WRITER WINS LAPC EVENT NO. 1
TO TOP RECORD FIELD OF 1,148
The first event of Commerce Casino's Los Angeles Poker Classic 2006 started off not with just a bang, but with an explosion. A mind-boggling crowd of 1,148 players showed up, smashing every Commerce tournament sign-up record to date.
The event was won by Ryan Kallberg, a 31-year-old free-lance writer playing in his first live tournament with more than 100 players or a buy-in over $50. He attributed his victory to'aggression and blind luck.'
When he got heads-up with Nick Wertz, a longshoreman, he had just over a million in chips to Wertz' 668,000. A chip-count deal gave him $80,696 to Wertz' $73,019, and they played for $20,000. Wertz has had a number of major cash-ins, including a win in a $500 no-limit LAPC event in 2001. Earlier, he seemed a likely winner when, with five players left, he had over half the chips in play.
Long after first-day action got underway, there were still hundreds of players waiting to register. The line stretched along the ballroom wall, out the door, across the balcony, onto the patio and into the tournament tent, all the way to the end, then doubling back to the tent entrance.'By the time I sign up I'll be in the money, cracked Yarm'The Arm' Limor, a player near the end of the line. With only 880 seats available, alternates had to wait until players busted out to get in. At 5 p.m., 90 minutes into the tournament, registration was finally closed.
The relatively small number of seasoned pros were vastly outnumbered by young unknowns,. The sea of fresh new faces offered proof that poker at Commerce is here to stay for a long time to come.
At 3:30 a.m. cut-off time, there were still 18 players left, and they returned at 7 p.m. the next day with Badei (Buddy) Khoury as leader with 217,000 chips.
Blinds started at 4,000-8,000 with
1,000 antes and eight minutes left. We lost our first player on hand one. Todd McDevitt, with J-10, called Wertz' 15,000 pre-flop raise, then moved in for the last of his 146,000 when a flop of 10-9-8 gave him top pair and a straight draw. Wertz, with Q-J, had flopped the nut straight and now was chip leader.
Veteran player Jack Boghossian departed a few hands later. He had started lowest chipped, and now, down to just 42,000, with blinds at 6,000-12,000 and 2,000 antes, he tried an all-in move with 9s-8s. Frederick Arni picked him off with A-K, ending up with kings full.
The longshoreman took an enormous lead of 520,000 on hand 26. Ken Merrick, a Washington State manager, went all in for 146,000 with A-Q after Wertz opened for 140,000 with A-K. A river king left Merrick in eighth place. Two hands later, Mike Leanos raised to 60,000 with Kh-7h. Wertz put him all in for 90,000 more with A-6. A board of 9-8-8-J-A left six. Wertz now had 680,000 while his opponents ranged from 175,000 to 265,000.
Blinds went to 8,000-16,000 with 2,000 antes. Wertz kept building. A big dog with K-Q against an all-in Arni's A-K, he flopped a queen to cut the field to five. Arni later disclosed he had only played 28 hands the whole tournament, and aways had the best hand when all in.
After hitting his peak of close to 900,000 of the 1,724,000 chips on the table, Wertz finally had a big reversal. Khoury, all in for 334,000, doubled through when his K-8 outdrew Wertz's K-Q.
On hand 46, blinds moved up to 10,000-20,000, with 3,000 antes. Immediately, Mike Landau departed in fifth place. In early position, he moved in with a 45,000 raise. Holding K-10, he was the favorite when Lawrence Truong called with Q-J, but then a queen flopped.
One hand later, Truong lost everything. This time, Khoury had the Q-J. He opened for 60,000 and Truong moved in for 183,000 more with Ac-7c. He still had the lead on the fourth street, but then Khoury spiked a river jack to cut the field to three. And now Khoury moved into the lead with about 800,000.
On the next hand, Kallberg moved in and showed a 7-2 when everybody folded. Asked about the bluff later, he explained that he belonged to a poker blogger's group, which had adopted the lowly 7-2 as the'hammer' hand.
Now Kallberg began moving up. He left Wertz with only 173,000 when his pocket 4s held up against Wertz' Ac-Kc. But then Wertz doubled through against Khoury to stay in action.
The game finally got heads-up when Kallberg button-raised to 100,000 with pocket treys and Khoury moved in for 361,000 with Kh-Qh and couldn't catch.
After making their deal, the match-up lasted eight hands. It ended when Kallberg had J-8 to Wertz' Ad-3d. On a flop of 10d-4d-8h Kallberg bet 100k on his paired eight and Wertz raised 300k on his nut flush draw Wertz moved in on the turn when a blank hit. He missed everything on the river, and the writer, with a six-figure win, had something to write about. —Max Shapiro
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