13-Way
Chop in No-Limit!
Stop the presses! We have a new entry
in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Not only did the 18th event of Legends
2004 end in a deal without playing down
to the last player, it didn't even play
down to the last table!
At
12:30 p.m., with 13 players left, blinds
in this $200 buy-in, no-limit rebuy event
were at a substantial $3,000-$6,000 with
$1,000 antes. In 12 minutes and 56 seconds
they were set to jump to a back-breaking
$5,000-$10,000 with antes of $1,500. At
this point, Warren Karp, a Card Player
columnist, tournament director and marketing
consultant for TruePoker.com, suggested
a 13-way deal with the persuasive argument
that at those limits the tournament would
become pretty much of a showdown with
as much skill as hopscotch.
There
was one objection to the deal. Param Gill
reasoned with the player by holding a
knife to his throat, and the lone objector
was persuaded by that logical reasoning.
The tournament staff began doing the math
with the aid of an M.I.T. supercomputer,
and three days later the figures were
ready. Everybody was polled, and everybody
agreed, and everybody cheered, except
the player who was afraid to move because
Gill was still holding the knife to his
throat. The cheering, however, was drowned
out by the sound of the rebuy stamp clattering
away.
The
line formed for the payouts. It was longer
than the line for the soup kitchen on
Skid Row at Thanksgiving.
Even
more impressive were the TV and film offers
for this milestone event in poker. Deals
were lined up for "60 Minutes," "Larry
King Live" and "Believe it Or Not."
The
winner? Oh, yeah, the winner was Massimiliano
"Max" Pescatore, a genial Las Vegas by
way of Italy poker pro and sports bettor
with two prior tournament wins at the
Reno-Hilton. His winning chip count when
festivities concluded was 29,755, which
was less than three times as much as the
11,245 that the 13th-place finisher, Scott
Fischman, had in front of him. The payouts
for the 13 players based on chip-count
ranged from 56 to 149 times their $200
buy-ins.
Even
though the official payout for first place
was $106,630, Pescatore said the deal
made sense because at the next level,
if there were still 10 players left, the
$5,000-$10,000 blinds and $1,500 antes
would have represented 4 percent of the
738,000 total chips in play. Fischman
agreed, pointing out that even last place
in the chip-count deal was worth more
than four times as much as the official
$2,665 pay-out for 13th. Matt Heintschel,
who finished fourth, joked that he felt
"dirty" about making the deal, but that
his wife and five kids were happy.
The
actual, unofficial payouts were: Massimiliano
Pescatori, $29,755; Phi Nguyen, $24,390;
Peter Nam, $23,050; Matt Heintschel, $22,510;
Minh Nguyen, $22,245; Binh Do, $19,560;
Jerry Garver Jr., $18,755; Param Gill,
$17,815; Mayen Grigorian, $16,745; Chris
Karagulleyan, $16,340; Warren Karp, $15,805;
Eric Arreca, $11,780; Scott Fischman,
$11,245.
Pescatori
also finished seventh in event #15, Omaha
hi-lo. Nguyen, who finished second tonight,
won event #6, $300 no-limit hold'em, and
came in second in event #4, also no-limit.
Third-place finisher Nam came in fifth
in a prior no-limit. Sixth-place finisher
Binh Do had a fourth in another no-limit,
and Fischman came in ninth in the Omaha
event.
On
a more somber note, earlier in the day
a private memorial service was held at
the Shutters Hotel in Santa Monica for
Andy Glazer, the prodigiously talented
poker writer whose tournament reports
set a new standard for the industry. Along
with about 40 family members, in attendance
were poker notables Linda Johnson, Jan
Fisher, Casey Kastle and Mark Tenner.
This writer was also present. Tenner,
author of a book on Omaha, gave a particularly
eloquent eulogy praising Glazer's multi-faceted,
multi-talented persona. On Tuesday, August
17, a public memorial service will be
held from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. in the Bicycle
Casino ballroom, with everyone invited
to attend.
BIOGRAPHY
Massimiliano
"Max" Pescatori first started playing
poker at home games in his native Milan,
Italy. He regularly plays $80-$160 hold'em
at the Bellagio, and high-limit Omaha
when they spread it. He began playing
tournaments two years ago when they got
popular. "I can compete against players
like Jennifer Harman and Todd Brunson
when I couldn't afford to play in their
cash games," he points out. Last year
he won two events, limit hold'em and Omaha/8,
at the Reno-Hilton's World Poker Challenge.
Pescatori
also handicaps horse racing tournaments,
where participants pick 20 horses and
get points for their finishes. One event
he won (shared with partners) paid $80,000.
In tonight's tournament, he picked up
chips during the rebuy period when players
were gambling and later won big pots when
he flopped a set one hand and a flush
in another. He describes his strategy
as smart. "I can play crazy or tight.
No one knows what I'm thinking"
Max Shapiro
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