Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker/ WPT Event Season 5

Place	Name	Prize
1	Hai Diep (Huntingdon Beach, CA, USA)	$136,125
2	Markram Merhom (Glendale, CA, USA)	$67,155
3	Asher Derei (London, UK)	$32,670
4	Tony Nasr AKA "TNT" (Whittier, CA, USA)	$21,780
5	Jianhua Zhou (Egg Harbor Township, NJ, USA)	$16,335
6	Albertin Hernandez (Downey, CA, USA)	$12,705
7	Lawrence Konis (Westlake Village, CA, USA)	$9,075
8	Walter Schafer (Norwalk, CA, USA)	$7,260
9	Eric Young (Scarborough, ON, Canada)	$5,445
10	Frederick Arni (Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA)	$4,535
11	Ray Henson (Houston, TX, USA)	$4,535
12	Hoan Ly (Alhambra, CA, USA)	$4,535
13	Kenny Robbins (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$3,630
14	David Baker AKA "DB" (Katy, TX, USA)	$3,630
15	Steve Tourouk (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$3,630
16	Kyle Burnside (Somerset, MA, USA)	$2,905
17	Agop ""Jack"" Boghossian (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$2,905
18	Richard Kim (Fullerton, CA, USA)	$2,905
19	Alex Aras (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$2,360
20	Michael Fetter (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$2,360
21	Sakat Batra AKA "Johnson" (Campbell, CA, USA)	$2,360
22	Timothy Stearns (Burbank, CA, USA)	$2,360
23	Brian Lee (Diamond Bar, CA, USA)	$2,360
24	Henry Le (Garden Grove, CA, USA)	$2,360
25	Son Ly (San Jose, CA, USA)	$2,360
26	Mayen Grigorian (Northridge, CA, USA)	$2,360
27	James Sanford (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$2,360

Tournament Report

Ha Diep Books Solid No Limit Win Event #20, $1,000 No Limit Hold'em, lured in 363 entries by offering a 'player's structure' of $3,000 in starting chips and hour-long rounds. There is a lot of play with this structure and we proved that. The 10-handed final table was set at 7:45am—a long 15 hours into the tournament. With a $363,000 prize pool, all players were eyeing the $136,125 first place payout. Play was very deliberate a there were only 4 showdowns in the first 60 minutes of play. There was some early discussion of a chip count deal but too many of the players wanted a chance at first place money. The first showdown hand came at hand #4. Chip leader, Ha Diep, a student at UCI, raised from early position and found a re-raise from Makram Merhom in the big blind. Ha re-raised all-in and got called instantly. Makram showed AA and Ha was in bad shape with his underpair, QQ. A flop of Q-A-9 gave both players a flopped set and Ha needed a one-outer. The turn and river were no help (10-5) and Makram strengthened his stack through the chip leader. On hand #8, Jianhua Zhou raised preflop all-in and was called by chip leader Ha Diep. Jianhua showed AK and Ha was slightly ahead with 55. The flop favored Ha with a 2-2-8 but the turn King shifted the lead to Jianhua who needed a win to survive. The river 3 gave Jianhua the pot and he lived to fight another hand. Ha has just doubled up two short stacks in the first 8 hands of the final table. On hand #22, Jianhua Zhou raised from late position and Tony 'TNT' Nasr, re-raised all-in with his pocket Aces. He was called by Jianhua Zhou with pocket Kings. The board was 5-6-J-Q-4 and the Aces held up. Tony completed a much needed double-up. Tony was dressed in a PokerBlue sponsored loud suit and was giving away a $200 bounty (PokerBlue will add $200 to your account) for anyone who knocks him out. Tony was all-in often but he survived every single one. After a 10-minute break between rounds, the players had just played for 90 minutes without a single elimination from the 10-handed table. They requested a chip count calculation and when the numbers were returned it was 9:45am. As the payouts were read to the players, one unnamed players said, 'If anyone asks for $1 more than the chip count calculation, there is no deal and we play.' I think that did it because there was no discussion, just a unanimous decision to accept the deal. Ha Diep, who entered the final table with the chip lead, ended the tournament with the chip lead and booked his 1st tournament win. -Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel BIOGRAPHY Ha Diep, a undergrad at UCI, took time out of his summer vacation to play in the Legends of Poker event before school starts up again next week. Ha's a cash game player who occasionally plays tournaments. His typical game is the restricted buy-in $300-$500 No Limit Hold'em game at The Bicycle Casino. Ha has been playing poker for serious money for the last 3 years. He does not play on-line and prefers the face-to-face competition of live play. Ha's strategy for this tournament was just to survive. He found himself short stacked about halfway through the tournament when he pushed all-in with AJ and ran into QQ. Ha delivered a bad beat to the Queens and then went on to accumulate chips. Ha entered the final table with about one-third of the chips in play. He doubled up some short stacks but maintained his chip lead until the deal was made and he was declared the winner. This is Ha's first tournament win and he accepted the Legends ring humbly and proudly. Congrats Ha! Hours of solid play and a timely double-up earned you the well-deserved title.