| LEARNING NO-LIMIT ONLINE,
MEDIATOR WINS FIRST EVENT
Until he started playing online seven months ago, Eric Antman had never played a hand of no-limit in his life. But the experience gave him the tools he needed to win his first casino tournament, $330 no-limit hold'em, the kickoff event of Cal State 2003. The win was worth $84,250.
"It piqued my interest," he said of his online experience. Eventually he won seven of 11 no-limit Internet satellites. He also came in fifth in the satellite that Chris Moneymaker parlayed into a $2.5 million WSOP triumph.
Antman won his title tonight the hard way, by overcoming his vastly more experienced two final rivals, Mark Seif and "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan. Interestingly, all three have law degrees, although Antman never took a bar exam. He works as a mediator, mostly arbitrating custody cases.
Antman finished second in a no-limit event at the Mini Series of Poker last month. He said reckless play cost him the title and taught him a lesson, so tonight he played "fairly conservatively," aiming to move up a notch at a time.
Only eight players made it to the final table. Just as one was getting knocked out at one second table, Seif took care of two more at his table. One player was all in with 10-2 in the big blind, and then Thomas Chung had all his chips in with A-10 when a flop of Kc-Qc-Jc gave him a Broadway straight. All Seif had was two sixes, but one was a club, and he flushed on the river.
The final table started at level 12, with $500 antes and blinds of $1,500-$3,000, 21:43 remaining in that 40-minute round. Seif arrived with a huge chip lead of $129,500, nearly twice as much as his closest competitor.
Kevin Landry, an accountant, lasted five hands. Short-chipped, he went all in with A-J. Meehan had A-K and flopped a king. Three hands later Antman began moving up when Seif moved in with pocket jacks. Antman quickly called for $37,500 with pocket aces and doubled up.
Soon after blinds moved up to $2,000-$4,000, John Schlocker, who is in sales, moved in with pocket deuces. Antman called from the small blind with just 10-9 and made a straight when the board came Q-7-3-J-K. "I'm playing the wrong game," Meehan marveled. Two hands later, Scott Yeates, another online player, went out in sixth place when his pocket eights lost to Seif's J-J.
Retiree Be Van Lu, meanwhile, had gone all in and survived four times. The third time, Meehan called Lu's raise to $1,500, folded when Antman re-raised, then got upset when Antman turned up a mere J-7 and lost to Lu's Q-2. By hand 39, Antman was dead even with Seif, each with 151k. The next hand, Seif moved in front again when Lu bet all in with pocket fives. "I'm dead," Lu said when Seif moved in, winning with pocket tens.
Four hands later, Antman, with 9h-8h, called businessman Blair Rodman's 18k all-in bet. "Oh, hearts," Antman said in dismay when Rodman turned up bigger ones, K-2. A flush didn't come, but a flopped eight was enough to give Antman a winner and cut the field to three.
Seif still held the lead with $185,000 while Antman was close behind with $162,500 and Meehan trailed badly with $35,000. A deal was briefly discussed, with Minneapolis Jim offered an extra $3,000. "That wouldn't pay my electric bill," Meehan, who won a no-limit event at this year's WSOP, said indignantly. They played on, with $1,000 antes and 3-6k blinds. Seif wasn't happy, a few hands later, when Antman moved in on him. "Do you want him to take second?" he chastised his opponent. "It's foolish to go to war." This was reminiscent of the 1993 WSOP championship when John Bonetti, with lots of chips, challenged Jim Bechtel and got knocked out, allowing a very short-chipped Glenn Cozen to sneak into second place. (Seif later did the same by moving in on Antman.)
Meehan doubled up to $80,000 when he raised $33,000 all in with Ad-4d and beat Seif's 9-8. He eventually climbed to about $100,000 before falling back again.
Finally, on hand 63 he went out on a bad beat. He moved in for 65k with pocket tens. Seif called with pocket eights and hit an eight on the turn. Antman now had $195,000. Seif, whose numerous wins include this year's $500 no-limit World Poker Open event, had $186,000. With $2,000 antes and blinds of $5,000-$10,000, they began a hard-fought, 70-hand heads-up match. Antman kept increasing his lead until Seif nearly pulled even when he hit a king to his Kc-6c to beat Antman's A-10.
"The guy's pretty tough," Seif said in tribute as Antman went back on the offensive, grinding Seif down. On the final hand, Antman bet 40k into a flop of A-9-8. Seif moved in with pocket sevens, but was a 7-1 underdog when Antman turned up A-J. Two kings came and the Internet man had his first win in a brick-and-mortar casino.
--Max Shapiro
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