CAN HUA WINS $1,500 NO-LIMIT
AFTER 87-HAND HEADS-UP PLAY
California pro Can Hua took home $132,432 in event 19 of LAPC 2006, $1,500 no-limit hold'em, after a marathon, 87-hand heads-up match with Graham Duke, a software developer from Vancouver, British Columbia. Poker player Frank Sinopoli had been leading the tournament until two consecutive beats left him short-chipped. When he busted out soon after, Duke and Hua were close to even and their lengthy battle began and didn't end until 2 a.m.
Hua's long list of tournament cash-ins include a $185,000 win in last year's $1,500 no-limit event at LAPC and a $192,000 win at the Borgata/WPT championship the same year.
Fifteen were left on day one. When we reached the final table the next day, Sinopoli led with 163,500 chips. Blinds were 1,500-3,000, with 500 antes and 20 minutes left on the clock.
Also present was Jack Boghossian, who spends his time selling watches and making final tables. This was his sixth so far. About the only one he didn't make was for the ladies event.
In the first few hands, a short-chipped Carlos Fuentes moved in a couple of times, but wasn't called. Then, on hand 10, Makram Merhom opened for 10,000 with pocket 10s and Hung La moved in for 11,500 more. When a flop of 10-8-7 gave Merhom a set, the only thing that could save La was one of three possible runner-runner straights, and none came.
On hand 22, Boghossian raised to 9,000. When Jeff Yoak re-raised 20,000, Boghossian reluctantly chose to go with his Ad-3d and put in his last 12,000. Yoak had pocket queens, and when the board came J-8-7-9-Q, Boghossian ended up ninth.
The players now took a short break. When they returned to blinds of 2,000-4,000 with 500 antes, Sinopoli still led with 184,500, followed by Yoak with 132,500.
The first big hand at the new level came when Shawn Buchanan, another player from British Columbia, was all in for 76,000 with A-Q against Merhom's pocket jacks, and stayed in action when two queens came. Next all in was Hua, winning with K-K against Buchanan's A-K; Paul Vinci, hitting an ace to his A-K to outrun Buchanan's pocket 8s, and Buchanan, now down to 24,000, whose A-K beat Sinopoli's pocket 7s. Nobody wanted to go out.
By the next break Sinopoli and Hua were in a virtual dead heat, with 145,000 and 143,000 chips respectively. Blinds were 3k-6k with 1k antes. On hand 60 we finally lost a player when Merhom saw the big blind approaching and went all in with A-9, no match for Hua's A-J.
Three hands later, Sinopoli three-bet to put Yoak all in for 85,000. Yoak had 10-10, Sinopoli As-Qs. Two spades flopped and a spade on the river left Yoak in seventh place.
The pace had speeded up. One hand later, we lost another player. This time, restaurant owner Vinci moved in for 70,000 with pocket kings, and had the bad fortune to see Hua turn up two aces.
As play continued, Buchanan lost chips when he slowplayed a flush with four hearts on board, only to have Sinopoli, who had 7-3 in the big blind, fill up with a river trey after flopping two pair.
A few hands later, Duke opened for 16,000 and got three callers. When the flop came Kh-Kc-4h, Buchanan, with Qh-10h, moved in for 38,000. Hua, with a 7h-5h and a smaller flush draw, called. Neither player made a flush, but a 7 on fourth street left Buchanan in fifth place.
On hand 76, Sinopoli raised pre-flop to 56,000, and Fuentes, who is from Spain, moved in for 104,000. Fuente had already been all in numerous times, but this time he couldn't get lucky. He had A-Q to Sinopoli's A-K, and after a king flopped, Sinopoli's noisy cheering section exploded as he busted Fuentes and hauled in a pot that gave him a huge lead, with about 464,000 chips to 185,000 for Hua and 90,000 for Duke.
After blinds became 4,000-8,000, everything turned around as Sinopoli took two consecutive big hits. On hand 89, with a Ah-Ks-7s-A-s board, Duke moved in for 147,000 with A-5. Sinopoli called with Kd-9s and missed his flush draw. On the next hand, with the board showing 10-4-3-7, Sinopoli moved in with K-10 and was stunned when Hua showed him a 6c-5c for a straight. Sinopoli was suddenly down to 65,000 while his opponents had about 340,000 each. Three hands later, after Duke opened for 25,000, Sinopoli pushed all in with pocket 4s and lost to Duke's two queens.
The battle began. Forty hands later, with blinds at 6,000-12,000, Hua and Duke were still fairly even. As another level approached, Hua took the lead when he was all in with a flush draw and made it on the turn. Finally, with blinds at 10,000-20,000, Duke looked at the biggest pair he had seen during the match-up: two fives. He moved in and got called by Hua, with A-K. An ace flopped, and Hua claimed victory. -Max Shapiro
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