Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker/ WPT Event Season 5

Place	Name	Prize
1	Edwin Pairavi (Encino, CA, USA)	$74,060
2	Robert Nehorayan (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$36,535
3	John Hoang (Elk Grove, CA, USA)	$17,775
4	Jose Tavares (Commerce, CA, USA)	$11,850
5	David Liu (Irvine, CA, USA)	$8,885
6	Don Smith (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA)	$6,910
7	Matthew Costello (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$4,935
8	Morgan Machina AKA "The Machine" (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)	$3,950
9	Peter Lee (Northridge, CA, USA)	$2,960
10	Jorge Pineda AKA "Cipote" (Chatsworth, CA, USA)	$2,470
11	Davidson Matthews (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	$2,470
12	Gioi Luong (Westminster, CA, USA)	$2,470
13	Thai "Ty" Tran (Irvine, CA, USA)	$1,975
14	Danny Gilbeeg (Lancaster, CA, USA)	$1,975
15	Anthony Scott (Aliso Viejo, CA, USA)	$1,975
16	Artin (Art) Panossian AKA "The Nose" (Glendale, CA, USA)	$1,580
17	Derra Perumean (Leander, TX, USA)	$1,580
18	John Rodeffer (Costa Mesa, CA, USA)	$1,580
19	Vincent Mele (Whittier, CA, USA)	$1,285
20	Chris Cellery (Gardena, CA, USA)	$1,285
21	Tiffany Michelle AKA "Hot Chips" (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,285
22	Khanh Hua (El Monte, CA, USA)	$1,285
23	Massoud Nickjouian (Woodbridge, VA, USA)	$1,285
24	Lori Conn (Santa Monica, CA, USA)	$1,285
25	Kyu Cho (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,285
26	Ken Wu (Seattle, WA, USA)	$1,285
27	Phong Nguyen AKA "VIP" (Bristow, VA, USA)	$1,285

Tournament Report

Law Student Edwin Pairavi Wins No Limit Event Event #14 of the Legends of Poker was the $500 + $50 7th No Limit Hold´em (no rebuy) event. A field of 395 players created a sizable prize pool of $197,500 with $74,060 going to the winner. The final table was set at 3:30am after an hour of play with 11 players remaining. The two tables of 5 players and 6 players respectively were played very cautiously. Ironically, each table had an elimination simultaneously and we started the final table nine-handed. Initial play continued to be cautious and there were three flops in the first 14 hands. On hand #15, Peter Lee, the short stack, pushed all-in for his last $23,500 chips in late position, and was called by the button, Jose "J.J." Tavares. Peter showed his Kc-8c and J.J. showed his KhJh. Peter was a 3:1 dog going into the flop of 2h-Ks-9h. The turn was a 5s and the river was the As. Peter Lee was eliminated in 9th place and earned $2,960. On hand #36, Morgan Machina, poker pro and President of Home Poker Pros, re-raised all-in on J.J. Tavares´ initial $18,000 preflop raise. J.J. quickly called and showed AA. Morgan revealed his AQ and was facing the cooler. The board was 10-9-5-4-3 with no help to Morgan Machina who finished in 8th place and added $3,950 to his bankroll. Three hands later, J.J., self-proclaimed "unemployed but always has money for poker", was tangling it up with Matthew Costello. J.J. raised from the button for $40,000, and was called all-in by Matthew who had 9c-10c. J.J. showed his K8o and said his raise was intended to grab the blinds and antes. The board was A-3-4-2-Q and J.J.´s King high was good enough to take the pot and eliminate Matthew in 7th place for a payday of $4,935. It is worth noting that the next elimination did not include J.J. Tavares. On hand #45, Don Smith with the short stack, pushed all-in on the button for his last chips. John Hoang, a poker pro who had lost a substantial portion of his stack early in the final table, went into the tank and finally called with a suited Ace (Ac-6c). Don showed his pocket 10s for a 2:1 lead. That lead would reverse as the flop came A-2-3 and John Hoang paired his Ace. The turn 6 gives John two pair and Don needs a 10 (2 outer) to survive. The river is a King and Don Smith finishes in 6th place and took home $6,910. The players took a short break as the time expired on the current level. The players would return to a $1,500 ante and $4,000/$8,000 blinds. The players discussed a chip count deal but decided to wait until four players remained. They waited just two hands when David Liu raised from the cutoff seat to $30,000. Edwin Pairavi re-raised to $60,000 which would put David all-in if he called. David calculated the pot odds and made the call with K-9. Edwin had A-Q and the 65% advantage. The flop was A-2-4 and Edwin increased his lead. The turn was a 9 and David paired leaving him with 5 outs with one card to come. The river looked like a 9 as it was coming off the deck, but it was an 8 and David´s 9s were not good enough to beat Edwin´s pair of Aces. David Liu finished in 5th place and earned $8,885. The remaining four players requested a chip count calculation and came to an agreement on deal. The declared winner, Edwin Pairavi, had a 2:1 chip lead over 2nd place finisher Robert Nehorayan. It was 5:30am and the amateurs were discussing the chances of going to work in a few hours and the pro´s took their prize money on went on about their typical all-night long schedule. -Jay "Bugsy" Siegel BIOGRAPHY Edwin Pairavi, a 3rd year law student at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, has been playing poker for over ten years. He plays mostly tournaments and this will be his last tournament before he returns to law school next week. I wonder if he can make $74,060 a day as a lawyer. If he can practice law as well as he can play poker, I think it just might be possible.