Tony Ma Goes on Rush in Late Stages,
Runs Off with Cal State Championship
Hieu 'Tony' Ma, taking down two big pots in the late stages, had twice as many chips as anyone else and was the clear winner and champion when a four-way deal ended the final day of Cal State 2005's championship event.
Ma's many achievements include two WSOP bracelets and a Bellagio win. Finishing second was 'Super' Mario Esquerra, best known for winning a best all-around at every casino he has played at. Kasey Nam, who took third, is a Korean importer/exporter. And local pro Daniel Alaei placed fourth.
On this final day, we started with two nine-player tables, blinds of 800-1,600 and 200 antes, seven minutes left. Sang Pham had the lead with 358,800 chips, followed by Nick Mao with 336,100. As the level ended, Talia Khio, starting second-lowest chipped with 20,400, went out when he missed a double belly-buster draw against Nam's pocket 9s.
Blinds went to 1,000-2,000 with 300 antes. The first big pot came when Nick 'The Sheik' Salameh re-raised all in for 85,600 on a board of 8-4-9-8-6, and showed Nash Rizk quad 8s. The next one came when Pham, making a move with pocket deuces, bled off 104,000 to Michael Heintschel, who had pocket kings. Pham also lost the lead to Mao.
A strange incident came when Esquerra bet 30,000 into a board of A-10-7-7-A, only to have Nam move in. Esquerra banged the table in frustration, folded and showed a 7. Nam, flashing only a 10, hit the table in triumph, then let the f-word slip out, and got a 10-minute penalty!
At the next break, 17 players were still left. Heintschel led with about 270,000, while Nam, Pham, Mao and Alaei were all in the 200,000 range. After two hours, we lost our second player. Brian Cospolich, the lowest-chipped starter, re-raised Heintschel all in with pocket jacks. 'I figured him for A-Q,' Cospolich said. He figured right, but two more aces flopped. Moments later, Jimmy Ngoc-Tran moved in with Ks-10s. Mao called, also with A-Q, hitting a river ace to cut the field to 15. Michael Kennedy went out with 8s-6s against Nam's Q-7 on a flop of 7-6-3. Next, Nash Rizk picked a bad time to move in with Jh-10h. Salameh had A-A. Five down.
At the next break, Heintschel had built his lead to around 440,000. Blinds rose to 2,000-4,0000 with 500 antes. Mel Judah had a close call on the first hand. He was all in with pocket kings. Salameh, with A-K, flopped an ace, but then Judah caught the case cowboy on the turn.
Returning from the dinner break, Hal Grothjan, calculating that with 50,000 chips he had only enough for five rounds, made his move with A-9 and lost to Heintschel's A-Q. Mao next lost 119,000 to Esquerra when he held Kc-9c, had a straight flush draw on a board of Qc-10c-4s-Kh, but lost to Esquerra's J-9 straight.
Blinds became 3,000-6,000 with 1,000 antes. Pham, going steadily down, busted out 12th when Ma blew away his A-K by flopping a set of jacks. We finally got to the final table when John Freeland moved in for close to 50,000 with pocket kings. Damon Ahamdi called with A-Q 'because Freeland's stack was short,' and made two pair.
The final table started with 57:31 left. Heintschel was chip leader with 372,000, closely followed by Alaei with 342,000. Glenn Cozen got lucky on hand 17. All in for 75,000, he had A-K to Mao's pocket queens and won in unorthodox fashion, by making a wheel. 'One bad beat after another,' Mao sighed.
On the next hand, Esquerra opened for 50,000, Heintschel raised 75,000 and Esquerra re-raised to 220,000. 'I'm 95 percent calling,' Heintschel said. He found the other 5 percent and called with pocket queens. Esquerra bet his last 11,000 on the flop, won with pocket aces, and took the lead from Heintschel. .
Mao's bad luck continued. He opened for 20,000, again with pocket queens. Ahamdi moved in for 108,000 and beat him with pocket kings. A hand later, Alaei put Mao out of his misery. He moved in for 37,000 with A-5 and Alaei clobbered him with pocket aces.
