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Brian Nadell, tired of a long string of second and third-place finishes, finally broke the ice by winning the 26th event of Legends of Poker, $1,000 Omaha hi-lo. Until now, he had made seven final tables in the last 15 events he played in without chalking up a win. Halfway through tonight's final table he went on a rush, pulled into a big chip lead and was never headed after that.
It took a long time to get through the 10th player. Finally, on a flop of K-6-4 of diamonds, Greg Mascio, all in for the fifth time, had kings-up while Dao Bac had a set of cowboys and Men Nguyen had a nut flush. The diamonds held up and everyone moved to the final table, with starting limits of $1,000-$2,000. History of sorts appeared to be in the making. Nursing a cold and sipping hot tea, Men announced that this was his first final table ever without a Corona. But soon after, when someone bought him a brew, he caved in.
In early going, Nadell was upset when he made a full house and nut low, only to be quartered. After eight hands, Erik Seidel, holder of five WSOP bracelets, fell by the wayside. He had A-A-10-4 and tossed in his last $500 chip on a Q-J-3 flop. Rusty Mandap, tournament director at Hawaiian Gardens, had an A-2-5-Q low hand. But the ace was suited, and he back-doored a flush. With limits at $1,500-$3,000, Dao Bac followed Seidel out. A flop of A-A-2 gave both him and Men trip aces, with Bac holding the higher kicker. The Master then called for a low card, and a 4 obediently paired him for a winning full house.
David Levi, winner of the prior night's shoot-out event, started the final table tied for last place with Seidel. He was all in on hand 27 but earned a chop with a wheel. Two hands later he was wheeled out. In the big blind with Q-Q-3-5, he had a fairly good flop of 2-4-10-J. But Brian held two of the aces that David needed for another wheel, and the rockets were the winner when a 10 and jack were dealt.
This was the start of Nadell's rush. A few hands later, he and Rusty teamed up to dispose of Minasyan. Starting with 2-3-4-Q, Henry made queens-up and a number three low when the board showed K-8-6-3-Q and three diamonds. But it wasn't nearly good enough as Brian made a nut low and Rusty a small flush. With $2,000-$4,000 limits soon after, Brian took a lot of chips and the lead away from Men when he made a nut straight and second low. He now had about $35,000, and ran that up to about $50,000 two hands later when he bet his river flush and Rusty folded. Ten hands later, Rusty, in the small blind, was left with only $2,000 after seeing the flop with A-3-6-9. The flop was J-9-5. After pondering a long time, he finally called Nadell, who bet with A-A-10-4. Rusty couldn't make his runner-runner low or help his 9s, and now four were left. On hand 61, Hieu "Tony" Ma made a small heart flush to take the last chips from Nguyen, who couldn't improve his 10-10-J-Q. A deal was then agreed to. Ma had $38,500; Amir Vahedi, still around after six all-in encounters, had $23,000; and Nadell, the leader and winner with $51,500, was no longer the bridesmaid.. Meanwhile, another record was set tonight when, for the first time, four seats for the $5,000 championship event were won in the evening’s super satellite. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Vegas pro Brian Nadell, 45, left the travel and promotion field in 1987 to play poker full time. He holds many titles, his biggest cash-out coming when he collected $181,000 when he was chip leader and made a deal in a World Series hi-lo stud event. His string of winless final tables this year includes four at the WSOP. He said he would have preferred to break the ice with a straight win rather than with a tournament-ending deal, but he’ll settle for the chop.
Tonight, he said, he was never all in or in trouble. Earlier, he was the chip leader with $10,000, but even after he got knocked down to $3,500, still had a gut feeling that it was finally his time. His last prior win had been two years ago at Commerce. Over the years, his best tournament game has been ace-to-five lowball. Most of his poker time Is devoted to side action. He likes Omaha the best, but any split game will do.
EVENT #26 RESULTS
OMAHA HI-LO
$1,000 + $60
$56,000 PRIZE POOL
56 PLAYERS
1. Brian Nadell $22,400
2. Hieu "Tony" Ma $12,880
3. Amir Vahedi $6,720
4. Men Nguyen $3,920
5. Rusty Mandap $3,080
6. Henry Minasyan $2,520
7. David Levi $1,960
8. Dao Bac $1,400
9. Erik Seidel $1,120
NEXT
Pot-limit Hold’em
$1,000+$60
Tuesday, August 27, 3:15 p.m.
TOURNAMENT RESULTS:WWW.THEBICYCLECASINO.COM
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Amir Vahedi
$9,500
David Levi
$6,500
Henry Minasyan
$9,500
Tony Ma
$25,000
Men Nguyen
$20,000
Erik Seidel
$6,500
Rusty Mandap
$16,000
Dao Bac
$10,000
Brian Nadell
$10,000
Chips raced and/or blinded off:$675
ALL-AROUND
PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. David Pham 323
2. Men Nguyen 289
3. Daniel Negreanu 221
4. Kathy Liebert 219
5. Marlon Delossantos 192
6. Huck Seed 183
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 227
6. Hassan Kamoei 175
7. Harley Hall 150
8. Jimmy Tran 143
9. Can Hua 140
10.Phillip Barres 138
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