Tournament Details

Professional poker has undergone some seismic shifts over the past couple of years. One of the more surprising is the sudden emergence of the poker pro as celebrity. Another is the rise of bonafide celebs making final tables and even winning tournaments with increasing regularity. This week marked the fourth edition of the event that started the whole crazy mix-up – the World Poker Tour Los Angeles Invitational – where celebs and poker pros rub elbows and trade chips in a three day, $200,000 free-roll. In a perfectly fitting Hollywood twist, when the dust of 293 players had cleared to reveal the final six, the only authentic celeb at the final table was burgeoning poker legend Barry "Charity" Greenstein. But with a $100,000 payout at stake and a guaranteed $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship, mere notoriety was the last thing on the minds of Greenstein's challengers.

Here was the final table lineup: In Seat 1, Greenstein, the prohibitive chip leader with $1,119,000. In Seat 2, 47 year old pro and 2-time WPT finalist, Blair Rodman, in 3rd chip position with 573,000. In Seat 3, the Las Vegas Mirage Casino's poker room manager, Ugar Marangoz, the short stack with 64,000. In Seat 4, 40 year-old internet marketing vet, Allen Kessler, in 5th chip position with 166,000. In Seat 5, former Park Ranger Tom Lock, in 2nd chip position with 740,000. In Seat 6, the suave, sophisticated, tuxedoed pro Jesse Jones, in 4th position with 279,000. Antes and blinds started at 2,000, 6,000, and 12,000.

At the start of play there was quite a bit of successful bluffing and semi-bluffing. Uncontested pots were taken down in a succession of early position pre-flop raises. One result of this was that Ugar Marangoz's short stack quickly got even shorter. So when Jesse Jones brought it in for his second early raise, making it 36,000 to go, Ugar took a long moment over his As-2c to consider his options. Mike Sexton is fond of citing, for the TV audience, the poker maxim "think long, think wrong," and for good reason. Here was another clear case. With just enough to make a meaningful re-raise, Ugar finally decided to stake his tourney on the weak ace, and pushed all-in over the top for another 38,000. Kessler, with some chips to use, decided to collaborate with Jones in trying to knock out the short stack, and called with K-Q offsuit. Jones, with Ah-Th, called, and they went to the flop. Unbeknownst to him, Ugar's night was all but over when it hit 8-7-6, all hearts, flopping Jones the nut flush. Jones and Kessler checked to the turn, which paired the board, 6s. But this time after Kessler checked, Jones didn't waste any more time with the dangerous possibility of a full-house, and pushed all-in himself. Kessler mucked, and Ugar saw the grim tidings when Jones flipped over his dream-crusher. A meaningless 7s on the river was the last thing Ugar saw as he went to the rail in 6th place, with $5,000 to help the stroll.

Barry Greenstein began the day aggressive, and continued to hammer all day long. The only significant resistance he seemed to encouter was from veteran Blair Rodman, and even he made an early bad read, folding pocket T's to Greenstein's massive pre-flop overbet on pocket 7's. Nonetheless, he hung in, trying not to lose touch with the chip leader, and did manage to get some chips back when he pushed Greenstein off the same hand, A-9, with a nice pre-flop re-raise. This back and forth continued, with an occasional variance – as when Jones made a nice check-raise with pocket 6's into a Qh-Qs-9d board, and Rodman was forced to laydown. Tom Lock made a solid play with pocket 5's, snapping off one of Greenstein's many moves by limping, then re-raising when Barry tried to steal with 6-3 offsuit.

Play continued back and forth, with the four challengers making steady progress, whittling Greenstein's stack down. Lock even momentarily took over the chip lead, but lost it on an ill-advised move with K-Q suited. Perhaps steaming a bit, and aware that Greenstein was not going to stop hammering with any two cards, Lock decided to call a 60,000 raise from the big blind with Jd-Ts. Little did he know the danger he was in, as Greenstein actually had holdings this time, a dominating Ah-Tc. The flop came Td-6h-3h, disaster for Lock, giving him top pair. Thinking it was good, he trapped and checked. As he had hoped, Greenstein indeed continued, bringing it in for 90,000. Lock quickly pushed all-in over the top for another 412,000, but knew the score as soon as Greenstein called just as quickly. Exclaiming "Uh-oh, see you guys later!" Lock could only shake his head as Greenstein flipped over his dominator. The turn and river came an uneventful 9c, 2s, and just like that play was down to four, with Tom Lock going out in 5th place, taking home $10,000.

Jesse Jones dodged raindrops all day, making some quality laydowns, good reads and plays. But with antes and blinds going up to 3,000, 15,000, and 30,000, he now found himself on the short-stack. Aware that Barry was extremely active and raising with a lot of different cards, Jesse picked the wrong time to play back. After Barry, with 9d-9h, brought it in for his seemingly standard opener of 90,000, Jesse, with Qc-Jh, decided to make a move of his own, and pushed all-in over the top for 230,000 more. Greenstein called quickly, and the two of them were in a classic race. But when the flop came T-9-2, giving him a set, it looked as if Barry was going to rain on Jesse's parade. Until the turn came Kd, making Jesse's straight and giving him visions of a solid victory, however they were wiped clean when the case 9 fell on the river. Greenstein made quads, and swept out the congenial Jesse Jones in 4th place, with $15,000.

Allen Kessler played tight all day, making the most of, the premium cards he got. But now down to three players, he shifted it up a notch, bringing it in for 105,000 on Ah-7h. Just his luck, as Greenstein woke up with jacks, and immediately re-raised to 550,000, which put Kessler all-in. Kessler finally decided to gamble, and called. His optimism was squashed by another monster flop for Greenstein, this time K-Q-J, all spades, giving the Robin Hood of poker yet another set, even as Kessler still had a dim hope of making Broadway with a ten. But Kessler's night was over when the board ran out 7c, 6s, and he ran out as well, taking down $25,000.

Now heads up, Rodman and Greenstein locked horns. Rodman, the two-time WPT finalist looking to improve on his 2nd place finish at Reno in Season 3, Greenstein looking to add a second title to his oeuvre, which already included the Season 2 World Poker Open. But Greenstein refused to yield, hammering at every pot, with or without cards, and he had Rodman on his heels from the start. Tired of getting run over hand after hand, Rodman had to decide when and where to make a stand.

Waking up with Ac-Tc, Rodman was intrigued when Barry brought it in for his standard opening gambit of 90,000. Feeling that this might be a nice spot to play back and with his stack down to a third Greenstein's - 890,000 to 2,122,000 – Rodman pushed back, hard. He went all-in over the top, and was stunned when Greenstein practically beat him into the pot, flipping up big slick, Ad-Kc. The flop fell favorably on both players, but more favorably on Greenstein, the K-T-7 pairing both kickers. After 4s on the turn, Rodman was down to two outs. But neither of the two remaining tens was to be found. The river came 2h, and closed him out in 2nd place for the second time at a WPT final table. Somehow, Greenstein was already inscribing a copy of his seminal poker work, "Ace on the River," it seemed even before the hand was over. After handing it over to the philosophical Rodman, Barry Greenstein had joined the narrow rank of players to have won more than a single WPT title. Rodman took $50,000 for his work, and Greenstein, well known for donating 100% of his tournament winnings to charity, prepared to do so again with his $200,000. A fitting headline for a week of Hollywood poker wars that ended in a Greenstein sequel – "Robin Hood Prevails Again."