Stateline, NV—Ron “Grumpy” Ware doesn’t like to call himself a poker pro, though he’s had many tournament cashes over the years. OK, then semi-pro. Whatever his description, he plays well enough to have won the 11th event of the WSOP Circuit stop at Harveys Lake Tahoe, $300 Omaha Hi-Lo. First place officially paid $6,724, though a two-way deal was made when he got heads-up with Bruce Kapsack.
Ware, who is 45 and from Discovery Bay, California, came to the final table in a virtual tie for the chip lead, holding 71,400 to 74,000 for Kapsack. He later found himself very short-stacked, but bounced back. On the final hand, he took high and Kapsack took low to chop up Scott “Scotty O” Dixon and leave him in third place.
Ware has been playing poker since he was 13, starting off in home games. He prefers playing tournaments rather than cash games, generally in the $300-$500 range. In addition, he plays about 10 tournaments a year at the WSOP. That’s where he made his biggest cash ever, $107,950 for coming in 35th in the Main Event in 2005. That was the first year he started playing at the WSOP, because before that he didn’t realize they offered any preliminary events.
“Had I known, I’d have been there from the late 80s,” he said ruefully.
This Omaha/8 event signed up 65 players with a $18,915 prize pool. Action got underway on day two with blinds of 1,000-2,000 and 2,000-4,000 limits and 25 minutes left on the clock. In front with 74,000 chips was Kapsack.
9th place: Anthony “Too Tight” Rollins was first out. He was all in with A-A-3-10. Dixon, holding A-K-7-5, outdrew him with two pair when the board came J-K-3-4-7. Rollins, 52, is an options trader from Hayward, California. He’s played four years, this is his best finish, and his hobby is martial arts.
8th place: Next out was Miles Hathaway, all-in with A-3-6-Q, and two callers. The board showed A-5-8-9-9. Hathaway made aces and 9s with a queen kicker and a low, but was scooped by Dixon, whose A-K-6-2 gave him aces and 9s with a king kicker, along with a slightly better 8-low.
Hathaway, from St. Louis, once was a hang-gliding instructor, now is a poker player. He’s played the game for 20 years now.
7th place: Down to a few chips, Gary “Big Gar” Neese was all in with K-J-2-8 and couldn’t hit anything. Frankie O’Dell made a straight, and Neese finished seventh for $832. Neese, 53, from Beaumont, California, is retired and has only played 10 months, “winning a little here and there.” His life highlights are being a husband, dad and granddad.
6th place: Shortly after, Pete Donnelly was also all in with his last couple of chips. He started and ended with nothing, while Dixon made jacks full. Donnelly, 57, is a retiree from Austin, Texas. He has 37 years of experience, learning at the table.
5th place: O’Dell, winner of event #5, Omaha hi-lo, went out fifth for $1,362. He had K-J-8-2 and couldn’t catch Kapsack’s pocket aces.
O’Dell, a 38-year-old pro from Denver, Colorado, has nearly $2 million in tournament cashes, including. $776,385 for winning the $10,000 championship event at the Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker; and two more six-figure cashes for his two WSOP bracelets, both in Omaha hi-lo. He learned poker from his father at the age of 12. O’Dell has been playing professionally since he was 21
4th place: Mark “Scoop” Lamb finished fourth for $1,778 when he went out against Ware’s queens-up. Lamb is a 33-year-old bodyguard turned poker player from Livermore, California. He’s played 15 years, “learning by losing,” and his poker highlight is “paying bills.”
3rd place: Now there was very big action in the culminating pot that was four-bet on a board of 7-3-8-7-A. Two players, Kapsack and Dixon, were all in. “Worst river card I ever saw,” remarked Ware, when an ace showed up. No, it wasn’t. Holding A-2-7-8, Ware had made sevens full of eights on the turn, and now he had sevens full of aces. Dixon, with 3-3-6-K had treys full and went out third, paying $2,516, while Kapsack, took the low end.
Dixon, 40, is a financial consultant from Fresno, California who’s played five years. He placed third in the earlier pot-limit hold’em/Omaha event here on his birthday.
Ware and Kapsack now made a deal, putting an end to this event, Ware, with the most chips, was the winner, and dashed off to play in today’s crazy pineapple event which he had also entered but hadn’t yet had a chance to play a single hand.
2nd place: Kapsack took out $3,594 for runner-up. He is a 47-year-old attorney from San Francisco who was playing his first tournament ever.
1st place: Ware, whose cashes include six at the WSOP, prefers to play mixed games or any split games because they require more decision-making. His style is to play patiently and to play good hands.
His biggest worry at the final table was O’Dell, whom he described as a “super-aggressive” player, so he was careful to go against him only with premium hands. –Max Shapiro