| ‘Stinky' Ly Comes Out Smelling
Like a Rose in Event #11 Victory
In a 98-hand marathon that saw numerous chip lead changes, full-time player Timothy “Stinky” Ly outlasted fellow pro Vinny Landrum to take down the 11th event of Grand Slam of Poker 2005, $500 no-limit hold’em.
Good-natured loud and boisterous behavior marked the final table as players did not hold back their emotions
The finalists started the final table playing with blinds of 800-1,600 and 300 antes, 27:53 left.
On the fourth deal, Minh Tran tried an all-in move one away from the cut-off seat. He had just 7d-6d and was in big trouble when Ly moved in with pocket 5s and Keith Boyarsky, with the most chips, called with A-K. When the board came Q-Q-9-2-10, Stinky tripled up and celebrated with a whooping war dance. Tran, with nothing to celebrate, was out in 10th place.
Just two hands later, Todd Krauss, an attorney who arrived lowest-chipped with just 8,500, was all in with A-10 against Steve Crockett’s pocket queens. Nobody helped, and we were quickly down to eight players.
On the 14th hand the blinds increased to 1,000-2,000, and with antes of 400. Boyarsky, a musician/poker player, after being crippled in the three-way pot when Minh was knocked out, had managed to build his chips up a bit with a couple of all-in bets. On hand 21, he tried it again, moving in from the small blind with 10-9. This time he ran into pocket aces held by Jeff Thompson. A 9 flopped, but that was as far as Boyarsky got as he finished in eighth place.
Three hands later, Crockett, with A-Q, went all in when the flop came 9-8-3. Michael Eads was in the big blind with just 8-2, but his paired 8 was sufficient to leave Crockett, a contractor, in seventh place.
As play continued, Osmin Dardon moved in for about 35,000 with K-J, doubling through against Jeff Thompson with a paired jack and taking the chip lead.
When blinds went to 1,500-3,000 with 500 antes, an eyeball chip count showed Dardon still led with about 75,000, followed by Eads, 60,000; Ly, 45,000; Landrum and Nick Hanna, 30,000 each; and Jeff Thompson, 24,000.
On the first hand at the new level, Landrum doubled through against Ly in a classic confrontation when his pocket queens held up against A-K He was now just a little behind chip-leader Dardon.
Thompson was then left with about 9,500 when he missed an open-end straight draw, losing to Ly, who was all in and won with queen-high. Then Hanna was left with just 1,500 when his pocket deuces lost to Ly’s pocket queens. He hung on for a while by doubling through against Thompson. But a few hands later he was all in from the big blind with just 7-3. Landrum had 10-9 in the small blind and filled when the board came 10-5-5-2-10 leaving Hanna, whose occupation is in sales, in sixth place.
The five finalists asked for a chip count. Landrum now had the lead with 91,000. Dardon was second with 85,500; Ly third with 47,500; Eads fourth with 41,500; and Thompson trailed with 9,500.
Very long and heated negotiations ensued, but in the end there was no deal and play continued.
Two hands later, Thompson was in the big blind with K-9 and lost his last few chips to Ly, who had A-3, finishing in fifth place.
A couple of hands later, blinds went to 2,000-4,000.
A bunch of hands pots went by with raises, over-the-top all-ins, and folds as nobody wanted a confronataion. Finally, on hand 67, Ly opened for 15,000. Eads, in the big blind, moved in for 46,500. He had K-Q to Ad-4d for Ly. When a 4 flopped and another 4 turned to give Ly trips, Eads, who owns a wellness institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, departed in fourth place.
Another chip count was called for. This time, Stinky had the lead with 127,000 to 67,000 for Dardon and 73,500 for Landrum.
A chip count deal was finally agreed on for the bulk of the money, and play resumed for the remainder and the trophy.
Play now loosened up. On one hand, Dardon bet 15,000 on a board of K-J-2-8-Q and showed a 7-4 after Ly folded. “After we make a deal,” everything’s so easy,” he said.
Even so, it took another 76 hands to end the tournament. On hand 76, Dardon went a little crazy, banging the table and moaning because he had folded a hand that would have ended up giving him a nut straight.
Two hands later the match got heads-up when Ly, holding 9-7, moved in on a flop of 9-5-2. Dardon called with Q-2 and couldn’t play catch-up.
Heads-up, Landrum led with about 160,000 to 110,000. Ly took the lead, Landrum got it back and play dragged on. Landrum had a slight edge when blinds went to 3,000-6,000 with 1,000 antes.
Finally, on hand 94 Landrum opened for 20,000 with A-J and Ly moved in and won with A-K. Down to 30,000, Landrum went broke on the next hand with 9-6 versus 10-8 for Stinky Ly.
—Max Shapiro
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