‘Eskimo’ hot in Queens poker tourney

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The Ides of March was unlucky for Caesar, but the first weekend in September is very lucky for Paul "Eskimo" Clark of New Orleans.

Clark won the $500 no-limit Texas hold 'em event Saturday during the third annual Queens Summer Poker Classic. His victory, which earned him $29,000, came exactly two years after he won the Queens limit hold 'em event the first September weekend of 1994.

The burly, dark-haired poker player, a fixture on the Las Vegas tournament poker scene for more than a decade, won the tournament's final pot with a pair of queens.

A day earlier, poker prodigy Phil Hellmuth Jr. won the $500 one-rebuy Texas hold 'em event, and pocketed $38,600. Hellmuth, 31, of Palo Alto, Calif., the 1989 World Series of Poker champion, has won several other major poker championships.

Jack Rose of Las Vegas won the Omaha hold 'em high-lo split tournament on Thursday, earning $26,800. A day earlier, Lamar Hampton of Winter Park, Fla., won the Omaha hold 'em tournament, and earned $14,688.

On Sept. 3, Tony Lantz of Las Vegas speared the $300 buy-in no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament, and pocketed $21,880.

The Queens Summer Poker classic continues through Sept. 20.