Pittsburgh Poker Open -- and then there were two

PITTSBURGH -- Trophy Number Two:

 

Larry won the second one on Thanksgiving day. Hannah and I were there cheering him on, and it was a riot.

The game was 7-card stud, eight or better. Larry taught himself the rules the night before. It's 2 cards down (to each player), 4 cards up (to each player) and 1 card down (to each player). A high hand and a legitimate low hand will split the pot. The low hand can't have a card higher than an 8, and it cannot include any pairs. So think junk hand. The best hand to get would be A2345 as a straight flush because it would be most likely the highest hand and also the lowest hand. 

There were only six guys playing, and that was good because it takes a l-o-n-g time to play. With more people, it would have gone on for hours.

The poker room was virtually empty, one cash game only going on. So we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The dealers who weren't actively working were watching, too. At one point, a player flipped a card into the air by accident. It hit Hannah's foot and then the ground, and I picked it up. They have to take the deck out of play and count the cards. I get it. People do cheat. Just not me.

RIGHT NOW is the No Limit Hold 'em tournament, a 2-day event. Larry just texted: 

"Playing well. Getting cards. But getting killed on flops. 4 drives against my aces so down 35% of stack. But not giving up."

To be continued.