| 'CHIP-BURNER' TURNER ENJOYS
'NON-STRESSFUL' OMAHA WIN
"It was a non-stressful event," Robert "Chip-Burner" Turner said, summing up his $24,505 victory in the fourth event of Cal State 2003, $300 Omaha hi-lo. Never in trouble earlier, he got to the final table with the most chips. As usual, he played more than his share of hands and had some big fluctuations, but always bounced back quickly after dipping down and was never far from the chip lead for very long.
Turner, a host at the Bicycle Casino with an enormous number of tournament wins and best all-arounds, was by far the best-known player at the final table. It started with 1k-2k limits, 21 minutes remaining. For the first time, 10 players sat down. It had been planned that way to avoid the hand-for-hand hassle, but in the two preceding hold'em events, players were knocked out at the same time just before the final table.
On hand nine, machinist Bernie Peng called all in and looked to be in pretty good shape. The board showed 7-5-3-10-9 with three clubs, and he had a number two flush and a number two low made with A-4. Unfortunately for him, Hung Le was number one in both departments and Peng was number 10 on the payout list.
Three hands later, Mark Bove, a Webmaster, was thrown off-line. Under the gun, he called all in with A-3-8-8, missing everything when the board came J-10-6-A-K John Tran, with Q-J-4-4, had him beat with a flopped jack, and then also made a runner-runner straight. By hand 17, Turner was in some peril. He hadn't been able to do much, and was down to 15k after calling Matt Ho's re-raise and then folding when the flop came A-9-3. But three hands later he had rebounded to 40k, a bit more than he had started with. On hand 20 he and Hung Le split a pot and did major damage to a young woman dealer who didn't want her name used. She had aces. Turner had 3-4-4-5, flopped a set and filled on the turn while Le took low.
Time to go home, it's getting late," Peng remarked as he raised all in with 2-3-K-J and got three callers. Much to his surprise, he made a full house when the board came J-3-2-3-A, and quadrupled up when nobody had a low. A few hands after limits went to $2,000-$4,000, he raised all in again, this time with A-2-3-10. Tran hesitantly called from the big blind with a much weaker 2-3-Q-7, then knocked Choi out when a queen flopped.
Francisco Zamora had A-2-4-J when he raised all in for $3,500. He missed his low and finished seventh when Le paired his10. The "unknown" lady, very low after being chopped up earlier, had gone all in and escaped three times. Finally, on hand 41, she held pocket fives and filled when the flop came 10-10-5. But Jim Bates, a mortgage broker, broke her with a larger filly on the river.
The chip count now was: Turner, $49,500; Bates, $43,000; Le, $39,500; Ho, $23,000; and Tran, $22,000. On hand 56, the old chip-burner burned up two players' stacks. On hand 54, Ho and Tran were both all in when the board came A-J-8-J-10. Holding 2-3-Q-9, Ho made a queen-high straight, while Turner, with K-Q-7-7, made a higher straight on the river. Ho finished fifth and Tran, mucking his hand without showing, finished fourth.
Le was left with just $9,000 on hand 79 after he made a bluff bet into a board of 9-8-3-9-K, then folded when Turner raised. On the next hand, Le raised with A-2-9-Q, then bet dark. The flop came A-J-9, giving him aces-up, but also giving Bates a diamond nut flush draw. A 3d on the turn gave Bates his flush as he knocked Le out in third place.
Heads-up, Turner held a lead of $110,000 to $67,000 for Bates. Limits were now $4,000-$8,000. A few hands saw mostly split pots, without too much chip position change. But then, holding only 2-3-5-8, Bates tried to bluff into a board of 7-7-6-10-10, hoping Turner would give him credit for at least trips. But the chip-burner called holding aces, and Turner had built up his lead to $140,000-$37,000.
Bates got some of his chips back in a very unusual hand. He had As-2s-8s-Js while Turner had Ah-2h-9h-Kh. Bates went all in and got 3/4 when the board came Q-J-6-4-5
But two hands later it was all over. Turner had A-2-3-K to Bates' A-3-3-J. When the flop showed A-4-4, Turner check-raised and Bates went all in. When an 8 and 10 came, Turner had a nut low while his aces with a king kicker took high.
Event four was in the books and Turner, a recent father again, had a nice gift to bring home to his family.
--Max Shapiro
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