Stateline, NV--Ivan Holmes is a golfer turned poker player who wants to be a golfer again. He’s played golf all his life and on his college team, then quit the sport to begin playing poker seriously four years ago.
Now he hopes to return to his first love by playing in the Canadian Qualifying Tour next March. In the meantime, he won the eighth event of the WSOP Circuit at Harveys Lake Tahoe, the $300 no-limit hold’em. It paid $13,728.
Holmes, 27, is from Berkeley, California. He came to the final table with the chip lead, lost it when he couldn’t get cards while Freddy “Big Freddy” Murphy ran up a big lead. Lowest-chipped with four players left, Holmes regained the lead when he knocked out the third-place finisher and went on from there to claim victory.
This $300 event registered 157 players who made a $45,687 prize pool. The second-day final table got underway with blinds of 2,000-4,000 and 500 antes, 10 minutes left. Holmes, with 205,000 chips, led the pack.
9th place: John Wolfe went out in the first round. He moved in for 35,000 with A-6 from the small blind and got a call from Murphy, in the big blind with Ac-9c. A board of 9-10-K-3-J was dealt, and Murphy’s paired 9 left Wolfe in ninth place, which paid $959. Wolfe, formerly an electronics manufacturer, is now a full-time player. His highest achievement was winning best all-around at the Peppermill Winter Series this year. He also enjoys fly fishing.
8th place: Blinds increased to 2,500-5,000, and three more players went out very quickly. First to go was David “Wose “Woo” Robinson, who pushed in with Ad-8d and was called by Ivan Holmes with A-J. When a board of Q-5-3-3-6 missed both players, Robinson cashed eighth for $1,325. Robinson is a student/poker player from Raleigh, North Carolina. Before that he was a cryptologist (code-breaker) with the United States National Security Agency. Robinson learned poker online five years ago and has a 22nd in the 2007 European Poker Tour at Barcelona.
7th place: Soon after, Jesse “Big Swing” Starke, all in with pocket 6s, found himself up against Murphy’s pocket 10s. When 3-4-J-A-K changed nothing, Starke went out with $1,782 for seventh. Starke, 39, from Loveland, Colorado, is a “jobless college graduate” and a single dad. He learned poker six years ago by watching his father. His poker highlight is 25th in a $1,500 WSOP six-handed event last year.
6th place: A few hands later brought a flop of Q-8-3. Holding top pair with Q-8 along with a flush draw, Chris Bioletto put in his last chips. Patricia “Phyllis Helmuth” Tequida challenged him with A-Q, and after an offsuit trey and 4 came, Bioletto went out with $2,239 for sixth.
Bioletto is 34 and works as a restaurant manager in Morgan Hill, California. He learned the game from TV and playing online five years ago, and his poker highlight was playing in the 2006 main event.
5th place: The next level came and went with everybody surviving, and blinds now were 4,000-8,000. Halfway through this level, Murphy was heads-up with Craig Stackert when the flop came 3-2-A. Murphy moved in holding pocket deuces for bottom set. Stackert called with A-J for top pair. A trey and 10 came off the deck, and Stackert was out, getting $2,901 for fifth.
Stackert, 32, is a poker dealer from South Lake Tahoe. This is only his third Circuit event, and he’s made two final tables.
4th place: Next out was Tequida. She had A-Q to Murphy’s K-J. The flop came J-J-A, giving Murphy trips. He bet 35,000 and she called. When a trey turned, she bet 100,000 and he put her in. Tequida was now dead to catching an ace, but no miracle came and she accepted $3,838 for fourth.
Tequida, 57, is from Sacramento. She is a business owner, but says if that doesn’t work out she might try poker. She took up the game 18 years ago after finding blackjack “boring.” She describes herself as the second-best woman player at Casino Royale in Sacramento and has two WSOP cashes and one final table. Her hobbies are saving the world from global warming and world peace.
Three-handed, Murphy had a huge lead with about 625,000 chips to 225,000 for Richard Thousand and 100,000 for Ivan Holmes. But a couple of hands later, after Holmes doubled through Murphy with a river flush, and then Thousand got Murphy to lay down a hand, the contest got much closer.
3rd place: Now the key pot came down. Thousand moved in, Holmes called with A-Q and was unhappy when Thousand turned up pocket 10s. He felt better when a queen flopped, and MUCH better when another queen turned. The only card that could rescue Thousand was a 10. It never came and he went out in third place, which paid $5,528.
Thousand, 48, is from Ames, Iowa and is an engineering adviser at Iowa State. He’s been playing four years, learning online, and this final table is his poker high point. He also enjoys golf.
Heads-up, Holmes now had the chip lead with about 500,000 to 430,000 for Murphy. After a short break they resumed play with blinds now 8,000-16,000 and 3,000 antes. Holmes increased his lead, and on the final hand looked at pocket aces. Slow-playing, he flat-called when Murphy raised with A-5 pre-flop. The turn card, a 5, was a bad one for Murphy. Holmes made a modest bet of 50,000 and Murphy raised all in. A four came on the river, and Holmes pulled in all the chips.
2nd place: Murphy, 29, originally from Berlin, Germany, now lives in Round Rock, Texas where he is a youth minister. He learned poker when he was 12 by beating his dad and friends. He has a third in the Round Rock Tournament of Champions. Murphy declared that he is lucky in poker and lucky in love, with a terrific girlfriend. For his second-place finish, he earned $8,041.
1st place: Holmes specializes in tournaments. The highlight of his poker career came at the Nevada State Poker Championship in Reno last year. He won preliminary events on May 3, May 9 and May 10, and then the next day won the championship event that paid $20,500. He usually plays a fairly aggressive game. At this final table he found a mixture of players, with a couple of good ones, and was careful how he put his money in.
Despite his win here, if he’s able to turn pro in golf, poker would be just a sideline for him. -Max Shapiro