| First Event Win for Nurse
Richard Bustamente, a hospital nurse playing the first tournament in his life, is the winner of the third Last Chance tournament of Legends 2004. Bustamente had the chip lead with $61,500 when he sat down at the final table, and still had a lead of $105,500 when the $100 no-limit event ended abruptly with a six-way chip-count deal.
This multi-way deal in turn brings up yesterday’s event, Last Chance #2, which ended in a 10-way deal without a shot being fired at the final table. I had turned in a memo saying there would be no report because there was little if anything to write about. Imagine my surprise when that memo was used as the entire newsletter write-up, which was 99.9 percent blank. How embarrassing. The big question now is: Do I dare bill the Bicycle Casino for that report? Since I suspect that nobody in the front office reads my write-ups, I probably will. Even if I don’t get away with it, I have another out. This “nothing-to-write-about” report has become an instant classic, and I understand that copies are being sold on e-Bay for $50 each, so I guess I’ll sell a few there.
On a more serious note, with Legends 2004 winding down, this would be a good opportunity to give credit to poker operations manager Rick Cloward for his superlative job in setting up and overseeing this year’s schedule, and to tournament director Denny Williams, tournament coordinator Ron Cramer and the entire staff for running it so smoothly and professionally. When Legends ends on Sunday there will have been 36 tournaments, three of them two- or four-day events, two filmed events, play-offs for the regular tournaments and for the Last Chance events, a super satellite points race and a dinner/roast for Lyle Berman. In all, the logistics involved were greater than those needed for the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II, and everything came off without a hitch.
Along with her crew, Sharon Silvas did her usual effortless job handling all the myriad tasks that are given to the Welcome Center. But the most credit, of course, goes to Max Shapiro for his informative and entertaining reports and his incredible endurance. In particular, on August 31 there were three events: Ladies Poker Party day 2, then the Championship/WPT event; and then Last Chance #1. Shapiro somehow managed to cover and write up all three events, an unparalleled accomplishment which simultaneously landed him in the Guinness Book of Records and the emergency room.
With a little room left, let us now return to Last Chance #3. When the last 10 entrants assembled at the final table, they were playing with antes of $500, $1,500-$3,000 blinds and 26:36 left in that round. It didn’t take long for the first player to be knocked out. On the first hand, Tuong Luu, who sat down with only $1,000, was all in with Qs-4s. Jeff Huffman then pushed in his $61,000 stack with pocket 9s and pro player Tony Abesamis called all in with A-2. A board of 7-5-4-6-4 gave Luu the main pot as he tripled up with trip 4s. Huffman took the side pot and Abesamis finished 10th.
Two hands Luu survived again, this time with pocket 8s against Kham Hoang’s Q-5. On hand nine, Bustamente increased his chip lead significantly as he eliminated Kham Hoang by pairing his king. Hoang moved in with pocket queens and Bustamente called with K-10. The board came 5-3-2-K-7 and Bustamente busted Hoang out of the tournament.
There were now six minutes left in the round, and a chip-count calculation was called for. It was: Jeff Huffman, $72,000 Bustamente, $70,000; Param Gill, $38,500; Ernie Sebastian, $36,000; Luu, $23,000; Major Polk, $22,500; Grady Talbot, $20,000; and Jon Setoguchi, $19,500. Polk objected to a deal, thus becoming the man to beat.
Play resumed. Blinds soon went to $2,000-$4,000, with $1,000 antes. There were all-in moves by Talbot, Sebastian and Bustamente, none of which was called. Then, on hand 26, Talbot, with A-10 raised $10,000 pre-flop and was called by Gill with A-K. A flop of K-Q-5 gave Gill top pair and Talbot a straight draw. Talbot moved in for about $20,000. Two 7s came, and Talbot, an attorney, was out in eighth place.
On the next hand, Polk was sent packing. He was all in with the best hand, K-Q against J-4 for Bustamente. Then a 4 flopped and Bustamente’s paired 4s held up. With Polk gone, another chip count was called for. Now Bustamente led with $105,500 to $76,500 for Gill, $53,000 for Sebastian, $40,000 for Huffman (a dealer at Diamond Jim’s up north); $16,000 for attorney Jon Setoguchi; and $10,500 for Luu. This time everybody was agreeable, and Last Chance #3 was over. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Richard Bustamente has been a nurse at the Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood for 10 years, and he’s been playing poker for about the same length of time. Until now, his poker activity has been restricted to $6-$12 limit hold’em side games. He decided to play his very first tournament tonight “just for fun,” and was surprised to win it. Will this prompt him to play tournaments more often? “Maybe someday,” he said.
He also said he wasn’t bothered by jumping into no-limit. His strategy was simple: With any decent cards, he just “pushed in.” Sometimes he had the best hand, sometimes not, but in the latter case, he outdrew often enough so that he was never in trouble. The big hand for him came with three tables left. He was in the big blind with 9-4. A player with pocket kings limped, hoping to trap him. Instead, Bustamente flopped a full house and won about $20,000.
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