Utah
Pro Runs Over Table
Ernest Scherer quit his job as a program
manager in Salt Lake City two years ago
to play poker full time and has not regretted
his decision. "I'm making a lot more money
playing poker," he said. He made a lot
more tonight when he won the 10th event
of Legends of Poker 2004, $300 pot-limit
hold'em. He came to the final table with
the most chips and used them as weapons.
He steadily increased his stacks with
frequent raises until, with three players
left, he owned about 60 percent of the
chips and agreed to a deal.
The
final table started after Dan Alspach
finished 11th. In three-way action he
had the best hand, A-7 versus A-2 and
Q-5, but was beaten both by one player's
paired deuce and the other's trip fives.
Action at the last table started with
blinds of $1,000-$2,000. This allowed
the first player in to raise up to $7,000,
based on calling the $2,000 big blind
and then raising the $5,000 in the pot.
Lee
Duncan, who won the earlier Omaha hi-lo
event, lasted only one hand. Starting
with just $4,500, he had Kc-7c. Lich "Andy"
Bui put him in with pocket jacks, and
Duncan couldn't catch anything. Sergey
"the Mad Russian" Khromov lost most of
his chips three hands later when he folded
after Bui flopped two small pair and check-raised
him. Three hands later, Khromov busted
out in the small blind. He had A-K and
flopped a king. Scherer was in the big
blind with just 6-5, but the six was a
diamond and four more diamonds hit the
board.
Former
poker dealer Tom Connors was next out.
He moved in for $5,500 from the cut-off
seat holding A-4. Emiliano Concepcion
called from the big blind with Q-5 and
caught a winning 5 on the river. The next
deal was hand 11. Sirous Baghchehsaraie
now played his first hand. And his last.
All in with Ah-10h, Baghchehsaraie was
a big dog to Bashar Trad's A-Q and lost
when the board came Q-4-4-A-6.
A
few hands later, Scherer opened for $5,000
and Charlie Bashoot moved in for $13,000
more. They both had A-K and split, but
Trace Kingery was upset because he would
have won with two pair if he hadn't folded
his Q-J. Bashoot brought him back to earth.
"You would have called $20,000 (actually
$18,000) with Q-J?" he scoffed.
Blinds
became $1,500-$3,000. By now, Scherer's
frequent raises had gotten him to the
$70,000 mark. Hand 40 was a key one for
him. Bui opened for $6,000 with K-Q and
Scherer called with A-K. Bui then moved
in when the flop came A-J-3. Four hearts
hit the board, but neither player had
a fifth. Scherer busted Bui with A-K and
now had $115,000, more than half the chips
in play.
Kingery,
whose job is inventory control, lost control
of his entire inventory on hand 46. He
moved in for $15,000 with As-Js and got
two calls. He flopped a flush draw but
missed and lost to Concepcion's pocket
aces. Bashar Trad, who is in sales, was
next to go all in after raising to $14,000
with A-Q. He doubled up against Concepcion
when the board showed Q-8-2-5-3. Scherer,
meanwhile, was managing to maintain his
chip position with a number of maximum
raises to $10,500 which went unchallenged.
By hand 58 he had about $100,000 to $55,000
for Concepcion, $40,000 for Satoot and
about $12,000 for Trad. A few hands after
that, Trad had been blinded down to $7,500
and raised all in holding A-J. He ran
into Concepcion's A-K and finished fourth.
The
three finalists now talked deal, but chip
leader Scherer refused to give a little
extra away, as is traditionally done.
Instead, he insisted that if anything,
he deserved a premium, but would settle
for a straight chip-count deal, nothing
less. He had no takers and play continued.
Five hands later the count was $131,000
for Scherer, $47,000 for Concepcion and
$40,000 for Satoot, and this time there
was agreement.
BIOGRAPHY
Before
turning to poker full time, Ernest Scherer
was program manager of a mortgage certificate
company. Before tonight he had won a limit
hold'em event at Lucky Chances and split
another limit hold'em tournament with
Ellix Powers at this year's Winnin' o'
the Green. He also has small tournament
wins in Vegas.
Scherer
plays most mostly side games, either pot-limit
and limit hold'em, up to $80-$160, and
smaller games in northern California.
He also put in a lot of time playing pot-limit
on a recent trip to Paris. He said he
isn't too fond of limit, however, because
he finds it "monotonous." His aggressive
play tonight is typical, he said. "I like
to splash around and push draws. I'm not
afraid of getting burned." Tonight he
was down to $240 after 40 minutes of play
but recovered. "After that the rest was
easy," he said.
Max Shapiro
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