| Vol. XII, No. 13 Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Hon Le Outshoots Them All!
There wasn’t much in the way of subtlety or strategy at the final table in tonight’s $100 no-limit hold’em event. There were two dozen hands dealt, and virtually all of them were muscle displays, a series of all-in moves and then, “Turn ‘em up and let’s see who’s got the best hand.” In the end, it was the colorful Hon Le, whose full-bore action has earned him the moniker of the “Kamikaze Kid,” who collected all the chips and first-place prize money of $8,340 in the 13th event of Winnin’ o’ the Green. But it was also a slightly more subdued and selective Hon Le, who’s now attempting to shed his reputation for reckless suicide bomber play.
Meanwhile, at a Player Appreciation and Awards Ceremony preceding the tournament, Justin Westmoreland collected $7,500 for finishing first in the all-around pay-off points race. Westmoreland won the $200 limit hold’em event on March 6 and placed second the next day in $100 7-card stud, then held off a challenge by Tony Jennings to win by six points.
Blinds at the final table started at $1,000 and $2,000 with a $300 ante. Action got underway with all-in bets on the first three hands, first by Pat Enos, then by Frank DiElsi, then by Duoc Nguyen, challenges which all the other players declined to answer. Then, on the next hand, Pete Singleton, an antiques dealer from Stoke-on-Trent in Great Britain, stoked in his entire stack holding pocket sixes. Robert Blechman, a salesman for computer printer parts, held A-7 and called on the button with his last $5,000. Singleton flopped a set and Blechman bowed out when he couldn’t hit an inside straight draw on the river.
On the very next hand, James Mena was down to $1,800 and the blinds were approaching, so he took his best shot with K-Q. It wasn’t good enough. Singleton called with pocket queens and won when the board came 6-5-3-6-7. Then, two hands later, DiElsi moved in for $22,000. He held A-10 and was not happy when Hon Le matched him holding A-K. The board came 5-3-2-7-6 and DiElsi, whose day job is that of an actor, was cut out of the scene.
Then, just one hand later, with blinds at $2,000 and $4,000, Hon Le moved all in with pocket fives for about $40,000 and Duoc Nguyen, who almost had him covered, eagerly called with two aces. When the board showed 10-7-6-7, Hon Le was on the verge of being left with pocket change. But a two-outer five on the river gave him a full house, the pot and a big lead. After winning an unchallenged all-in bet on the next hand, Hon Le now had almost exactly $100,000.
Six hands later, a Simi Valley firefighter named V.J. Cardinale put in his last 3,900 with K-7. Pat Enos, in the $4,000 big blind, had A-7. Another ace flopped, and the firefighter went up in flames. Two hands later, full-time player Hoa Van Nguyen posted his last chips in the big blind with 10-6 and lost to Singleton’s A-K. A beat later, Singleton moved in for about $12,000 with K-2. Hon Le decided to call with 9-7. And once again he got lucky, this time by flopping a winning seven.
Now heads-up, Hon Le had about $100,000 to Enos’ $80,000. In three hands it was over. Enos, the retired developer, retired for the evening when he moved in with A-7. Hon Le called with pocket sixes and flopped a set to end the festivities. --Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
“Don’t call me the Kamikaze Kid any more,” declares Hon Le. His new style, he says, is to play a little more carefully and pick his spots instead of trying to dynamite everything – often himself – that’s in his path. Tonight, he said, he was in pretty good shape throughout, but admits that he had more than his share of luck, especially in the key hand of the night when he was nearly all in with pocket fives and hit another one on the river to beat aces and surge into the lead.
The native of Vietnam, who came to this country in 1981, once owned a construction company building homes and apartment buildings, but decided that poker was more to his liking. He’s been playing for a relatively short time, but has a number of other titles to his name, including a no-limit event at Legends and wins in 7-stud hi-lo and limit hold’em at Commerce Casino’s L.A. Poker Classic.
· NEXT ·
All-World Casino Employee
Open Tournament
No-Limit Hold’em
$20+$5 Multi rebuys
$5,000 GUARANTEED!
Wednesday, March 14, 7:15 p.m.
ALL-AROUND
PAY-OFF
POINTS
Name Total
1. Justin Westmoreland 112
2. Tony Jennings 106
3. Men Nguyen 99
4. Pat Enos 86
5 Di Quach 81.
6. Sinh Quach 75
7. Khang Pham 73
8. Del Cabot 70
9. Paul Honas 68
10.Sirous Baghchehsar 65
11.John Inashima 65
12. Ken Davis 63
13.Art Kern 61
14.Richard Radford 59
15.Mario Esquerra 59
16.Lich Bui 59
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