| 75-Year-Old Retired Retailer Wins
Event #5 in Twist-and-Turn Thriller
This $300 no-limit hold’em tournament had more excitement, drama and unpredictable twists and turns than all the preceding four events of Hustler Casino’s Grand Slam of Poker Tournament III combined. With eight players left, David “The Dragon” Pham had nearly 40 percent of the chips and looked like a runaway winner. Then Kenna James came on strong to take and later exchange the lead with Pham. But the final match-up was not between these two top pros but between Josh Wentlandt, a young aerospace engineer who had been playing short-chip cliff-hanging for most of the tournament, and Saul Eskin, a 75-year-old occasional player who once owned a chain of women’s clothing stores. Five hands later it was over and Eskin had his first tournament win ever.
The final table table started with a bang when two players were knocked out simultaneously. At one second table, Pham flopped a king to his K-9 to outrun the pocket 10s held by David Gordon, who finished 11th. At the other, Minh Nguyen had pocket kings and finished 10th when he went up against James, who had pocket aces.
Final table action started with $600-$1,200 blinds and $200 antes, 5:30 remaining. On the third hand, Wentlandt, who started second-lowest in chips, grabbed more than half of poker player Ryan Hughes’ stacks when his 3-3 held up against Hughes’ A-6.
With blinds at $1,000-$2,000 with $300 antes, Hughes moved in for $21,600 with A-Q, and Pham, who started with a $63,400 chip lead, called. And won with A-A. Hughes placed ninth and Pham now had close to 100k.
James tried to find a term for the seven mortals pitted against the fearsome Pham. Randy Holland gave the answer: “We’re the seven dwarfs.”
Holland was the first “dwarf” to trudge off. He moved in for 11k with Kd-6d and couldn’t catch Sheldon Hayashi’s Ad-Qd. A hand later, Berk Brown, who started with only 6k, moved in with Q-J. James and Pham called. The board came 8-6-5-K-8 and James won with Ad-2d. Brown, finishing seventh, is gaming manager at Diamond Lil’s poker room in Washington.
Pham, meanwhile, who almost invariably puts in about three times the big blind when he opens with a raise, made a big bet on the flop, forcing Eskin to fold. By hand 16, Eskin was down to about 12k when he moved in and won with A-J to James’ A-10.
Pham took Hiyashi out. He had Ah-7h to Kh-Qh,, made a 9-high straight and climbed to 130k. On hand 28, with blinds of $1,200-$2,400, Eskin doubled up and relieved Pham of 35k with K-K against Pham’s A-K. Then Paul Pirrone beat Pham in a small pot. “Sticks and stones against Goliath,” said James. “Goliath” was cut down to size even more when Pham folded a $40,000 pot after James moved in on the flop. James then took the lead with about $90,000 when he knocked out Pirrone after his Ah-Kh held up against Pirrone’s Ad-Jd.
It was now a three-way race, even after Pham managed to retake the lead. Meanwhile, Wentlandt, who won a Heavenly Hold’em event at Commerce and has a second and third at Legends, was fighting to stay alive. He moved in an eventual six times without ever being called.
Chips now began to move back and forth. James picked up a $70,000 pot against Eskin by slow-playing pocket aces. When he bet only $15,000 on the river with two pair showing, it looked like he was betting ace-high.
After Wentlandt had moved all in four times in 10 hands, James said he looked like an Internet player.
Right after Pham won a pot with a bluff holding 8-5, blinds went to $1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes. Pham had now moved back up to 125k against 80k for James, 28k for Wentlandt and 25k for Eskin.
Then Eskin started moving up when he was all in with Q-10 and hit a queen on the river to outrun James’ 9-9. By now the action was drawing a crowd of about 50 spectators. Eskin kept moving up, James down. The seventh time that Wentlandt moved in, James called and took a big hit. He had 6-6 and Wentlandt, with Kd-8d, made a flush on the turn. On hand 67 James, with J-9, moved in for his last 4k after pairing a 9 on the river. But Wentland, with Q-5, had paired a queen on the turn, and now three were left..
With $500 antes and 2k-4k blinds, the count was: Pham, 118k; Wentlandt, 85; Eskin, 55k. Then Eskin took a 50k pot from Pham with A-A.
The turning point came when Pham, with A-Q, raised to 37k after the flop came Q-8-7 and Eskin moved in holding 6-5. “Hooray for the old guy,” Eskin said when a 4 turned to give him a straight, a 120k pot and the lead. The Dragon was almost out of fire when he lost a 100k pot to Eskin. He had A-10 and lost to Eskin’s set of deuces. Eskind then slayed the Dragon when Pham was stuck in the big blind with J-4. Eskind moved him in holding pocket queens. The board came 8-7-3-9-9, and Pham left quietly in third place.
Heads-up, Eskin led, 136k-122k. Three hands into the match-up, Wentlandt abandoned another 100k pot when Eskin moved in on a flop of 10-10-4.
Two hands later, Eskin opened for 20k with Ac-10c. Wentlandt called with Ad-8d. On a flop of 7-2-3, Eskin bet 15k, and Wentlandt moved in with a 46k raise. A jack and a five came, and Eskin’s 10 kicker was enough to let him take in all the chips and score a remarkable win.
—Max Shapiro
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