No
More Mr. Dead Money
This was another “believe it
or not” tournament. Gary Margolis,
a CPA who owns a tax firm, does business
management for celebrity clients at another
company and who also owns race horses,
is a total amateur poker player who was
featured on ESPN’s World Series coverage
as the ultimate dead money man. Margolis
is friends with ESPN’s management,
and as a lark they put him into this year’s
WSOP so they could follow him around and
spoof him. He did better than expected,
lasting eight hours, but gained an instant
reputation for ineptness.
Tonight, with eight players left and $4,000-$8,000
limits, he was down to $3,000 when he
came up with an unbelievable series of
draw-outs. In five hands he had jumped
up to about $40,000, then continued his
rush until he had close to two-thirds
of the chips with four players left. Steve
Shkolnik, a movie location manager, had
overtaken him when they got heads-up.
But at the final bell, Margolis had a
2-1 lead. He wanted to regain his reputation
far more than he needed the money, so
he agreed to an even-money chop, even
though the difference between first and
second place was $37,520!
Adding to this movie-script drama, the
man that ESPN should have chosen as Mr.
Dead Money was also at the final table.
Patrick Poels, a software developer, was
in fact the first player out at WSOP 2003.
Drawn by the $150,000 guarantee, some
302 players signed up and made 374 rebuys
for this $300 limit hold’em event
to generate an all-time record Legends
prize pool of $202,800. And, with seven
people listing occupations on their bio
sheets, this tournament also set a world’s
record for the most players at a final
table with jobs. And finally, it was also
the longest Legends event so far this
year, lasting until 7:30 a.m.
Rufino Caceres, a realtor, left on hand
4. His A-5 was no match for Simon Turobiner’s
A-Q, especially after two more queens
turned up. Ken Flaton followed him out
four hands later. Skyhawk had pocket kings,
but XiadenWang, a researcher, had pocket
aces.
Jump to hand 42. Margolis has three chips.
He goes all in against Hong Nguyen for
the second time with the same hands: A-6
for him, A-K for her. (“Again?”
she gasps.) Same result. Again he escapes
with aces and sixes. Hand 43: All in with
pocket eights against Poels’ J-9
with a flopped jack. Rescued again with
a miracle two-outer eight on the river.
Hand 46: Now Nguyen is all in with the
better hand, A-4 to Margolis’ K-J,
but he knocks her out with a straight.
We’re
down to six after Wang eliminated Turobiner,
an auctioneer, with quad sixes. Hand 74:
in a five-way raised pot, Margolis, with
pocket deuces, goes up against Le Kim
Banh, a furniture manufacturer with pocket
aces, and flops a set to knock Banh out
and climb to about 160k. Hand 82. Limits
of 3-6k. Short-chipped after losing to
Shkolnik’s full house, Poels goes
all in with A-K. Margolis has 4-4 and
makes another set. Four left and Margolis
has close to 200k.
Now
Shkolink takes over. In the small blind
with 10-5, he overtakes Wang’s A-7
with a five on the turn to leave the researcher
in fourth place, and on the next hand
makes a straight to terminate David Tran.
Heads-up,
Shkolnik had 194k to Margolis’ 145k.
The tax man refused a deal because the
title was all he cared about. He then
won the next five hands in a row before
Shkolnik finally fought back with a straight.
The chips flowed back and forth for another
dozen hand until, on hand 111, with a
224-115k, chip lead, Margolis agreed to
a chop and was no longer Mr. Dead Money.
BIOGRAPHY
Gary Margolis is a CPA and CEO of a tax
firm. Clients include entertainment personalities
and baseball players such as Barry Bond
Mike Piazza. He also does some business
management for the Beverly Hills Sports
Council. And he’s part of a syndicate
owning thoroughbreds with some 20 stakes
wins. On ESPN, he was their “Dead
Money Candidate” because he had never
played anything like the World Series,
with cameras following him all around
“like I was a celebrity or something.”
Even so, in his short play, he managed
to outlast about 230 players, finishing
just ahead of Doyle Brunson. But, having
declared on TV, “I am dead money,”
he picked up that moniker at the track
and everywhere he went. “Now I’m
able to laugh back at them.”
Until
now, his main poker accomplishment has
winning a couple of private tournaments
comprised mainly of attorneys. Did he
learn anything from his WSOP experience?
“Yes. Play aggressive.”
Max Shapiro
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