| Another Goal for David Levi
David Levi, the former pro soccer player turned pro poker player, kicked another goal by winning the 19th event of Legends 2003, $500 7-card stud. It was slow going for him until he got to the second table, but then he started to get hot and pretty much had everything going for him after that.
Jimmy Tran, who finished second, was close behind Levi for much of the final table. But after knocking out the last two players, Levi pulled into a substantial chip lead, and the two finalists quickly made a deal.
The final eight took their seats after Damon Robinson, a computer salesman, made queens and eights to leave Keith Shiraki in ninth place and on the bubble. Shiraki was all in for $800 with a 6-Q up, caught a 10 and seven, then mucked without showing.
With 28:53 remaining, limits at the final table started at $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $400 low card bring-in. Jimmy Robinson, a contractor, who started with the fewest chips, said he had been getting the worst of it all night. On hand 4, he had the low card with a 10, which is a virtually impossible thing to do with a full table. Levi quickly raised with an ace door-card to put him in. The best that Robinson could make was two tens and Levi’s two aces put him away in eighth place.
One hand later, Skip Wilson, a manufacturer, raised with his last few chips on fifth street with (Q-10)9-10-7. An eight on sixth street gave him an open-end straight draw, but queens-up was the best he could do. Rod Pardey Sr., meanwhile, started with buried kings and caught a third cowboy to pare the field down to six. Pardey, a high-stakes stud specialist, has two World Series bracelets in that event, the first in 1989, the second a few years later.
Tom Brownscombe, scholastic director for the U.S. Chess Federation, was all in the next hand with a diamond draw, and made it to stay alive. But nine hands later, with 2-4k limits, antes of $300 and a $500 low card, it was checkmate. He had a board of QA-J-8-7 against Tran’s K-4-2-9. Jimmy bet and Tom, with a reluctant sigh, called all in. Tran turned up a king and a four, then hit a nine to make three pair for good measure, and Brownscombe threw his down cards in.
At this point Levi, who had been picking up a lot of antes and low card forced bets with aggressive raising, had the lead with roughly $45,000, while Tran was second with about $30,000. Damon Robinson was next to go all in, but a flush saved him.
Instead, it was Pardey who next parted company, on hand 32. He started with (A-8)8 and went all in on sixth street without improving. Tran, meanwhile, again made three pair. He started with buried nines and caught queens and treys along the way to leave Pardey in fifth place and come close to catching up with chip-leader Levi.
Gerard Rechnitzer, a producer and son of George Rechnitzer, a familiar face at final tables, was next to have all his chips in, holding queens and eights. Then he stared in disbelief as Levi was dealt not only a set of kings, but a flush as well.
Levi now asked if his two opponents were interested in a chip-count deal. Tran was agreeable, but low-chipped Damon Robinson said, “Let’s play,” so they played. For exactly one hand. On the final deal, Damon Robinson started with (A-9)3, missed a straight draw and ended up with two nines while Levi won easily with queens and eights.
Levi now had $75.000 to Tran’s $41,000, and after a brief discussion, the two pros shook hands and chopped up the remaining prize pool. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY: David Levi, who won two hold’em Legends events last year, picked up his first 2003 Legends title with his victory tonight. This year he also has an Omaha hi-lo victory in Hustler Casino’s Grand Slam of Poker, where he made five final tables and was second to Chris Grigorian in the all-around points race. The month before that he won a 7-card stud event at Commerce Casino’s Cal State tournament. The biggest win for the former Israeli soccer player was the $159,000 he took down for winning a Bellagio championship event.
In this event, Levi said he never had chips and was down to $1,000 at the second table before he got lucky against Scotty Warbucks, making queens-up to beat Warbucks’ aces. “After that I picked up a lot of good hands,” he said. “I was very patient, and managed to make the right calls at the right time.” |
