Toto Trips Up Huck, Wins!
Toto Leonidas won the 16th event of Legends 2002, 7-card stud, with a dramatic,
movie script finish by making trip 7s on the last card to beat Huck Seed’s trip 3s. “That’s what you have to do to beat a world champion,” he said. Even without a trick finish, the outcome seemed inevitable, because Leonidas, a professional player, had been unstoppable in the later stages of the final table, building up an ever-bigger chip lead.
At the second table, Sam Sanusi finished ninth by hanging himself. Limits were $500-$1,000, with a $200 bring-in and $100 antes. Betting all in with A-J/K-3-A, he begged Huck Seed to call him. “They’ll shoot you if you don’t call,” he taunted. After long thought, Huck finally accommodated him. He had only K-9/4-5-2, but then caught a couple of suited cards for a winning flush.
Six hands into the final table, Steve Figgins tried the opposite tack. Holding split queens and betting all in, he advised Leonidis there was no need for him to call, because Toto had a lot of chips. Disregarding the advice, Toto called with split 10s and broke the general contractor by hitting a third 10 on 6th street. Perhaps the lesson here is don’t try to tell your opponent what to do.
Car wash owner Lindsay Jones washed out of the tournament two hands later. Bobby Jones, an engineer, kept betting and Lindsay, with pocket kings, kept calling until he was all in. With a board of 8-J-A-Q, the elder Jones announced he had a straight, and turned up a 10-9. “A what?” Lindsay cried, thoroughly baffled by Engineer Bob’s play.
Limits went to $1,000-$2,000, with $200 antes and a $300 bring-in. On hand 17, Jimmy Tran started with split 10s and went all in. The cards were dealt and Huck paired a king to leave Jimmy in sixth place. Hon Le, meanwhile, had gone all in a couple of times but hung on. Finally, he went up against the veteran Sam Grizzle. Hon Le, a player not known for backing off, kept pressing his straight draw, finally betting his last chips on sixth street. He missed, and Grizzle’s two 10s were all that was needed.
With limits at $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $400 bring-in, Leonidas got involved in a big pot with Grizzle. Starting with Q-9/Q, Grizzle raised on third street, and eventually bet all in with queens and 9s. All Toto had on board was 6-3-J-7, but he turned up two more treys, and Sam cashed out in fourth place.
Toto now had more than half of the $75,200 in play. The tournament finally got heads-up on the 62nd hand when Bob went all in on fifth street with 10s and 5s. It wasn’t quite good enough because Toto made kings and 3s
Seed was a huge underdog with only about $5,000 in chips. But Seed, as Leonidas later commented, is one tough player. He won two stud events at Tunica and one at Commerce this year, to say nothing of his three WSOP bracelets. Seed, going all in once, managed to stick around for 10 hands, twice making modest comebacks. Finally, on the last hand, he started with rolled-up threes, flat calling when Toto raised with a 7 up-card. On fourth street, Toto bet a paired 7 and Huck raised all in. The cards were dealt out, Huck turned up his set and Toto, with 8-5/7-7-2-K, slowly squeezing his river card. “I see three lines,” he said. It was the 7 of diamonds. He hit his two-outer to win $15,000 and deprive Seed of another stud victory. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
The 41-year-old Toto Leonidas began playing poker full time seven years ago after working first as a food server and then as a bartender at the old Regency casino in Bell.
He’s just coming off a win in the $2,000 stud event at the Hustler Casino. Before that, he chalked up several wins at Commerce, came in third at the Tunica $10,000 championship and this year finished second in a 7-stud event at the World Series. Though his major cash-outs have come in stud and no-limit, Omaha remains his favorite game.
Tonight, he said, he was in good shape throughout the tournament, arriving at the final table with a slight chip lead over Sam Grizzle. “I was focused,” he said. “I was reading the other players well.” He said he also got lucky to fight off Huck Seed, who kept making comebacks at the final table.
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Sam Grizzle
$17,600
Robert Jones
$8,700
Huck Seed
$9,600
Toto Leonidis
$18,000
Steve Figgins
$1,200
Hon Le
$13,000
Lindsay Jones
$2,000
Jimmy Tran
$5,100
Chips raced and/or blinded off: $435
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. David Pham 193
2. Marlon Delossantos 186
3. Daniel Negreanu 144
4. Sam Sanusi 138
5. Huck Seed 135
6. Ron Faltinsky 118
7. Andre Maloof 107
8. Paul Ladanyi 103
9. Toby Atroshenko 103
10.John Juanda 99
SUPER SATELLITE PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 292
2. Tony Cousineau 207
3. Mickey Mouse 193
4. Randy Holland 166
5. Jimmy Tran 135
6. Amir Vahedi 120
7. Phillip Barres 102
8. Eskimo Clark 88
9. Hassan Kamoei 88
10.An Tran 83
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