Taking a break from his construction business in Mexico City, Alfredo Moreno outlasted 340 opponents and bested a stellar final table to score his first major tournament win. Facing him in the World Poker Challenge pot-limit hold’em finale were such household tournament names as Hieu “Tony” Ma, David Pham, Hal Kant and Matt Lefkowitz, but aggressive play and some much-needed luck in key hands served him well. The 42-year-old Moreno spends about three months a year playing in California and Vegas, and until now, had only couple of “medium” wins in high-low events at the Four Queens and Hollywood Park.
The event was hosted by Carl McKelvey. Without the boisterous Jim Meehan in attendance, the final table was much more sedate than the night before. In early action, Mike Downing, a programmer for the Las Vegas water district, narrowly missed being eliminated by Kant. All in, he was a big dog with K-10 against A-K, but a 10 on the river came to his rescue. Elie Said, arriving with the fewest chips, was first to leave on the 14th hand. He bet $9,000 with A-3 into a flop of K-K-5. Downing, holding a third cowboy, smooth-called. On the turn, Downing put the Lebanese-born Said, who is in the floor-covering business, all in and took his last $8,500.
With blinds raised to $2,000-$4,000, Philip Ivey, who had wins at Tunica, the World Series and Atlantic City last year, was next out. To that point, he had been able to play but one hand, raising to $6,000 and then folding when Kant played back at him. On his last hand, holding pocket sevens, he called a $10,000 raise by Bill Wolfe, who had two tens. Wolfe, on the tournament trail for three years, flopped a set. When he bet out, Ivey handed over his last $2,000 with a resigned shrug and quietly departed.
A few hands later, Kant, an attorney who once was road manager for the Grateful Dead, was blown out by Matt Lefkowitz, who has four final-table fnishes at the WSOP in pot-limit and no-limit hold’em to his credit. Kant raised to $14,000 with A-7 of diamonds. Lefkowitz, with pocket ladies, raised another $1,000 to put him in and proceeded to flop queens-full.
Moreno has been very aggressive, raising the size of the pot pre-flop three times in 12 hands. When Downing tries to steal his thunder with the same bet, Alfredo moves in and Downing hastily retreats. By contrast, Tony Ma has been frustrated by a succession of weak hands. Finally, he gets up in annoyance, walks around the table and drops his hand—10-2—in front of the dealer. “You’ve been giving this to me ". he complains. (So what's the problem, Tony? Doyle Brunson won back-to-back WSOP championships wiht those cards.) Ma finally gets his prayers ansered with Q-Q, only to suffer a brutal beat. Lefkowitz, with J-J, raises to $20,000, Ma comes over the top for $39,000 more, and gets knocked out when a jack flops. The biggest pot of the night, $170,000, then develops when Al-Fredo, with A-9, makes it $21,000 to go and Matt raises $42,000. When a nine flops, Alfredo moves all in for about $20,000 and nails it with a river nine. He now has twice as many chips as Pham, his nearest competitor. Eight hands later, the man from Mexico eliminates Lefkowitz, this time with the best hand, A-k to A-J. Matt raises to $25,000, Alfredo puts him in for his last $10,000 and wins. But Alfedo, with all the chips, isn't home free yet. "I'm coming to get you," Downing warns him, beating him in a pot when his A-6 holds up after Moreno misses a flush. Its now a horse race, and then Downing pulls ahead when he beats Moreno again with trip tens. The field narrows when Wolfe moves in for his last $13,000 with K-Q of spades. Pham calls with J-9 and flops a winning two pair. Three handed, Downing still leads with about $140,000 to Moreno's $120,000 and Pham's $80,000. But now Alfredo goes back to work. First he relieves Pham of $40,000 by forcing him to fold two hands, and then takes his remaining $40,000 by outrunning David's pocket kings. With a board of J-9-2-8, David bets $14,000 and Alfredo, with J-9 and two pair, moves him in for his remaining chips. Alfredo now has about $220,000 to Mike's $125,000 and the match-up only lasts a couple of hands. On the final deal, Mike has pocket fives and Alfredo has jacks. Mike, raises, Alfredo re-raises and Mike goes all in. A board of Q-Q-4-4-A changes nothing and Alfredo, draining the water man of his last $89,000, will go back to Mexico $36,715 richer. In the future, he decides, he'll skip side games for tournaments. - Max Shapiro
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