Players returned from a break playing for 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes. Super Mario held a super lead with 493,000. On hand 29, Ma opened for 20,000 with A-K. Heintschel moved in for 142,000 with pocket 10s. Ma flopped a king and hit an ace on the river and Heintschel, a contractor cashed out ninth.
On hand 39, Ma bet 60,000 into a board of Qh-9h-7-5h holding Ad-Qd. Ahamdi raised all in for about 100,000 with Kh-Qs. He missed his flush and busted out eighth as Ma took the lead with about 500,000. Judah, meanwhile, moaned about having laid down what would be the nut hand, Ah-Jh.
A dozen hands later, Judah, holding J-10, moved in for about 90,000 on a flop of Js-7d-5s. Nam called with Kd-5d, hit his flush on the river, and the ex-hairdresser and winner of a Legends championship finished seventh.
Cozen, a surgery center developer who came in second at the WSOP main event in 1993, had played superbly to last this long Three hands later he pushed in for about 80,000 with Q-J. Surprised when Nam called with pocket deuces, he was even more surprised when Nam flopped a set, as he finished sixth.
Just a few hands later, the field got down to four. Damon pushed in for 150,000, and Ma, on a roll now, called with pocket 8s, made 8s full, and now had a commanding lead.
A chip count was requested. Ma had an even 800,000. Next was Esquerrra, 536,000; Nam, 405,000; and Alaei, 400,000.
The chip-count payout would be: Ma, $246,490; Esquerra, $185,700; Nam, $155,530; and Alaei, $154,380.
The boys couldn't agree, but two hands later some adjustments were made, a deal was agreed upon, and the tournament ended with Ma crowned as the reigning Cal State champion
—Max Shapiro
Cal State Championship Prize Pool Tops
$1 Million;
Two Tables Left on Final Day
For the first time in its 15-year history, the California State Poker Championship
final event passed the million-dollar mark, with 214 players building a prize
pool of $1,037,900.
Second-day action went to 2 a.m. with two tables and 18 players scheduled to
return on the final day. Sang Pham, with 358,800, and Nick Mao, with 336,100,
are the two big chip leaders at this point.
Day one went through level six, when the field was narrowed from 214 to 88 players.
Second day starting chip leaders were An Tran, 85,850; Vinny Vinh, 85,275; and
Kasey Nam, 74,200. Midway through, Vinh was hospitalized with an undisclosed
ailment. His 40,000 chips had to be blinded off, but he still finished 21st.
Defending champion Ben Affleck was a no-show. He recently got married, but that
was no reason to neglect his duties. In any event, the Hollywood community was
represented by James Woods, Gabe Kaplan and Tobey "Spiderman" Maguire.
Woods' new TV poker show, The James Wood Gang Vs. the Unabombers in Poker
Royale, where he and Phil Laak choose teams to battle it out over seven episodes,
will premiere Oct. 7 on the Game Show Network's Casino Night. The actor
left the stage toward the end of day one when his considerable stack of chips
evaporated on a bad flop. Kaplan, of Welcome Back, Kotter fame, started the
second day in 73rd place with 10,575 chips and lasted until mid-afternoon. And
Maguire would go out at the next level.
Joe Hachem, the 2005 World Series champion, busted out on day one. He was in
the small blind with A-4 suited. The big blind made a big raise with pocket
10s, and Hachem re-raised all in. Hachem led when an ace flopped, but then a
10 broke him.
With the field down to six tables, Nick Mao was the clear leader with more than
135,000. He got there by knocking out Max Pescatori a bit earlier. When a flop
of A-Q-8 with two hearts. Pescatori moved in with J-10 for an open-end straight
draw. Mao quickly called, a huge favorite with Ah-9h A heart turned and the
"Italian Pirate" walked the plank.
The players took a break, returning to blinds of 400-800 and 100 antes. Mao
still led, while Spiderman, lowest chipped with 3,200, was dangling by a strand.
Down to 1,800 in the small blind, he made a desperation all-in move with Jh-6h.
John Freeland re-raised with pocket queens and stepped on the spider.
At the next break, we were down to 34 players. Mao still was in front with about
150,000, while three other players had over 100,000. Blinds rose to 500-1,000
and 200 antes.
Scott Lazar, who came in sixth at this year's WSOP main event, moved in
with Qs-10s when a flop of J-9-4 gave him an open-ender. He ran into Greg Wynn's
9s and 4s and was out.
