| BMW ENGINEER KOLLMANN
ENGINEERS 7-STUD VICTORY
Erich Kollmann, an engineer at BMW, survived three all-in situations to win the fourth event of the 2003 St. Maarten Open, limit 7-card stud. Stud, which is popular in his hometown of Vienna, is his favorite game. He started as second chip leader, just behind Russia's Oleg Shamardin, faltered in the middle stages, then came on strong to register a decisive victory.
Kollmann plays many international tournaments. His biggest cash-out came when he placed second in a 3,000-Euro no-limit event in Amsterdam. He finished 12th in this year's European championship, eighth in a 10k no-limit tournament in Melbourne and has a batch of small wins in Vienna.
His final opponent tonight was Finland's Juha Helppi, who has made the final table in all four buy-in events here and is the current all-around points leader.
The final table started with $200 antes, a $400 low-card bring-in and limits of $1,200-$2,400, with 15:04 remaining. Play began very cautiously. Through the first two levels, only three hands even went to the river. The first time, Helppi, without showing an open pair, turned up a full house to beat Kollmann. The second came after limits rose to $1,500-$3,000, with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in. On that hand, Antonio Turrissi of Germany started with buried fours, went all in and caught a second pair to outrun Steve Jelinek's buried nines. The third time, Helppi chased down a short-chipped Markus Schaffarczyk but failed to put him out of action.
Finally, the first player went out on hand 32. With limits at $2,000-$4,000, Turissi was down to $200 after putting in his $400 ante and had to go all in with just (10-4)A. The best he could make was two 10s. In three-way action, Graeme "Kiwi" Putt also went all in when he caught a third five on sixth street and "putt" Turissi away. Putt is a retired dairy farmer from Melbourne who won a 7-card stud championship in Slovenia.
Five hands later, Jelinek, from Manchester, UK, went broke. He went all in with split 10s and made a second pair, not good enough against Schaffarczyk, who started with split aces and made aces-up.
Kollmann was all in for the first time on hand 43. He raised his last chips with split kings against Shamardin and went on to make kings full.
Farina Valter is a Las Vegas resident with a 1995 World Series bracelet in 7-card stud. The best he could do tonight was seventh place. Split fives were all that Kollmann needed to eliminate him when Valter ended up with just ace-high.
Two hands later, Schaffarczyk, who lives in Munchen, Germany, put his last chips in, starting and ending up with split queens. He lost when Helpi paired an ace on fourth street.
Just before limits went to $6,000-$12,000, with $800 antes and a $1,500 bring-in, a still-struggling Kollmann went all in for the third time, but survived with aces and eights. Two hands later, in three-way action, he made the same two pair. Putt, meanwhile, had put his last $4,000 in with a nine door-card. On the river the kiwi man mucked without showing his hand and cashed out in fifth place. Suddenly Kollmann had taken the chip lead with about $55,000.
A few hands later, Kollmann knocked out Shamardin, who tried a bluff raise with (3-2)10 and ran into Kollmann's pocket aces. Shamardin bet all in when he paired his deuce, but it was too little too late, and he finished in fourth place.
Kollmann now had a big lead with about $75,000 to roughly $55,000 for Christoph Volters of Germany and around $25,000 for Helppi. He then moved up dramatically when he tangled in a pot against Wolters. It was capped on third street, and then Wolters abandoned ship on the next card showing 2-6.
By the time the next level arrived, on hand 71, Kollmann's chip count had increased to $100,500, against $29,000 for Helppi and $27,000 for Wolters. Limits were now a stratospheric $8,000-$16,000, with $1,000 antes and low card bring-ins of $2,000.
On the second hand at this level, the tournament became a heads-up match. Wolters completed with (10-4)A and Helppi called with A-Q)3. Wolters then was dealt 7-8-J-3, going all in on fourth street and ending up with A-J high. Helppi caught 8-7-K-J, and his A-K high was enough to edge Wolters and leave him with a third-place finish.
Another 18 hands went by as the final finishers dueled. Then, on hand number 90, Helppi folded showing 7-3-Q-J after Kollmann snagged a second open king. Helppi was now left with only $7,000 in chips. He doubled up on the next hand when he made a pair of nines. But he was still out-chipped 10-1, and there would be no miracle finish in this tournament.
Two hands later it was all over. Kollmann started with 6-5 in the hole against Helppi's split kings, then picked up two more sixes, and the man from Vienna won going away and picked up a nice $12,305 payday. --Max Shapiro
|
