| Eskandani is Charity Winner
It was a great day for charity and an even greater day for Vegas pro Mori Eskandani, who took first place in the Mariani/Buss $3,000 Charity Open. He came to the final table with the chip lead, stayed in contention throughout and then finished with a rush, largely through beating up on third-place finisher Scotty Nguyen. Heads-up, he had close to a 2-1 lead over Andrew Bloch, and they made a chip-count deal. Bloch, with two third-place finishes in World Poker Tour events, made the best of his runner-up finish. “At least I wasn’t third again,” he said.
The gross prize pool tonight was $189,000, with 10 percent deducted for the Magic Johnson Foundation charity. Another $10,000 was donated by the Bicycle Casino. Haig Kelegian, the Bicycle Casino’s managing partner, personally donated $3,000, and another $2,000 came from seven players (Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Bobby Baldwin, Lyle Berman, Chip Reese, Barry Greenstein and “Chou”) who were in a high-limit side game in the top section. Total donation to the foundation: $33,900. The Bike had another surprise for the two Lakers owners: custom chips that had Mariani’s face on one side and Buss’ on the other
The event was ½ hold’em, ½ stud. The final table assembled after “Tony” was knocked out. Anted down to $900, he finally went with (A-6), missed a straight draw and lost to Bloch’s 10s-up. The eight finalists, all professionals, sat down to play stud with $100 antes, a $200 bring-in and $600-$1,200 limits, 14:43 remaining.
Vinnie Vinh was first out. Bloch took half his chips in the stud round with aces-up, then took the other half in the next round, $1,000-$2,000 limit hold’em. Vinh started with Jd-10d, flopped a straight draw, but missed and lost to Bloch’s paired king. Paul Darden was next out on a bad beat when he went in with A-Q against Eskandani’s Ad-2d. Darden bet the A-4-2-9 board and Eskandi raised him all in and won with his two pair.
The game was now stud, $200 antes, $300 bring-in, 1-2k limits. Aaron Katz had started third in chips behind Eskandani and Bloch, but from the outset he began playing, as someone later described it, “suicidally,” fast and loose and frequently. After losing three big pots, he was nearly all in before he made a small recovery by chasing and making a flush on the river. Bob Golick, a high-limit host at Commerce, finished sixth. On hand 39 he was all in showing 6-Q-8-7. “You can’t win,” said Eskandani, with a king-high straight. It was small consolation to Golick that he then made a smaller straight.
At the next break the approximate chip count was: Bloch, 76k; Eskandani, 64k; Nguyen, 22k; Katz, 16k; and Richard Dunberg, 11k. The game now was hold’em, $1,500-$3,000 limits. It was good to Nguyen, who flopped a set of 10s on the first deal, and then flopped a set of nines in a big pot against Eskandani. Dunbar, who has tournament wins at a half-dozen casinos, departed on hand 51. He posted his last 1k in the big blind with an unpromising 10-4. Eskandani called with A-6 and caught an ace on the river.
A few hands later, Katz raised with pocket kings and went all in for the third and last time. “I don’t want a multi-way pot,” he said as he got two calls. One was from Bloch. He had 10-9, flopped a 10 and caught a third one on the river to leave Katz in fourth place. With the lead going back and forth, Eskandani took over again when he beat Bloch by flopping a set of queens.
With the game now stud, $1,500-$3,000 limits, Nguyen took a big pot from Eskandani by making trip nines versus queens and jacks. But after it reverted to hold’em, 2-4k, Eskandani returned the favor by flopping a set of sixes to leave the world champ with $1,200. Scotty posted it the next hand in the small blind with just 7-3. He flopped a seven, but Eskandani, with Q-J, put him away with a jack on the river. The chip count now was 122k for Eskandani to 64k for Bloch, and they made their deal so they could get some sleep and play in the championship event coming right up.
Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Mori Eskandani used to have a food-processing business, which he says he wasn’t very successful at, and he began playing poker seriously 16 years ago. His biggest tournament win was about $70,000 at the Hall of Fame. He also has a couple of wins at both the Four Queens and Caesars Palace, and this past January won a $1,000 stud event at the Bellagio. Stud and hold’em are the only games he’ll play. He plays cash games far more than tournaments, generally stud from $100-$200 to $400-$800 at the Bellagio.
Tonight he suffered a bad beat at the $100-$200 level and was down to $800, but climbed back fast, becoming the chip leader at the $200-$400 level. “I had a lot of hands, but you have to be lucky to win a tournament,” he said. Asked to describe his style of play, he said a lot of people think he’s aggressive, but he really mixes his play up a lot.
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