Poker Tournament Results

Legends Of Poker WPT Season 2

Avner Levi

Tournament Report

Send it -- to Papa Avner With three players left, one spectacular pot of over $90,000 sent Avner Levy soaring from low-chipped to par with his two opponents, Surinder Sunar and Toto Leonidas. A few hands later, Levy, a native of Israel famous for his yells of “Send to Papa!” when winning a pot, had pulled into a small lead. A tournament-ending deal was made, leaving him the winner of the 16th event of Legends 2003, $500 no-limit hold’em. The lucky catch on that big hand, he said, more than made up for the indignity of having his pocket aces cracked tonight, and at another last table two nights earlier. Blinds at the final table commenced at 1-2k, with $300 antes. On the seventh hand, Sunar raised to 6k and Carl “Coach” Nessel moved in with two nines. Sunar called with A-J and hosed the retired firefighter when an ace flopped. At the first break, Sunar still held his starting chip lead with 82k followed by Paul Abbamonto with 55k, while Greg Hopkins was lowest-chipped with $8,500. Players returned with $500 antes and blinds of $1,500-$3,000. On hand 22 Tom Brownscombe, a scholastic director, was all in with A-J against Sunar, a former electronics engineer with several major tournament wins, who had Kc-Ks. A flop of A-J-9 with two clubs made Brownscombe a 6.5-1 favorite, but two running clubs gave Sunar a flush. On hand 24, Abbamonto was all in with pocket aces while Neil Ho, who calls himself “The Nasty,” had him covered with pocket eights. As the flop stated to come off, Ho was ecstatic to see an eight flash. But then an ace followed, giving Paul a bigger set and giving Ho a screaming hissy fit. “I’ll bring you Prozac next time I come,” Abbamonto told him. A few hands later David Tran moved in for about 10k with A-6 and Leonidas finished him with A-7. Hopkins, low-chipped throughout, had made a small recovery after three all-in uncalled raises. But when he tried it again with A-9, Toto was barking at his heels with A-J. The board came A-5-4-7-10 and six were left. Men “The Master” Nguyen, meanwhile, had been unusually quiet. All he could say, over and over as his chips dwindled, was he couldn’t believe that he couldn’t find a hand to play. Even worse, it was way past the cocktail hour. Wait! It’s 6 a.m.! Men’s face brightened. “Cocktails!” he called out desperately. Too late. Before he could order a Corona, he was in the small blind and put his last chips in with Q-6, losing to Sunar’s A-2. What a bad beat! On hand 37, Ho moved in for $12,500 from the button. Arms flailing wildly (“Don’t hurt yourself,” cautioned Denny Williams), he loudly affirmed: “I will survive!” With a 4-2? Toto, with J-9, blew him away when a jack flopped. Soon after blinds went to 2-4k, with $500 antes, Leonidas gambled against a short-chipped and all-in Abbamonto, 6-3 against A-9. The flop came J-4-J, but then two running babies gave Leonidas an improbable straight. After knocking out his fourth player, Leonidas now was in a rough tie with Sunar, roughly 135k each, with Levy under 30k. Levy picked up a few chips, and then came the hand of the night. Holding K-10, Levy raised to 20k. Sunar called with A-Q, Leonidas with As-10c. A flop of 8s-7s-6s gave Toto a draw to a nut flush. He bet 11k, just enough to put Levy in, and Sunar also called. A king turned to give Avner winning kings, and “SEND TO PAPA!” rent the air as he dashed around wildly. A few hands later, Levy had inched up to about 115k to about 95k for Sunar and 90k for Leonidas, and the deal was done. – Max Shapiro BIOGRAPHY: Avner Levy has been described by other writers as everything from electrifying to eccentric. Whatever the description, he never holds his emotions back, and is usually the center of attention at any table. Levy came here from Israel 22 years ago. After service in the Israeli military, he became a professional tennis player, on the circuit from 1987-1982. He began playing tournaments in 1995 and now he plays them to the complete exclusion of side games. No-limit and 7-stud hi-lo are his favorites. Titles include a World Poker Open event this year, a Four Queens win and a best all-around at the Normandie Casino. From tennis, he said, he learned that you have to be aggressive playing no-limit. He gives a lot of credit to players like John Bonetti, T.J. Cloutier and Scotty Nguyen, from whom he learned his craft by watching their play. Tonight, he said, he had a steady climb throughout the tournament.