| Truck Dealer in Long Win
Darwin Smith, a former pro player who now owns a truck sales dealership in Idaho Falls, Idaho, won the 22nd event of Legends 2003, 7-card stud hi-lo, in a marathon that lasted until 8:30 a.m., an hour later than the prior longest event this year. The final table took more than four hours, with the heads-up match alone lasting over 40 hands. Though Smith had some tournament wins years ago, this is his first in recent history.
The final table started with $200 antes, a $300 low-card bring-in and 1-2k limits.
Brian Goddard, a race car driver, couldn’t seem to slow down and played all of the first five hands. The first time he was all in and made a better eight than Kirk Conrad (while an also all-in Luis Velador took high with two pair). Goddard lost the second hand, chopped the third, folded the fourth on sixth street, and finally went all in again on the fifth hand with a great start of (3-5)6-7. The racer ended up with an 8-7 and hit the wall when Nobuo Hamamoto made an 8-6 on the end, along with aces for high.
Ten hands later, Hamamoto got involved in a three-way pot. “My hand has lots of potential,” he said, showing 5h-7h. “Lots of potential for going out the door,” Conrad corrected him. Hamamoto went all in on fifth street. He and Conrad both made a 7-6-5, but Darwin’s hand evolved into a 7-6-4 with a pair of 10s scoop.
It took 15 hands to lose another player. Limits were $1,500-$3,000 with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in. David Tran started with low cards, ended up with two kings and lost to Smith’s aces. Velador, meanwhile, who had started with by far the lowest stack, managed to go all in and survive an amazing nine times, outlasting another player. Realtor George Rechnitzeer started with (Q-J)A, raised and was re-raised all in by Smith. Rechnitzer ended with two jacks, while Smith made a spade flush.
By this time, Velador, combining luck with his skill as a stud player, had survived ten times. “Who’s next to put me in?” he asked. Smith was, on hand 53. On fifth street, Velador was drawing to a 6-5, but ended up with sixes and threes, while Smith edged him with 10s and fives. “My wife is gonna kill me,” were Velador’s parting words as he sped off at 6:30 a.m.
At this point, Smith had nearly half the chips in play with $72,500, while Conrad had $43k and Dykstra, 31k. The three finalists made a chip-count save deal and played on as limits rose to 2-4k, with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in. After a dozen hands had gone by, Conrad, who was making his 13th final table this year, had taken the lead with around 70k, to around 55k for Smith and 24 for Dykstra. Conrad and Dykstra seemed to be getting involved with each other constantly, as they engaged in good-natured needling. “You guys ought to take your poker show on the road,” Smith said.
The time was now 7 a.m., and everyone ordered breakfast. At about 7:30, the tournament finally got heads-up. Dykstra went all in and made a 10-high flush. Conrad showed three open deuces but didn’t fill. Smith, with a queen-high flush, scooped and took back the chip lead.
When limits went to 3-6k, with $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, Smith led with about 90k to 56k for Conrad. After losing to Smith’s aces-up and eight-low, Conrad dipped to around 25k, but the battle dragged on and on. And then some more. Finally, at exactly 8:30 a.m, Conrad went all in, drawing to (2h-10)4h-kh-Ah. He missed his flush, caught two paints and lost to Smith’s set of nines.
BIOGRAPHY
Darwin Smith, who turns 56 in three days, had a great birthday present tonight. He’s played poker since he was 13, and started playing seriously when he came to Vegas in ’79 to manage a freight line business. Deciding to play full time, he picked up several tournament wins at the Stardust, Bob Stupak’s America’s Cup, and at an Amarillo Slim event in Reno. Though he had ups and downs, he finally accumulated enough money to buy his dealership in Idaho. He now makes three or four trips a year to play tournaments, along with wife, Janet, who won a couple of satellites on this, their first poker trip to California.
Smith, who likes both stud and no-limit, had no trouble tonight and kept steadily climbing after the second level. But he also got very lucky against his tough final opponent, he said. “Every time I looked down, I had something.”
Max Shapiro
|
