Lufthansa
Airline Pilot Jets Away With Victory
in $1,500 Buy-in Omaha (High) Event
The
World Series means a lot to me. For those
who say it's just like any other tournament,
I say -- 'well go ahead and try to win
one.'
-- Eddy Scharf (after winning his
second gold bracelet)
For
the second time in three years, Eddy Scharf,
from Cologne, Germany, took first place
in the $1,500 Buy-in Omaha (High) event.
The Lufthansa airline pilot won this same
event in 2001, and with this year's victory,
he became the only German national to
ever win two World Series of Poker championships.
Scharf, age 49, collected $63,600 and
the coveted gold bracelet for his first
place finish.
Little did Scharf know how close he would
be to hitting the ejection seat. At one
point at the final table, Scharf was down
to just $2,500 (less than 2 percent of
the total chips in play). His departure
appeared to be a foregone conclusion.
But in Omaha (High) anything is possible,
including what would eventually become
the biggest comeback at this year's tournament,
so far to date.
"The
first time you win, people may say it
was just a fluke. After all, anybody can
win one," said Scharf. "But the second
one -- especially in this field, like
with Hellmuth wanting to win his eighth
gold bracelet -- is very satisfying to
me."
Larry Hughes was the first player to go
out, followed by Sandy Blecker and Dan
Nissanoff. Florida poker pro Tony Cousineau
has cashed in many poker events (his record
for getting into the money is phenomenal),
but once again crashed and burned just
short of the victory. Dr. Bruce Van Horn
was next to go out, as the runner-up in
the 1996 world championship was never
able to accumulate enough chips to be
a force at the final table.
Steve
Zolotow was making his second final table
appearance, and again went out just shy
of the top spot. The "Z" man took 5th
place. That left the final four players
-- with Men "the Master" Nguyen holding
the chip lead.
Interestingly, just one week earlier at
this same final table, Men the Master
had a nearly identical chip lead in the
tournament and was dominating play at
the final table -- before eventually collapsing
to Erik Seidel. This time, 1989 world
champion Phil Hellmuth seemed to post
the biggest threat to Men's position.
Men the Master was prepared not to let
history repeat itself.
But
Omaha can be a cruel game sometimes. While
Men's move up the prize ladder is commendable
(he came into day two with only $8,800
and ran his chip count up to over $50,000
at one point), Nguyen's fourth-place showing
had to be a big disappointment.
Shortly
thereafter, Phil Hellmuth would join Men
the Master on the rail. Hellmuth was poised
to shoot for and claim his record-tying
ninth gold bracelet. But just as it appeared
he might make a run at the title, he would
suffer a loss which would impede his ability
to run over the table. Ultimately, Hellmuth
could manage no better than a third-place
showing, certainly a disappointment to
the former champ who came into the final
table as chip leader and with such high
hopes.
That
left an Englishman and German to fight
it out of the Omaha championship. This
time, the "Battle of Britain" would be
won by the air pilot, who gradually wore
down his opponent with a series of big
hands. Dave Colclough, from Birmingham,
England, ultimately saw his stacks of
chips crumble to just $10K and he was
forced to commit his last chips on the
final hand of the night.
Colclough was dealt Q-J-J-5 versus Scharf's
A-6-6-2 (with two hearts). When the flop
came 7-6-6, that not only gave Scharf
trip-sixes, it also gave him a flush draw.
When a heart fell on the turn, Colclough
had no outs and was drawing dead. Scharf
was declared the winner as the two tough
foes shook hands. To his credit, Colclough
has an impressive 31 in-the-money finishes
on the European Poker Tour this year,
and is currently ranked number one in
the Euro-rankings for 2003. Certainly,
the second-place showing in this event
will not hurt his position, not his reputation
as a fierce competitor at the poker table.
At
the conclusion of the tournament, Eddy
Scharf reflected back on his poker background
and experience. "I first started playing
poker (25 years ago) when I was in flying
school in Arizona," Scharf said. "I used
to come and visit Las Vegas. I thought
poker was a game of luck until I started
coming here and seeing the same players
winning most of the time. That's when
I decided to take up poker, because you
can beat it if you are good enough."
Scharf
also talked about his success in Omaha
(High) tournaments. "In Omaha, almost
any hand is not that big of an underdog
(compared to hold'em or stud, for instance).
If you re first to act, you definitely
have an advantage. Men the Master and
Phil were both raising a lot early on.
I didn't do that much raising at the start,
but I started to get more aggressive when
I got a hold of some chips."
One
of the key hands of the tournament occurred
during four-handed play when Hellmuth
made a raise with a straight draw, causing
Men the Master to fold what would have
been the winning hand. When Hellmuth missed
his draw, Scharf raked in all the chips,
which completely shifted the momentum
of the final table.
"I
only had one-and-a-half bets left on that
hand when Phil raised. He wanted to get
me all in and isolate me with the raise
(which worked). Men was fooled and folded
his hand. I ended up missing my hand but
still won anyway because Phil missed his
hand and I had the higher cards. That
was a big hand for me."
"I'm
pretty good at playing a short stack,"
Scharf concluded. "Of course, you have
to get lucky at some point in the tournament
to win it, but I never gave up, and in
the end that paid off for me."
-- by Nolan Dalla
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