Levi in Big Comeback Win!
David Levi, reaching the final table with only $125, engineered an astonishing comeback to take first place in Legends of Poker 2002, the newly added $500 hold-em shoot-out event. He survived three all-in encounters, hardly lost any pots after that and just kept moving on up. When it got three-handed, he had $56,000 in chips to $47,000 for Van Pham and $18,100 for Fred Shaffer, a CPA/real estate developer, and they agreed to a deal that ended the tournament.
Under the shoot-out format, the starting tables all played down to single winners who then reassembled to play down to nine. Though there were 90 entrants, 11 tables were started. The last of these didn't break down for nearly five hours. Finally, Steve Badger, probably trying to conserve his energy for the Omaha hi-lo tournament the next day, three-bet all in with A-J. Tony Cousineau had pocket queens, which then held up. Step two involved two tables, six players at one, five at the other, all starting out even-steven with $1,000 each. A couple of hours later the final table was set after Hieu "Tony" Ma, with Q-9, caught a fourth street 9 to draw out on Chris "Jesus" Ferguson's A-2.
Final table limits started at $50-$100. Tony Ma was in front with $2,325, while David Levi brought up the rear with $125. Levi's third all-in brush with elimination, on hand 23, turned out to be the turning point for him. It started off with four-way action after limits had gone to $100-$200. Gary Lent, a corporate engineering chief, raised to $200, poker player Cy Jassinowsky raised all in for $250, dentist James Kim drilled it another $100 with pocket aces and Levi called with A-9. The flop was 8-8-9. David bet his paired 9 and got two callers. On the turn, David bet his last $150 when a 9d gave him a full house. Cy now had a straight flush draw, but the best he could make on the river was a now-useless flush, and he cashed out ninth.
A few hands later Mark Seif, winner of the no-limit event two nights earlier, held K-10 and bet his last chips on a flop of 10-4-2. But Van Pham was waiting with J-J. An 8 and an ace were dealt and now two were gone. Lent got hurt in a pot where he tried a bluff bet on the end when a fourth club fell. Kim had two 8s, one a club. He called all in and Gary threw his hand away. A few hands later Lent was short-chipped in the big blind with two deuces and went for it by raising all in against two players. Levi had an A-10 of diamonds and hit his nut flush. Lent was sent home, and suddenly the once-impoverished Levi was now the richest kid at the table with more than $4,000.
A short time later Ma went all in with pocket jacks and went broke against Pham's pocket kings. And not long after that the tournament neared its end when Steven Lee, a grocery store owner, was in bad shape, all in with A-J against Kim's A-Q. The board of 9-7-3-10-10 didn't help, and now four were left. Hand 52 was the last. Kim raised all in for $350 on the button with K-7. David had pocket queens, flopped a set and the dentist was extracted from the tournament.
After a short discussion the three finalists agreed to a deal, and the comeback kid, going from the proverbial outhouse to the penthouse, claimed his well-deserved victory.
-Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
This is the second Legends 2002 win for David Levi. He also captured event 10, $500 limit hold'em, which paid $32,800 for first place. These wins come on top of his $159,000 victory at the Bellagio's $3,000 no-limit finale. Tonight he came to the final table perilously short-chipped after taking two bad beats. The first time, his set was beaten by a wheel. The second time, he had K-Q against10-9 and the flop came K-9-9. But at the final table, after hanging on for 23 hands, he finally got the breather he needed when he made a full house.
Strategy, he pointed out, has to be adjusted for shoot-out tournaments. "You can't really wait. You have to be more aggressive. In a regular tournament, if you're short-stacked, you have a better chance if the table breaks and you move. Here, you have to win your table, so you're forced to gamble."
EVENT #25 RESULTS
LIMIT HOLD'EM SHOOTOUT
$500 + $40
$45,000 PRIZE POOL
90 PLAYERS
1. David Levi $18,000
2. Van Pham $9,675
3. Fred Shaffer $5,175
4. James Kim $3,150
5. Steven Lee $2,475
6. Hieu "Tony" Ma $1,800
7. Gary Lent $1,350
8. Mark Seif $1,125
9. Cy Jassinowsky $900
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Fred Shafer
$950
Gary Lent
$1,350
Cy Jassinowski
$875
Mark Seif
$1,275
Tony Ma
$2,325
James Kim
$1,450
Van Pham
$1,675
David Levi
$125
Steven Lee
$2,075
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. David Pham 323
2. Men Nguyen 253
3. Daniel Negreanu 221
4. Kathy Liebert 219
5. Marlon Delossantos 192
6. Huck Seed 171
7. Scotty Nguyen 148
8. Sam Sanusi 138
9. Ron Faltinsky 132
10.Andre Maloof 131
SUPER SATELLITE
PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 369
2. Randy Holland 278
3. Tony Cousineau 251
4. Param Gill 242
5. Mickey Mouse 207
6. Hassan Kamoei 175
7. Harley Hall 150
8. Jimmy Tran 143
9. Can Hua 140
10.Phillip Barres 138
|
