Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker - WPT Season 4

Place	Name	Prize
1	Ferdinand Perales (San Pablo, CA, USA)	$47,730
2	Michael Leanos AKA "CrownMike" (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$23,540
3	Steve Austin AKA "THE NATURAL" (La Quinta, CA, USA)	$11,610
4	Chad Lapides (Marina Del Rey, CA, USA)	$7,285
5	Eddy Asady (San Diego, CA, USA)	$5,160
6	Vinny Landrum (Canoga Park, CA, USA)	$3,870
7	Delfin Cabot (Huntington Park, CA, USA)	$3,225
8	Tom Torpestad (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)	$2,580
9	Steve Berman (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,935
10	Andrea Wilkins (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$1,420
11	Scott Herz (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,420
12	Trevor Smith (Olathe, KS, USA)	$1,420
13	Pete Levine (Woodland Hills, CA, USA)	$1,160
14	Kanokvan Somchub (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,160
15	Le Kim Banh (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$1,160
16	Jesse Maupin (Rowlett, TX, USA)	$905
17	Eric Baker (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$905
18	Long Tran (Truckee, CA, USA)	$905
19	Alan Mintz (Alta Loma, CA, USA)	$775
20	Ahmed Hooshmand (Simi Valley, CA, USA)	$775
21	Kirk Bardin (Stevenson Ranch, CA, USA)	$775
22	Dino Medina (Cypress, CA, USA)	$775
23	Dana Belman (Lakewood, CA, USA)	$775
24	Sean Stephens (Bellingham, WA, USA)	$775
25	Caesar Natividad (Diamond Bar, CA, USA)	$775
26	Marvin Miller (Norwalk, CA, USA)	$775
27	John Coon (San Diego, CA, USA)	$775
28	Peter Cohen (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$515
29	Rufino Caceres (Chino, CA, USA)	$515
30	Pamela Rich (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$515
31	Crypto Kingery (Hanford, CA, USA)	$515
32	Alan Gilbert (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$515
33	Carl Hirsh (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$515
34	Jeff H (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$515
35	Paul Javier (Compton, CA, USA)	$515
36	Thomas Harrel (San Pedro, CA, USA)	$515
37	Luke Sigle AKA "kslukeok" (Manhattan, KS, USA)	$515

Tournament Report

Tug Boat Man Pulls in Win! This was by far the fastest tournament to date in Legends of Poker 2005. It lasted only 16 hands and accelerated to a dizzy conclusion when three players were knocked out in succession in the final three hands. The five finalists then made a chip-count deal and chip-leader Ferdinand Perales was declared the winner. Perales is a tug boat engine maintenance engineer in the Bay Area. He obviously plays a lot of tournaments, because this was his 22nd final table this year. There was 15:18 left on the clock when the final table got underway with blinds of $1,000-$2,000 and $300 antes. With 88,200 chips, Steve Austin was the leader. On the second deal, Andrey Wilkins, who described himself as 'a poker player, I wish,' moved in for $17,600 with Ac-Jc. He was called by Michael Leanos with Jh-Jd. The board came 9-5-4-6, and then an ace. Wilkins gave a shout of elation at being saved by the ace…until he realized that it was a fourth diamond, giving Leanos a flush. Two hands and one down. In the first eight hands, Eddy Asady went all in twice and survived, the first time when his A-K held up against Steve Austin's K-10, the second time when he was dealt pocket queens against Vinny Landrum's As-8s. Assady said it was the ninth time in the tournament that he had been dealt queens, and he had won with them each time. Probably a world's record. Check the 'Guiness Book of World Records' to make sure. On the next hand, Steven Berman, a film executive making his first final table and only second cash, raised all in for $8,000.'I don't like my chances,' he said when he got heads up with Austin, who turned up pocket 7s. The pair held up, and Berman finished ninth. Blinds now went to $1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes. Tom Torpestad is an Internet casino and sportsbook manager, so he obviously knows odds and realized he was a big favorite (69.4-30.6, to be exact) when he moved all in on the 14th hand with A-K and was called by Michael Leanos with Ad-Jd. But then Leanos paired his jack to leave Torpestad, who won the California State Poker Championship last year, in eighth place. On the next hand, we lost another player. Del Cabot, a bus operator, moved in for $25,000 with pocket jacks. 'Got a pair?' he asked when Perales quickly called, then laughed when the Perales nodded and turned up pocket aces. Perales made it official by flopping a set, and the bus driver was out of gas and chips and cashed in seventh. The third, and last, player in a row to bite the dust was pro player Vinny Landrum. After Perales raised, Landrum moved in with pocket queens, but they did not serve him as well as they did Asady. 'You don't have aces?' Landrum asked when Perales called. Perales didn't—until the flop, that is. He had A-Q, and when the board came A-9-2-8-6, half the field had cashed out. A chip count was requested. Perales led with $96,500, followed by Leanos, $90,500; Austin, $78,500; Chad Lapides, $41,500; and Asady, $37,500. The tug boat man was the winner and pulled in a nice cargo of money for some brief work at the final table. —Max Shapiro BIOGRAPHY Ferdinand Perales likes to play poker when he isn't fixing tug boat engines in the Bay Area. He started playing five years ago, live games at first, and then after three years he started taking up tournaments 'to shape up my game.' They proved to his liking, and this year alone he's made 22 final tables playing mostly at the Oaks and San Pablo casinos. He has one prior win in no-limit and another in seven-card stud. Perales describes his style of play as flexible, becoming increasingly aggressive as the tournament gets down to the final few. 'If I have any kind of hand, I don't limp,' he says. 'I raise or go all in.' Until he got to the second table tonight, the tournament had been a struggle for him. For a long time, $10,000 in chips seemed to be his base, and he'd continually go up and down from there