Ex-Boxer
has Omaha K.O.
Bobby Thompson, who has been a professional
boxer, a firefighter and a horse-racing
business owner in Costa Rica, can now
add poker player to his unusual resume.
Playing in his first Omaha tournament
ever, he won event number 26 of Legends
2003, $500 pot-limit Omaha high.
He
started making his move in the late stages
of the final table, and when it got down
to five handed, he had a substantial chip
lead. A chip-count deal was made, and
the tournament ended at the reasonably
civilized hour of 4 a.m., some five hours
sooner than for the prior three events.
Finishing
on the bubble was nutritionist Ron Faltinsky.
In the $400 big blind with $500 left,
he had A-K-7-6. Mario Esquerra called
from the small blind with A-7-6-3 and
two clubs and picked up Faltinsky’s
$900 when he made a flush. Final-table
blinds started at $200 and $400, which
allowed the first player in to raise anywhere
from $800 to $1,400. After 13 minutes
of play, blinds increased to $300-$600.
First
out on hand 13 was Herb Potter. Holding
Qs-9s-K-3, he had a straight flush draw
when the flop came Js-10s-J. He missed
and Esquerera, with a jack in his hand,
made his second kill.
The
biggest pot so far developed on hand 23.
It started with six-way action. Restaurant
owner Phil Tanner bet $3,600 on a 9-5-2
flop and then bet 9k on the turn-card
jack. But he abandoned the $28,800 pot
when a third club came on the river and
Minh Nguyen moved in for 20k with what
was the nut flush. On the next hand Tanner
tried to bet all in for 4k, but he was
only allowed to bet one stack because
after he pushed it in, he illegally went
back for his second stack. So he still
had 2k left after his kings-up lost to
Esquerra’s aces-up. Tanner’s
remaining stack of hundred-dollar chips
went in on the next hand when he held
10-10-A-9. Alan Korson had kings and blew
Tanner away when he flopped a set and
then make four cowboys on the turn.
On
hand 30, Thompson began catching cards
and moving on up. He went all in and relieved
Nguyen of a lot of chips when a flop of
Q-10-4 gave Nguyen a set of 10s and Thompson
a set of queens.
After
blinds had risen to $400-$800, surfer
boy Aurel “Ace” deHollan looked
like he had caught a big wave when he
had pocket sevens and the flop came A-9-7.
He bet his set and then bet all in when
a six turned. But he fell off his board
and finished seventh because the six had
given Nguyen a nut straight. A couple
of hands later, Thompson made a royal,
but it didn’t do him that much good
because he couldn’t get any action.
Esquerra
was left with just $1,600 on hand 58 when
he missed his flush draw, but “Super
Mario” is one tough hombre. He went
all in and survived three times, and 15
hands later, after he had won another
pot with a nut flush, he had climbed back
to about 14k.
Blinds
by now were $600-$1,200, and the first
player in could raise up to $4,200. Steve
Ford was left short-chipped when Thompson
beat him with a flush on hand 83. He went
broke in the big blind on the next hand
when Korson put him all in holding A-K-Q-J.
Ford had K-Q-J-6, and when the board came
J-8-8-4-2, Korson’s paired jack with
the higher kicker was the winner.
Five-handed,
Thompson now had $39,300 to $27,100 for
Paul Sherr, $22,700 for Korson, $16,700
for Nguyen and $15,400 for Esquerra. They
agreed to the chip-count deal, and the
one-time boxer walked out of the arena
a winner.
BIOGRAPHY
Bobby Thompson took up boxing at a young
age, had a successful record as an amateur,
and then turned pro, fighting as a lightweight
from 1984-1988. The high point of his
ring career came when he fought for the
title in 1988. After retirement, he served
as a fireman for 10 years, earning the
sobriquet of “The Fighting Fireman.”
Currently he runs a horse racing business
in Costa Rica.
Thompson,
who began playing poker only a year and
a half ago, had previously only played
no-limit and pot-limit hold’em. His
only prior tournament win was in no-limit
in a preliminary World Poker Tour event.
There are a lot of top-notch poker players
in Costa Rica, and while Thompson didn’t
want to single out any by name, he said
their tutelage had added tremendously
to his poker skills. Tonight, he said,
he had just been “hanging around”
until he began to get a good run of cards
in the late stages of the final table.
Max
Shapiro
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