Jimmy Lim Wins
No Limit Hold'em
The 2008 Winnin' o' the Green continued into event #23 with a $485+$15+$45 No Limit Hold'em tournament. What looked to be about 40-50 players at the tables upon the 4:15pm start time, turned into 127 players total by the time registration was closed. The prize pool of $61,595 had a first prize of $23,250.
The final table was set around 11:30pm and it only took 3 hands before the first elimination. Evgeni Turevses, the short stack entering the final table, got it all-in with Q-9 from the small blind. He was called by Jimmy Lim, the big stack entering the final table, from the big blind with Kd-6d. The board was K-Q-3-K-8 and Jimmy's trip Kings easily took down the pot. Evgeni Turevses finished in 10th place and earned $1,080.
A short three hands later (#6) Ut Nguyen pushed all-in for his 2nd consecutive hand but this time he ran into Perry Webb's pocket Aces. Ut's K-J was behind and the board came J-8-2-10-5 and Perry's Aces hold up. Ut Nguyen finished in 9th place and took home $1,230.
On hand #27 Haim Bensalmon, who made a couple of good folds earlier, finally took a stand with J-10 but ran into Jimmy Lim's pocket Queens. The board was A-7-5-A-9 and Jimmy's Aces-up took the pot. You could hear the mumbling of the table from the player(s) that folded their Ace-rag. Haim Bensalmon finished in 8th place and collected $1,385.
Just 3 hands later big blind Reggie Casasola called Saif Ahmad's short stack all-in. Reggie showed K-3 and Saif had J-8. The board came Q-J-10-9-Q and Reggie's King made the King high straight edging out Saif's Queen high straight. Saif Ahmad, a WSOP bracelet winner from 2007, finished in 7th place to cash for $1,540.
Hand #40 had Sam Lim all-in with Ad-3d and running into the pocket Queens of Jimmy Lim. The board was 5-4-3-K-J and while the flop provided more outs for Sam, the turn and river missed completely. Sam Lim finished in 6th place for $2,155.
Hand #52 had Reggie Casasola, all-in for his last 11,000 in the small blind. The big blind Perry Webb called. Reggie is slightly ahead with a 10-6 against Perry's 8-9. The board came A-8-4-7-A and Perry's Aces-up took the pot. Reggie Casaola, who enjoys himself every time he plays poker, finished in 5th place and took home $2,770. Reggie is a great guy and always adds life to any table he plays.
Several hands later Marcel Sabag, making another final table appearance, is all-in with pocket 5s against Eddie Alae's pocket Jacks. The flop was 7d-5d-2d. Marcel flops a set but Eddie's Jack of Diamonds gives him a flush draw. The turn was the Kd and Marcel was now chanting "pair the board". The river 4 was a brick and Eddie's King high flush took the pot. Marcel Sabag finished in 4th place for $3,695.
Play continued 3-handed for awhile and general discussion surrounding a chip count was made. Finally they stopped play at the end of hand #55 and a chip count was calculated. The negotiations broke down and they were back to playing. Finally Perry Webb tired and interested in calling it a night, agreed to the negotiations and the tournament concluded. Jimmy Lim was the chip leader and declared the winner. Eddie Alae took 2nd and Perry Webb finished in 3rd place.
-- Jay "Bugsy" Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Jimmy Lim frequently plays the Nooners & Nooner Nites at The Bike and had 3 final tables last week including one win. This win came with a title, a trophy, and a bigger stack of cash. Jimmy has been playing poker for about 3 years and regularly plays the No Limit cash game ($300-$500 buy-in) and sometimes ventures into the ultra-aggressive $80 No Limit games. He plays cash games to earn money to enter the tournaments. He is a college grad from the Univ.of the Philippines and works for L.A. County as a managing engineer for the last 18 years. Jimmy started building chips in the early rounds and attributes his win tonight to catching some good cards at the right time and making the right reads on the players and situations.
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