Chess
Man has New Game
Tom Brownscombe, until recently scholastic
director for the U.S. Chess Federation,
may have found a new game. Tonight he
made his sixth Legends final table, moved
into the all-around points lead and won
event number 29, pot-limit hold’em.
It took luck. He started the final table
with the fewest chips, was soon all in
and survived by hitting a two-outer on
the river.
Final
table blinds started at $1,000-$2,000,
allowing the first player in to raise
anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000. There
were three all-in confrontations and three
survivals the first 25 hands. The first
time, 78-year-old Gene Resnick, winner
of the $1,000 no-limit event, had pocket
10s against Bob Kirkeby’s pocket
queens and flopped a set. Next, with $1,500-$3,000
blinds, Brownscombe had pocket fives and
made a set on the river against Mel Judah’s
paired ace. The third time, Andy Miller
was all in with A-K, which held up against
Dr. Frank Rite’s A-Q.
Left
with 18k, Rite raised to 10k with K-10
on the next hand and was called by Card
Player’s Jeff Shulman. The 10-9-5
flop looked great for Rite and he bet
all in. But Shulman had flopped a set
of fives, and Rite finished ninth. On
hand 31, Mel Judah bet all in when the
flop came A-K-J. Bob Kirkeby called, also
all in. “I’ve got an ace,”
Judah said. Kirkeby had a straight. Judah
was less upset over the beat than what
he called Kirkeby’s “Academy
Award” acting when the flop came
down. Left with $200, Judah lost it on
the next hand with A-6 against Resnick’s
A-K.
Kirkeby
then busted out on hand 52, Ac-4c against
Shulman’s A-K. One hand later, TV
writer/producer Jay “Moose”
Moriarty called all in for his last few
chips with pocket nines after Miller raised
with A-8. Moose looked like he was home
free until a bullet ace on the river hit
him between the antlers. “That’s
three bad beats,” he lamented, “the
ace, having to drive home during rush
hour and my wife dragging me out to hear
Lorna Luft sing tonight.” With blinds
at 2-4k, Andy Miller went out in fifth
place. He raised all in with A-Q and ran
into Brownscombe’s pocket aces.
At
about 8:30, Card Player publisher Barry
Shulman walked in to sweat his son and
sympathized when he spotted the hard-working
tournament writer. “They ought to
pay you overtime,” he said. “Yeah,”
the writer replied. “They pay me
almost as bad as you do.”
On
hand 73, Resnick hauled in a $60,000 pot
when his A-9 beat Brownscombe’s Q-10.
A hand later, Brownscombe had the same
Q-10. Resnick had pocket aces and slow-played
them on a flop of Q-9-6. A 10 turned to
give Brownscombe top two, and when Resnick
bet 20k, Tom moved him in and busted him.
Brownscombe now had about 190k to deHollan’s
65k while Shulman, a big chip leader early
on, had kept running into bigger hands
and had dwindled down to 25k. He now picked
up a couple of pots, and after blinds
went to 3-6k, took a big one from Brownscombe,
A-K versus A-Q, to move into a slight
lead.
Brownscombe
was nailed a second time when Aurel deHollan,
with A-K, flopped an ace to outrun Brownscombe’s
pocket nines. Then, on the final hand,
Shulman made it 21k to go with 7d-5d,
deHollan moved in for 42k with Q-Q and
won easily when Shulman called.
The
chip count now was: Brownscombe, 107k;
deHollan, 87k; Shulman 84k. They made
a deal: 30k each for Shulman and deHollan,
the rest for Brownscombe, and event 29
was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Calling himself “unemployed,”
Tom Brownscombe, whose prior job was encouraging
youngsters to get involved with chess,
is seriously considering a poker career
after his awesome record at Legends 2003.
His six final tables came in only 14 events.
He had played some poker in the early
90s and finished third a couple of times
at the Gold Coast Open, but from 1994-2000
had taken a hiatus to concentrate on his
chess job. A resident of New York State,
he has played occasionally at Foxwoods
and taken a couple of vacations to play
tournaments, mostly playing limit hold’em.
He
said he was very lucky tonight, tripling
up early when he paired an ace and broke
two players. Asked to describe his style
of play, his wife broke in to answer:
“Patient.” But he said it depends
on who he’s playing. Against a conservative
player like deHollan, more aggressively.
Jeff Shulman? “Very difficult to
read. I still don’t know how he plays.”
Max
Shapiro
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