 So what's on the menu today you might think? Well, the $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event finished last night. Another mixed event, and again with a few familiar faces. Best known is without a doubt Barry Greenstein, who started as one of the shortstacks, and Ylon Schwartz (4th in Main Event last year) started with about an average stack. Bracelet winner and 2 time WPT-final tablist Hasan Habib (gotta love that name), who also got 4th in the Main Event of 2000, is also in there with Karlo "The Wizard" Lopez as chipleader.
Habib however has to leave early as he's knocked out in 8th place by Barry Greenstein. Barry's stack had been on a rollercoaster ride throughout the final table, having to double up a couple of times before losing a large part of his chips not much later, but he still manages to survive up until when we are down to 5 players. After being crippled, he loses in limit hold'em with 86o against QQ. When former chipleader Lopez is knocked out in 4th place, they're down to 3 with Schwartz holding about the same amount of chips as John McGuiness and Bahador Ahmadi hold together.
These final 3 players don't take long to decide who gets the first place. Behador Ahmadi gathers chips all the way and gains the chiplead by exploiting his opponents' aggression while holding the best hand. Ylon later gets allin with   against   from Ahmadi and there's no help from the board whatsoever, so he gets 3rd place. In the very next hand, it's all over. McGuiness limps on the button and they get all-in on the    flop with Ahmadi sporting a huge chiplead and he's relying on his flushdraw now:   . McGuiness is ahead with his   but he has to dodge a diamond or a jack to survive. The  on the turn seals his fate, which means Bahador Ahmadi wins the event and a nice $278,104 to go with his bracelet.
Ahmadi thanks his victory to his above average skill in limit Hold'em he said: “If you’re good at both games you have a huge edge.,” he said. “This game attracts a lot of no limit players who haven’t played much limit. I have a limit background and I was able for most of the tournament to crush the limit and sit back during the no limit.”
Other events
Meanwhile, at the other tables, there isn't much interesting happening. The $50k HORSE started, but since it's limit and it's a 5-day event, progress is still really slow. Only 4 players have been knocked out: Steve Zolotow, Alexander Kostritsyn, David Singer and Dan Shak. For what it's worth, Hasan Habib is currently the chipleader. Still quite a performance, since he arrived late as he had to play the Mixed event as you could have read above. Tomorrow you'll read how the final table of the $1500 PLO Hi/Lo event has finished, with Brandon Cantu as chipleader and Lee Watkinson as nr 3. The Limit Hold'em Shootout is currently down to 8 tables. Winners of those will compete for the bracelet tomorrow.
By Pindarots
|
