2011 WSOP Bracelet Winner Profile – Leonard “Lenny” Martin

On Thursday, Leonard Martin took down Event #49 of the 2011 WSOP,  the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. This is the first bracelet for Martin who has had several cashes in his long poker career but never a win. Martin came out on top of a starting field of 309 players including some of the best poker players in the world.

Lenny Martin - $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball bracelet winner

Martin, 55, has been a poker pro for 25 years. He was born in the Ukraine and came to the United States as a young man. Martin settled in Los Angeles and began to play in the local card rooms. He then started to make trips to Las Vegas. It was in Vegas that Martin discovered his calling for poker.

Martin began playing Limit Hold’Em at the Mirage in the late 80’s. He played in the 10-20 Limit Hold’Em game that was popular at the time. Once Martin realized that he was able to beat the local games he moved permanently from Los Angeles to Vegas. Over the course of his career Martin has played with everyone ranging from Johnny Moss to Eli Elezra.

Deuce to Seven is a game that Martin is particular good at. He has final tabled Deuce events three times in the last four years. In 2007 he came in 2^nd in the 1K Deuce event for   $128,120. In 2010 he came in 6^th for $24,723 in the $2,500 event and he won $2,500 Deuce championship this year.

Day 1 started with many of the top players in the world in attendance. David Benyamine, John D’Agostino, Gavin Smith, Jason Mercier and Jean-Robert Bellande. After play had wrapped for the day 105 players were left standing. Jimmy Fricke was the chip leader heading into Day 2 with 69,700 in chips. Eli Elezra was in second place with 57,100 in chips.

At the end of Day 2 Martin had moved into 4^th place with 242,500 in chips. Jason Mercier was the chip leader heading into Day 3 with 358,500 in chips. When it got down to heads-up there were two men standing. Justin Bonomo had 1,605,000 in chips and Leonard Martin had 750,000.

Martin managed to win a half-million chip pot when his 8x-7x-6x-4x-2x beat Bonomo’s Ten high. Martin now had his stack at 1,940,000 chips. Bonomo was short stacked with 380,000 chips.

The final hand saw Martin raise the button and Bonomo call. Martin drew one card while Bonomo drew two. Bonomo check called. On the second draw Martin stood pat and Bonomo drew 1. Bonomo then check raised Martin all in. Bonomo drew one and Martin stood pat again. Martin had 8x-7x-6-x4-x3 while Bonomo was drawing to 7x-4x-3-x2. Bonomo caught a King and Martin was the winner of WSOP Event #49.

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