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19th - 27th $865
Model Car Owner Wins #11
Eli Strickland, a recreational player who owns a dot com business selling model cars online, scored his first tournament victory tonight when event 11 of Legends of Poker 2005, $500 no-limit hold'em, ended in a three-way chop. After Mickey 'Mouse' Mills, who had rejected a deal, was knocked out, the three finalists made their deal. Strickland had 138,500 in chips while Amir Naderi, who owns a limo business, had 110,500; and Danny Nguyen, a Hawaiian Gardens poker dealer, had 96,000.
Final table action began with $200 antes, $800-$1,600 blinds and 28 minutes left. Two short stacks tangled on hand four, and one got a lot shorter when Jana de la Cerra, a school teacher and winner of the ladies LIPS event at the Bike this year, had 7-7 and ran into Mills' pocket aces. 'I thought he had A-K,' she said, misled by his hesitation. A hand later, Jim McClain, a small business owner and another small stack, moved in for $5,400 with A-Q. Naderi re-raised with pocket kings and left McClain in 10th place when the best he could catch was one queen.
A hand later, Michael Yoshino, a dealer, also had A-Q and was re-raised all in by fellow-dealer Nguyen with pocket queens. Blanks came and Yoshino finished ninth.
On hand 11, de la Cerra moved in with pocket 4s. Jorge Pineda re-raised her. 'What a gentleman,' Naderi cracked. The 'gentleman' lost with A-9 when the lady made a set. Two hands later, de la Cerra moved in and wasn't called. 'She had pocket aces, she doesn't f___ around,' blurted Nguyen. 'What did I say?' he moaned as he got hit with the standard 10-minute penalty. It wasn't critical because eight players still were left and he had the chip lead. 'No problem,' he shrugged. 'I need to call my wife.'
Blinds became $1,000-$2,000. Greg Brown got lucky when he was all in with A-5 against Naderi's A-Q and both made the same full house. School was out for the teacher on hand 28 when de la Cerra, under the gun, moved in with A-4 and was called by Naderi with A-10. She called for a 4, as she did when she was all in with 4-4, but this time couldn't improve.
On hand 32, Naderi took the chip lead with about $120,000 when he knocked out Brown, a realtor, pocket jacks versus Brown's pocket 7s. On the next hand, blinds went to $1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes. Following Naderi, a rough count showed: Nguyen, $96,000; Strickland, $60,000; Mills, $28,000; Shane Schleger, $22,000; and Pineda, $18,000.
Pineda, a general contractor, then finished sixth. Strickland moved in with pocket kings, Pineda called with A-9 for $16,000 and got blown away when Strickland made kings-full. A few hands later, a short-chipped Schleger moved in on the button with A-2 and was no match for Strickland, who quickly called with A-K. Strickland then took the chip lead when he moved in on a flop of 10-9-8, forcing Naderi to fold.
As play went on, Mickey 'Mouse' moved all in short-stacked and survived for about the hundredth time. A crowd favorite, he was greeted with loud applause. 'More lives than a cat,' observed one of the players. (Can a mouse have more lives than a cat?) But the mouse finally ran out of lives on hand 58. After Naderi raised, Mills moved in for $22,000. He had A-7, Naderi 2-2. It looked like Mills might escape again when the flop came 7c-6c-5c. But then Naderi turned a set and made a flush for good measure on the river.
With the three finalists all having plenty of chips, a deal was quickly agreed to, and Strickland had his first tournament win. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Eli Strickland, who lives in San Dimas, has been selling model cars online for eight years. A casual poker player, he's been playing the game now for about five years. 'Tournaments and small side games, a little bit of each,' he said. His best finish in a major tournament before tonight was 30th. He describes himself as generally an aggressive player, but also adjusts to the competition.
Tonight, he said, he was in good shape all the way through, moving up at every level, and then moving to the final table in strong second position. The key to his win tonight, he felt, was making a lot of bluffs in good position where he felt he couldn't be called. He said he plans to play a lot more tournaments now that he's had his first taste of victory in a major event. 'And they're a lot of fun,' he added.
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