Matthew Nguyen Takes First Win
The 2008 Winnin' o' the Green continued into event #25 with a $291+$9+$35 No Limit Hold'em tournament. A field of 195 players entered the no rebuy event and created a prize pool of $56,745 had a first prize of $21,415. The final table was set at 12:30am and there was only one short stack with blinds at 800/1600 and a 200 ante.
The first elimination occurred on the second hand when Ed Dorini, a contractor from Shadow Hills, CA, was knocked out by Kevin Lu, a casino dealer.
On hand #3 Don Duong got it all-in against Alex Shin's big blind. Don held a K-2 and Alex showed 3-5. The board was A-5-3-J-Q and Alex's pair of 5s took down the pot. Don Duong finished in 9th place and earned $1,135.
On hand #6 Alan Hoang pushed his stack in with A-K. The button, Dung Le, called with a dominated Kc-Qc. The flop was J-7-2 and Alan increased his lead. The turn 10 gave Dung a straight draw to add to his Queen kicker. The "Ace on the River" gave Alan top pair – top kicker but it made a straight for Dung. Alan Hoang finished in 8th place and received $1,275.
On hand #21 Dung Le was all-in with Ks-4s and ran into a dominating K-Q on the button. Daniel Chin was in the lead with a board of 9-8-8-7-2. With no improvement for either player, Daniel Chin's Queen kicker takes the pot. Dung Le was eliminated in 7th place and collected $1,420.
It was almost 2 more hours before the next elimination. On the last hand before a break at 3am, Kevin Lu raised with his short stack all-in from under-the-gun with K-J. The button, Daniel Chin, called with 5d-2d. The flop was A-10-9 and Kevin was safe so far. The turn was a 5 and Daniel took the lead. The river 4 sealed the deal and Daniel took down the pot with a pair of 5s. Kevin Lu was eliminated in 6th place and earned $1,985 on his $335 investment and 11 hours of tough poker.
A break came and went and the blinds were raised to 3,000/6,000 (ante 1,000). About one orbit into the round Scott Shone pushed with pocket 9s and was called by Hai Le in the big blind with K-3. The flop came K-J-6 and Scott's lead vanished and he was drawing lean. The turn deuce and river 10 was no help to Scott and he was eliminated in 5th place and added $2,555 to his bankroll.
Before the next hand was dealt, the remaining 4 players discussed evaluating a chip count. The count was taken and the dollar amounts were announced. The discussion was brief and universally accepted. The tournament concluded and Matthew Nguyen, the current chip leader, was declared the winner.
-- Jay "Bugsy" Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Matthew Nguyen has been playing poker for about 5 years. This is his first major tournament win. He frequently plays No Limit Hold'em tournaments but spends most of his poker hours in a $300 No Limit Hold'em cash game. Matthew learned poker by dealing in his family's home game to earn money in tips. Matthew is currently a student majoring in Political Science.
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