GOOD LAYDOWN SAVES NGUYEN AS HE GOES FROM 1,400 TO WIN
With 14 players left, David Nguyen was in the big blind with just 2,400 chips left when he was raised. He looked at 6-2 and, ignoring the pleas of other players that he was getting good pot odds, he folded his cheesy holding which would have lost. Later, all in for 1,400 with A-Q, he doubled through and kept adding until, in a final four-way deal, he had nearly 60 per cent of the chips and became a runaway winner of event 15 of 2006 LAPC, $1,000 no-limit hold’em.
Nguyen even had to survive a controversy when he went in for the 1,400 and walked away from the table. A player argued that his hand was dead, but the floor ruled that an all-in player can’t have his hand killed.
At the end, Nguyen had 526,000 chips to 141,000 for Danny Fuhs; 133,000 for Udi Perez; and 80,000 for Gevork Kasabyan. The chip-count figures came to $117,425 for Nguyen, $46,471 for Fuhs; $44,997 for Perez; and $35,230 for Kasabyan. After a heated deal discussion, where even the walking-off ruling was still being argued, the players finally came to an agreement.
This is the biggest cash-out for Nguyen, who has been playing full time for two years and came in second in an event last week. No-limit is his game of choice in tournaments and side games.
Twenty-two players came back on day 2, and they started the final table at 10 p.m. Blinds were 2,000-4,000 with 500 antes and 17:31 left on the clock. Kasabyan, making his third final table, was chip leader with 198,500. Parth “Spiderman” Data was the other big stack with 159,500.
On the second hand, Spidey, with As-Qs, tried to bust Nguyen, who moved in for 59,000 with K-K. The cowboys held up, and Nguyen doubled through. Two hands later, though, the Spider got to sting a victim. David Cheng moved in for 9,000 with A-Q. Spiderman called with just 8c-7c and spiked a 7 on the river.
Casper Dahl-Hansen got a whoop from the crowd of spectators when he made a desperation all-in move with 8-7, ran into Nguyen’s pocket queens, and caught a miracle runner-runner straight. But the native of Denmark, who is an investor, was less lucky when he later moved in again with pocket 8s. He had the lead against Perez, who had As-Kd, until runner-runner diamonds gave Perez a flush.
Kings were the curse of the Spiderman tonight. After giving up about 60,000 to Nguyen’s kings on the second hand, he lost the same amount to an all-in Michael Simhai on hand 17. when the pot was three-bet. This time he had A-10 to Simhai’s K-K and again couldn’t help. Spiderman Data now had only about 42,000 left. A couple of hands later, Data himself had the kings and he moved in. Guess what? Fuhs had pocket aces and Data became the third man out. The Spider recently won a $500 no-limit event at Hollywod Park’s Poker Derby, but perhaps his crowning achievement was winning 11 super satellites in a row at Legends of Poker.
Michael Navarro was the next player to bust out. All in for 48,000 with A-Q, he was totally dominated by Kasabyan’s A-K. A board of 10-9-7-9-4 didn’t change anything as Navarro finished seventh and Kasabyan extended his lead to a quarter-million chips.
After the next break, blinds became 3,000-6,000 with 1,000 antes. A rough chip count showed Kasabyan leading with about 248,000, followed by Nguyen, 160,000; Downs, 134,000 Simhai, 126,000; Perez, 106,000; and Fuhs, 92,000.
Soon after, those pesky kings popped up again in a major pot. This time, Simhai had them and called when Fuhs moved in for 100,000 with Ad-2d. An ace flopped, and Simhai, losing, was now short-chipped. A few hands later he lost it all when he re-raised all in for 54,000 with A-10. Nguyen called with A-J and flopped two more jacks.
As play went on, Fuhs took a big pot from Nguyen to move into a virtual tie with Kasabyan, about 220,000 each. Finally, Nguyen took over. With a pot of about 145,000, he bet with the board showing Q-8-3-Q-2. Kasabyan folded, and Nguyen now had 325,000.
Just before the next level, Downs was all in for 100,000 with A-9 against Perez’ A-6. When he got just a split when two pair hit the board, Downs blurted out the f-word and got himself 10 minutes in the penalty box.
Blinds were now 4,000-8,000 with the same antes. Returning, Downs, a poker player, recovered his lost chips, and more, when he was all in with 4-3 to Kasabyan’s A-2 and caught two more 4s. But he didn’t keep his chips very long. Soon after, he opened for 24,000 with pocket 9s, Nguyen moved in with A-J, and Downs called for his last 125,000. The board came A-Q-3-3-J and Downs, shaking his head and asking Nguyen how he could move in with A-J, cashed out in fifth place.
Down to four, the maximum allowed to make a deal (each gets 50 points, so points are not a factor), the heated talks began and finally ended in peaceable settlement. —Max Shapiro
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