ACE OF SPADES EARNS WIN FOR
REALTOR GEORGE SHAHREZAY
Holding an ace of spades when a fourth spade hit, George Shahrezay won the key pot of the night and jumped into a big lead. Since a five-way deal had been made earlier and it was now 4:30 a.m., his two weary opponents ceded him the trophy two hands later and called it a night. Until then it had been a see-saw contest among the mainly local players at the final table.
The victory in the second event of the 2004 California State Poker Championship, $300 limit hold’em, is only the second tournament win for Shahrezay, a realtor in nearby Paramount. He has a prior win in 7-card stud hi-lo, also at Commerce. A familiar face in local casinos, he splits his time between tournaments and cash games.
The final table started with $2,000-$4,000 limits, six minutes left. The chip count was $1,500 short because a player took ill midway through the tournament and his chips were removed from play. Nothing much happened at the first level other than a couple of short-stacks going all in and surviving, and then limits went to $3,000-$6,000.
Six hands into the new limits, veteran player Walter Smiley, who couldn’t catch any cards, went out quietly with queen-high to Shahrezay’s ace-high.
Two hands later, Chan Vu tried a pre-flop raise with K-J. He ran into “Miami” John Cernuto’s Q-Q, went all in on the flop and finished ninth when he couldn’t improve and the queens reigned.
Cernuto lost chips when he held A-2, check-raised on a board of A-K-7-10 to put Ralph Nunley all in, then lost when Nunley showed A-Q.
Rocky Yo was understandably upset after a horrendous beat. Holding Q-x ( he only flashed one card at the end), he had trips when the flop came Q-Q-6. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was nearly a 98 percent favorite against Ron Drew, who had A-K. But then a runner-runner 10-J gave Drew a straight and Yo heartburn.
Miami John, who won yesterday’s opener, finished eighth. After he re-raised with A-J, JoJo Zahner put him all in with pocket 7s and flopped a set.
As limits went to $4,000-$8,000, Drew’s frequent raising had gotten him the lead with approximately $105,000. Then Zahner took it away from him A flop of Ah-8h-3h was four-bet. Drew folded on the turn and Zahner showed 3-3 for a set.
Visibly still upset by his trip-queen beat, Yo raised with his last chips from the small blind with 7-5. He somehow managed a chop against an 8-4 when the board came K-3-2-2-3. But he didn’t last much longer. He had K-Q in a pot against Mitchell Katz. He connected when the board came J-J-3-K, but the king also gave Katz , with K-J, jacks-full.
Nunley went out two hands later. All in with K-J, he had the lead when the board showed Q-10-3-K. Then a river 4 gave Ali Yarahmady a two-outer set of 4s. The field was now down to five, and after long negotiations, a chip-count deal was finally struck. At that point, Katz was the leader with $108,000, followed by Drew, 90k; Zahner, 76k; Yarahmady with 51k; and Shahrezay, 50k.
With the money accounted for, the play now got considerably wilder. Ironically, Katz, the player with the best of the deal, would be next out, and lowest-chipped Shahrezay would end up as the winner.
Within just 15 hands, after limits went to $6,000-$12,000, their positions would be reversed. After beating Katz in a pot with pocket jacks, Shahrezay took the lead with 128k while Katz had plummeted down to only 30k.
Meanwhile, Drew, who also had been faltering, made yet another runner-runner straight, beating Zahner in a big pot. “Back in the saddle again,” he smiled, stacking his chips. Drew won the next pot, and now was close to a dead tie with Shahrezay.
Katz, who is in the hedge fund business, couldn’t make a comeback. He went out with K-10 against Yarahmady’s A-Q when a queen came on fourth street.
At this point, Shahrezay, Drew and Yarahmady were all closely grouped in the 120k range while Zahner, a pro player, trailed badly with about 20k. Zahner later raised from the small blind with pocket 9s. He then raised Drew on a flop of Q-8-6, then bet blind and went all in when Drew, with Q-7, raised. The queens beat the 9s, and the field was down to three, with Shahrezay still holding a slight lead.
He dropped down when Yarahmady beat him soon after. Yarahmady won a sizeable pot with a higher kicker when he and Shahrezay both paired a king on the flop. Shahrezay lost again when he and Drew both paired an ace on the flop. Once again, he was undone by a bigger kicker, 7 for him, queen for Drew.
Then came the deciding pot. With a flop of 7s-4s-2s, Shahrezay bet and Yarahmady check-raised. Another deuce turned. Then an 8s hit the river. Yarahmady bet, Shahrezay raised, Yarahmady folded and Shahrezay showed the ace of spades for a nut flush.
Shahrezay now had about $195,000 of the $375,000 in play. Two more hands were played, and then Drew and Yarahmady (who had repeatedly promised to win the trophy) threw in the towel and let Shahrezay have the title and the unusual trophy, a silver goblet on its side embedded in a rock.
Max Shapiro
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