Poker Tournament Results

Big Poker Oktober

Minh Ly

Tournament Report

Minh Ly Minh Ly is No-Limit Winner! By Max Shapiro Professional player Minh Ly, playing his usual solid game, caught the right cards at the right time to nail down a victory in $100 no-limit hold'em, the third event of Big Poker Oktober. His final opponent, Earl Exman, until recently a prop at Crystal Park, had a slight chip lead when heads-up play began, but Ly turned it all around in one big hand. The tenth player out was Ron Fenton. He committed all his chips with pocket nines, but Rusty Bagaygay, with Q­10, flopped a ten. As soon as the finalists sat down, fireworks erupted. Players were moving all their chips in like they had a train to catch. It was another shootout at the OK Corral, and in just 11 hands, four players were gunned down. With $200 antes and $500­$1,000 blinds, Anthony Tran, one off the button, raised all in on the second hand to $6,600 with 9­7 of diamonds. Ly called with K­J and so did Exman. The flop brought two jacks. Exman called Ly's $3,000 bet on the flop, and then folded on the turn when Ly moved all in with his winning three jacks. Five hands later, Dallas poker player Richard Collinsworth moved in for $6,400 with A­5 of diamonds. "Super Mario" Esquerra called with K­Q. The board came K­J­9­Q­2, and now seven were left. Rod Peate, executive host and shift manager at Hollywood Park, was knocked out on the next hand. Peate, who has a second-place finish at the World Series championship to his credit, re-raised all in for $12,500 after Ly made it $7,000 to go. He held A­10 of diamonds to Ly's A­Q offsuit. A queen flopped and Peate was "beate." Then, three hands later, Hue Duong, a full time side game player, put in his last $15,000 with Q­10. He caught a queen on the river, but Ly, who could do no wrong, had a queen with an ace kicker. Meanwhile, Rusty Bagaygay,who started the final table second in chips, could do little right. He lost the first of several big pots, doubling up Esquerra in the process, when his Q­5 couldn't catch Mario's A­J. Five-handed, Ly was the big chip leader with $60,400. Trailing him was Esquerra with $39,100, Exman with $23,800, Dai Nguyen with $19,900 and Bagaygay with $19,300. The boys tried talking deal, but decided to keep playing. Rusty dropped another $6,000 after he raised and Esquerra moved in. Rusty hesitated, then folded his K­J after Mario said, "You make me nervous," and called for a clock. Rusty then lost a small pot to an all-in Dai Nguyen, and again got taken down by Nguyen for about $13,000 when he tried a move with J­3 and fell to Nguyen's A­K. With blinds raised to $2,000­$4,000, he finally commited his last $2,700 with A­6. Ly saw himwith K­10 and blew him away by catching two more cowboys. The four-handed chip count was Ly, $61,800; Esquerra, $45,300; Nguyen, $28,900; and Exman, $27,000. This time a deal was made for the bulk of the prize pool and they played for the rest. Suddenly, Super Mario hit the skids. When he raised $10,000 with K­J, Exman moved in for $28,500 and won with K­Q. A hand later, the rest of Mario's chips went in against Ly. Both players had Q­J, but Ly was suited with hearts. The flop came 2­2­K, with a heart, and then two running hearts put Mario out of action. Heads-up, Exman, playing a carefully controlled game, had about a 9­7 chip lead. The action now slowed down and for about 15 minutes there were only a couple of small raises. Finally, with a flop of 10­9­J and two hearts, Exman moved all his stacks in with 7­2 of hearts. Ly called with Q­9. His nines hold up and suddenly Exman was left with only about $7,000. That went in on the next hand. Ly had him in bad shape, A­J against 9­6. A jack hits the river and Ly wins event number three with a flourish. Biography - Minh Ly Minh Ly, who lives in Temple City, is 45 and came to this country from Vietnam 20 years ago. He had been a welder by occupation until he decided to try his hand at poker five years ago. He divides his action between tournaments and hold'em live games, anywhere from $6­$12 to $20­$40. He won the all-around points title at the Bicycle Casino's America's Poker Classic this past May, and has some second and third-place finishes at Commerce tournaments. Though he also prefers hold'em, both limit and no-limit in tournaments, he'll also play seven-stud and Omaha. In this event, he pretty much stuck to his strategy of playing good hands and said he was very fortunate to get cards when he needed them. "I was very lucky, and had no trouble at all." His big break came at the third table when he doubled up; a player moved in and he held pocket aces.