NHUT TRAN RETURNS TO POKER
AFTER LONG BREAK TO WIN #26
Nhut Tran, a long-time pro who took a seven-year break because of family problems, returned to poker a week ago and promptly scored his biggest win ever when he captured the 26th event of 2006 LAPC, $500 no-limit hold'em. Tran, who has been in the nail business during this time, has a best all-around at the Trump Taj Mahal, along with a number of other wins and seconds in tournaments. The key hand for him came when he won a 400,000 pot with aces against A-K.
Tran had a slight chip lead over billiards manufacturer Ishan 'Shawn' Momamed when the six finalists divided up the prize pool, playing for $6,000 and the Remington trophy. Normally, a deal can't be made with more than four players left, but since none of them was involved in the all-around points race, an exception was made.
Winner of the points race was Luis Velador, who collected $7,750. Gevork Kasabyan got $3,750 for second; Jack Boghossian $2,250 for third; Anthony Guadagni $1,500 for fourth, and David Nguyen $750 for fifth.
There were 18 players left on day one and we got to the final table the next day at 8 p.m., playing with 3,000-6,000 blinds, 2:31 left. Mohamed was in front with 311,000 chips.
On the first hand, Hieu 'Tony' Ma had a tough decision. After Tran raised to 20,000, Ma, in the small blind with only 41,000, pondered at great length before folding pocket 10s. It was a good laydown, because Tran had A-K (against Jamey Ekerling's A-9) and won when a king flopped.
Soon after blinds went up, Jeff Gross went down. With blinds at 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes, he called Tran's 50,000 bet with his last 49,000. He had A-Q to Tran's A-K, and Tran's kicker decided it.
By hand 13, Ma had been blinded and anted down to 16,000, and he moved in from the cut-off seat with pocket kings. Ian Winterbotham, in the small blind, looked at one ace and called. Then he looked at his other card. Another ace! Ma cashed out ninth.
By the next break, Mohamed, who had been playing cautiously, still led with 329,000, but Winterbotham was on his heels with 318,000. Blinds were now 5,000-10,000 with 2,000 antes. Three hands later, Anthony Toscano, a technician, was crippled when he called Tran's all-in 192,000 bet with A-K. Tran had pocket aces, and Toscano was left with 17,000 when he couldn't help. He later doubled up twice to hang on, then lasted all the way to third place..
Hand 44 saw John 'J.T.' Thai move in for 39,000 with pocket 5s. Steve Tourouk then pushed in for more chips with pocket queens. Thai turned a set, but it was a bit late, because Tourouk had flopped a higher set. Seven were now left.
Four hands later, there were six. Mohamed opened for 50,000. Tourouk, who is in sales, moved in for 104,000 with pocket 9s. After long thought, Mohamed decided to gamble with his Kh-Qh. He won the coin-flip match when the board came K-8-5-6-6. After winning the next hand, Mohamed now had a very big lead with about 460,000.
We were now playing with 6,000-12,000 blinds and 2,000 antes. Jamey Ekerling went all in for 51,000 with A-K against Winterbotham's pocket 10s, escaping with a king flopped.
Down to 47,000, Toscano doubled up a third time with pocket aces. As action continued, Tran picked up a couple of pots and eased into a tiny lead. A chip count was now called for. With 404,000 chips, Tran would get $64,741. Mohamed's count was 396,000 and $63,692; Winterbotham, 225,000 and $41,269; Michael Miller, 182,000 and $35,630; Toscano, 116,000 and $26,975; and Ekerling, 51,000 and $19,673. They took off $1,000 each and agreed to play for $6,000 and the trophy.
After the deal, blinds went to 8,000-16,000, and two players were quickly eliminated. On hand 81, Miller, who owns a bar, opened for 40,000 and Mohamed put him in for 81,000 more. Miller had the lead, A-Q to Ad-9d, until two 9s flopped, and he finished sixth. Two hands later, Ekerling went all in for his last 58,000 with Q-6. Winterbotham called with A-K and left him in fifth place when the board ended up with A-J-7-5-4.
Tran at this point led with 491,000 to 418,000 for Mohamed, 250,000 for Toscano and 224,000 for Winterbotham. With blinds now at 10,000-20,000, Winterbotham cashed out fourth. He was all in with 10h-9h. Mohamed, with K-Q, flopped a queen.
Toscano, who achieved a small miracle by lasting this long after being near the cloth, was next out. He was all in for 120,000 with A-J. He flopped a jack, but lost to Tran's Q-4 when a queen hit the river.
Tran now had about a 2-1 lead over Mohamed. They made a final deal, Mohamed got the designer sunglasses, and Tran had returned triumphantly to the poker wars. —Max Shapiro
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