Hoang Wins in 7-Way Chop
John Hoang, sporting the shiny bracelet he won this year at the World Poker
Open, started and ended the final table in tonight's $200 no-limit event with
the most chips. After only 10 hands, the table was down to seven players. There
was a chip-count deal, and Hoang was declared the winner of the 10th event of
Winnin' o' the Green 2005. He had 101,500 chips, but with two players close
behind, a deal seemed prudent. This event had a $75,000 guarantee which was
greatly exceeded by a prize pool of $193,400 generated by 376 players who made
591 rebuys.
Blinds were 3k/6k with 1k antes and 24:26 left when the final table got going.
Tod Dubow, an attorney, started lowest-chipped with 5,500, but got some breathing
room on the first hand. Thu Nguyen, opened for 15k with pocket 5s. Dubow called
with Q-10 suited and won by flopping a 10. Three hands later we lost our first
player. Stephane Fitoussi raised with pocket aces. Kirk Conrad called all in
with Jc-10c, and "Hollywood" Tony Kayden, down to 6k in the big blind
with 9d-6d, decided he had to call as well. A flop of Q-9-8 gave Conrad the
nut straight, and Kayden ended up 10th, which paid $2,420. Kayden, a film writer/poker
player, has a second in $1,000 no-limit hold'em at the 2004 L.A. Poker Classic.
Hollywood was well represented tonight. Also at the final table was Mark Myers,
a film editor of movie trailers. And making the second table was William Kerr,
another film editor, whose latest project is the major poker movie "Lucky
You" being written, produced and directed by Curtis Hanson of "L.A.
Confidential" fame.
Poker player Gioi Luong was next out. Thu Nguyen moved in with pocket jacks
and Luong called for somewhat over 30k with pocket 10s and couldn't improve.
Luong has literally dozens of tournament cash-ins. His wins include the Mariani-Buss
Charity event at the Bike last year, but his biggest cash-out came when he collected
$127,114 for winning the Five Diamond World Poker Classic last year. Tonight,
he got $2,900 for ninth place.
On hand nine, Jonathan Azoulay was all in and won with pocket aces. On the next
hand, the last of this event, pocket aces showed up for the third time. Fern
Chamberlain opened for 20k with the two bullets, and Dubow called all in from
the button for 8.5k holding Js-9s. The board came 6-5-2-8-5, and the attorney
picked up $2,900 for finishing eighth.
The chip count deal was made and the event was over. First place for Hoang paid
an official $72,530. Chamberlain, a mother of two who is a system analyst for
a computer chip company, had 96,000 chips and finished second, paying an official
$36,745. Finishing third with 86,000 chips was Thu Nguyen, a chemical technician
who got over 100k for winning Commerce's $300 no-limit Holiday Bonus event last
year. Third paid $18,375. Mortgage banker/horse trainer Conrad, who made 15
final tables in 2003, had 57,000 chips and finished fourth, worth $12,570.
Myers, who won a 10k super satellite at Commerce came in fifth with 57,000
chips, just ahead of Fitoussi, a jewelry salesman, who had 56k. And finally,
Jonathan Azoulay, who is in the restaurant business and had three WSOP cash-ins
last year, finished seventh with 32k.
-Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
John Hoang is a software computer engineer who has been playing poker full
time for three years now. He started out playing 7-stud side games in Atlantic
City, working his way up to $300-$600 limits, then moved to L.A. three years
ago. In that time he's had numerous cash-ins in all games, from hold'em to stud,
to stud/8, to Omaha/8 to deuce to seven lowball. He also has best all-arounds
at the Mini Series and Poker Derby. His biggest prize had been $69,970 for winning
last year's $300 no-limit at Winnin' o' the Green. Then, in January, he collected
$222,187 for taking first place in a $2,000 no-limit event at Jack Binion's
World Poker Open.
Hoang, who plays mostly tournaments, classes himself as an aggressive player.
Tonight he was down to 8k after taking a big hit at the $200-$400 level. He
began his recovery when he made an all-in move with Q-9 after two players limped,
and ended up winning when a queen flopped. |
