MEL
JUDAH MAKES DRAMATIC
COMEBACK TO WIN STUD HI-LO
Down to four chips with three players
left, Mel Judah then went all in five
times, hung on and made a great comeback
to win the 13th event of LAPC XIII, 7-card
stud hi-lo. The victory brought the noted
London pro and former hairdresser an official
$43,295 along with the stunning Remington
trophy. Judah, who holds two World Series
bracelets, took first place and $576,000
at the Legends of Poker championship/World
Poker Tour event last year.
For
the second day in a row, a screenwriter
finished second. This time it was filmmaker/screenwriter
Marshall Ragir, who has a stud/8 victory
at Legends, along with numerous final
tables, including the World Series, to
his credit.
The
second-day final table lasted close to
five hours, with countless chip lead changes
and dramatic draw-outs. Limits started
at $1,000-$2,000, with $150 antes and
a $300 low-card bring- in. Leading with
34k was Timothy Dougherty, managing director
of a realty corporation. Five players
were in the 20k range, and two were low-chipped
in the 7k range.
Tom
McCormick, a construction company president
with about 10 WSOP final tables and a
stud/8 win in Reno, was first out. Limits
had just gone to $1,500-$3,000 with $200
antes and a $500 bring-in. McCormick,
aka "The Shamrock Kid," started
with three low cards and made an 8-low,
only to see Judah catch runner-runner
for a 7-5 along with two jacks.
Meanwhile,
seat six had remained empty. The seat's
owner was Ira Warren, who was stuck in
traffic. He finally showed up a half-hour
late with half his 7,250 in chips anted
and low-carded off. Actually, he did better
when he was away because he at least outlasted
one player. On his third deal he went
all in with (5-6)A-2, ended up with just
two sixes and was knocked out when Judah
hit a last-card wheel.
Five
hands later, another river card wheel
sealed the fate of the other low-chipped
starter, Le "Tony" Phan. Holding
(4-6)A-4-2-3, John "Scooper"
Tran hit a 5 on the end. Dan Heimiller
was next to hit the door. When Ragir showed
him an 8-low and two jacks, Heimiller
mucked with only 1k left. He scooped with
aces-up on the next hand, but on the one
after, he went all in with (A-5)9 and
could make only two 7s, not nearly good
enough against Dougherty's aces and kings.
At
this point, the chip count was: Ragir:
52,300; Dougherty, 48,400; Judah, 37,600;
and Phan, 28,800. e The four players did
business, and play resumed with limits
of 2-4k, $300 antes and a $500 bring-in.
Tran, showing two 4s, got low on chips
when he folded after Dougherty caught
a third open ace. "I can't believe
it. How do you do that?" he fretted.
On a later hand, he raised all in with
low starting cards, ended up with two
queens and went broke against Dougherty's
aces and kings.
Now
came the most incredible hand of this
tournament--or most any other tournament,
for that matter. Judah started with rolled-up
deuces to Dougherty's split queens. On
fourth street, Dougherty took the lead
with a third queen. On fifth street, Judah
took back the lead by filling. On sixth
street, Dougherty got the lead again with
queens full. And on the river--you guessed
it--Judah made quad deuces. The two would
have raised all night, but there was a
three-raise cap. Judah, who had been fading,
now had a slight chip lead with about
70k to 60 for Ragir and 40 for Dougherty.
When limits went to 3-6k, Dougherty and
Judah were about tied with around 70k
each, while Dougherty was down to 26k.
Chips
then flowed back and forth for a long
period until Judah, missing his flush
draw, was suddenly down to 4k He then
proceeded to win or split the next five
hands he played, and by the time limits
had reached $5,000-$10,000, he had climbed
back to about 25k. When he took a big
pot from Dougherty with nines and fours,
he was roughly tied for the lead with
Ragir.
After
lengthy three-way action, Dougherty finally
went broke. He started with (3-8)4, missed
his low and ended up with just two 8s
while Ragir, starting with (2-2)4, made
jacks-up. That ended Dougherty's chance
to pick up the "Bronco Buster"
Remington statuette replica. But as impressive
as it is, he didn't really need it because
he has an original Remington at home which
came from his mother's collection.
Heads-up,
Ragir owned 115,000 of the chips to 52,000
for Judah. After a half-dozen hands, Judah
had taken a slight lead. Then he lost
a very big pot with three aces after Ragir,
starting with (5-6)8, made a straight
on sixth street.
The
chips kept moving back and forth until
Judah made queens full to pull even. Finally,
with limits of $8,000-$16,000, Judah had
forged ahead into a 92-75k lead. On the
last hand, they both had two pair going
to the river when Judah hit his flush
draw to finally end the contest and add
one more win to his long poker resume.
-- by Max Shapiro
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