| Utah Pro Runs Over Table
Ernest Scherer quit his job as a program manager in Salt Lake City two years ago to play poker full time and has not regretted his decision. “I’m making a lot more money playing poker,” he said. He made a lot more tonight when he won the 10th event of Legends of Poker 2004, $300 pot-limit hold’em. He came to the final table with the most chips and used them as weapons. He steadily increased his stacks with frequent raises until, with three players left, he owned about 60 percent of the chips and agreed to a deal.
The final table started after Dan Alspach finished 11th. In three-way action he had the best hand, A-7 versus A-2 and Q-5, but was beaten both by one player’s paired deuce and the other’s trip fives. Action at the last table started with blinds of $1,000-$2,000. This allowed the first player in to raise up to $7,000, based on calling the $2,000 big blind and then raising the $5,000 in the pot.
Lee Duncan, who won the earlier Omaha hi-lo event, lasted only one hand. Starting with just $4,500, he had Kc-7c. Lich “Andy” Bui put him in with pocket jacks, and Duncan couldn’t catch anything. Sergey “the Mad Russian” Khromov lost most of his chips three hands later when he folded after Bui flopped two small pair and check-raised him. Three hands later, Khromov busted out in the small blind. He had A-K and flopped a king. Scherer was in the big blind with just 6-5, but the six was a diamond and four more diamonds hit the board.
Former poker dealer Tom Connors was next out. He moved in for $5,500 from the cut-off seat holding A-4. Emiliano Concepcion called from the big blind with Q-5 and caught a winning 5 on the river. The next deal was hand 11. Sirous Baghchehsaraie now played his first hand. And his last. All in with Ah-10h, Baghchehsaraie was a big dog to Bashar Trad’s A-Q and lost when the board came Q-4-4-A-6.
A few hands later, Scherer opened for $5,000 and Charlie Bashoot moved in for $13,000 more. They both had A-K and split, but Trace Kingery was upset because he would have won with two pair if he hadn’t folded his Q-J. Bashoot brought him back to earth. “You would have called $20,000 (actually $18,000) with Q-J?” he scoffed.
Blinds became $1,500-$3,000. By now, Scherer’s frequent raises had gotten him to the $70,000 mark. Hand 40 was a key one for him. Bui opened for $6,000 with K-Q and Scherer called with A-K. Bui then moved in when the flop came A-J-3. Four hearts hit the board, but neither player had a fifth. Scherer busted Bui with A-K and now had $115,000, more than half the chips in play.
Kingery, whose job is inventory control, lost control of his entire inventory on hand 46. He moved in for $15,000 with As-Js and got two calls. He flopped a flush draw but missed and lost to Concepcion’s pocket aces. Bashar Trad, who is in sales, was next to go all in after raising to $14,000 with A-Q. He doubled up against Concepcion when the board showed Q-8-2-5-3. Scherer, meanwhile, was managing to maintain his chip position with a number of maximum raises to $10,500 which went unchallenged. By hand 58 he had about $100,000 to $55,000 for Concepcion, $40,000 for Satoot and about $12,000 for Trad. A few hands after that, Trad had been blinded down to $7,500 and raised all in holding A-J. He ran into Concepcion’s A-K and finished fourth.
The three finalists now talked deal, but chip leader Scherer refused to give a little extra away, as is traditionally done. Instead, he insisted that if anything, he deserved a premium, but would settle for a straight chip-count deal, nothing less. He had no takers and play continued. Five hands later the count was $131,000 for Scherer, $47,000 for Concepcion and $40,000 for Satoot, and this time there was agreement. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Before turning to poker full time, Ernest Scherer was program manager of a mortgage certificate company. Before tonight he had won a limit hold’em event at Lucky Chances and split another limit hold’em tournament with Ellix Powers at this year’s Winnin’ o’ the Green. He also has small tournament wins in Vegas.
Scherer plays most mostly side games, either pot-limit and limit hold’em, up to $80-$160, and smaller games in northern California. He also put in a lot of time playing pot-limit on a recent trip to Paris. He said he isn’t too fond of limit, however, because he finds it “monotonous.” His aggressive play tonight is typical, he said. “I like to splash around and push draws. I’m not afraid of getting burned.” Tonight he was down to $240 after 40 minutes of play but recovered. “After that the rest was easy,” he said.
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