Other Paid Places
19th - 27th $350
28th - 35th $250
Patience Pays Off for Pineda
Playing cautiously and selectively at the final table, Jorge Pineda made his move late in the action, finally moving in with A-K. He knocked out Peter Nadena in sixth place and picked up a pot of about $4,000 that moved him close to the lead. A few hands later, a five-way chip-count deal was made, and Pineda, a general contractor and now the chip leader, had his first major tournament win. It was his second final table in a row after finishing sixth in yesterday's event.
The final table assembled after Harvey Hunnicutt got knocked out in the classic confrontation, his A-K pitted against Mike LeBlanc's Q-Q. Blinds at the final table started at $100-$200 with $25 antes and a full 30 minutes on the clock. Perry Chou, a student, had a slight lead with 4,725 chips.
'Bring my jacket,' Malibu photographer Brian Anderson said as he was all in with Jh-10h against Hoang Ta's A-10 on the third hand. 'Incredible, call security!' he exclaimed as he hit a river jack. Ta, a poker player, had only a few chips left and they went in on the next hand. He had Ks-2s and lost against Dave Manley's K-J when the board came 8-7-7-6-J.
A few hands later, Anderson lost $500 of his $900 when he moved in with Ac-4c. Jason Pena called all in with pocket kings and flopped a set.
In the next 15 hands there were four all-in survivals, two of them by Anderson. In the meantime, blinds had moved to $150-$300 with $50 antes. On hand 18, disaster befell LeBlanc, a cash-game player who let the f-word slip and got hit with a penalty. His 10-minute vacation cost him $650, about 40 percent of his stack.
LeBlanc returned just in time to see Pena, an executive chef, get cooked. After Nadena moved in with pocket kings, Pena called with As-10s, losing when blanks came.
Hand 27 saw three-way action. First, LeBlanc, down to $825, moved in with K-10. Then Anderson moved in for his $1,700 with pocket 7s. 'I've got nothing, I'm just gambling,' said Bijan Ashkan, calling with Ad-Jd. Ashkan's 'gamble' paid off when an ace came on the river. Two players departed, LeBlanc in eighth place and Anderson in seventh.
Ashkan, who arrived at the final table close behind Chou in chips, now had a substantial lead with roughly $6,500. He then picked another big pot against Nadena, who had called pre-flop when Askhan raised to $800. The flop came Ac-9h-8c. Ashkan checked, Nadeau bet $ 1,200, and folded when Ashkan check-raised all in.
Blinds now went to $200-$400 with $75 antes. Pineda, who had been relatively quiet tonight, mow made a move and pushed in all his chips with A-K. Nadeau called with Kd-8d. The board came A-J-6-4-7. Pineda just had his opponent covered, and Nadena, a realtor from Scottsdale, Arizona, ended up sixth.
Ashkan now gave up a lot of chips and lost the lead when Manley moved in with A-K. Ashkan called with Ac-9c, and handed over $1,400 when the board came K-Q-J-7-7.
Manley, meanwhile, had made a critical laydown in a hand where Pineda raised and he was about to come over the top. But, later saying he picked up a tell, Manley, a night club disk jockey, folded, and discovered that Pineda had pocket aces.
After a few more hands went by, a chip-count was requested. Pineda had $7,325; Chou, $6,000; Manley, $5,700; Ashkan, $5,600; Nadena, $5,575; and James Mansfield, $3,500, and after long negotiations, a deal was made. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Jorge Pineda has been building homes for 14 years, playing poker for three and tournaments just in the past year, when he played Legends 2004. In cash games he plays $20-$40 up to $40-$80. He likes to play no-limit in tournaments because he feels he doesn't have to play a lot of hands, and doesn't need to create action.
Tonight, he said he was in good shape after he got lucky, caught good hands and built up a lot of chips in early going. He describes himself as someone who can play aggressively, but likes to see 'what's going on' at first and study the players before getting too involved. At the final table, he decided that he faced three very aggressive players. 'The others were good, but passive,' he decided. And the key hand for him, he agrees, came when he moved in with A-K and knocked out the final player.
|
