| LEE SALEM SCORES FIRST EVER WIN IN UP-AND-DOWN HOLD'EM
Lee Salem, a pro player who also owns a liquor store in San Diego, earned $124,655 for winning the $300 buy-in, 250k guaranteed limit hold'em tournament, the ninth for Cal State 2003. He's had larger cash-outs (he earned $190,000 for finishing fifth in the '98 World Series championship), but this is his first tournament win.
Tonight's event was anything but predictable. In early going, Vegas pro Steven Mast was sucking up chips like a vacuum cleaner. By the time he knocked out seventh-place finisher Abbas "Tony" Eskandari, he had about $270,000 of the $561,600 in play. He looked like a runaway winner, but suddenly died and could finish no higher than fourth.
When it was down to four players, Bruce Isaacs trailed badly with only about $50,000. But he managed to take the chip lead and when he got heads-up, he had Salem down to a single chip at one point. The two had a lengthy match-up until Salem finally went on a big rush and ended things with a bang by making quads.
Salem had nothing but praise for Isaacs, a retired shoe merchant in his 82nd year. "He was aggressive and hard to read. He was also fun to play with. I was actually rooting for him."
Salem plays about 10 tournaments a year. This year he finished fourth and fifth in Bellagio events and scored a fourth in the $5,000 World Series limit hold'em event. He devotes most of his poker time to mixed side games, from $80 to $300 limits.
Limits at the final table started at $4,000-$8,000. The two lowest-chipped players were first out. On the sixth hand, pro player Danny Dang raised with A-K and went all in when Mast popped it again with pocket eights. Mast flopped a set and filled on the turn, leaving Dang in 10th place. A few hands later, Andy Hallenbeck, a middle-limit ring game player with a WSOP final table in 1/2 hold'em, 1/2 stud, raised all in with K-9 and lost to Isaacs' A-10.
With limits at $6,000-$12,000, Barry Greenstein, who won the $500 no-limit event two nights earlier, went all in on a re-raise with Q-J. He was in bad shape when Craig Brennan, a stock trader, turned up pocket aces. Brennan filled when the board came 6-6-4-K-A.
Meanwhile, Mast, who started as chip leader with $116,900, had been bullying the table with repeated raises that went uncalled. Then, in a pot against Eskandari, he held A-4 when the board showed A-10-2-8-5. Eskandari, holding pocket nines, went all in as he called Mast's river bet and finished seventh.
The $270,000 that Mast now had was his high-water mark. He started going downhill when Salem, holding K-Q, made a full house when the board showed 6-6-3-K-10.
A hand after Eskandari busted out, Niel Ho, who had described himself as the worst player at the final table but the most charismatic (well, the loudest, anyhow), said "Let's gamble," re-raised Salem and went all in. He had A-J to Lee's A-9. "Nine!" Ho jokingly called for. He got his wish. The flop came 9-3-2 and he was out.
Then Duy Trang, an insurance agent, moved into contention by winning a pot of more than $100,000. The hand started out with three-way action. Trang had pocket jacks and flopped a set. Just before limits went to 10k-20k, Salem fattened up at Isaacs' expense when he made a wheel with A-5 on the river and check-raised. Mast still had the lead with 190k, but Salem and Trang weren't far behind with 175 and 150k respectively, while Isaacs had about $50,000.
Now Mast began to get hammered down to half-mast. First Isaacs took him down when an ace on the turn hit his A-7. Then he folded after he bet into a flop of A-9-5 and Salem raised. Down to $85,000, he traded raises in a capped pot against Isaacs. Mast had all the best of it, A-J versus A-5, but fell behind when the flop came 10-9-5. He ended up going all in and busted out when no jack came to save him.
The three finalists now were pretty close. Isaacs had surged from $50,000 to take the lead with $220,000 while Salem had $175,000 and Trang had $170,000. Picking up more pots, Isaacs then climbed to about $300,000. He then left Duy with one chip when he held 9d-8d to Duy's J-3 and flopped an eight. It went in when Duy's big blind came around. Salem and Isaacs checked the pot down when the board came K-4-2-Q, but when a king came on the river, Salem bet. Perhaps misreading his hand, Isaacs made a motion as if he were throwing his hand away, but then called. He had a 10-9 for a straight, the same hand as Salem, and Duy was gone.
The heads-up match lasted 51 hands. On the first one, Salem mucked with only 25k left when Isaacs bet into a board of 10-9-5-2-6. He then dwindled down to just one $5,000 chip before starting his climb.
After winning several pots, he got close to even when Isaacs folded on a board of K-10-2-A-4, then took a slight lead on the next hand. He held 10-9 to K-8 for Isaacs and flopped a 10. But the 82-year-old had regained the lead, 305-260k by the time the limits went to 15-30k.
From then on, it was all Salem. Winning several hands in a row, he climbed past the $400,000 mark. On the final hand, he raised with pocket fives and Isaacs re-raised with 9-8. Flopping a set, Salem bet the flop and the turn. "What the hell," Isaacs said, calling and going all in. A five on the river gave Salem quads for a memorable finish to his first tournament win.
--Max Shapiro
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