|
First-Time Player Gets Win
Kwan Kim, an importer playing his first tournament, went on a rush in the late stages of the final table, bulldozed his opponents and roared to a convincing win in the 17th event of Winnin' o' the Green 2005, $300 no-limit hold'em, an event with a prize pool more than double the $100,000 guarantee. When he got heads-up with Tony 'TNT' Nasr, Kim led with about 272k-74k, and the two did a deal. It might have been Kim's first tournament, but one would never guess it from his assured play and confident table talk.
There is a saying, adapted from the Bible, that goes, 'The first shall be last.' That's almost what happened tonight. The final table sat down after more than nine hours of play, and after protracted discussion, agreed to a chip count deal for 90 percent of the prize pool. David Bertolucci, an actor, had the chip lead and wanted to take his share and walk off stage. Had that happened, the player who was first in chips would officially be first out and last of the 10. But then he accepted a little extra from each player and stayed in his seat.
Blinds started at 1k/2k with 300 in antes, 31:58 left. Gary Beck, whose business is computers, crashed on the sixth hand. He moved in with Q-Q. Bertolucci called with K-K and flopped a set. Nine hands later, Thu Nguyen, a chemical technician, opened for 9k with A-5. John Hoang, winner of an earlier no-limit event, moved in for 15k with pocket kings. An ace flopped and we were down to eight.
As blinds went to 2k/4k with 500 antes, Kim and Nguyen were roughly tied for the lead in the 75k range. Three hands later, Gil Perez was all in with A-3 against Kim's K-Q. Both an ace and a queen flopped, but then Perez, who is in the construction business, got hammered when another queen turned, and he finished eighth. It would not be the last time that queens got Kim the money.
Nguyen then took out poker player Shawn Chaconas, who moved in for 18.5k with Kc-7s. Nguyen called with A-10. When the flop came Ac-10c-6c, Nguyen had two pair and Chaconas had a flush draw. The best he could catch was a king, and he ended seventh.
When blinds rose to 3k-6k with 1k antes, Kim, who had picked up pots with several all-in bets and raises, had the lead with about 90k, though Nguyen was only about 10k behind. On hand 37, Jim White moved in for about 35k with Ks-10s. Kim called with A-Q, and once again caught two more queens. White, a plumber, washed away in sixth place and Kim was now way in front with about 135k.
Hand 38 was the cruncher. On a board of As-8-5s-K-9s, Pogos Simityan was all in with A-Q, and then Nguyen moved in with 9-5. Kim called and turned up Js-10s for a flush and hauled in a huge pot as Simityan finshed fifth and Nguyen fourth.
It seemed as if nothing could stop the onrushing Kim, and nothing did. Three hands later, Bertolucci pushed in his last chips with K-7. Kim called with Q-J, and after a jack flopped, we were down to two players. Facing a mountain of chips and a player catching everything, Nasr was happy to make a deal. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Kwan Kim is an importer of tools. He's been playing poker 'all my life,' in casinos for six years and played his first tournament tonight 'just to try it.' In cash games he plays no-limit with $500 and up buy-ins.
In the first round tonight, after his pocket kings lost to pocket aces, he blurted out the f-word, was given a 10-minute penalty and blinded off down to 600 in chips before making his comeback. The key to his win tonight, he said, came when he noticed that players at the final table were often pushing it in with hands like A-10. He was then able to move in with pocket pairs and hands such as A-K or A-Q, forcing them to lay down. 'A couple of times they got tired and called and I had monsters. I was very lucky tonight.'
|
