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Legends of Poker / WPT Event Season 7

Event #10 - Limit Hold'em

August 7, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Bicycle Casino
Tournament Schedule

Buy-In	$300 + $35
Prize Pool	$59,655
Entries	205
Report Available

Todd Iger

Place	Name	Prize
1	Todd Iger (Lake Forest, CA, USA)	$22,060
2	Ali Ghanavati (Van Nuys, CA, USA)	$10,975
3	Michael Christian (Riverside, CA, USA)	$5,370
4	Manop Nakanant (Dercy, CT, USA)	$3,580
5	Matthew Mortensen (Whitman, AZ, USA)	$2,685
6	Sarkis Telikyan (Hollywood, CA, USA)	$2,090
7	Albertin Hernandez (Downey, CA, USA)	$1,490
8	James Athanas (Orange, CA, USA)	$1,195
9	Bill Williams (Riverside, CA, USA)	$895
10	Doug Lada (Chino Hills, CA, USA)	$745
11	Daniel Hartman (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$745
12	Joseph Hoffman (Laguna Wood, CA, USA)	$745
13	Cuong Phan (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$595
14	Richard Rivlin (Laguna Hills, CA, USA)	$595
15	Ross Daneshvar (West Hills, CA, USA)	$595
16	Mary Babouchian (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$505
17	William Bessent AKA "John" (Santa Ana, CA, USA)	$505
18	Patrick Peercy (Fortville, IN, USA)	$505
19	Jorge Pineda AKA "Cipote" (Chatsworth, CA, USA)	$420
20	Masoud Pourhabib (Marina Del Ray, CA, USA)	$420
21	Molly Hudson (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA)	$420
22	Oliver Altman (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)	$420
23	Annabelle Najera (Roland Heights, CA, USA)	$420
24	Scott Takeshita (Chino, CA, USA)	$420
25	Rick Shepherd (Henderson, NV, USA)	$420
26	Lori Vanderbyl (Chino, CA, USA)	$420
27	Rene Vas (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$420

Tournament Report

Todd Iger Limit Hold'em Champion

The first Limit Hold'em event in the Legends of Poker series drew an impressive 205 players. The $300+$35 buy-in and entry fee created a prize pool of $59,655 with a first prize of $22,060. The 615,000 chips in play allowed for good play for the average stacks well into the final table. The last hour or so of the final table had the players feeling the pressure of the 10,000/15,000 blinds.
It took eighteen hands before the first elimination occurred. Sarkis Telikyan had Doug Lada covered and all-in after the flop of A-Q-2. Sarkis held A-J for top pair and Doug showed a dominated Q-10 for middle pair. The Turn 10 and river 7 ended the event for Doug Lada with a 10th place finish and $745 in prize money.
The next big confrontation occurred two hands later when 3-way action had 2 players all-in preflop. Bill Williams had Q-10, James Athanas had Q-J, and Manop Nakanant held a monster K-K. The flop was 10-8-6 and James picked up a straight draw. Bill Williams had top pair but was behind Manop's overpair. The turn paired the board with an 8 and the river 6 kept Manop's Kings-up in the lead. Bill Williams had the fewest chips going into the hand and took 9th place for $895. James Athanas, a self-proclaimed professional bumb (sic), took 8th place and secured a $1,195 payout.
On hand #38 Albertin Hernandez, a frequent final table player, was all-in with a K-J and ran into Matthew Mortensen's A-9. The board came A-10-8-X-10 and Matthew's Aces-up bested Albertin's Broadway draw that didn't hit. Albertin finished in 7th place and earned $1,490.
It wasn't until hand #50 before another 3-way pot developed. Sarkis Telikyan was all-in and both Michael Christian and Todd Iger fought to the river. The board was 7-4-4-K-J and Todd showed 9-9 for middle 2-pair. Michael mucked his cards and Sarkis, knowing he was beat tossed his pocket 3s into the muck face up. Todd dragged a healthy pot and Sarkis Telikyan, in his second final table appearance at the Legends, finished in 6th place for $2,090.
About an hour later, another 3-way pot developed with Matthew Mortensen all-in with a short stack. With a board of 8-6s-2s-5-6d, Ali Ghanavati showed his pocket 3s and Michael Christian mucked his cards. Matthew showed his Js-7s for a missed flush draw and was eliminated in 5th place earning $2,685.
On hand #83 Ali Ghanavati and Manop Nakanant had a raising war on the flop and turn when all the money was in the pot with a K-Jd-4d-8d-8. Ali Ghanavati showed the nut flush and Manop, who thought top 2-pair was going to be good, saw he was drawing to 4 full house outs. The board did pair but not the right pair. Manop Nakanant put up a serious fight and finished in 4th place for $3,580.
Manop, who is a regular at Foxwoods in CT, was very impressed with the player friendly structure of this event. He is a big fan of the Legends and took some of his prize money to buy in for future events.
At 3:45 am, the final 3 players played for about an hour (over 28 hands) before discussion of a chip count deal was unanimous. The numbers were calculated and for the first time in the tournament Todd Iger held the chip lead by a small margin. The players accepted the deal and Todd Iger of Newport Beach was declared the winner.
-- Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel

BIOGRAPHY
Todd Iger is a former attorney who has retired after selling off one of his Business Machines companies which he founded. Todd has been playing poker for over 25 years and plays both cash games & tournaments. This is his first big win however he has cashed for more money in the past. Todd credits his father for introducing him to poker and for the lessons throughout his upbringing.
A native of Villa Park, CA, Todd enjoys the easy accessibility of casino run poker games and frequently plays at the local cardrooms. Todd revealed that he was only interested in a deal if he were the chip leader so he waited to either get knocked out or have the chip lead before accepting any deal.