| WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002
EVENT #7 SEVEN-CARD STUD HI-LO
Thursday, April 25, 2002
$1,500 BUY-IN
$1,500 in chips
AGE AND GUILE
There's a cute tee shirt expression "I'll Take Age and Guile Over Youth and Talent Every time." Maybe there's some wisdom in that expression.
There were 240 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Stud Hi-Lo for a total prize pool of $338,400. Three tables were paid, a total of 24 players.
Kristy Bidar had the bring-in and only a few chips so she followed her money into the pot trying to make a low for survival. Frankie Hendrickson had two pair and put Kristy all-in. No low, no Kristy. 18 were in the money.
The Final Table was setup Friday afternoon when Randall Skaggs, a very experienced tournament player, seemed to make a mistake. It was so odd that Skaggs would go all-in for about $6,000 with only Queens for high and no low
draw. Randall could see Vince Oliver, sitting nearby, with only $2,500 in chips. Oh well, Randall must have had a good reason for playing the hand.
David Levi had a low made against Skaggs on 6th St and spiked a second Ace on the river to scoop the pot and elate Vince Oliver.
THE FINAL TABLE: 47 mins left of 75. The ante is $500, bring-in $1,000, playing $3,000/$6,000
Seat 1 David Levi Pacific Palisades CA $ 52,000
Seat 2 Thor Hansen Oslo, Norway $ 31,500
Seat 3 Frankie Hendrickson Kokomo IN $ 9,500
Seat 4 Eskimo Clark Bell CA $ 77,500
Seat 5 George Shah Paramount CA $ 38,000
Seat 6 Andrew Prock Oakland CA $127,500
Seat 7 Vince Oliver Las Vegas NV $ 2,500
Seat 8 Matt Lefkowitz Inverness CA $ 21,500
Vince Oliver not only made the Final Table with his measly $2,500, he didn't finish last! That dubious distinction went to a shocked Matt Lefkowitz. Matt managed to get all $20,000 of his chips into the pot on only the second hand
at the table. When George Shah turned over trip 8's and an 8 6 low, Matt Lefkowitz'd in 8th without showing his hand. It all happened so fast that Matt was able to muck his hand before being told to turn the hand over as is required of an all-in. It could be presumed that Lefkowitz had at least two pair and a failed low draw to call the last bet. Matt is too good a player to make a big mistake in that spot.
Now…Vince Oliver could leave. Christmas had come early for Oliver, but his last present was a lump of coal. Vince had everything going on his all-in hand: A wheel, a flush, and the nut straight draws. What he got was enough bricks to build an outhouse. In the end, Oliver could have cried out for "More" cards because he couldn't even beat Eskimo Clark's pair of 4's.
This table figured to be a match between the young lions of poker represented by Matt Lefkowitz, David Levi and Andrew Prock against the doddering old guard of Eskimo Clark and Thor Hansen. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Lefkowitz and Levi didn't show up for the fight. You would have gotten a big price on a bet that Frankie Hendrickson with $9,500 would last longer than Stud specialist David Levi with $52k. But that's why they play
the game. No one knows what's going to happen in advance. David Levi didn't win a hand and got a disappointing 6th. He lost $20k when he had to fold to a raise on the river by Andrew Prock. He lost trying to put Frankie Hendrickson
out. And finally all-in, it was Andrew again who played Prock-tologist on Levi when David's low draw failed and his lower two pair lost to Andrew's Jacks and 7's.
During introductions Carolyn Gardner yelled out from the crowd to Co-Tournament Director Steve Morrow, "Say she's the only lady at the table." Which Steve then did when introducing Frankie Hendrickson. Carolyn didn't ask
Steve to say Frankie was the only African-American woman. Hendrickson played bravely with her short stack and survived three all-ins before leaving in 5th when she could only make a pair 5's against Eskimo Clark.
In only 40 minutes, half the table was gone. Now four-handed, it was Eskimo Time. Early on Andrew Prock had a 2-1 chip lead on the field, but as each player left Eskimo Clark got more aggressive. By now he was betting every
card. This put enormous pressure on the other three players to find a callable hand on 3rd St. For Thor Hansen, who knew quite well what Eskimo was doing, each time he'd call Clark a brick would appear on 4th St and Thor would have to fold. Hansen's stack was on a down escalator and Thor couldn't stop it. It took over an hour because Hansen is so patient, but inevitably Thor was all-in against Clark with the classic 'too-many-outs-to-get-there hand.' With a straight, flush and low draw, Hansen said, "How did I miss this hand?" Thor might be the name of a Norse god, but Eskimo is the name of an ice cream dessert. The dessert won with Aces and 9's.
To make it easier to remember, George Shah shortened his poker name from Shahrezay. And George had a memorable event, getting to third place. By the time Hansen left, Shah was sitting between two chip mountains. Yet again a
player's low and straight flush draw failed to convert all-in. With a 9 8 7 5 of Clubs and a trey, George paired the trey on the river and lost to Clark's pair of 6's. Frustrating game.
Heads up, Eskimo had fought (and bluffed) his way into the chip lead $190,000 to $170,000 for young Andrew Prock. Although Clark was heard to say on the break to make a deal that the kid "had no shot," it was Eskimo who wanted to
move some cash from 1st to 2nd place. "Like a machine," was how Eskimo Clark described his own play between the two.
Andrew Prock is both Young and Talented. He will be back to a Final Table in Stud Hi-Lo, but he was no match for Age and Guile in the person of Eskimo Clark. Eskimo never let the kid breathe. If Clark's door card was higher he'd
raise Prock's bring-in. If it was lower, Eskimo would bet 4th St no matter what he had. It was basically a wipeout and over quickly. In a bizarre final hand, Andrew went all-in with pocket Aces. Not only did Eskimo catch the other two Aces but two Jacks as well, leaving Prock in 2nd and wiser with Aces and spaces.
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