PLASTIK BLOWS UP FINAL TABLE AFTER SHORT-STACK COMEBACK
Short-stacked for much of this tournament, David Plastik came to the final table low-chipped, went all in several times, then went on a rush in late action, flopping two sets in a row when the table was six-handed. By the time this million-dollar guarantee tournament got down to four players, he had a big lead with 805,000 of the 2,395,000 chips in play, and a deal was made.
This is the biggest prize money to date for the Vegas pro, who just had a big cash-out at the Bellagio in December. Plastik was playing his normal solid game, waiting for spots, trying to get in with the best cards.
The 24th event of 2006 LAPC, $1,500 limit hold’em, drew 434 players who generated a prize pool of $1,393,890.
Six tables were still left on day one. When we finally got to the final table at 1:30 a.m. on day two, David “Gunslinger” Bach, a pro from Georgia, was in front with 505,000 chips, closely followed by Hung “Peter” Tran with 490,000. Opening blinds were 5,000-10,000 with 10,000-20,000 limits, 37:10 left.
Plastik had his first close call on hand three. He was down to six chips with A-5 against Wei Zheng, who was all in with A-Q. A river 5 gave Plastik the win and left Zheng in 10th place.
Stacy Matuson, a poker player also started low-chipped. On hand 15 she moved in with pocket 8s. Hung “Peter” Tran had A-3 and broke her by flopping trip threes.
We were now playing with 15,000-30,000 limits. As play proceeded, a number of players were all in, but it wasn’t until hand 46 when we lost another player. Todd Bleak, a retiree, had A-Q to An Tran’s K-J and had the lead until kings came on the turn and river, and he departed in eighth place.
Just before the next level, Matt Glantz, a pro from Pennsylvania, had A-6 to Plastik’s Q-9, and finished seventh when the board came 7-3-2-9-2. Glantz has seconds at WSOP, the Bellagio and at the Taj Mahal. (The latter event was won by Kieu Duong, who placed second tonight.)
By the next level, Blach still had the lead with 510,000. Blach is a poker player and former pro bowler with a couple of WSOP cashes. Next was Tran, 490,000; Duong, 375,000; Plastik, 365,000; Sam Alsharairi, 340,000; and Louis Pagnotti, 315,000. With limits now at a dangerous 20,000-40,000 level, a deal of some sort was discussed, but none could be reached.
Plastik then took the lead with about 560,000 chips on a big hand against Tran. With A-8, Tran was in the lead on a flop of 8-6-3. Plastik had pocket 7s, hit a set when a 7 turned, then filled with a river trey. A shocked Tran wouldn’t release his cards, and they almost had to be pried from his hand. After a couple more hands, Plastik and Bach each had about 600,000.
Duong, a New Jersey housewife with a WSOP third-place finish, was all in for 35,000 with J-10 and survived with a straight. Alsharairi was the next player to find himself in peril. He had been betting the flop and then the turn after the board showed K-7-3-6. Then an ace came on the river and Duong bet out. Alsharairi had just enough to call. But after very long thought, he folded. He managed to hang on for another 10 hands before finally busting out.
Meanwhile, a small controversy erupted when Pagnotti suggested that Tran was soft-playing against Duong when he checked on the button with pocket queens after a board of 9-8-7-4-Q gave him a set. But Tran pointed out that he didn’t have the nuts, indicating that Duong might have been slow-playing a straight.
In the meantime, Alsharairi had gone all in and won several times, once when made a complete bluff with Q-8 on a board of A-A-2-7-7, and it held up. But his luck ran out on hand 84. He moved in with Q-10. Duong had him covered in chips and cards with K-10, and a board of A-6-4-7-8 couldn’t rescue him.
A few more hands went by, and then Tran went broke. He was all in with J-Q, up against Duong with Jc-9c. The board came J-8-5-A-2, and Tran finished fifth.
The four finalists now called for chip-count figures. The computer showed that Plastik’s 805,000 chips would be worth $306,180. Duong, with 660,000, would get $266,090. Pagnotti, a cash game player from Pennsylvania, had 485,000 and would get $217,720. And Bach, with 445,000, would get $206,6750.
After lengthy negotiations, the deal was finally made, and Plastik took home a bundle of cash and that keepsake “Bronco Buster” Remington trophy.. —Max Shapiro
|
