| No More Mr. Dead Money
This was another “believe it or not” tournament. Gary Margolis, a CPA who owns a tax firm, does business management for celebrity clients at another company and who also owns race horses, is a total amateur poker player who was featured on ESPN’s World Series coverage as the ultimate dead money man. Margolis is friends with ESPN’s management, and as a lark they put him into this year’s WSOP so they could follow him around and spoof him. He did better than expected, lasting eight hours, but gained an instant reputation for ineptness.
Tonight, with eight players left and $4,000-$8,000 limits, he was down to $3,000 when he came up with an unbelievable series of draw-outs. In five hands he had jumped up to about $40,000, then continued his rush until he had close to two-thirds of the chips with four players left. Steve Shkolnik, a movie location manager, had overtaken him when they got heads-up. But at the final bell, Margolis had a 2-1 lead. He wanted to regain his reputation far more than he needed the money, so he agreed to an even-money chop, even though the difference between first and second place was $37,520!
Adding to this movie-script drama, the man that ESPN should have chosen as Mr. Dead Money was also at the final table. Patrick Poels, a software developer, was in fact the first player out at WSOP 2003.
Drawn by the $150,000 guarantee, some 302 players signed up and made 374 rebuys for this $300 limit hold’em event to generate an all-time record Legends prize pool of $202,800. And, with seven people listing occupations on their bio sheets, this tournament also set a world’s record for the most players at a final table with jobs. And finally, it was also the longest Legends event so far this year, lasting until 7:30 a.m.
Rufino Caceres, a realtor, left on hand 4. His A-5 was no match for Simon Turobiner’s A-Q, especially after two more queens turned up. Ken Flaton followed him out four hands later. Skyhawk had pocket kings, but XiadenWang, a researcher, had pocket aces.
Jump to hand 42. Margolis has three chips. He goes all in against Hong Nguyen for the second time with the same hands: A-6 for him, A-K for her. (“Again?” she gasps.) Same result. Again he escapes with aces and sixes. Hand 43: All in with pocket eights against Poels’ J-9 with a flopped jack. Rescued again with a miracle two-outer eight on the river. Hand 46: Now Nguyen is all in with the better hand, A-4 to Margolis’ K-J, but he knocks her out with a straight.
We’re down to six after Wang eliminated Turobiner, an auctioneer, with quad sixes. Hand 74: in a five-way raised pot, Margolis, with pocket deuces, goes up against Le Kim Banh, a furniture manufacturer with pocket aces, and flops a set to knock Banh out and climb to about 160k. Hand 82. Limits of 3-6k. Short-chipped after losing to Shkolnik’s full house, Poels goes all in with A-K. Margolis has 4-4 and makes another set. Four left and Margolis has close to 200k.
Now Shkolink takes over. In the small blind with 10-5, he overtakes Wang’s A-7 with a five on the turn to leave the researcher in fourth place, and on the next hand makes a straight to terminate David Tran.
Heads-up, Shkolnik had 194k to Margolis’ 145k. The tax man refused a deal because the title was all he cared about. He then won the next five hands in a row before Shkolnik finally fought back with a straight. The chips flowed back and forth for another dozen hand until, on hand 111, with a 224-115k, chip lead, Margolis agreed to a chop and was no longer Mr. Dead Money. – Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY: Gary Margolis is a CPA and CEO of a tax firm. Clients include entertainment personalities and baseball players such as Barry Bond Mike Piazza. He also does some business management for the Beverly Hills Sports Council. And he’s part of a syndicate owning thoroughbreds with some 20 stakes wins. On ESPN, he was their “Dead Money Candidate” because he had never played anything like the World Series, with cameras following him all around “like I was a celebrity or something.” Even so, in his short play, he managed to outlast about 230 players, finishing just ahead of Doyle Brunson. But, having declared on TV, “I am dead money,” he picked up that moniker at the track and everywhere he went. “Now I’m able to laugh back at them.”
Until now, his main poker accomplishment has winning a couple of private tournaments comprised mainly of attorneys. Did he learn anything from his WSOP experience? “Yes. Play aggressive.”
EVENT #18 RESULTS
LIMIT HOLD’EM
$300 + $30
$202,800 PRIZE POOL
302 PLAYERS
374 REBUYS
1. Gary Margolis $76,050
2. Steve Shkolnik $38,530
3 David Tran $19,265
4. Xiaden Wang $13,180
5. Patrick Poels $9,125
6. Le Kim Banh $7,100
7. Simon Turobiner $5,070
8. Hong Nguyen $4,055
9.Ken Flaton $3,035
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Patrick Poels
$61,000
Le Kim Banh
$24,000
Rufino Caceres
$1,100
Xiaden Wang
$64,000
Hong Nguyen
$16,000
Gary Margolis
$30,000
David Tran
$54,000
Simon Turobiner
$6,000
Steven Shkolnik
$66,000
Ken Flaton
$7,000
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