| [Report kindly submitted by Max Shapiro]
'Bridesmaid' Halpern Finally Gets The Bouquet in Omaha Hi/Lo Split
With lots of seconds, thirds and fourths to his credit, Don Halpern ached to finally have a victory on his resume. So when the last three players discussed a deal, with Halpern holding nearly half the chips on the table, he offered to take less than his fair share so long as he got the title and the sharply pointed Plexiglas trophy, affectionately known as "The Impaler," minus the usual formality of one deciding showdown hand. His wish was granted and Halpern, whose prior cash-outs include a couple of seconds at LAPC and a third in a Commerce Casino lowball championship, was the winner of the 11th event of Hustler Casino's Challenge Cup, $300 Omaha hi/lo.
Halpern's game of choice is lowball, but he also likes any split games. Tonight, he said, he "flew under the radar," with average stacks until late in the session. "I just stayed out of trouble. I didn't have great hands, but I got cards when I needed to."
The final table of nine got there after Albert Umel didn't. A flop of A-K-4 gave physician Dan Kim a set of aces and poker player Amir Vahedi, with 2-3, a nut low draw. They chopped up Albert when Dan filled and Amir completed his low draw.
The official payout only included five spots, and the first four players to leave the final table would have won, in the colorful words of tournament coordinator Warren Karp, "Rice-A-Roni." But then Vahedi proposed to take money out to pay $300 to each of those four, and his amendment was voted in.
Limits at the final table began at $300-$600, with 32:34 left. Amir, who would be hard-pressed to find a hand he didn't like in Omaha, played and lost the first two hands and immediately blew off a big chunk of his chips. But it was Marsha Waggoner, the celebrated poker player from down under was first to go under. On hand five, she button-called with 2-2-3-6 and made a set of deuces with draws to an an inside straight and a number two low on a flop of A-2-4. The Hollywood Park executive host got into a raising war and went all in against Kim, who turned over 3-4-5-6 for a winning wheel.
Amir lasted only five more deals. In four-way action, he called all in for $325 on a board of 10-8-4-8 after Kim bet out. Shirley Rosario, a cocktail waitress at Commerce Casino and a protégé of Omaha guru Steve Badger, bet the river 7. Holding A-Q-8-4, she had a full house. Kim's A-3 gave him the second-best low and Amir mucked his hand without showing.
A hand earlier, Vince Burgio had bet into a scary board of J-J-9-8-2 and three hearts holding just two kings. Dennis Waterman, who arrived with only $2,800, thought a long time and managed to stay in action by finally making a good call with just A-A.
As play continued, with limits now at $400-$800, Rosario showed she wasn't afraid to mix it up with the boys and put in more than her share of raises. This led to some chip swings and she finally went all in and survived for the first of three times on hand 24, splitting with an A-2 nut low.
A few hands later, Dennis Waterman jumped up in frustration when Sam Sanusi, winner of the first Challenge Cup event, caught a river 9 to make a bigger aces-full than Dennis held. "You suck out on me every time," he complained. "Don't get a heart attack, the easy-going Sanusi said, trying to calm him down.
It was finally closing time for the cocktail waitress when Rosario posted her last $500 in the big blind with $500-$1,000 limits. Holding 2-3-5-8, she was drawing dead to Burgio's pocket aces when the board showed K-J-4-10.
Waterman, the Oregon logger, was chopped down on hand 44 when Burgio's A-2 made a nut low while Frenchy Leroux, holding 5-6-7-K in the small blind, made a full house when the board came 7-7-5. Dennis did not show his hand.
Five-handed, Dr. Kim had a slight chip lead with about $15,000, while Frenchy Leroux was low man with $2,700. "I just want to go home," said Frenchy, and he soon got his wish. With limits now at $1,000 and $2,000, he held Q-Q-A-K and raised all in when a flop of J-10-5 gave him a 12-way straight draw. He missed and lost to Kim's 10s full. Frenchy, retired now, in the early days of Vegas owned two double-knit stores and later pieces of two small casinos.
Halpern got into trouble for about the only time at the final table when he went all in for $1,900 and scooped with a set of queens after Burgio missed his low draw. The bracelet holder and Card Player columnist went out on hand 71 and got very riled up in the process. When the board showed 10-10-8-7-8, Sanusi made a bluff bet. Vince called all in. "You've got me, no pair," Sanusi said.
"Not necessarily," Vince replied. It turned out that Sanusi's hand, A-K-9-5, was better than Burgio's A-Q-J-3. Vince keep repeating that Sanusi had no right to say "You've got me" with the best hand, while Sanusi, who obviously thought he had lost, kept apologizing. Had he analyzed the cards more closely, Sanusi might have realized that, unless Vince had a straight or a pair, the A-K couldn't be beaten.
The three finalists played five more hands until limits went to $800- $1,600. Finally, having accumulated 47 percent of the chips, Halpern made his offer, insisting that he had to get the trophy. Kim and Sanusi, nearly tied in chips, soon agreed, and Halpern at last had his first coveted title. --Max Shapiro |
