| NO-LIMIT IS LADIES NIGHT AS WOMEN FINISH ONE-TWO
There was no limit to what women could do in tonight's no-limit hold'em tournament, the fifth event of the 2003 St. Maarten Open. For the first time there were two ladies at the final table and they ended up whipping their male competitors and finishing 1-2.
Carol Everton, making her second final table, arrived lowest-chipped with a mere $12,500. She fearlessly moved all in three times in the first seven hands, then kept pounding away as she caught cards, building a huge chip lead and taking the title, trophy and first-place prize money when the tournament ended in a three-way deal.
Everton, who travels a lot to play poker, has won a number of small events at her local club in Worcester, England, but this is the interior designer's first major tournament win. Pot-limit hold'em is her preferred game of choice.
Runner-up Barbara Enright started in much better shape with the second chip lead after tripling up at the second table. She had moved in with pocket queens and they held up against two opponents, each of whom held A-K. Enright, one of the world's top women players, has three World Series bracelets (two ladies championships and one for pot-limit hold'em) and is the only woman ever to make a final table in the $10,000 championship event.
A minute and a half after play started at the final table, blinds went to $2,000-$4,000, with $500 antes, meaning it cost $11,000 to play each round.
Ian Dobson was near the cloth after Everton beat his pocket jacks when she flopped an ace to her A-Q on hand seven. On the next hand, Antonio Turisi also had A-Q under the gun and moved in for $32,000. Dobson called with his remaining chips holding 8d-7d, and Canadian businessman Vahan Amirian overcalled for about 20k with pocket aces. Two sevens flopped, and Dobson had miraculously tripled up.
A few hands later, Enright briefly took the chip lead when Tys Mul raised to 10k, then folded when she moved in. On hand 12, Everton grabbed the lead after she put Turisi out of action. He moved in for 11k with A-4, she called with 7h-5h and flopped a five.
The next hand saw three-way action. Dobson moved in for $13,500 with pocket 10s, Amirian went all in for $14,500 with 9-9, and Everton covered them, calling with A-K. Dobson took the main pot when a 10 flopped, then Everton took the side pot and broke Amirian when a king rivered.
Dewey Morris, a retiree living in Nashville, Tennessee, was playing only his second tournament. He finished eighth. He raised all in for $6,500 with Qc-Jc and Mul took his chips with A-Q. Mul didn't get to keep them long. Soon after, he raised to 20k with A-8, and then Bernie Rygol, a Munich businessman with several European titles, moved him in and won with pocket sixes.
Everton relieved Rygol of his $20,000 pre-flop raise on hand 31. When a 9-7-6 flopped, she moved in. He pondered for long time and finally folded. He should have acted sooner, because he had to take the big blind on the next hand when blinds rose to $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000 antes. At this point, Robert Nappe, a New Jersey retiree, had moved up and shared the lead with Everton, both in the 80k range.
Five hands later, Rygol bowed out in sixth place. He raised all in for about $24,000 with K-Q. Harald Casagrande, an Austrian who came to the final table with the chip lead, covered him with A-Q, winning when the board showed Q-9-9-5-6.
Enright then gave the table a lesson in poker psychology. She was in the big blind with pocket queens, and the pot was folded to Dobson, who was in the small blind. "There's no shame in folding," she cooed. Conned into thinking she was weak, he replied, "There's no shame in raising," and made a macho all-in move for $52,500 with just 4c-2c. Enright had a scare when a flop of Ac-3c-2h gave him a pair and a straight flush draw, but he missed and finished fifth. Enright now had the lead again as she zoomed up to $127,500. But she couldn't hold onto it as she ran into a dry spell and gradually got blinded down.
Everton, meanwhile, proceeded to rake in chips with four consecutive all-in moves. On hand 40 she took the antes and blinds. On hand 41 she forced Nappe to fold when after he raised to $32,000. On hand 42 she took the antes and blinds again, and on hand 43 she moved in after Casagrande raised pre-flop to $25,000, and he folded.
By the time blinds rose to $6,000-$12,000, with $1,000 antes, Everton had half of the $381,000 in play. Enright was second with $101,500, followed by Nappe with $58,000 and Casagrande with $31,500.
Hand 56 was to be the final one. Everton raised to about $28,000 and Casagrande called all in for $18,000. He had 9-8, she had pocket treys, and she proceeded to make a set when the board came A-10-8-3-2. Everton now had $221,000 in chips to $101,500 for Enright and $58,000 for Nappe.
Protracted negotiations now got under way for a deal. After back-and-forth offers, everyone finally agreed and the tournament was over, with the interior designer from Britain locking up her biggest win ever. -- Max Shapiro
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