Bad
Beat Can’t Stop Shoten
At the third table, Charlie Shoten
(aka Scotty Warbucks) was sitting pretty
with a full house when Chip Jett rivered
a straight flush, one of three he made
all night. Jett tossed his hand in, but
retrieved it in time when he realized
what he had, and Shoten was left with
five $500 chips. After that, a combination
of good luck and avoidance of “problematical”
hands moved Shoten steadily upward until,
with four players left, he had $86,000
of the $147,000 in play. His three opponents
weren’t that far apart from each
other, and after a brief negotiation,
a deal was struck ending the third event
of Legends of Poker 2003, $300 Omaha hi-lo.
After one hand, limits at the final table
went to $1,000-$2,000 with $500-$1,000
blinds. On the second hand, Joe Whiting
had only $500 left after posting his big
blind and felt he had little choice to
but to chase with K-10-8-4 even though
it hardly fit the As-2s-6s flop. Poker
player Greg Mascio broke him with aces-up
and a better low.
Two-bracelet holder Thor Hansen started
with an above-average chip count and then
had absolutely no luck at the final table.
By the time limits went to $1,500-$3,000,
he posted his last chips in the big blind
holding A-4-6-7 with a suited ace. A flop
of 4-5-10 gave Thor an open-end straight
draw and also gave nutritional distributor
Ron Faltinsky, holding A-2-5-9, a nut
low draw. Both missed, but a third five
for Faltinsky was more than enough to
send Hansen home.
As play continued, Mascio managed to stay
alive after going all in and coming out
four times with a straight, a wheel, a
low and then with a nut low and nut flush.
He ran out of luck on hand 48. With a
7-5-5 flop, Vince Burgio put him all in.
Mascio, with A-3-8-K, was trying for a
number two low. He ended up with kings-up
and lost to Burgio’s aces-up.
With $2,000-$4,000 limits, David Tran
was in the big blind with one chip left
and immediately tossed it in. With a board
of A-3-4-5 and two clubs, Randy Holland
bet out. Martin Corpuz, fresh from a stud
victory at the Hustler’s Grand Slam,
had $4,500 left and came close to mucking
his hand. It would have been the worst
laydown since Sonny Liston took that dive
in his second fight with Muhammed Ali
because a trey of clubs on fifth street
gave him a wheel straight flush scoop
and sent Tran to the sidelines. Flush
with his victory, he asked for chop and
was rebuffed. “You’re gonna
be sorry,” he said.
“Is that a threat?” asked Don
Fraley. “No, a promise,” Corpuz
replied.
Shoten had climbed to about 50k after
Vince Burgio made a good laydown with
a king-high flush against Shoten’s
A-high. “You’re playing a lot
of hands,” Corpuz remarked after
looking at Shoten’s growing stacks.
Burgio, meanwhile, was going in the other
direction. He managed to survive one all-in
when he made a bigger straight than Shoten’s.
But the 44th hand was his last one. “I’ve
got all high cards,” he said, turning
up A-Q-J-9 after putting his last chips
in. The board came 7-7-6-K-4 and his ace-high
lost to just a paired six.
“Hey, wait for me, Vince,” Randy
Holland called out as he went all in on
the next hand. Vince didn’t have
to wait because Randy scooped with aces
up and a seven low. It was Don Fraley
who followed Vince out. He had 2-2-3-5
and made a baby flush but lost to Shoten’s
treys-full.
The
limits immediately became $3,000-$6,000.
Corpuz had about 26k, Holland, 21k; and
Faltinsky, 14k against Shoten’s big
lead. With such high limits, any of the
three could easily go broke in one hand,
so they decided to do a chop-chop and
pocket their winnings.
BIOGRAPHY
Charlie
Shoten has been playing poker since he
was six or seven and living in the Bronx
when family members would get together
for fun and social games. He’s been
playing more seriously since he came to
Los Angeles in 1997 with his 12-year-old
daughter. Over the years he’s cashed
out in and won numerous tournaments. Just
recently he finished second behind Chip
Jett in Commerce Casino’s Cal State
championship event. Before that, he won
$112,000 in a Hustler no-limit championship
event. Pot-limit Omaha and no-limit hold’em
are his favorite games. Tonight, he said,
his edge was his ability to “make
the right choices” in deciding which
hands to commit to.
Shoten
has been involved in various enterprises,
including computer software, and is currently
in the business of buying and selling
life insurance policies to seniors. He
is also talking to Hollywood people in
hopes of developing prime-time “poker
entertainment” programming.
Max Shapiro
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