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Home > What's New > Big Smoke Poker
Big Smoke Poker
Posted: Monday, May 23, 2005
By Michael Moretti
Scott Mateosky of Cleveland, Ohio won the $14,000 first-place prize in Cigar Aficionado's Texas Hold'em poker tournament in Atlantic City.
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Fifty-five players entered, plunking down $500 apiece, and one walked out with $14,000 at Cigar Aficionado's second annual no-limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City May 14.
Prior to the Big Smoke on Saturday evening, players puffed at the green felt tables in hopes of adding a bundle of cash to a horde of cigars. This year's competitors drew $2,000 in chips with which to gamble. If they had any money left after the qualifying rounds, they would win one of five chairs at the final table and contend for a $14,000 prize purse, 50 percent of the total pot. Short of that, a player could earn $5,600 for second, $4,200 for third, $2,800 for fourth and $1,400 for fifth.
Held downstairs from the main casino floor, the tournament was in full swing in the early afternoon with ups, downs, busts, blinds, folds and all-ins. The scene was a far cry from the suburban basements where many of the entrants first acquired their penchant for poker. Players smoked from a complimentary three-pack of Trinidad, Montecristo and H. Upmann Cameroon Vintage cigars, cocktail waitresses hurried among them fetching drink orders, the casino game organizer intermittently shouted directions, and a flat-screen television in the corner displayed stats: the remaining players, the pots, the time and the blinds (the minimum bet to play in each round).
In case you've missed the recent phenomenon, Texas Hold'em is a card game in which each player is dealt two cards face down, known as the hole cards. There's a bet, and then three cards are turned up in the center of the table -- this is known as the flop. There's another bet, another up card in the center, called the turn, another bet, followed by the last card, called the river, and the final bet.
The cards in the center are community cards, which everyone can use to make his best five-card hand. At any time, a person can go "all in," putting all his chips on one bet. If you lose, you go home.
Players eye their cards and each other in the first round of the tournament.
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This may not be the World Series of Poker, the premier televised event among poker players today, but it certainly has its risks and a school of card sharks. Clattering chips broke the quiet. Smoke swirled to the rafters as players eyed their cards and one another. Once some of the first-rounders were ousted, the quiet was cut with whoops of joy and groans of defeat. The talk and the noise of the more seasoned players began to percolate in cordial although competitive banter. As players lost and moved to the sidelines or up to the casino to try to win back their entry fees at blackjack, tables were cleaned and consolidated until the tournament was down to the final table of eight. Three more players would be eliminated before the survivors would adjourn to the Big Smoke upstairs, after which the final was to take place.
Ken Goldfarb of Marlton, New Jersey, last year's tournament winner, was down to about $1,200 at one point, went all in twice and rallied back to $4,000 in chips. John William Brown Jr., of Drexel University in Philadelphia, at only 25 years old was playing on his sister's boyfriend's dime, and was up $10,300 at one point. The field was wide open.
The champ Goldfarb was ousted from play, as was Brown. Neither would make the final five. With the blinds quickly rising, the money changed hands more rapidly and players were forced to bet it all to stay in or get eliminated. No one could sit back and wait it out anymore; it was crunch time and you had to move to advance.
After the Big Smoke, players and spectators rushed downstairs from the ballroom to see the final round of the tournament. Five players took their seats. Scott Mateosky of Cleveland, Ohio, owner of a poker outfitting company, was the chip leader with $48,000. Bernard Picca of Brooklyn, New York, a civil servant, and Jonathan Gordon of Randolph, New Jersey, a salesman, were tied for second with $25,000. Mark Bradburn of Manhattan, a financial consultant, had $17,500 and Scott Newman of Toms River, New Jersey, owner of a computer services company, had the short stack at $1,000. Newman was out quickly: without much dough, the odds were not in his favor. Picca was out second, and considering the chip count, it was a surprise. Bradburn had a lower chip pile at the outset, but managed to outlast him. However, the chips didn't last long and Bradburn soon took his leave with only Gordon and Mateosky remaining.
Mateosky, sporting upside down, multihued mirror sunglasses, showed no emotion. He hung tight for a couple of hands and triumphed with a seven, queen off-suit. Not exactly a sure bet, but it got the job done.
"He played a smart game," said Gordon, who walked away with second place and some good money for a hell of a night in A.C.
Mateosky, who has been playing for eight years, became interested in poker because, he said, "I like the psychology of the game." Probably the $14 large is nice as well.
Here's to this year's players. Hope to see you all next year.
Photos by Jonathan Smith Also in Cigar News:
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