RAY 'ICEBERG' SITRA SINKS LEVI
FOR WIN IN 7-CARD STUD EVENT
Ray "Iceberg" Sitra came to the final
table of the $500 7-card stud event with
a big lead, but had to stave off a challenge
by a surging David Levi, who won the earlier
$300 7-stud event. After Levi pulled in
a monster pot, he took the lead, but Sitra
pummeled him in late going, finally blowing
him away with rolled-up aces.
Actually, Sitra's final opponent was George
Rechnitzer, but the Beverly Hills realtor
was so short-chipped that it was almost
a formality. Interestingly, the two finalists
had played heads-up several times before,
and when Rechnitzer walked into the tournament
room, Sitra had predicted that the two
would again be the last men standing.
Sitra is a film producer who in July will
release a "heist" movie called "T Snap"
that has some poker content. It stars
Joe Mantegna and Chad Brown. The Iceberg
has also been a columnist for both Card
Player and Poker Digest magazines. He
has a stud bracelet from the 1985 World
Series and also a couple of stud titles
at L.A.P.C.
It took about an hour of hand-for-hand
play before Dave Rosenthal finally went
broke to set the final table. He went
all in with split queens and didn't help.
Levi had two tens and made sevens full.
Sitra arrived with $36,650, about 38 percent
of all the chips in play. The key hands
for him to that point came when he made
a flush against aces early in the tournament,
and, with 11 players left, made a full
house and busted a player who had a straight.
Limits started at $800-$1,600 and three
minutes later went to $1,000-$2,000, with
$150 antes and a $300 bring-in. On hand
six, contractor Randy Carter raised with
buried kings. Levi called with split jacks,
caught a third jack on fourth street to
put Carter all in, then turned a fourth
jack to turn Carter loose in eighth place.
As play continued, Levi made a very astute
observation. When Levi raised him, Scotty
Warbucks folded and asked, "How do you
know I wasn't rolled up?"
"Because you folded," Levi replied logically.
Nikki Harriss, meanwhile, had started
lowest-chipped with $2,150. She had gone
all in twice, once staying alive by making
a straight against Hossein Razmi's aces-up,
and again with a set of fives. Finally,
on hand 17 she went with her buried fours
and bet all in with an 8-K showing. She
didn't help while Razmi, starting with
buried sevens, added a pair of deuces
on the turn to leave her in seventh place.
Warbucks lost a lot of bucks when he went
up against Razmi. When a third diamond
came on board, Razmi bet out strongly.
Giving him credit for a flush, Warbucks
mucked on seventh street, and Razmi confirmed
that he had diamonds. Three hands later,
Warbucks bet his last few chip showing
A-J-10. "Not much," he said, turning up
a 9-6 after Sitra called. Ray had queens
in the hole and made jacks full.
As limits went to $1,500-$3,000 with $200
antes and a $500 bring-in, Sitra dominated
the table with $43,000. His four opponents
had between $9,600 and $19,700 each. Four
hands later, after he had picked up more
chips, Levi got involved in a $40,000
pot with Razmi that was raised on every
street. Razmi, starting with buried queens,
made a set, but Levi made a flush and
now was about tied with Sitra. Razmi's
last $300 was lost on the next hand when
John Marinacci made kings-up to beat Razmi's
smaller two pair.
The extra chips didn't do Marinacci, a
consultant/actor, much good. He moved
all in for $2,700 on fifth street with
split aces and ended up fourth after Levi
hit an inside straight. The surging Levi
now had about 48k to Sitra's 41k and Rechnitzer's
9k.
But Levi suddenly went into a slump as
Sitra took the initiave. He beat Levi
the next six times they were in a pot,
showing him a straight and then a set
of 10s the last two times.
Sitra now had a commanding lead of $73,200,
compared to $13,000 for Rechnitzer and
$10,800 for Levi. Immediately after limits
went to $2,000-$4,000 with $300 antes
and a $500 bring-in, Levi announced he
was "gonna gamble," and raised all in
for $3,900 with 9-2/2-Q-4. It was the
wrong time to gamble. He hit an Iceberg
because Sitra had rolled-up aces and won
easily.
The heads-up prediction had come true,
but the lopsided match lasted only three
hands. Rechnitzer started with buried
jacks and immediately went all in, ending
up with two pair. Sitra started with three
spades and made a six-card flush to walk
off with a convincing victory in his game
of choice.
-- by Max Shapiro
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