Send
it -- to Papa Avner
With three players left, one spectacular
pot of over $90,000 sent Avner Levy soaring
from low-chipped to par with his two opponents,
Surinder Sunar and Toto Leonidas. A few
hands later, Levy, a native of Israel
famous for his yells of “Send to
Papa!” when winning a pot, had pulled
into a small lead. A tournament-ending
deal was made, leaving him the winner
of the 16th event of Legends 2003, $500
no-limit hold’em.
The lucky catch on that big hand, he said,
more than made up for the indignity of
having his pocket aces cracked tonight,
and at another last table two nights earlier.
Blinds at the final table commenced at
1-2k, with $300 antes. On the seventh
hand, Sunar raised to 6k and Carl “Coach”
Nessel moved in with two nines. Sunar
called with A-J and hosed the retired
firefighter when an ace flopped.
At the first break, Sunar still held his
starting chip lead with 82k followed by
Paul Abbamonto with 55k, while Greg Hopkins
was lowest-chipped with $8,500. Players
returned with $500 antes and blinds of
$1,500-$3,000. On hand 22 Tom Brownscombe,
a scholatic director, was all in with
A-J against Sunar, a former electronics
engineer with several major tournament
wins, who had Kc-Ks. A flop of A-J-9 with
two clubs made Brownscombe a 6.5-1 favorite,
but two running clubs gave Sunar a flush.
On hand 24, Abbamonto was all in with
pocket aces while Neil Ho, who calls himself
“The Nasty,” had him covered
with pocket eights. As the flop stated
to come off, Ho was ecstatic to see an
eight flash. But then an ace followed,
giving Paul a bigger set and giving Ho
a screaming hissy fit. “I’ll
bring you Prozac next time I come,”
Abbamonto told him.
A few hands later David Tran moved in
for about 10k with A-6 and Leonidas finished
him with A-7. Hopkins, low-chipped throughout,
had made a small recovery after three
all-in uncalled raises. But when he tried
it again with A-9, Toto was barking at
his heels with A-J. The board came A-5-4-7-10
and six were left.
Men
“The Master” Nguyen, meanwhile,
had been unusually quiet. All he could
say, over and over as his chips dwindled,
was he couldn’t believe that he couldn’t
find a hand to play. Even worse, it was
way past the cocktail hour. Wait! It’s
6 a.m.! Men’s face brightened. “Cocktails!”
he called out desperately. Too late. Before
he could order a Corona, he was in the
small blind and put his last chips in
with Q-6, losing to Sunar’s A-2.
What a bad beat!
On
hand 37, Ho moved in for $12,500 from
the button. Arms flailing wildly (“Don’t
hurt yourself,” cautioned Denny Williams),
he loudly affirmed: “I will survive!”
With a 4-2? Toto, with J-9, blew him away
when a jack flopped.
Soon
after blinds went to 2-4k, with $500 antes,
Leonidas gambled against a short-chipped
and all-in Abbamonto, 6-3 against A-9.
The flop came J-4-J, but then two running
babies gave Leonidas an improbable straight.
After knocking out his fourth player,
Leonidas now was in a rough tie with Sunar,
roughly 135k each, with Levy under 30k.
Levy picked up a few chips, and then came
the hand of the night. Holding K-10, Levy
raised to 20k. Sunar called with A-Q,
Leonidas with As-10c. A flop of 8s-7s-6s
gave Toto a draw to a nut flush. He bet
11k, just enough to put Levy in, and Sunar
also called. A king turned to give Avner
winning kings, and “SEND TO PAPA!”
rent the air as he dashed around wildly.
A
few hands later, Levy had inched up to
about 115k to about 95k for Sunar and
90k for Leonidas, and the deal was done.
BIOGRAPHY
Avner Levy has been described by other
writers as everything from electrifying
to eccentric. Whatever the description,
he never holds his emotions back, and
is usually the center of attention at
any table. Levy came here from Israel
22 years ago. After service in the Israeli
military, he became a professional tennis
player, on the circuit from 1987-1982.
He began playing tournaments in 1995 and
now he plays them to the complete exclusion
of side games. No-limit and 7-stud hi-lo
are his favorites.
Titles include a World Poker Open event
this year, a Four Queens win and a best
all-around at the Normandie Casino. From
tennis, he said, he learned that you have
to be aggressive playing no-limit. He
gives a lot of credit to players like
John Bonetti, T.J. Cloutier and Scotty
Nguyen, from whom he learned his craft
by watching their play. Tonight, he said,
he had a steady climb throughout the tournament.
Max Shapiro
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