| Vol. XII, No. 10 Saturday, March 10, 2001
Bam! Bam! Lam Beats Pham! It looked like the Lam was being lead to the slaughter. When Rong Lam got heads up with Kang Pham, he had less than one–fifth as many chips as his fellow Vietnamese. But Lam then won three quick hands to surge to victory in $200 no-limit hold’em, the tenth event of Winnin’ o’ the Green. There were any number of dramatic draw-outs at the final table, notably when third-place finisher Pat Enos, one card away from being eliminated, hit a two-outer to haul in an $86,000 pot and temporarily take the chip lead. At the final table, blinds started at $1,000-$2,000 with a $300 ante. Kathy Liebert lasted one hand. When Khang raised $4,000 with K-10, she moved in for $12,100 with pocket queens and lost when he rivered a king.. Three hands later, recreational player Butch Javier button- raised all in for $8,500 with A-6. Retired developer Pat Enos, in the big blind, called with A-J and nailed him when a jack flopped. A series of mostly uncalled small raises followed until the 15th hand, when blinds were $2,000-$4,000. Albert Luna, another pro player, had the button when he went all in for $5,900 with Q-J. Lam called with K-8. Javier took the lead when a jack flopped, but Lam hit a king on the river to break him. Hand 19 was the first one played by longshoreman Nick Wertz. It was also the last. Deciding to try tripling up rather than be eaten up by the blinds, he raised all in for $6,600 with just 7-5. Lam and Rod Peate called. With a board of 10-6-2-9, Peate bet all his $28,000 and Lam folded. Rod had 10-7. Nick had an inside straight draw, but another ten on the river finished him. On hand 27, Lam made it $20,000 to go. “I might make you some money,” Enos said, raising all in for another $19,400. He had jacks to Lam’s queens and was almost out the door when an A-K-8-8 was dealt. But a jack on the river gave him a huge pot and the chip lead. Play continues with a lot of uncalled all-in raises. Finally, on hand 45, full-time player Brian McCann moves in for $15,200 with Q-7 of clubs. Peate calls and breaks him when his K-6 holds up. A hand later, Peate, a Hollywood Park executive who finished second in the 1983 World Series championship, loses $30,000 to Pham, (kings versus sixes) but gets it back from Lam on the next hand. when he pairs a nine to outrun Lam’s Q-J. Rod is down to $16,500 when he goes all in calling Pat. “Nice call,” says Pat. Not for Rod it isn’t. His K-9 is up against K-J of diamonds and a board of K-Q-A-4.finishes him. Pham is now the chip leader with nearly $100,000, while Enos has about $75,000 and Lam, $60,000. On the next hand, Pham raises to $30,000 with pocket tens and Enos re-raises all in with A-6 of diamonds. He flops two pair, but loses when four spades give Pham a spade flush. “I rivered so many people, it’s about time I got rivered,” Pat comments graciously. Heads-up, it looks one-sided, but things turn around quickly. First Lam doubles up to $90,000 when he pairs a jack to beat Pham, who again holds pocket tens. Then his 8-6 outruns Pham’s 8-7 when a 9-7-4-10-3 board gives him a straight. On the final hand, number 77, Lam finally has the better hand, A-9. Pham raises all in with A-2 and Lam takes all his chips and the title when the board comes K-8-3-7-8. –Max Shapiro BIOGRAPHY Rong Lam, 42, lives in Bell Gardens and plays full time. He’s played poker for 10 years and tournaments, mostly small ones, for five. He won a couple of free-roll tournaments at the Bicycle Casino in 1996 and ’98, and a limit hold’em event at Crystal Park. His main games are limit and no-limit hold’em and 7-card stud 8 or better. In side-game action, he generally sticks to $6-$12 and $9-$18 hold’em. Tonight, he said, he was short-ch ipped most of the time and half-way through was down to $400. He said he played carefully and patiently because he knew he was up against some better players. “I learned a lot by watching those players, how they bet their top hands, how they played by the value of their chips.” His fondest wish, he says, is to someday afford being able to enter the WSOP championship event and make the final table. ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS 1. Justin Westmoreland 108
2. Men Nguyen 99
3. Pat Enos 86
4. Khang Pham 73
5.. Del Cabot 70
6. Tony Jennings 68
7. John Inashima 65
8. Art Kern 61
9. Richard Radford 59
10 Mario Esquerra 59
11 Lich Bui 59
12. Sam Sanusi 58
13.Randy Holland 57
14.Andre Maloof 57
15,Rong Lam 57
16.David Gurney 57
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