Van Zakarian Limits the Final Table to One Winner
The 2008 Winnin'o'the Green continued with Event #5, a $335 buy-in Limit Hold'em event with one optional rebuy. A field of 153 players created a prize pool of $45,008 after over half of the field opted for a rebuy (79 rebuys). The final table was set at 3am and two very short stacks were planning their strategies. Charlie Shamouan and David Kim had to take their 6,000 and 2,000 chip stacks against the 1,000/2,000 blinds.
The first elimination occurred on hand #4 when David Kim took his stand and popped both of his chips in the pot. Brian Neuman raised and the small blind Keith Varbrough called. The board came 8-2-2-9-J and it was checked down. Brian Neuman showed K-8 for a middle pair and Keith mucked his hand. David showed K-Q for King high and was eliminated in 10th place earning $675.
The next elimination followed on hand #14 with short stacked Robert Tupta all-in in a 5-way action pot. After is was checked to the river on a board of A-7-Jd-10d-7d, Arash Torbati showed A-Q for aces-up and Robert showed his J-10 for a smaller two pair. Robert Tupta finished in 9th place and took home $790.
The blinds were raised to 1,500/3,000 and hand #21 had Eric Cheng all-in with a Kh-3h against Van Zakarian's A-10. The board came Ah-K-4h-4-4 and Eric's missed flush draw yielded a full house but it was not good enough to beat Van's bigger boat. Eric Cheng finished in 8th place and pocketed $900.
The play had slowed between the 7 remaining players and a lot of raising was occurring from Keith Varbrough and Van Zakarian. On hand #43 Charlie Shamaoun found himself all-in with a short stack with As-4s. He hit runner-runner spades to win the pot but he didn't realize he won and let out the F-bomb in disappointment. After dragging the pot, he sat out for one round watching his smallish stack shrink by 8,000 in blinds.
On hand #47, with Charlie still on the sidelines, Keith Varbrough raised Brian Neuman all-in who called. Brian's K-7 was behind Keith's A-J. The board was no help to either player with a 4-4-Q-10-10. Keith's Ace kicker won the pot and Brian Neuman ended his tournament in 7th place taking home $1,125.
Chips got traded around for the next 25 hands until a confrontation between Keith Varbrough and Juan Solares. After all the money was in, the board came Q-10-9-Q-8 and Juan had K-4 and was squashed by Keith's A-Q. Juan was calling for a Jack or King but no one was listening. Juan Solares finished in 6th place and earned $1,575 for a long night's work.
On the very next hand (#72), Arash Torbati called Charlie's all-in bet for about 2 big blinds. Charlie showed Q-6c and Arash had Ad-6d. The flop was 5c-3c-2 and Charlie is looking for another or an offsuit 4 to chop. The turn King and river Ace were not clubs and Charlie Shamouan concludes his tournament in 5th place and was paid out $2,025. Charlie started the final table 9th in chips and climbed his way to a respectable 5th place finish.
On hand #75 Keith Varbrough got it all-in on the turn with 6-6 against Van Zakarian's K-10. The board was J-J-10-9-7 and Van's pair of 10s was the best hand. Keith Varbrough finished in 4th place and received $2,700.
The last elimination of the hand occurred on the next hand when Barbara Enright, recent inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame AND Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF), was all-in with her big blind. With 2 other players in the pot it was checked to the river (Jh-5-4-Ah-2h) and the third heart on the river had Van Z. bet out. Arash disappointed that he checked down a flopped top pair, showed a Jack and mucked. Van showed the nuts and Barbara Enright got a well earned 3rd place finish (she had 4-7o by the way) for $4,275. One can not overlook that whether Barbara was up or down, she was enjoying herself at the table and was very pleasant to all the other players and staff. Barbara should be admired not only for her exceptional poker skills but as a great ambassador of poker. It should be noted that Barbara'significant other Max Shapiro was sweating Barbara and he is the former writer of these final table reports—big shoes to fill for Bugsy the humbled author.
The table was heads-up and the 6:15am negotiations began. In a matter of minutes, chipleader Van Zakarian struck a deal with Arash Torbati. Van's 2:1 stack over Arash gave him the win. Van Zakarian is declared the winner and earned $17,548 while Arash Torbati finished in the runner-up position for $9,000.
-- Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
.Van Zakarian did not want his picture taken. Van has been playing poker for over 15 years and he plays cash games and tournaments frequently. For relaxation, Van plays 13-card poker and enjoys it so much he will play for points only (no cash). Van started building chips early in the tournament and kept on growing his stack all the way through the final table. Van enjoys Limit Hold'em but prefers No Limit. Tonight, Limit was good to Van. Van said his only adjustment at the final table was to start raising more after the other big stack Keith Varbrough was entering 'every pot with a raise'.
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