Another
Goal for David Levi
David Levi, the former pro soccer
player turned pro poker player, kicked
another goal by winning the 19th event
of Legends 2003, $500 7-card stud. It
was slow going for him until he got to
the second table, but then he started
to get hot and pretty much had everything
going for him after that.
Jimmy Tran, who finished second, was close
behind Levi for much of the final table.
But after knocking out the last two players,
Levi pulled into a substantial chip lead,
and the two finalists quickly made a deal.
The final eight took their seats after
Damon Robinson, a computer salesman, made
queens and eights to leave Keith Shiraki
in ninth place and on the bubble. Shiraki
was all in for $800 with a 6-Q up, caught
a 10 and seven, then mucked without showing.
With 28:53 remaining, limits at the final
table started at $1,500-$3,000, with $200
antes and a $400 low card bring-in. Jimmy
Robinson, a contractor, who started with
the fewest chips, said he had been getting
the worst of it all night. On hand 4,
he had the low card with a 10, which is
a virtually impossible thing to do with
a full table. Levi quickly raised with
an ace door-card to put him in. The best
that Robinson could make was two tens
and Levi’s two aces put him away
in eighth place.
ROne hand later, Skip Wilson, a manufacturer,
raised with his last few chips on fifth
street with (Q-10)9-10-7. An eight on
sixth street gave him an open-end straight
draw, but queens-up was the best he could
do. Rod Pardey Sr., meanwhile, started
with buried kings and caught a third cowboy
to pare the field down to six. Pardey,
a high-stakes stud specialist, has two
World Series bracelets in that event,
the first in 1989, the second a few years
later.
Tom Brownscombe, scholastic director for
the U.S. Chess Federation, was all in
the next hand with a diamond draw, and
made it to stay alive. But nine hands
later, with 2-4k limits, antes of $300
and a $500 low card, it was checkmate.
He had a board of QA-J-8-7 against Tran’s
K-4-2-9. Jimmy bet and Tom, with a reluctant
sigh, called all in. Tran turned up a
king and a four, then hit a nine to make
three pair for good measure, and Brownscombe
threw his down cards in.
At this point Levi, who had been picking
up a lot of antes and low card forced
bets with aggressive raising, had the
lead with roughly $45,000, while Tran
was second with about $30,000. Damon Robinson
was next to go all in, but a flush saved
him.
Instead, it was Pardey who next parted
company, on hand 32. He started with (A-8)8
and went all in on sixth street without
improving. Tran, meanwhile, again made
three pair. He started with buried nines
and caught queens and treys along the
way to leave Pardey in fifth place and
come close to catching up with chip-leader
Levi.
Gerard
Rechnitzer, a producer and son of George
Rechnitzer, a familiar face at final tables,
was next to have all his chips in, holding
queens and eights. Then he stared in disbelief
as Levi was dealt not only a set of kings,
but a flush as well.
Levi
now asked if his two opponents were interested
in a chip-count deal. Tran was agreeable,
but low-chipped Damon Robinson said, “Let’s
play,” so they played. For exactly
one hand. On the final deal, Damon Robinson
started with (A-9)3, missed a straight
draw and ended up with two nines while
Levi won easily with queens and eights.
Levi
now had $75.000 to Tran’s $41,000,
and after a brief discussion, the two
pros shook hands and chopped up the remaining
prize pool.
BIOGRAPHY
David Levi, who won two hold’em Legends
events last year, picked up his first
2003 Legends title with his victory tonight.
This year he also has an Omaha hi-lo victory
in Hustler Casino’s Grand Slam of
Poker, where he made five final tables
and was second to Chris Grigorian in the
all-around points race. The month before
that he won a 7-card stud event at Commerce
Casino’s Cal State tournament. The
biggest win for the former Israeli soccer
player was the $159,000 he took down for
winning a Bellagio
championship event.
In
this event, Levi said he never had chips
and was down to $1,000 at the second table
before he got lucky against Scotty Warbucks,
making queens-up to beat Warbucks’
aces.
“After that I picked up a lot of
good hands,” he said. “I was
very patient, and managed to make the
right calls at the right time.”
Max Shapiro
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