| It's Sweet Music for Pyles
Event number 21 of Winnin' o' the Green was sweet music to Alan Pyles, office
manager for a company making music boxes. He had about 30 percent of the chips
when the $500 no-limit event ended in a five-way chop, and took down the win,
officially worth $31,000. Pyles was almost as happy for being on the top of
his game as he was for the big payday. Almost.
Paul Vinci, meanwhile, finished third and retook the all-around points lead
in a see-saw race with Keith Dabols.
Second-day, final-table action began at 3 p.m., an hour later than scheduled,
because day one ran to 6 a.m. Antes were 500 and blinds 1,500/3,000. In the
first 15 hands, we only saw three flops. The first time, Vinci moved in for
17k with pocket treys and made a full house to double up at the expense of Men
"The Master" Nguyen, who had called with A-Q. The second time, Kevin
O'Malley, in the big blind, threw in his last few chips to call a raise by Jorge
Pineda, who also had A-Q. O'Malley had a puny 4-2. "Might be an omen,"
he said. It was. He made a straight.
The third time, Rahman Vace proved the truth of the old adage about being
careful what you wish for. He had pocket 7s against an all-in Pyle's pocket
9s. Vace called for a 7 and got his wish, only to realize with a shock that
with a board of 8-6-2-5, the river 7 gave Pyle a straight. Vace should have
called for a third 9 for Pyle, which would have given him the straight!
On the next hand, blinds went to 2k/4k with the same antes. On the first hand
we had a double knockout. Nguyen moved in for 17k, O'Malley called, and then
Pyles moved in. O'Malley called the re-raise to go all in himself for 4k more.
Nguyen had A-2, O'Malley had As-Qs and Pyles had pocket kings. A board of Q-10-4-9-J
gave Pyles a straight. The Master was out in 10th place, worth $1,625, and O'Malley,
a business owner, collected $1,950 for ninth, and Pyles had the chip lead.
Pocket 7s once again proved to be Vace's undoing. On hand 21, he was all in
with that same pair against Param Gill, who had Qs-Js. Gill hit a straight on
the river when the board came A-K-2-K-10, and we were down to seven players
as Vace cashed in for $2,600.
On the next hand, Franco Brunetti of Italy, who won events at WOG and Cal
State last year, moved in for 12k, and then Gill pushed in all his chips. "I
have a trouble hand," Gill proclaimed, perhaps recalling that A-Q had lost
in all three prior big hands. No trouble at all, except for Brunetti. He had
K-J, and when the board came 8-8-7-Q-4, Brunetti cashed out for $3,250 in seventh
place.
Two hands later, Vinci picked up a lot of chips when he moved in with Qd-Jd,
then outdrew Pineda's K-J when two queens flopped. Pineda, in the construction
business, was down to 4.5k. On the next hand, Daniel Dahan raised with the A-Q
"trouble hand" and Pineda put in his last few chips with 7h-3h. A
queen flopped, Pineda got $5,850 for sixth, and the remaining players did a
chip-count deal. Pyles had piled up 115k; Vace was second, worth an official
$24,700; Vinci was third, worth $12,350; and Gil, fourth for $8,450; and real
estate broker Mel Starkman fifth, $5,850.
-Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Alan Pyles has been playing poker for 15 years, and most of his activity involves
tournaments. He has a prior tournament win, in $100 limit hold'em at this year's
America's Poker Classic. In side game action, he plays anywhere from $100 to
$500 buy-in no-limit hold'em, or low-limit Omaha hi-lo. He describes his play
as tight and aggressive. He much prefers no-limit to limit because he enjoys
it much more and because he feels limit is too straightforward. "It's a
mathematical game, and I'm not very mathematical," he says.
In this event he was in good shape throughout. "I was playing my best
game," he enthused. "I was reading players well, I was aggressive
at the right time and I made some good laydowns. For the last eight tables,
he seemed to keep tangling with Dahan, who he seemed to really upset when he
made a straight with the 7 that Dahan requested |
