Boris
Kolas Wins Another!
Boris
Kolas, a restaurant owner and semi-reformed
tournament junkie who used to play tourneys
four or five times a week and owns a garage-full
of trophies, was an easy winner in $100
lowball, the eighth event of Big Poker
Oktober 20002. He came to the final table
with the chip lead and pretty much coasted
in, catching the right cards when he needed
them. It is his third lowball victory
at the Bicycle Casino. At one point, the
diminutive and balding Kolas cracked that
he used to be 6-feet-tall and curly haired
before he started playing so much poker.
Not surprisingly for a lowball event,
it was a pretty mature crowd at the final
table. Most of them even had jobs or were
retired. The one exception was Toby Atroshenko,
a student from Australia here on a poker
holiday. Lowball obviously is not his
best game. When he knocked out William
Mendicki to get heads up, he was under
the impression that his two aces counted
as high and were beaten by Mendicki's
two 7s. (Earlier, after Toby had won a
pot, David Hoekstra had predicted that
the youngest player would win. "I have
no idea what I'm doing," Toby replied.)
Still, Toby, who won a pot-limit hold'em
event at Legends of Poker this year, obviously
had the card sense to take him to second
place. When they got heads-up, he accepted
a deal from Kolas who had a substantial
chip lead.
CHIP
POSITION FINAL TABLE
David
Hoekstra $7,500
Vince Burgio $4,500
Hugo Mejia $7,000
Toby Atroshenko $10,500
Boris Kolas $16,500
Ed Peake $4,500
George Nakagawa $7,500
William Mendicki $14,000
Boris knocked out the ninth player. He
drew one and made an 8-6, while Ulises
Molina, taking two, caught a king and
a 9. Limits at the final table began at
$1,000 and $2,000, with 15 minutes remaining.
Two players were eliminated on the third
hand. Hugo Mejia, a computer networking
instructor from Ontario, raised all in
for $2,000. Then poker player Hoekstra
re-raised for his last chips. George Nakagawa
called. Hoekstra and Mejia both had the
same tremendous drawing hand: 2-3-4-5.
Hoekstra took one. Mejia, whose fifth
card was an 8, finally threw it away,
saying, "I might be making a mistake."
It made no difference. He caught another
8, while Hoekstra was dealt a jack, and
both lost to Nakagawa, who stood pat with
a 7-6-3-2-1.
A
few hands later, Vince Burgio, who arrived
tied for the lowest chip total, busted
out. "I might be drawing dead," he commented,
drawing to an A-4-5-8. Sort of. He caught
a 7 while Atroshenko, holding joker-A-2-3,
made an 8-nothing.
Right after limits went to $2,000-$4,000,
retiree Ed Peake finished fifth. He had
a pat 7-6, but Kolas outdrew him, taking
one and making a 6-4. By now, Kolas had
had increased his chip lead to $28,000.
Atroshekno was not far behind with $23,500,
while Nakagawa had $12,500 and Mendicki
had $8,000. On hand 18, Nakagawa was in
the big blind, practically all in. "Don't
try to steal," he said, "because I'll
be forced to call." His warning must have
worked, because he got a walk. He later
went all in for $3,500 and stood pat with
a 7-6. He stayed alive when Kolas, saying
"I have to do something," threw a ten
and caught a jack.
Nakagawa lasted until hand 34, when limits
had been raised to $3,000-$6,000. All
in, he drew one to an 8 and paired the
8, losing to the jack that Kolas caught
Mendicki, a gas wholesaler, was also in
the hand, and when he lost he was down
to $150. Two hands later it was all over.
Mendicki was in the small blind, all in.
He drew two to his 9-7-joker and paired
his 7. Toby drew two to his A-2-4 and
caught an A-3. "O, man!" the Aussie student
exclaimed, momentarily thinking he was
beaten. But since cards speak, the aces
won and the match was down to two. Boris
offered a deal which Toby, not too versed
in deal-making, somewhat hesitantly accepted,
and the tournament was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Boris
Kolas, 58, is originally from Russia.
For about a dozen years he had been playing
tournaments several nights a week, collecting
trophies from the Bicycle Casino (including
events at Legends and Big Poker Oktober)
as well as Hollywood Park and 25 from
Crystal Park alone. In a 10-year span
playing lowball tournaments at the Bike,
he said he made final tables most of the
time. Eventually, living in the South
Bay and running a restaurant in Orange
County proved too much and two years ago
he sharply curtailed his schedule.
Tonight,
he said, he was in good shape throughout.
"I know a lot of the players. I know what
they do, and they know what I do. And
when I get ahead," he added, "I know I'm
going to do well because I know how to
hold onto my chips."
ALL-AROUND
PAYOFF POINTS
Name
Total
1.
Binh Do 107
2. Clinton Moore 98
3.Justin Westmoreland 95
4. Ulises Molina 91
5. Tony Abesamis 75
6. Jollibert David 73
7. Albert Luna 60
8. Farhang Ebadipour 57
9. Anthony Tran 57
10. Men Nguyen 57
11. Tom Roach 57
12. Leo Alvarez 56
13. Boris Kolas 55
14. Richard Dagres 53
15. Andom Ghebre 49
16. Peter Wu 49
Max Shapiro
|