As it got closer to the money, Young Phan dropped out when his A-Q lost to Tony
Ma's A-K after an ace flopped. At this point, Vinh left the scene, condition
unknown.
Next break. Thirty-one players left. Mao has about 175,000, but now Sang Pham
is the leader with around 240,000. Blinds go to 600-1,200 with 200 antes. Men
"The Master" Nguyen, hanging on short-chipped for a long time, finally
broke with jacks against Mimi Tran's kings.
Just before midnight we got down to three tables and the money when Ma opened
for 4,000, Al Zeidenfeld moved in with A-K and lost to Ma's pocket queens.
Chip leaders were still Pham with about 270,000 to Mao's approximate 210,000.
First player in the money and out of the tournament was Mimi Tran, losing with
J-J to Nash Risk's Q-Q. Banh Le quickly followed her.
Blinds were now 800-1,600 with 200 antes. Just before 1 a.m., Greg Wynn finished
25th when Mike Kennedy spiked a river 9 to his K-9 to beat Wynn's pocket
5s. Next to go was An (not the boss) Tran. he had Q-10 to Mao's Q-J. A
flop of Q-J-9 gave Mao a winning two pair.
Originally, day two was supposed to play down to one final table or 1 a.m.,
but it was now decided to keep playing until two tables to keep the final day's
play down to a manageable time.
Kennedy now went up against Ya Dong Liu. Kennedy had pocket aces to Liu's
's pocket queens and won easily when all rags came.
Players started to go quickly. Next out, in 22nd place, was Donald Webb, trying
an all-in move with 10c-9c. Augusto Baldado, in the small blind with 5-4, flopped
a 5 and hit another on the river.
The absent Vinh's last chips were now blinded off. There were only two
more players to go to get to two tables. The first was Sean Focher. In a classic
example of slowplaying gone wrong, he had pocket aces, and checked when a flop
of A-J-9 gave him a set. Sang Pham had K-Q and hit his straight when a 10 turned.
Actually, it probably wouldn't have made any difference, because Focher
was short-stacked, and with all his chips, Pham would most likely have gone
for it.
We were now hand-for-hand with one more player to go. That turned out to be
Augusto Baldado. After losing to Brian Cospolich, who had A-9 and flopped two
pair, Baldado was down to 800 chips, posted in the small blind on the next hand.
Mike Heintschel and Glenn Cozen, who finished second in the 1993 WSOP championship,
called. On a flop of K-10-6, Cozen, with K-Q, bet 8,000 and Heintschel folded.
"I don't know what I have," said Baldado, who hadn't
looked at his cards. He needn't have bothered. It was only 10-5, and we
were down to 18.
Play resumes at 3 p.m. tomorrow, with the same 800-1,600 blinds, and 6:23 left
on the clock.
Max Shapiro
Final Two Tables
Sang Pham 1/6 358,800
Nick Mao 2/6 336,100
Nash Rizk 1/3 204,100
Daniel Alaei 2/2 175,600
Kasey Nam 2/8 157,700
Michael Kennedy 2/1 128,500
Mike Heintschel 1/1 109,400
Hal Grothjan 1/5 94,300
Nick Salameh 1/7 91,900
Jimmy Ngoc-Tran 2/9 90,300
"Super" Mario Esquerra 2/5 87,100
Hieu "Tony" Ma 1/8 76,500
Mel Judah 1/9 68,000
Glen Cozen 1/2 47,900
John Freeland 2/3 45,300
Damon Ahnad 2/4 32,000
Talia (The Franchise) Khio 2/7 20,400
Brian Cospolich 1/4 13,000
1st PLACE $384,025
2nd PLACE $197,200
3rd PLACE $98,600
4th PLACE $62,275
5th PLACE $46,705
6th PLACE $36,325
7th PLACE $25,950
8th PLACE $20,760
9th PLACE $16,615
10th PLACE $12,455
11th PLACE $12,455
12th PLACE $12,455
13th PLACE $10,380
14th PLACE $10,380
15th PLACE $10,380
16th PLACE $8,305
17th PLACE $8,305
18th PLACE $8,305
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