EVENT #9 NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
Saturday March 25, 2000
$200 BUY-IN w/ multi-rebuys
$500/$500 in chips
$40,000 Guarantee
BETTING ON THE HOP
By Mike Paulle
An early break, winning on a hand that normally would get a player
eliminated, can mean big bucks later.
There were 103 entrants and 151 rebuys in the $200 Buy-In, No Limit Hold'em,
for a total prize pool of $50,800. 2 tables were paid, a total of 18 players.
Some of the Notables who played: Barbara Enright, John Strzemp, Tony Ma,
Linda Johnson, Bob Thompson, Eskimo Clark, Mario Esquerra, An Tran, Randy
Holland, David Pham, Casey Kastle, Bill Gazes, Pat Fleming, Mel Weiner, Dan
Alspach, Toto Leonidas, Macram Merhom, Amazon Alps, Andre Maloof, Bev
Kruksol, Van Pham, Jun Sin, Tom Honkawa, David Levi, Gary Lent, Anthony Tran,
Frank Rite, John Inashima, Alfredo Moreno, Jay Moriarty, Paul Zibits, Mike
Fetter, Charlie Satoot, Binh Ta, Al Barbieri, Barry Marfleet, Albert Umel and
the 'mad genius of poker,' Mike Caro.
As heartbreaking as being one-out-of-the-money is, it means that you've
played pretty well to beat so many other players. Mel Weiner has been in this
position several times before, so he must be doing a lot of things right. Mel
limped in with 9 8. Greg Hopkins called with 10 9. The flop came 10 8 2. Greg
waited for Mel to commit himself to the hand before raising Weiner all-in on
the turn. Mel got roasted for all his chips when he called.
To set up the Final Table: Trevor Skinner was all-in for his big blind with a
Q 5 against Freddy Legaspi's K J. Trevor was skinned in 10th on the high card.
FINAL TABLE:
30 mins left of 40. The ante is $100. The blinds are $500/$1,000
| Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1 Allen Cunningham | Rialto CA | $15,900 |
| Seat 2 Henry Araneta | Los Angeles CA | $7,000 |
| Seat 3 Ki Uhm | Torrance CA | $9,900 |
| Seat 4 Jose Mendoza | Paramount CA | $2,800 |
| Seat 5 Alan Siegel | Northridge CA | $9,800 |
| Seat 6 Freddy Legaspi | Pasadena CA | $27,100 |
| Seat 7 Kathy Liebert | Las Vegas NV | $8,200 |
| Seat 8 Greg Hopkins | Redondo Beach CA | $10,300 |
| Seat 9 Brian Markenson | Woodland Hill CA | $36,500 |
10th yesterday, Jose Mendoza moved up one notch to 9th and barely got to the
Final Table. With so few chips, Jose had to go all-in with the first Ace he
saw. Greg Hopkins had to raise Mendoza's bet with pocket Kings in the small
blind to be sure of getting head up with the short stack. When no Ace came,
Mendoza's second good day of work ended.
With an ante on every hand and the big blind next, Kathy Liebert decided to
raise all-in under the gun with A J and her last $5,600. Freddy Legaspi had a
lot of chips in the big blind and called the bet with the K 7 of Clubs. No
waiting, a King ripped right off the deck to give 'Colorado Kate' 8th place.
The turning point for this Final Table came early. Greg Hopkins went all-in,
one off the button, with pocket 5's in an attempt to pick up the blinds and
antes. Allen Cunningham called all-in with about $15k when he picked up
pocket Queens. "Sorry Allen," Greg said graciously as a 6 4 3 flopped and a 2
turned Cunningham straight into a 7th place.
A bet not made trapped Henry Araneta in 6th. Brian Markenson raised from the
button with K 3. Araneta called in the small blind with the A 4 of Hearts.
When Markenson didn't bet the flop with a pair of Kings, a second Heart on
the turn trapped Araneta all-in for a flush draw that didn't come.
Hearts came for Freddy Legaspi, though. Ki Uhm went all-in for $15k in the
big blind with A K and flopped an Ace. Legaspi had the Q T of Hearts with two
Hearts on the flop. With a Heart on the turn, Ki's heart was broken in 5th.
Playing $3k/$6k, now, put a lot of pressure on the short stack Alan Siegel.
He was being blinded off. So when Greg Hopkins raised, Alan went all-in with
the J 8 of Clubs in the big blind. Hopkins had A 5 and flopped an Ace to send
Siegel flying out in 4th.
What makes No Limit so tough is that one mistake can ruin hours of great
work. With three players left, Greg Hopkins and Freddy Legaspi had all the
chips. Each would move up $5,080 on the money list when the short stack,
Brian Markenson, went out. Instead, Legaspi went all-in on the button with
the K T of Diamonds to pick up some spare change. Greg Hopkins found pocket
Queens in his small blind and called. Brian Markenson got a $5,080 birthday
present from Freddy Legaspi when the Queens held up.
It was over on the next hand as Hopkins had pocket 4's to Markenson's 10 5 of
Diamonds. Greg Hopkins took 1st place without a deal, but it was the break he
got early with the pocket 5's against Allen Cunningham's pocket Queens that
gave Greg the chance for the big bucks.
Official Money Winners
1. Greg Hopkins $20,320
2. Brian Markenson $10,160
3. Freddy Legaspi $5,080
4. Alan Siegel $3,305
5. Ki Uhm $2,540
6. Henry Araneta $1,780
7. Allen Cunningham $1,270
8. Kathy Liebert $1,015
9. Jose Mendoza $785
10th-18th received $505
Trevor Skinner, Parizad Seraj, Chris Roulier, Tom Lockhart, George
Derischebourg, Janet Yo, Solomon Shoshan, Gary Solomons and Douglas Jefferson
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