| RETIREE WINS LIMIT HOLD'EM
DESPITE HIS $85,000 PENALTY!
It was one of the longest, richest and most controversial $300 limit hold'em tournaments in memory. Long: more than 16 hours. Rich: 551 players (121 more than last year) and a $383,100 prize pool which exceeded the $250,000 guarantee by 53 percent.
Controversial? Well, with three players left and limits at $10,000-$20,000, Stuart Krasney had the tournament virtually locked up with more than 3/4 of the $640,000 in play. Then, in the midst of a hand, he said, "I have a pocket pair."
"You'd better be lying," warned tournament director Cheri Dokken. When it turned out he did have pocket sevens, she assessed a 20-minute penalty. Then, poker pro Vinny Vinh drew her ire after he told the dealer not to scramble and advised the third player, Thomas Keller, "You take one pot and I'll take one." She nearly gave Vinh a penalty too (would that have left Keller playing with himself?), but instead used her discretionary powers to reduce Krasney's time-out to 10 minutes. Still, the recreational player, who hadn't realized he had done something wrong, was blinded off for $85,000.
"This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Keller remarked.
Krasney eventually won the event, the second in Cal State 2003, but the penalty presumably still cost him nearly $24,000 because when a pumped-up Vinh eventually pulled even with him heads-up, Krasney agreed to a deal of playing for 10 percent and chopping the rest.
Krasney owns a database business which he is no longer active in. He's been playing poker for 10 years, has made several final tables, but his is his first win.
The final table, after five minutes of play, had limits of 6k-12k. El Monte businessman Seng Tran took a bad beat to go out in the first hand at the new level. He raised with pocket aces. Stock trader Tim Leung, with pocket eights, put him in with a re-raise, then made a set on the river.
A few hands later, Mike Fetter, who does mining work for pipe companies, dug himself out of big trouble. In a raised pot with four-way action, he went all in with A-K offsuit, but raked in more than $130,000 when four hearts came to give him a nut flush.
Hand 14 was the last for David Tran. A capped pot put him all in. He had pocket jacks but lost to Keller's pocket bullets.
Bruce Isaacs, a retired shoe merchant, finished seventh. Pushing his suited Q-J, he re-raised Keller pre-flop, three-bet all in on a flop of 6-6-7 and never made anything. Keller, with A-7 off, hit an ace on the river.
When limits went to $10,000-$20,000, an eyeball count showed Keller the chip leader with about 205k. Vinh was close behind with about 165k; Lee had 82k, Fetter, 75k; Leung 55k; and Krasney still had only 60k. The field dwindled to five when Lee tossed in his last $6,000 with pocket treys and lost to Keller's pocket eights.
Krasney began his move when he gambled and went all in with 10h-9h chasing a straight. Hitting it on the river, he took a big pot from Keller, who had A-A.
Vinh, meanwhile, was going downhill. He went all in on his big blind twice with the worst hand, but pulled out both times and played catch-up. Then the field narrowed to four when Leung lost with an unimproved Q-J against Keller, who hit an ace to his A-10. Counts now were: Keller, 232k; Vinh, 161; Krasney, 131k; and Fetter, 115k. Mike the miner got buried on hand 53. He was all in with A-4 against Keller's A-10. When the board showed Q-10-2-Q, Fetter's cheering section called for a four. It came on the river, but was completely useless.
"Are they blind?" Vinh asked in amazement..
By hand 62, Keller and Vinh were down to about 75k each and Krasney had all the rest. Then came his blunder, the penalty, and he returned a poorer man, but still the chip leader. With limits at 20k-40k, he busted Keller when he turned a deuce to his K-2 to outrun Keller's K-8.
Fortunes changed fast at those limits, and when Vinh quickly pulled even, they agreed to a deal. "You can't beat me heads-up, Vinh boasted. He then jokingly tried to get Krasney another penalty by asking him what his hands were.
"I'm not saying a word," Krasney replied.
"It's all over," Vinh said a few hands later when he had Krasney all in with a set of treys...but Krasney turned over a set of queens. The heads-up match went on for 30 hands with wild fluctuations.
By hand 119 they were exactly even. Then, with the board showing Q-6-5-J, the flop and the turn had been raised and re-re-raised, and all the money went into the middle. Vinh had Q-9, but he was drawing dead because Krasney, with Q-J, had top two. He locked up his first tournament win...and also learned a lesson in keeping his mouth shut.
It also happened to be his wedding anniversary. He had two dozen roses waiting in the car for his wife, and now something a little extra as well to bring her.
--Max Shapiro
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