| PHIL ‘PENNS’ AN EASY WIRE-TO-
WIRE VICTORY IN OMHA HI-LO
The pen, so the saying goes, is mightier than the sword. Tonight, Phil Penn was mightier than everybody else combined at the final table. He arrived with the chip lead and steadily built it up until, with seven players left, he owned 60 percent of all the chips in play. With four players left, he still had $101,500 of the $164,100 on the table, and the $300 Omaha hi-lo event abruptly ended with a deal.
Penn, a semi-pro, said he was never in trouble throughout the tournament. He surged ahead with three tables left when he took down three major pots, once with a set of aces, and twice with full houses. Penn has had a couple of prior tournament wins in stud and stud hi-lo at the Bicycle Casino. Stud, he said, has been his favorite game, but tonight’s win gave him a taste for Omaha.
The final table got underway with $800-$1,600 limits and 3:59 remaining, and soon went to $1,000-$2,000. Penn took a couple of early hits, losing once to Farhang Ebadipour’s set of queens, and the next time when his 6-high straight lost to Kathy Kolberg’s better low and higher straight It didn’t make much of a dent in his stacks, though, and he soon got the chips back with interest.
Penn is a quiet, serious player, but there was plenty of merriment at the table, largely provided by Chris “The Armenian Express” Grigorian. “Armenian Airlines,” he would proclaim whenever he showed winning pocket aces. Kolberg also added her share of wit. Kolberg, who is the daughter of former world champion Jack Keller, finished second tonight.
It took close to an hour to eliminate the first player, and nutritionist Frank Rite was the chief culprit. He started with only $3,600, and getting him to commit an extra chip to the pot was a major accomplishment. He reluctantly went all in twice and got away with splits. Then, with only a single $500 chip left after posting his small blind, he debated whether to join a four-way pot in which Jamished Bokhari was all in for $1,000. If they both got knocked out, they would tie. He kept his chip, and it was a good decision. Joshua Biedak, the Canadian student making his second straight final table (along with Grigorian) had As-2s-4-Q. He missed his flush draw but scooped with trip queens. Bokhari mucked and finished 10th.
Two hands later, with limits now $1,500-$3,000, Rite tossed in his last chip with A-3-10-K. With a board of J-9-8-7, Ebadipour went all in for $2,500 holding 3-4-5-5. A trey on the river counterfeited both of their low draws, and Kolberg, with A-5-6-Q, busted them both with a straight and an 8-7-5-3-A low, which beat Ebadipour’s 8-7-5-4-3.
The chip count now stood at: - Phil Penn, 72k;
- Joshua Biedak, 28k;
- Massoud Setayesh, 20k;
- Nash Ball, 16k;
- Kathy Kolberg, 15k;
- Chris Grigorian, 6k;
- and Shawne Portman, 5k.
Portman debated whether to go all in after Grigorian bet a flop of J-9-9. “If he calls...” Grigorian said. He didn’t finish the sentence but ominously sliced his hand across his throat. Portman took him at his word and folded, and Grigorian showed jacks-full.
Now Penn began building up his chips. He was past $80,000 when he bet on the river and got no call from two opponents. The hand after that he flopped a set of kings to Setayesh’s set of 7s, and then made a flush as well. He now hit the $100,000 mark, where he would hover for the rest of the tournament.
Portman went out in three-way action. He moved in under the gun for $1,500 holding J-J-Q-7. Setayesh raised with A-2-3-8. Penn called with A-4-4-Q. On a flop of A-6-10, Setayesh bet all in. A trey on the turn gave him aces-up and the only low. He scooped, and Portman finished seventh.
There was a second woman at the table, Nash Ball of Atlanta, Georgia, a commercial appraiser. When Grigorian raised, Kolberg berated him for picking on the women and folded. That’s when Grigorian, for the first time, gleefully showed his “Armenian Airlines.” He was getting more and more animated. “Ship it to Armenia,” he cried a few hands later when he made a wheel.
As play continued, there was a very unusual hand: a three-way chop! Setayesh had A-2-3-K, Biedak had A-2-4-10 and Kolberg had A-2-5-6. When the board came Q-7-2-9-9, they all had nines and deuces with an ace kicker.
Next, Ball went all in for $4,500 in the big blind. She had 2-4-7-Q. Kolberg had A-2-4-4. No low came on a board of K-J-3-J-9, and Kolberg’s 4s were sufficient to roll Ball out of the tournament.
On the next hand, Setayesh had all his chips in with A-5-7-8, but scooped against Biedak when a flop of A-A-7 gave him a full house.
Grigorian was next out, and he shook his head in disbelief at how it happened. On a flop of J-2-5, he bet all in holding A-4-5-Q, which gave him a wheel draw. He was startled when Biedak called with just 10-9-6-5, but then a 10 turned to give the Canadian student two pair. The Armenian Express was gone, and so was a lot of the laughter at the table.
A few more hands were dealt, and then the four finalists began talking deal. A chip count showed Penn still well ahead with $101,500. Kolberg was second with $26,000, followed by Biedak with $22,500 and Setayesh with $14,000. An agreement was finally reached, and the players cashed out in the order of their chip count. Max Shapiro
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