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Franchise Guru Wins Event 8
Ken Hollowell, who lectures on and develops franchises all over the world, had an up-and-down final table, but a 5-3 lead when a two-way chip-count deal was made gave him victory in event eight of 2006 Winnin' o' the Green, $350 bounty no-limit hold'em. It was his biggest win ever.
For this bounty event, a player collected a disk worth $50 every time he or she knocked somebody out. Final table blinds started at 1,500-3,000 with 500 antes. Massoud Satayesh started with the most chips, 122,000, while Hollowell had collected the most bounty disks, 14.
On the first hand, Oscar Sanchez pushed in all his 21,000 with pocket 7s, and Hollowell took them with pocket aces. One down. Four hands later, Lawrence Truong raised and Sachihiro Ine moved in. After fretting at length, Truong reluctantly folded. He didn't feel any better when Ine showed him 10-7. Soon after, a second player went out with an underpair. Truong, with pocket 10s, re-raised all in for 21,000. Bob Kirkeby took him out with pocket jacks when the board came 6-5-4-7-Q.
On hand 15, Vatche Mahserdjian moved into second chip position. He opened for 10,000 with pocket aces. Saifuddin Ahmad moved in pocket 9s and handed over about 40,000 when he couldn't improve. Three hands later, Ine was left with 1,300 just as the level ended. Richard Kim moved in with Q-J, Ine called with Ac-5c. A flop of Kc-10c-9h gave Kim a straight and Ine a flush draw, but he missed.
Players returned to 1,500-3,000 blinds with the same two big chip leaders: Satayesh with 119,500 and Mahserdjian with 86,000. On the first deal, Ine survived against Ahmad's A-K when his 7d-5d turned into 7s-full.A few hands later he looked at another 7-5. Perhaps thinking they were his lucky cards, he moved in for 6,000. No full house this time. Satayesh, with Q-9, called and left him in eighth place when a 9 turned.
On the next hand, Kirkeby had Ad-10d to J-8 for Ahmad. A flop of Jd-10c-2d gave Ahmad top pair and gave Kirkeby second pair and a nut flush draw. He bet to put Amhad in, then caught a diamond on the turn to leave the business owner in seventh place.
Hand 31 was the last for Fimore Humphreys. The retiree moved in for 22,000 with Ah-3h and was called by Richard Kim with pocket 9s. The board changed nothing, and we were down to five.
Sateyesh and Hallowell had earlier split pots twice. When they faced each other again on hand 36, there was no split. They both paired a king on the flop, but Hollowell won with a higher kicker, and moved into the lead with about 90,000. Seven hands later, a chip-depleted Satayesh had a tough decision. With a board of A-5-3-7-2, Richard Kim moved in for 60,00. 'You wouldn't have called with a 4. You have nothing,' Satayesh kept saying. Finally, after a clock was called on him, he folded.
Not until hand 92 did we lose another player. After Mahserdjian opened for 12,000 with pocket 7s, Kirkeby, a furniture factory owner, moved in for about 65,000 with A-K. The pair held up, Kirkeby finished fifth, and Mahserdjian was now the chip leader.
Blinds went to 3,000-6,000 with 1,000 antes. On hand 101, Kim, a student, was excused from class. Down to about 30,000, he tried an all-in move with K-2, losing to Hollowell, who had pocket 7s and made 7s-full. Hallowell now had the lead, but things tightened when he lost 65,000 to Satayesh, who was all in with A-10 and flopped a 10 to beat Hallowell's K-6. Hallowell got it back later when he went all in for 53,000 with Q-Q to easily beat Setayesh's Q-7. Soon after, Setayesh tried an all-in move with 6-5. Hallowell called with A-6 and made aces full to knock him out when the board came J-J-10-A-A.
Chip count deals had been proposed several times earlier, but got nowhere. Now, heads-up, Hallowell had 238,000 chips to 146,000 for Mahsendjian, giving $23,275 to Hallowell, $19,895 to Mahsendjian. It was now after 3:30 a.m. This time a deal was accepted and Hallowell had the win, the trophy and a pile of bounty disks. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Ken Hollowell has given lectures on franchising at colleges all over the U.S. and has set up 750 franchises, such as Merry Maids housecleaning, around the world. He's currently helping Dick Clark set up American Bandstand restaurants, and is working with Johnny Chan and Chris Moneymaker on poker academies.
He's been playing poker for 30 years and has had a number of tournament cash-ins. He won the first tournament he ever played, an Omaha event in Phoenix. However, he plays mostly live, no-limit games. His game style, he said, depends on his mood. 'I can be very aggressive,' he noted. Tonight, on his way to an appointment, he stopped here, played in a cash game and won $1,100. Coming back, he won another $200, and decided he was running hot and would play the tournament.' I played real steady tonight,' he said. 'I didn't make too many bad mistakes.'
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