Tore Lagerborg Stages Comeback
To Win Event #5, Omaha Hi-Lo
Tore Lagerborg, a young Norwegian pro specializing in high-stakes limit games, nearly made an early exit tonight after taking two quick beats. But after surviving a couple of all-ins, he fought his way back and eventually took first place in event #5 of the 2004 St. Maarten Open, $300 Omaha hi-lo. It was his first Omaha/8 tournament.
The freezeout event ended in a three-way chip count deal between Lagerborg, Luca Pagano of Italy and Dennis Waterman, a logger from Myrtle Point, Oregon. At the final bell, Lagerborg had $74,000 in chips to $45,000 for Pagano and $36,000 for Waterman. (The extra 7,000 chips came from a number of stacks being blinded off at the outset when seats were not filled.)
Waterman berated himself for not coming in at least second. He said that a few hands earlier he gave away a big pot to Pagano when he thought he had made a flush on fourth street, only to look down on the river and discover that he had misread his hand.
Lagerborg, who plays a lot of Internet poker, doesn’t have that much experience in live tournaments. His record shows only a 54th place finish in a World Series hold’em event this year.
Pagano jokingly described himself as an Omaha hi-lo professional. His cash-outs includes a third in the main event at the Barcelona Open and a seventh in pot-limit hold’em/Omaha at the First Italian Championship in Venice, both this year. Waterman has cashed in at numerous events, mostly in Los Angeles and Vegas. His World Series record includes a fourth in $1,500 pot-limit hold’em and a 23rd in the championship event, both last year.
Tonight’s final table started with blinds of $600-$1,200 and limits of $1,200-$2,400, 15:17 remaining. Ten players sat down but only nine places were paid. “Kiwi” Putt, the genial New Zealander who is the defending champion from last year’s St. Maarten Open, couldn’t defend his measly starting chip count of $2,800. He raised all in from the small blind, then quickly mucked without showing when Waterman turned up a nut flush along with trip treys on fourth street. Kiwi didn’t leave empty-handed though; he got the bubble prize, a pair of jaunty Oakley sunglasses.
Tore, meanwhile, had gotten quartered on the first hand. Both he and Steve Jelinek made a nut low, but Jelinek also had a flush. Three hands later his paired ace lost to Pagano’s straight, and he suddenly was very low chipped. After limits went to $1,600-$3,200, he was all in but got a piece of a three-way pot when his A-2 made a nut low.
A couple of hands later, Lars Christoffersen, making his third final table, was all in from the small blind. He made two pair but finished ninth when Tore, with A-2-5-7, scooped the three-way pot with a nut low and straight. One hand later, Mark Novisoff, a retiree from Indiana, finished eighth. Waterman started with K-K-4-7, and his pocket cowboys prevailed over Novisoff’s paired queen.
Just two hands later, Jim Matarazzo of Las Vegas left the table when he missed his nut low draw. David “Four Racks” Luttberg of San Diego started with Q-J-10-7 in the small blind and made trip 7s. And one hand later, McConnico “Mick” Robertson, a loan officer from Ohio, went broke when his pocket aces lost to Waterman, who started with K-Q-10-10 and made a straight.
In 12 hands, half the field was gone, dropping like flies. Or, to use a more apt analogy for this Caribbean island, like mosquitoes. It seemed like a quick night, but another 30 hands were to go by before another player exited.
Waterman, meanwhile, now had the lead with about 45k, and the logger kept chopping away with constant raises.
As action continued and limits went to $2,000-$4,000, Tore began to move into contention when he made a wheel against Luttberg on hand 26. We finally lost our next player when Luttberg, a professional who won this year’s Ultimate Poker Challenge, went out in a big pot. He started with A-2-9-Q and made top two on a board of 9-4-4-Q-7, but Lagerborg, with A-4-7-K, had trips.
A few hands later the limits went to $2,400-$4,800. At this point, Waterman had bulilt up a big lead of about $68,000, while Lagerborg, Pagano and Steve Jelinek all were grouped in about the $25,000-$30,000 range.
Two hands later, Lagerborg cut into Waterman’s stack when he check-raised on a board of Qd-8d-7c-10c, then bet when a 10d came, forcing Waterman to fold. On the next he beat Waterman again in another big pot and moved into the lead. With a board of 10-8-8-Q,Waterman led with a queen-high straight, until the river card gave Lagerborg a filly.
Hand 59 was the one that cost Waterman when he misread his hand after a third spade came on fourth street.
Finally, a hand after limits went to $3,000-$6,000, we lost our last player. Jelinek, a Brit who plans to leave his job with a cereal company to turn pro, had a great tournament here last year with four final tables, one win and two seconds. Now he was all in from the big blind with 2-6-7-J. When the board came 10-4-3-Q-3, there was no low. There wasn’t much of a high either, but Lagerborg’s A-K sufficed.
Waterman now proposed a chip-count deal. It was accepted, and Lagerborg’s sizeable chip lead gave him the victory. — Max Shapiro
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