Lee
is New Lowball Champ
Joon "Mike" Lee, a real estate appraiser
playing his first lowball tournament,
now reigns as the world champion after
winning the 16th event of 2004 Legends
of Poker, the Lowball World Championship.
A casual side game player, he only started
playing tournaments last year.
Tonight's
event ended on a sad note. Mike Lee (using
both names to avoid confusion with Bruce
Lee, who finished sixth) was heads-up
with veteran player George Monsoor and
had an $80,000-$15,000 chip lead after
winning a hand where both paired. Monsoor
tossed in his cards, and several accidentally
slid off the table. Everybody was regretful
and embarrassed, but nothing could be
done: automatic 10-minute penalty. "Those
things happen when you get tired," Monsoor
said in gentlemanly acceptance. Blinds
were $1,500-$3,000, and in seven hands
all of Monsoor's chips were blinded off
and Mike Lee was the winner.
Lowball,
for those too young to remember, is a
venerable old game that most of tonight's
participants fondly remember playing in
the 50s. The 1850s, that is.
The final table got there after Robert
"Chip Burner" Turner, in the blind, drew
three to joker-five and caught a king,
while Kenneth Wagner made an 8. Wagner,
who was also playing his first lowball
tournament, made his fourth final table
as he broke a three-way tie in the all-around
points race and jumped into a 32-point
lead. And "Basketball" Sam Davis, one
of the Bicycle Casino's original dealers,
for the 50th straight year predicted he
would win this tournament, but didn't
come close.
Players
started the final table with limits of
$1,000-$2,000, 31:10 remaining, and with
an admonition from tournament assistant
Ron Cramer to stay awake. Bedtime for
shortest-chipped George Tahara came on
hand eight. He drew one in three-way action
and mucked his hand after Monsoor drew
two and made a 9-6.
Three
hands later, Takashi "Tony" Yoshida was
all in. Ron Faltinksky rapped pat. After
deliberating, Yoshida also stood pat with
his 9-8-5, and got nicked by Faltinsky's
9-8-3
Limits
now went to $1,500-$3,000. On hand 35,
Mike Lee was all in but beat Bruce Lee
with a 7-4. Two hands later, he said "Let's
gamble," drew three and made another 7-4.
"What a player!" Faltinsky said in admiration.
Bruce Lee went out in sixth place on hand
43. He drew two and caught a jack, losing
to Bing Woo's pat 9-5.
Monsoor
had been giving the most action at the
table. It was paying off, because by the
next break he had moved into a big lead.
The count: Monsoor, $40,000; Mike Lee,
$19,000; Wagner, $14,000; Faltinsky, $13,000;
and Woo, $3,500.
At
4:30 (how could these guys stay up so
late?) limits went to $2,000-$4,000. After
surviving several all-ins, Wagner finally
put all his chips in for the last time
on hand 59. He drew one to an 8 and caught
the joker, but by that time it was too
late because Monsoor had already turned
up a 6-low. Now four were left, with Monsoor
still holding a slight lead over Mike
Lee, while Woo, holding on for a long
time, was seriously low-chipped.
By
the time limits went to $3,000-$6,000
on hand 69, Mike Lee had pulled abreast
of Monsoor. Each were in the $40,000 range
while Faltinsky and Woo both had just
a few chips left. On the first hand, Faltinsky
posted all his chips in the big blind.
He drew two to 10-3-A, paired his trey
and lost to Mike Lee's pat 10-8-4. And
just a couple of hands later, Woo was
all in for the fourth and last time after
Monsoor raised. They both took one and
Monsoor's queen was better than Woo's
king.
After
winning a couple of hands, Mike Lee pulled
into a 2-1 lead, and by hand 78, after
his paired ace edged Monsoor's paired
trey, had $80,000. Then came the fatal
accident, and after that the conclusion
was just a formality.
BIOGRAPHY
Joon
"Mike" Lee is 42. He says he's familiar
with lowball, even though this is his
first tournament for that event. He's
already rung up a pretty good record since
playing his first tournament ever last
year. At Commerce's LAPC, he made final
tables two days in a row, and won $50,000
in a $300 hold'em, one-rebuy tournament
at Commerce in November, along with a
couple of Sunday tournament wins. In all,
he's made 10 final tables so far.
Lee,
who's been playing side games for not
much longer, prefers limit hold'em at
stakes of $40-$80. Tonight he said he
had a slow start, with no chips until
the fifth level, and later was down to
$6,000. His style of play, he said, is
to mix up his strategy. And now that he's
got a taste of lowball in tournaments,
he looks forward to playing more of those
events.
Max Shapiro
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