| Boris Kolas Wins Another!
Boris Kolas, a restaurant owner and semi-reformed tournament junkie who used to play tourneys four or five times a week and owns a garage-full of trophies, was an easy winner in $100 lowball, the eighth event of Big Poker Oktober 20002. He came to the final table with the chip lead and pretty much coasted in, catching the right cards when he needed them. It is his third lowball victory at the Bicycle Casino. At one point, the diminutive and balding Kolas cracked that he used to be 6-feet-tall and curly haired before he started playing so much poker.
Not surprisingly for a lowball event, it was a pretty mature crowd at the final table. Most of them even had jobs or were retired. The one exception was Toby Atroshenko, a student from Australia here on a poker holiday. Lowball obviously is not his best game. When he knocked out William Mendicki to get heads up, he was under the impression that his two aces counted as high and were beaten by Mendicki's two 7s. (Earlier, after Toby had won a pot, David Hoekstra had predicted that the youngest player would win. "I have no idea what I'm doing," Toby replied.) Still, Toby, who won a pot-limit hold'em event at Legends of Poker this year, obviously had the card sense to take him to second place. When they got heads-up, he accepted a deal from Kolas who had a substantial chip lead.
Boris knocked out the ninth player. He drew one and made an 8-6, while Ulises Molina, taking two, caught a king and a 9. Limits at the final table began at $1,000 and $2,000, with 15 minutes remaining. Two players were eliminated on the third hand. Hugo Mejia, a computer networking instructor from Ontario, raised all in for $2,000. Then poker player Hoekstra re-raised for his last chips. George Nakagawa called. Hoekstra and Mejia both had the same tremendous drawing hand: 2-3-4-5. Hoekstra took one. Mejia, whose fifth card was an 8, finally threw it away, saying, "I might be making a mistake." It made no difference. He caught another 8, while Hoekstra was dealt a jack, and both lost to Nakagawa, who stood pat with a 7-6-3-2-1.
A few hands later, Vince Burgio, who arrived tied for the lowest chip total, busted out. "I might be drawing dead," he commented, drawing to an A-4-5-8. Sort of. He caught a 7 while Atroshenko, holding joker-A-2-3, made an 8-nothing.
Right after limits went to $2,000-$4,000, retiree Ed Peake finished fifth. He had a pat 7-6, but Kolas outdrew him, taking one and making a 6-4. By now, Kolas had had increased his chip lead to $28,000. Atroshekno was not far behind with $23,500, while Nakagawa had $12,500 and Mendicki had $8,000. On hand 18, Nakagawa was in the big blind, practically all in. "Don't try to steal," he said, "because I'll be forced to call." His warning must have worked, because he got a walk. He later went all in for $3,500 and stood pat with a 7-6. He stayed alive when Kolas, saying "I have to do something," threw a ten and caught a jack.
Nakagawa lasted until hand 34, when limits had been raised to $3,000-$6,000. All in, he drew one to an 8 and paired the 8, losing to the jack that Kolas caught Mendicki, a gas wholesaler, was also in the hand, and when he lost he was down to $150. Two hands later it was all over. Mendicki was in the small blind, all in. He drew two to his 9-7-joker and paired his 7. Toby drew two to his A-2-4 and caught an A-3. "O, man!" the Aussie student exclaimed, momentarily thinking he was beaten. But since cards speak, the aces won and the match was down to two. Boris offered a deal which Toby, not too versed in deal-making, somewhat hesitantly accepted, and the tournament was over. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Boris Kolas, 58, is originally from Russia. For about a dozen years he had been playing tournaments several nights a week, collecting trophies from the Bicycle Casino (including events at Legends and Big Poker Oktober) as well as Hollywood Park and 25 from Crystal Park alone. In a 10-year span playing lowball tournaments at the Bike, he said he made final tables most of the time. Eventually, living in the South Bay and running a restaurant in Orange County proved too much and two years ago he sharply curtailed his schedule. .
Tonight, he said, he was in good shape throughout. "I know a lot of the players. I know what they do, and they know what I do. And when I get ahead," he added, "I know I'm going to do well because I know how to hold onto my chips."
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
David Hoekstra
$7,500
Vince Burgio
$4,500
Hugo Mejia
$7,000
Toby Atroshenko
$10,500
Boris Kolas
$16,500
Ed Peake
$4,500
George Nakagawa
$7,500
William Mendicki
$14,000
Chips raced and/or blinded off: $565
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Binh Do 107
2. Clinton Moore 98
3.Justin Westmoreland 95
4. Ulises Molina 91
5. Tony Abesamis 75
6. Jollibert David 73
7. Albert Luna 60
8. Farhang Ebadipour 57
9. Anthony Tran 57
10.Men Nguyen 57
11.Tom Roach 57
12.Leo Alvarez 56
13.Boris Kolas 55
14.Richard Dagres 53
15.Andom Ghebre 49
16.Peter Wu 49
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