
It didn’t have the drama of Skyhawk Flaton denying Phil Hellmuth a restroom break or John Juanda recently doing the same to Men Nguyen, but the ongoing jibes made for good fun.
When Gary repeatedly refused to speed things up, Carolyn remarked, “That young blood … he thinks us older folks will fall apart.” “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts,” Gary responded.
Play-by-play commentator Linda Johnson got into the act too. “They’re ramming and jamming,” she yawned as the paint dried.
As the minutes and hours dragged by, and limits kept increasing, nobody took a commanding lead. Then Gary began to dip dangerously low but refused to give up. Finally, Andy was dealt pocket kings. Perhaps tiring of the stalemate, he kept pushing and betting the cowboys, went all in and lost to Carolyn, who made two pair in the $100,000 pot.
The finish was anti-climactic. All in again, Gary could only make two deuces and lost his last few chips to Carolyn’s jacks, ending, to quote playwright Eugene O’Neill, “A long day’s journey into night.” -Max Shapiro
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