"Warbucks" Wins Omaha!
Two quiet and polite gentlemen in their 60s were the finalists in the 21st Legends event, pot-limit Omaha high. One was Ken "Skyhawk" Flaton, who owns a WSOP bracelet and won the final event in the inaugural U.S Poker Championship. The other was Charles "Scotty Warbucks" Shoten, winner of the recent championship event at Hustler Casino. Shoten started with a huge chip lead three-handed, lost it when Flaton's nut flush beat his number two flush, gradually took it back and then claimed victory when Skyhawk tried to bluff his nut flush flop.
"It was the first time he tried to bluff, and he picked the wrong time" Charlie said.
Shoten's long-time poker alias has been "Scotty Warbucks", which he said he adopted to elude the I.R.S., then grew so fond of it that he kept it after it had outlived its purpose.
Tonight's event took only four hours to get 10-handed. But it took 50 minutes to get the next player out, and then four hours more for final-table play. Hassan Kamoei ended on the bubble. He had aces, but Ron Rose, who went after him with more chips, caught a gut-shot wheel on the turn.
Starting blinds at the final table were $200-$400. There wasn't much action until hand 26. Jay "Moose" Moriarty, a TV writer-producer and founder of the Aces & Eights private poker tournament, went all in holding kings. Rose, with double suited aces, made a set on the river. Two hands later, two more players, both low-chipped starters, cashed out. Mike Petracca, with A-A-K-4, and "Miami John" Cernuto, with A-9-8-4 double-suited, went all in before the flop. Scotty Nguyen beat them when his A-A-J-5 became a nut straight on a board of K-10-2-Q-6.
On the 39th hand, with $300-$600 blinds, Tony Townsend went all in for his last $100. Holding kings, he had the lead on the flop, but two running aces gave Shoten trips. A few hands later, Scotty Nguyen raised two consecutive pots, promising to raise "five in a row." Two is as far as he got. Shoten made a loose call with 6-6-8-3, flopped three eights, checked and let Scotty bet all in for $4,400 with A-K-Q-7. Four left. About 10 hands later, Charlie, holding Q-Q-K-5, flopped kings and 5s and bet $4,800. Rose, with pocket aces, raised all in for $13,000, losing after Shoten caught a third queen on the river. Cousineau, meanwhile, got hurt and never recovered when he slow-played his flopped straight, letting Flaton make a full house.
By the time blinds went to $400-$800, Flaton had about $12,000, Cousineau had $6,000 and Shoten had all the rest of the $60,000. But it was far from over. Kenny pulled nearly even when he flopped a nut flush, check-raised when Shoten bet his second-best flush, then raised all in on fourth street. Cousineau, meanwhile, somehow hung on in a three-way contest that lasted 81 hands. Finally, he went all in for $4,900 with K-K-A-7 and lost when he couldn't catch Flaton's A-A-10-5. By the time blinds had gone up two more limits to $1,000-$2,000, Kenny still had the lead, $34,000 to Charlie's $26,000. After 35 hands of heads-up play, Shoten had pulled ahead. On the last hand, down to $12,000, Flaton tried his ill-timed bluff into Shoten's nut flush, and it was all over
Meanwhile, 39 seats have been won to date for the $5,000 championship event, which will be filmed by the World Poker Tour. The winner will also receive a $25,000 seat in the WPT's final event, with the money coming from the prize pool. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
"It takes some of the joy out of winning when someone has to lose," Charlie Shoten/Scotty Warbucks said wistfully. Shoten, 65, owns a company called Senior Settlement and Sales that buys and sells life insurance policies for institutional investors, cashing in policies at a discount for seniors so they don't have to wait until they die to collect.
Asked to name his best game, he said it was four-wall handball. In poker, though, which he has been playing for 60 years, it used to be stud, where he often felt he was the best in the world. But "all of a sudden" he&rsquo's turned to no-limit and pot-limit because stud, he now finds, offers too many possibilities and requires too much thinking. His style of play, he said, is to do no thinking and to trust his inspirations and instincts. A lifelong searcher "for who I am" Shoten says he tries to give up any preconceived thoughts, prejudices or judgments. "Less is more"
EVENT #21 RESULTS
POT-LIMIT OMAHA (HIGH)
$500 + $40
$30,000 PRIZE POOL
60 PLAYERS
1. Charles Shoten $12,000
2. Ken Flaton $6,900
3. Tony Cousineau $3,600
4. Ron Rose $2,100
5. Scottty Nguyen $1,650
6. Tony Townsend $1,350
7. Mike Petracca $1,050
8. Miami John Cernuto $755
9. Jay Moriarty $595
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Mike Petracca
$3,500
Charles Shoten
$18,300
Tony Cousineau
$2,700
Miami John Cernuto
$3,400
Jay Moriarty
$2,900
Ron Rose
$11,600
Tony Townsend
$2,300
Scotty Nguyen
$9,200
Ken Flaton
$6,100
Chips raced and/or blinded off: $165
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. David Pham 248
2. Daniel Negreanu 201
3. Marlon Delossantos 192
4. Huck Seed 171
5. Kathy Liebert 156
6. Scotty Nguyen 148
7. Men Nguyen 142
8. Sam Sanusi 138
9. Ron Faltinsky 132
9. T.J. Cloutier 125
10.John Juanda 109
SUPER SATELLITE PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 304
2. Randy Holland 254
3. Tony Cousineau 251
4. Mickey Mouse 193
5. Hassan Kamoei 175
6. Param Gill 172
7. Jimmy Tran 143
8. Paul Wolfe 129
9. Can Hua 124
10.Amir Vahedi 120
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