Alan Myerson Knocks Out Five of Six
Players for Easy, Four-Way Deal Win
Alan Myerson, who gave his occupation only as 'businessman,' was all business tonight. He knocked out five of the six players to be eliminated, steadily built up his chip count, and had a commanding lead when a four-way chip count deal ended play in event 16 of Cal State 2005, $500 limit hold'em.
At the end, he had 75,000 of the 165,000 chips in play. Behind him were Ali Lari with 51,000; Ben Arnold, 20,000; and Angie Tran, 19,000. The payouts were quickly agreed to: $22,411 for Myerson, $16,776 for Lari, $9,496 for Arnold, and $9,262 for Tran.
Myerson, who has been playing poker only two years, won nearly $70,000 when he captured the $500 no-limit event at the Reno-Hilton's World Challenge last year. He also has several final tables at the Bicycle Casino and one at Hollywood Park.
Lari, a civil engineer, has a win in limit hold'em at Winnin' o' the Green, and a second in no-limit at the Plaza's Ultimate Poker Challenge.
Arnold gave his occupation as 'family man,' and Tran, self-employed, is also the wife of well-known pro Jimmy Tran.
Meanwhile, in Cal State's point race, Kevin 'The Snake' Blakey had first place locked up going in, and John Hoang, getting 10 points for finishing 15th, nailed down second. Third place was available, and poker player Alex Prendes grabbed it when he got 44 points for finishing fifth and moved up from seventh place.
The second-day final table was to last less than two hours. It began with 500-1,500 blinds, 1,500-3,000 limits and 37:26 left. Lari, Myerson and Travis Dang were closely bunched as chip leaders with between 24,000 and 27,500 each.
Raed Abukartomy, a business owner, couldn't do anything and was soon out in tenth place in about 15 minutes. He moved in with his last chips holding pocket 10s. Myerson went after him with A-K and caught him on the river with an ace. Myerson now had the undisputed chip lead.
Blinds went to 1,000-2,000, limits at 2,000-4,000. A few minutes later, there was three-way action. On a flop of Q-6-4, George Papadakalis tried to take the pot by betting his A-K. Tran didn't buy it. She raised with pocket 8s. An all-in Papadakalis couldn't connect and finished ninth.
Eric DeMatteis was the next player to fall victim to Myerson. He had Q-10 and put in his last chips from the big blind after Myerson raised with pocket 8s. A board of 7-6-4-K-9 changed nothing, and we were now down to seven players.
An all-in Rico Rivera seemed to be in good shape against Myerson, with A-J against only 9-7. But this was Myerson's night. The board came J-10-4-8-A, giving Myerson a straight and his third kill.
Pocket 8s showed up again. They kept an all-in Travis Dang in action when they held up against Prendes' two paints. But the save was temporary. All in on the big blind, all he had was 7c-4c. He was up against — who else — Myerson, who showed him pocket 10s. Dan flopped a 4, but that was the best the mailman could do, and he cashed out sixth. Four out of five so far for Myerson.
Two hands later, a big pot developed between Tran and Myerson. Holding A-9, Tran bet into a flop of 10-7-2, and again when a 9 turned. When an ace came on the river, her aces and 9s looked pretty good. Until Myerson turned up aces and 10s. He now had over 60,000 in front of him.
Myerson had knocked out one player with pocket 10s, but Arnold didn't have the same luck with them. Prendes, all in with A-8, was on the verge of going out until a river ace saved him.
At the break, the approximate chip count was Myerson, 62,000; Arnold, 50,000; Lari, 25,000; Prendes, 15,000; and Tran, 13,000.
Blinds now went to 2,000-$4,000. The two short stacks immediately doubled through. First, Tran did it with K-Q versus Arnold's K-10 when the board came Q-7-9-4-10.
Next it was Prendes who took advantage of Arnold's generosity. He re-raised all in with pocket fives. Arnold chased him down with Ad-10d, but a board of J-9-9-7-K did him no good, and in two hands, Arnold had gone from second place to last.
Three hands later, the flop came A-8-5. Lari bet and Prendes made a disastrous move, check-raising with only Q-7. When a 10 turned, Prendes tried betting again and Lari raised, went all in and doubled up.
With five players left, a chip count deal was discussed, but nothing came of it. Instead, the opportunity came when Myerson raised and Prendes re-raised all in. Prendes turned up K-10 to Myerson's A-6. Prendes flopped an inside straight draw with A-Q-2, but nobody could beat Myerson tonight. First a 6, then a 4 came, the table was down to four, the chip count deal was made and we were ready for the championship event tomorrow. —Max Shapiro
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