Eskandani
is Charity Winner
It was a great day for charity and
an even greater day for Vegas pro Mori
Eskandani, who took first place in the
Mariani/Buss $3,000 Charity Open. He came
to the final table with the chip lead,
stayed in contention throughout and then
finished with a rush, largely through
beating up on third-place finisher Scotty
Nguyen. Heads-up, he had close to a 2-1
lead over Andrew Bloch, and they made
a chip-count deal. Bloch, with two third-place
finishes in World Poker Tour events, made
the best of his runner-up finish. “At
least I wasn’t third again,”
he said.
The
gross prize pool tonight was $189,000,
with 10 percent deducted for the Magic
Johnson Foundation charity. Another $10,000
was donated by the Bicycle Casino. Haig
Kelegian, the Bicycle Casino’s managing
partner, personally donated $3,000, and
another $2,000 came from seven players
(Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Bobby Baldwin,
Lyle Berman, Chip Reese, Barry Greenstein
and “Chou”) who were in a high-limit
side game in the top section. Total donation
to the foundation: $33,900. The Bike had
another surprise for the two Lakers owners:
custom chips that had Mariani’s face
on one side and Buss’ on the other.
The
event was ½ hold’em, ½
stud. The final table assembled after
“Tony” was knocked out. Anted
down to $900, he finally went with (A-6),
missed a straight draw and lost to Bloch’s
10s-up. The eight finalists, all professionals,
sat down to play stud with $100 antes,
a $200 bring-in and $600-$1,200 limits,
14:43 remaining.
Vinnie Vinh was first out. Bloch took
half his chips in the stud round with
aces-up, then took the other half in the
next round, $1,000-$2,000 limit hold’em.
Vinh started with Jd-10d, flopped a straight
draw, but missed and lost to Bloch’s
paired king. Paul Darden was next out
on a bad beat when he went in with A-Q
against Eskandani’s Ad-2d. Darden
bet the A-4-2-9 board and Eskandi raised
him all in and won with his two pair.
The
game was now stud, $200 antes, $300 bring-in,
1-2k limits. Aaron Katz had started third
in chips behind Eskandani and Bloch, but
from the outset he began playing, as someone
later described it, “suicidally,”
fast and loose and frequently. After losing
three big pots, he was nearly all in before
he made a small recovery by chasing and
making a flush on the river. Bob Golick,
a high-limit host at Commerce, finished
sixth. On hand 39 he was all in showing
6-Q-8-7. “You can’t win,”
said Eskandani, with a king-high straight.
It was small consolation to Golick that
he then made a smaller straight.
At
the next break the approximate chip count
was: Bloch, 76k; Eskandani, 64k; Nguyen,
22k; Katz, 16k; and Richard Dunberg, 11k.
The game now was hold’em, $1,500-$3,000
limits. It was good to Nguyen, who flopped
a set of 10s on the first deal, and then
flopped a set of nines in a big pot against
Eskandani. Dunbar, who has tournament
wins at a half-dozen casinos, departed
on hand 51. He posted his last 1k in the
big blind with an unpromising 10-4. Eskandani
called with A-6 and caught an ace on the
river.
A
few hands later, Katz raised with pocket
kings and went all in for the third and
last time. “I don’t want a multi-way
pot,” he said as he got two calls.
One was from Bloch. He had 10-9, flopped
a 10 and caught a third one on the river
to leave Katz in fourth place. With the
lead going back and forth, Eskandani took
over again when he beat Bloch by flopping
a set of queens.
With
the game now stud, $1,500-$3,000 limits,
Nguyen took a big pot from Eskandani by
making trip nines versus queens and jacks.
But after it reverted to hold’em,
2-4k, Eskandani returned the favor by
flopping a set of sixes to leave the world
champ with $1,200. Scotty posted it the
next hand in the small blind with just
7-3. He flopped a seven, but Eskandani,
with Q-J, put him away with a jack on
the river. The chip count now was 122k
for Eskandani to 64k for Bloch, and they
made their deal so they could get some
sleep and play in the championship event
coming right up.
BIOGRAPHY
Mori Eskandani used to have a food-processing
business, which he says he wasn’t
very successful at, and he began playing
poker seriously 16 years ago. His biggest
tournament win was about $70,000 at the
Hall of Fame. He also has a couple of
wins at both the Four Queens and Caesars
Palace, and this past January won a $1,000
stud event at the Bellagio. Stud and hold’em
are the only games he’ll play. He
plays cash games far more than tournaments,
generally stud from $100-$200 to $400-$800
at the Bellagio.
Tonight
he suffered a bad beat at the $100-$200
level and was down to $800, but climbed
back fast, becoming the chip leader at
the $200-$400 level. “I had a lot
of hands, but you have to be lucky to
win a tournament,” he said. Asked
to describe his style of play, he said
a lot of people think he’s aggressive,
but he really mixes his play up a lot.
Max
Shapiro
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