| Ex-Boxer has Omaha K.O.
Bobby Thompson, who has been a professional boxer, a firefighter and a horse-racing business owner in Costa Rica, can now add poker player to his unusual resume. Playing in his first Omaha tournament ever, he won event number 26 of Legends 2003, $500 pot-limit Omaha high.
He started making his move in the late stages of the final table, and when it got down to five handed, he had a substantial chip lead. A chip-count deal was made, and the tournament ended at the reasonably civilized hour of 4 a.m., some five hours sooner than for the prior three events.
Finishing on the bubble was nutritionist Ron Faltinsky. In the $400 big blind with $500 left, he had A-K-7-6. Mario Esquerra called from the small blind with A-7-6-3 and two clubs and picked up Faltinsky's $900 when he made a flush. Final-table blinds started at $200 and $400, which allowed the first player in to raise anywhere from $800 to $1,400. After 13 minutes of play, blinds increased to $300-$600.
First out on hand 13 was Herb Potter. Holding Qs-9s-K-3, he had a straight flush draw when the flop came Js-10s-J. He missed and Esquerera, with a jack in his hand, made his second kill.
The biggest pot so far developed on hand 23. It started with six-way action. Restaurant owner Phil Tanner bet $3,600 on a 9-5-2 flop and then bet 9k on the turn-card jack. But he abandoned the $28,800 pot when a third club came on the river and Minh Nguyen moved in for 20k with what was the nut flush. On the next hand Tanner tried to bet all in for 4k, but he was only allowed to bet one stack because after he pushed it in, he illegally went back for his second stack. So he still had 2k left after his kings-up lost to Esquerra's aces-up. Tanner's remaining stack of hundred-dollar chips went in on the next hand when he held 10-10-A-9. Alan Korson had kings and blew Tanner away when he flopped a set and then make four cowboys on the turn.
On hand 30, Thompson began catching cards and moving on up. He went all in and relieved Nguyen of a lot of chips when a flop of Q-10-4 gave Nguyen a set of 10s and Thompson a set of queens.
After blinds had risen to $400-$800, surfer boy Aurel "Ace" deHollan looked like he had caught a big wave when he had pocket sevens and the flop came A-9-7. He bet his set and then bet all in when a six turned. But he fell off his board and finished seventh because the six had given Nguyen a nut straight. A couple of hands later, Thompson made a royal, but it didn't do him that much good because he couldn't get any action.
Esquerra was left with just $1,600 on hand 58 when he missed his flush draw, but "Super Mario" is one tough hombre. He went all in and survived three times, and 15 hands later, after he had won another pot with a nut flush, he had climbed back to about 14k.
Blinds by now were $600-$1,200, and the first player in could raise up to $4,200. Steve Ford was left short-chipped when Thompson beat him with a flush on hand 83. He went broke in the big blind on the next hand when Korson put him all in holding A-K-Q-J. Ford had K-Q-J-6, and when the board came J-8-8-4-2, Korson's paired jack with the higher kicker was the winner.
Five-handed, Thompson now had $39,300 to $27,100 for Paul Sherr, $22,700 for Korson, $16,700 for Nguyen and $15,400 for Esquerra. They agreed to the chip-count deal, and the one-time boxer walked out of the arena a winner. - Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Bobby Thompson took up boxing at a young age, had a successful record as an amateur, and then turned pro, fighting as a lightweight from 1984-1988. The high point of his ring career came when he fought for the title in 1988. After retirement, he served as a fireman for 10 years, earning the sobriquet of "The Fighting Fireman." Currently he runs a horse racing business in Costa Rica.
Thompson, who began playing poker only a year and a half ago, had previously only played no-limit and pot-limit hold'em. His only prior tournament win was in no-limit in a preliminary World Poker Tour event. There are a lot of top-notch poker players in Costa Rica, and while Thompson didn't want to single out any by name, he said their tutelage had added tremendously to his poker skills. Tonight, he said, he had just been "hanging around" until he began to get a good run of cards in the late stages of the final table.
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