| Lee is New Lowball Champ
Joon “Mike” Lee, a real estate appraiser playing his first lowball tournament, now reigns as the world champion after winning the 16th event of 2004 Legends of Poker, the Lowball World Championship. A casual side game player, he only started playing tournaments last year.
Tonight’s event ended on a sad note. Mike Lee (using both names to avoid confusion with Bruce Lee, who finished sixth) was heads-up with veteran player George Monsoor and had an $80,000-$15,000 chip lead after winning a hand where both paired. Monsoor tossed in his cards, and several accidentally slid off the table. Everybody was regretful and embarrassed, but nothing could be done: automatic 10-minute penalty. “Those things happen when you get tired,” Monsoor said in gentlemanly acceptance. Blinds were $1,500-$3,000, and in seven hands all of Monsoor’s chips were blinded off and Mike Lee was the winner.
Lowball, for those too young to remember, is a venerable old game that most of tonight’s participants fondly remember playing in the 50s. The 1850s, that is.
The final table got there after Robert “Chip Burner” Turner, in the blind, drew three to joker-five and caught a king, while Kenneth Wagner made an 8. Wagner, who was also playing his first lowball tournament, made his fourth final table as he broke a three-way tie in the all-around points race and jumped into a 32-point lead. And “Basketball” Sam Davis, one of the Bicycle Casino’s original dealers, for the 50th straight year predicted he would win this tournament, but didn’t come close.
Players started the final table with limits of $1,000-$2,000, 31:10 remaining, and with an admonition from tournament assistant Ron Cramer to stay awake. Bedtime for shortest-chipped George Tahara came on hand eight. He drew one in three-way action and mucked his hand after Monsoor drew two and made a 9-6.
Three hands later, Takashi “Tony” Yoshida was all in. Ron Faltinksky rapped pat. After deliberating, Yoshida also stood pat with his 9-8-5, and got nicked by Faltinsky’s 9-8-3
Limits now went to $1,500-$3,000. On hand 35, Mike Lee was all in but beat Bruce Lee with a 7-4. Two hands later, he said “Let’s gamble,” drew three and made another 7-4. “What a player!” Faltinsky said in admiration.
Bruce Lee went out in sixth place on hand 43. He drew two and caught a jack, losing to Bing Woo’s pat 9-5.
Monsoor had been giving the most action at the table. It was paying off, because by the next break he had moved into a big lead. The count: Monsoor, $40,000; Mike Lee, $19,000; Wagner, $14,000; Faltinsky, $13,000; and Woo, $3,500.
At 4:30 (how could these guys stay up so late?) limits went to $2,000-$4,000. After surviving several all-ins, Wagner finally put all his chips in for the last time on hand 59. He drew one to an 8 and caught the joker, but by that time it was too late because Monsoor had already turned up a 6-low. Now four were left, with Monsoor still holding a slight lead over Mike Lee, while Woo, holding on for a long time, was seriously low-chipped.
By the time limits went to $3,000-$6,000 on hand 69, Mike Lee had pulled abreast of Monsoor. Each were in the $40,000 range while Faltinsky and Woo both had just a few chips left. On the first hand, Faltinsky posted all his chips in the big blind. He drew two to 10-3-A, paired his trey and lost to Mike Lee’s pat 10-8-4. And just a couple of hands later, Woo was all in for the fourth and last time after Monsoor raised. They both took one and Monsoor’s queen was better than Woo’s king.
After winning a couple of hands, Mike Lee pulled into a 2-1 lead, and by hand 78, after his paired ace edged Monsoor’s paired trey, had $80,000. Then came the fatal accident, and after that the conclusion was just a formality. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Joon “Mike” Lee is 42. He says he’s familiar with lowball, even though this is his first tournament for that event. He’s already rung up a pretty good record since playing his first tournament ever last year. At Commerce’s LAPC, he made final tables two days in a row, and won $50,000 in a $300 hold’em, one-rebuy tournament at Commerce in November, along with a couple of Sunday tournament wins. In all, he’s made 10 final tables so far.
Lee, who’s been playing side games for not much longer, prefers limit hold’em at stakes of $40-$80. Tonight he said he had a slow start, with no chips until the fifth level, and later was down to $6,000. His style of play, he said, is to mix up his strategy. And now that he’s got a taste of lowball in tournaments, he looks forward to playing more of those events.
|
