| GREAT CATCHES IN 7-STUD HI-LO
PROPEL DAVID LEVI TO VICTORY
This was David “You play goooood” Levi’s night. With two tables left he made a case-card catch to take a big lead, and when he got to the final table he continued to make miraculous hands. He quickly accumulated about half the chips in play, later lost nearly a third of them, but still was in front when the four finalists did a chip-count deal.
Four- and five-way chops have been the norm in the last three events.
Levi, a one-time professional soccer player from Israel, has an impressive number of wins and cash-outs at various tournaments, including a victory in $300 7-card stud in last year’s Cal State Poker Championship. Stud is his preferred game in live action, but in tournaments he’s an all-around player.
This $500 7-card stud hi-lo event, the sixth in Commerce Casino’s 2004 California State Poker Championship, was supposed to be two-day event. But it went so fast, getting down to the last eight by midnight, that the finalists agreed to play right through.
Up until the second table, Levi had been in more or less average shape throughout. Then a pot was three-bet in three-way action and bet all the way down. On sixth street, Levi had two pair and a draw to a 3-4-5-6. With three deuces dead, he hit the last one and scooped.
The final table started with $200 antes, a $300 low card bring-in and $1,000-$2,000 limits. On only the second hand, Levi again got involved in a three-way pot. Showing 8-8-6-10, he turned up two more 10s at the showdown, and his full house pushed him into a big lead.
“Joe C., who lost most of his chips in that hand, soon went all in but stayed alive when he made a flush. Eventually, he would climb back up and finish second.
Watching Levi start to run over the table, one of the players recalled some pertinent chatter earlier. One player had said that if he ever needed a heart transplant, Levi’s heart would be the one he would want. “Why?” someone else asked, “is it very red?” “No, the first player explained, “it’s because it’s never been used.”
Phoenix Poker pro Mike Krescanko was the first to depart. He made 7s and 4s but lost to the higher two pair made by “Joe C.”
Levi struck again a few hands later. Lance Burkman had rolled-up aces, and on sixth street, all Levi showed was 2-3-K-7. Surprise. Levi turned up 4-5-6 for a 6-high straight to knock Burkman out in seventh place. “Holy moley!” one of the players exclaimed. “I’m getting tired of winning,” Levi sighed.
Not that tired. On the very next hand, he had 8-8-J-A on board and made 8s-full against real estate developer Paul Fruchbom to run his count to about $80,000.
Stakes now moved up a notch to $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $500 bring-in. Suddenly Levi’s luck began to falter. Fruchbom got his chips back when he scooped Levi with aces-up and an 8-6 low.
Then “Doodle” took more chips away from him. “Doodle,” a New Yorker who described his occupation as an “architect in special materials,” has a startlingly young appearance and could pass for 16 with no trouble. A big pot began developing between him and Levi when each showed a door-card 6, and the pot was raised and re-raised. At the end, Levi couldn’t beat the kid’s jacks-up, and forked over some more chips.
The pace speeded up when two players went broke in the same hand. In three-way action, Fruchbom put his last chips in showing 10-4. At the showdown, he had 10s and 4s. Next, Frank Mattarocci, a retiree, went all in showing 5d-3d. He picked up a wheel draw, but ended up with a busted low.
Meanwhile, Joe C. started with split aces, made aces up and scooped away two players as he began challenging Levi for the chip lead. Fruchbom finished sixth, which paid $2,380, while Mattarocci’s fifth-place finish earned $2,975.
At that point, Levi had about $42,000 in chips, while Joe C. had $36,000; “Doodle” had $32,000; and Kolberg was down to $12,000.
After a few more hands, the players began negotiating a deal. The chip count was pretty much the same, though Kolberg had moved up a bit. Still, she wasn’t too happy about a straight chip-count payout, because with her small stack she wouldn’t get much more than fourth place. So the other players agreed to throw in something extra, and this 7-stud hi-lo event ended very quickly. —Max Shapiro
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