Championship field narrowed to elite 27

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Henry Orenstein survived day one of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas hold 'em championship at the World Series of Poker, but, like so many, he did not make it past day two of the four-day event at Binion's Horseshoe.

However, that did not matter much, for Henry Orenstein, 73, is a survivor in life.

The 1996 world 7-card stud champion survived the Nazi death camps during World War II. The world of life-and-death high-stakes poker has nothing on that.

"Poker is a game with a lot of elements -- one is being a good judge of people," said Orenstein, a resident of Verona, N.J., who wrote the acclaimed book "I Shall Live," an account about his years in German concentration camps in Poland.

"One thing I learned in the camps is that you have to be a good judge of people to survive -- and you judge people on their own merits, not by the group they belong to.

"For example, the Germans killed most of my family. But over the years, I've met a lot of good Germans. It's not a person's money that is most important -- not his job or his status, and certainly not his good looks. But rather, it is his character."

In his book, Orenstein recounts that he survived the death camps by joining a German unit comprised of Jews who were scientists, mathematicians and other learned men, although he was just a 19-year-old student at the time and had bluffed his way on to that detail.

"I knew people were being put to death, and I figured this was my best chance to survive, even though I was not a scientist -- I was just a kid," Orenstein said. "We did menial tasks for the Germans."

And whenever the opportunity arose, Orenstein and others in his position did whatever they could to throw a monkey wrench into the Nazi war machine.

In all, he spent time in five Nazi camps before being liberated.

Today, Orenstein plays poker and enjoys the company of his French poodles. One of them, Romeo, is an excellent soccer player, maneuvering the ball around trees in the yard with his nose and head-butting it to score goals.

"He is a strong competitor, just like I am," Orenstein said.

In 1994, that competitive edge earned Orenstein a 12th-place finish in the no-limit hold 'em game, and a year later he placed eighth in the world title event. Last year, he won the $5,000 buy-in limit 7-card stud title and $130,000.

Orenstein was part of a record field of 312 players in this year's no-limit finale to the month-long granddaddy of all gaming tournaments. The field was cut to 167 after day one Monday and then to 27 just before 2 a.m. today.

Although Orenstein was 22nd after the first day, he was eliminated by late Tuesday.

The tournament continues this afternoon and evening in the Horseshoe Poker Pavilion with the final three tables, where all the remaining gamblers will win prize money.

The event concludes Thursday starting at 10 a.m. under the Fremont Street Experience canopy with the six finalists. The winner will receive $1 million.

Ron Stanley, a veteran poker player from Las Vegas, was the day two chip leader with $401,500. Two-time world champion Stu Ungar, also of Las Vegas, was second with $232,000. Day one chip leader Peter Bao, yet another Las Vegan, was third with $232,000.

In all, 15 former world champions began the quest to reclaim the crown. However, by early today, just Ungar, the 1980 and '81 champion, and two others were still in the hunt. They are Phil Hellmuth Jr., the 1989 champion from Palo Alto, Calif., and hall of famer Doyle Brunson, the 1976 and '77 champ, from Las Vegas.

Also, 12 women entered the event, but only one remains -- Marsha Waggoner of Downey, Calif.