WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2000
EVENT #15 ACE-TO-FIVE LOWBALL
$1,500 BUY-IN
$1,500 in chips
"WHAT KIND OF GAME IS THIS?"
By Mike Paulle
Until the mid-80's Lowball was the only game allowed in California cardrooms.
So, of course, everyone knew how to play it. Now, even if they still know how
to play Lowball, few choose to play the game. It just moves to slowly for
modern tastes. But as a tournament event, Lowball is making a comeback to the
World Series. "It will only get bigger," says Tournament Director Bob Thompson.
There were 127entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In, Lowball for a total prize pool of
$190,500. 2 tables were paid, a total of 16 players.
Richard Dunberg just barely made the Final Table Saturday night. He paired his
8 as an all-in hand. Normally that would have bee all she wrote. But
miraculously Dunberg's opponent drew two pair. That cost Randy Jacobson a seat
and we moved to Sunday afternoon.
Sunday, Roger Van Driesen started with a chip lead over bracelet winner John
Spadavecchia. In what turned out to be a critical play, Richard Dunberg's
survival to squeeze into 8th place held portent for Roger Van Driesen.
THE FINAL TABLE
32 mins left of 80. The blinds are $800/$1,500
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1 John Spadavecchia (N. Miami Beach, FL) | $35,200 |
| Seat 2 Kevin Spillane (County Cork, Ireland) | $22,800 |
| Seat 3 Dave Inhofe (Tulsa, OK) | $17,600 |
| Seat 4 Jack Fox (Reno, NV) | $10,800 |
| Seat 5 Roger Van Driesen (Titusville, NJ) | $49,600 |
| Seat 6 Richard Dunberg (Long Beach, CA) | $9,600 |
| Seat 7 Richard Savitt (Visalia, CA) | $24,400 |
| Seat 8 Bill Boston (Gainesville, FL) | $21,000 |
As the joke goes, there is nothing wrong with drawing dead if you have pot
odds. It's a joke, ok? It doesn't have to make sense.
Unfortunately for Jack Fox, he didn't even have pot odds when he drew dead.
Actually, in fairness to the popular Reno lawyer, he wasn't drawing entirely
dead on his all-in hand. But close. Fox had Q J and didn't want to draw two
cards against Roger Van Driesen who drew only one. Fox craftily threw only the
Queen away, thereby making sure he was drawing to a Jack low (So many Jacks in
this paragraph!). Van Driesen was drawing to a 10. Roger only needed a card
lower than a 10 that didn't pair him to pen Fox into 8th.
As the railbirds said, Richard Savitt wasn't outplayed, he just couldn't make
any hands. Starting 3rd in chips, Richard finished a disappointed 7th when his
all-in 9 7 lost to Roger Van Driesen's 7 5.
Irishman Kevin Spillane had the line of the day. After being knocked out of the
event in 6th, Kevin went over to his friend and fellow Irishman Padraig
Parkinson (3rd in the 1999 Championship Final) and said, "That guy plays with a
joker! What kind of game is this?"
Spillane went all-in understandably with a pat 8 6. Bill Boston showed him a 7
5 with a Joker to take the mystery out of Kevin's finish. They don't play
Lowball at all in Europe, so Spillane (who plays Stud High in Ireland) took
great last-minute instructions by Parkinson. Padraig told Kevin to pretend he
was playing 5-Card Stud and "was on a terrible run." That perfectly describes
Lowball.
He looked pretty clean to us, but Dave Inhofe's nickname is 'Dirty Dave.' It
was Richard Dunberg who done Dave dirty, however. Inhofe went all-in with his
last $2,000 tossing away a King and pairing an Ace in return. Dave's 9 low draw
had little chance at best as Dunberg drew one and turned over a 7 6.
Based on past WSOP experience and beginning chip count, John Spadavecchia may
have been rated the favorite to win at this table. But John couldn't pick up a
hand. Like everyone else at the table, except Richard Dunberg, John couldn't
beat the incendiary Roger Van Driesen, either. Spadavecchia forced the action
by reraising and going pat with a 10 9 all-in. Van Driesen was catching all
cards at the time. He drew one and showed Spadavecchia the door with a 6 4.
After Bill Boston went out 3rd on almost the identical scenario, heads up play
began between the first and the worst. Roger Van Driesen started this table
first in chip count with $49,600. Richard Dunberg started worst with $9,400. By
the time there were only two players left Van Driesen had $120,000, Dunberg
$70,000.
Roger Van Driesen is a strong positional player that bluffs at pots a lot. "I
got too aggressive early," Roger said. "I'm used to playing with players who
play faster." Back East where Roger plays, his aggressive style works well. "I
knew I was all right when he quit showing me 9 7," Professional sports bettor
Richard Dunberg said afterward. Each player took commanding chip leads at one
point or another, but eventually the steady, grinding play of Richard Dunberg
prevailed to win the bracelet and 1st prize money. Ace-To-Five Lowball is back
in the World Series. But many onlookers will be heard saying, "They play with
Jokers. What kind of game is this?"
Official Money Winners
| 1. Richard Dunberg | $76,200 |
| 2. Roger Van Driesen | $38,100 |
| 3. Bill Boston | $19,050 |
| 4. John Spadavecchia | $11,430 |
| 5. Dave Inhofe | $9,525 |
| 6. Kevin Spillane | $7,620 |
| 7. Richard Savitt | $5,720 |
| 8. Jack Fox | $3,815 |
9th-12th received $2,855
Randy Jacobson, Kyle Larsen, William Chen and Mark Tenner
13th-16th received $1,905
Dr. Will Noyes, Norman Ketchum, David Allred and George Bofysil
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