STAGEHAND FOR CAESARS STAGES OMAHA HI-LO WIN
A Bulgarian-born Caesars Palace stagehand named Georgi Mihaylou staged a win in the sixth event of World Poker Challenge, Omaha hi-lo/8. Mihaylou, who’s in charge of lighting at the Vegas casino, has been playing poker for 20 years. His previous best cash-out was a second in a 7-stud tournament at Commerce Casino.
Runner-up was Bill “Fort Knox” Wong, a prop at Casino San Pablo, playing in his first Omaha tournament. Wong got his golden nickname from fellow props whom he’s played with in a home game for two months, winning every single session.
As usual with Omaha, there were numerous twists and draw-outs, particularly at the end when Frank Odell suffered three big setbacks that left him in third place. The frustrating nature of the game was set into rhyme by Steve Hohn, winner of last year’s $300 Omaha event, who was host of the day. He entertained the players by reading a poem he had written called “Ode to Omaha.” Sample verse: “Don’t blame the dealer, throw cards or curse heaven/ And then start playing every 10-9-8-7.”
Limits at the final table started at $1,000-$2,000, with 51:38 remaining. Georgi came to the table with the shortest stack, $10,000. Twice he went all in and twice he made sets to scoop and stay in action.
Limits went to $1,500-$3,000 after hand 23. Vince Burgio, the noted pro and Card Player columnist, had only managed to pick up a couple of blinds, and a few hands later was down to $1,500. But he hung on, stayed alive by getting three-quarters of a pot and eventually moved up three notches.
Hand 38 was one for the books. Toto Leonidas was dealt four kings in the big blind
and won with a walk!
It looked like another long night when two hours and some 50 hands went by before the first player was eliminated. With a board of 9-7-6-2-6, Avi Schmid, an Israeli-born dealer at San Ramon, put Toto all in for $2,000 and turned up A-A-4-J. Toto mucked his hand but later said he had a paired nine with an ace.
Limits went to $2,000-$4,000 at 6:20. Dr. Craig Hartman had started with a slight chip lead of $39,000, but ran into a wall at the final table and barely survived after going all in three times. Finally, he went up against Mihaylou. The young obstetrician/gynecologist raised from middle position with K-Q-Q-9. Georgi made it $6,000 to go with A-A-7-6. On a flop of 8-5-2, Craig bet his last $2,000 and lost when Georgi hit a straight on the river.
Later, John Hom, a soil engineer, went all in against Avi and Georgi and managed to get half the main pot with a low. But this triggered an interesting question. Thinking of the slow play penalty in event three, Avi asked if he would have been similarly penalized had he checked, last to act, with a nut high hand. Tournament director Steve Morrow was inclined to think so, but Avi argued this would just be good strategy to prevent driving out a player with a poor low if the all-in player had an even worse low. Steve said he’d think about it. Poker gets more complicated every day.
That was hypothetical; the next hand was real. Hom was stuck in the big blind with Q-J-10-2. Burgio called with A-3-6-7 and broke him with an eight-high straight. But a couple of hands later it was Burgio who was in the big blind, all in for $1,000 with a trash hand of 10-9-4-6. Georgi had K-K-J-10, and that was more than enough to send Vince home in sixth place.
The biggest pot thus far came on hand 70 when Avi and Bill tangled and four-bet before the flop. With a board of K-9-4-2, Avi, with aces, bet, Bill raised with two pair and Avi three-bet it. Another 4 on the river killed Bill’s two pair.
Frank Henderson, meanwhile, couldn’t find many hands to play and finally found himself in the big blind, and all in against Bill. “Hollywood” Henderson, as the colorful and genial Texan is known, came in second in the WSOP championship in 1987. He held Q-J-10-5 and Mr. “Fort Knox” flopped a set of queens.
The clock was stopped for a chip count. It was Frank Odell, $72,000;Avi, $56,000; Bill, $35,500; and Georgi, $32,500. A deal was struck and, ironically, the players eventually finishing 1-2 got the least.
Play resumed with $3,000-$6,000 limits. Soon after, Avi was all in with A-2-5-Q. Odell, the Orleans 2001 no-limit champ, had A-3-7-8. With the board showing A-8-6-8, Odell had a full house and Avi had a better low. Odell called for a deuce and it obediently came on the river, counterfeiting and busting Avi.
But now Odell’s luck turned. With limits at $3,000-$6,000, he held A-4 of hearts and missed draws to a wheel and nut flush, tried a bluff and failed. Then he had a full house against Georgi, but lost when a river ace gave the stagehand aces full. Finally, holding A-Q-10-8, he had a straight when the board showed Q-J-7-9. But a river nine filled Georgi and it was three strikes and out.
Heads-up at 8:15, Bill and Georgi were nearly dead even, and were still even a half hour later. Then Georgi pulled into a big lead when he made a bigger flush than Bill. With limits at $4,000-$8,000, Bill had $45,000 to Georgi’s $151,000, and they ended the tournament with a deal splitting the remaining money.
-Max Shapiro
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