Ish Hazuria
Scores Gold Medal for Canada
Event #12 was the largest buy-in event so far at the 2008 Legends of Poker. This $1,000 + $70 No Limit Hold'em event (no rebuy) had 292 players each receiving 6,000 in tournament chips for a total of 1,752,000 chips in play. The prize pool was $283,240, paid three tables, and awarded a first prize of $104,800.
The final table was set a 3:30am at Level 15 with a 1000 ante and 3000/6000 blinds. Play was very cautious despite a couple of short stacks. The first elimination occurred on hand #18 just as Nghia Nguyen called all-in for his last chips after paying the ante and big blind after Ish Hazuria pushed from the cutoff position. Nghia showed Q-9 and ran into Ish's monster A-A. The flop was Q-8-3 and created some additional hope for Nghia. The turn deuce and river 5 failed to improve Nghia and he was eliminated in 10th place and earned $3,540.
The next elimination occurred just six hands later when Ish woke up to A-A again and was up against Charles Williams, who recently returned to the table after a one round F-bomb penalty which did some damage to his already short stack. Charles took his stand with his pocket 7s and the board ran out with 4-2-2-10-A. Charles Williams finished in 9th place and added $4,250 to his bankroll.
About 30 minutes later, after seeing very few flops, Michael Woo was all-in and covered by Jason Sanders. Michael's big slick (A-K) was in a race with Jason's pocket 7s. The flop was K-J-3 and Michael Woo took the lead with top pair – top kicker. The turn Queen and river 10 unnecessarily improved Michael to the Broadway straight. Jason Sanders of Simi Valley, CA was out in 8th place and took home $5,665.
Closing in on 6am Michael Woo was all-in with pocket 4s and was up against Chad Viall's 7-6o after a flop of 7-7-3. The turn 5 and river 6 made Michael a straight but Chad had filled up on the river. Michael Woo was eliminated in 7th place for a $7,080 payday.
Hand #67 saw 3-way all-ins preflop with Adrien Lamoureux holding K-10, Ish had the best hand with A-K, and Richard Alm held a dominated A-Q. The board was 8-5-4-6-Q and that river Queen tripled up Richard Alm. Adrien was eliminated in 6th place place and earned $9,915.
On the very next hand Richard Alm had déjà vu with A-Q again. He was all-in against a short stacked Oddie Dardon holding a dominated A-10. The board fell Q-J-J-3-8 and Oddie failed to improve after the flop. Oddie Dardon finished in 5th place and collected $12,745.
As the sunlight started to show in the ballroom's doors, hand #88 found Chad Viall all-in with Ac-Kc against Richard Alm's pocket 3s. The board was K-10-9-10-Q. Richard's underpair is no match to Chad's top pair and Richard Alm finished in 4th place and paid out $16,990.
Hand #96 had Chad Viall all-in again with A-K and called by Ish's pocket 9s. The door card was an Ace and Ish sighed until his saw a nine as the balance of the flop was revealed (A-J-9). The turn 8 and river 7 did not change the lead and Chad Viall finished in 3rd place while collecting $25,490. Chad had won event #4 and was so close to becoming the first 2-ring winner.
The heads up play began at 7:30am with Ish's stack of approzimately 1.6M to Craig Chait's 150K. The 10:1 chip lead was steep but they played about 9 hands when Craig doubled up a couple of times and took a couple of uncontested pots. Ish had a 2:1 chip lead when the players accepted a chip count deal. Ish Hazuria won his first event since winning the H.O.R.S.E. event during the 2008 Winnin o' the Green series earlier this year.
-- Jay "Bugsy" Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Ish Hazuria traveled from Toronto, Canada to play in the 2008 Legends of Poker. Ish won the H.O.R.S.E. event in the 2008 Winnin o' the Green. Ish has been playing some kind of poker for over 18 years but serious poker for the last 3-4 years. Ish learned many card games involving math & strategy from his great-grandmother including the Eastern Indian game of Flash. He recalls playing Rummy and other memory-type of card games with his great-grandmother and dedicates this win to her. This is Ish's second trip to Los Angeles and he will not be able to play the main event this year due to obligations back in Canada. Ish will be making another trip to The Bike for the next year's Winnin o' the Green. | 
