Eric Chhor Controls Limit Hold'em Final Table
The 2008 Legends of Poker continued with Event #22, a $545 buy-in Limit Hold'em tournament. A field of 150 players vied for a share of the $72,750 prize pool. Final table play began with 25:06 left at level 14 with blinds at 2,000/4,000 playing 4,000/8,000. Lawrence Fujii arrived to the final table as the chip leader with 124,000 of 675,000 chips in play.
It did not take long to lose our first player from the final table. On hand #6, Louis Werman got his last chips in with pocket 7's against Chris "The Armenian Express" Grigorian who held A-K. When the board came 4-A-5-9-10 Grigorian's pair of Aces bested Werman's pair of 7's sending Werman out in 10th place for $1,275.
Raena Janes got her last chips in with A-7 on a flop of Q-7-4. Manh Tran's Q-6 was ahead of her middle pair of 7's. The turn was a 6 giving Tran two-pair. Janes needed a 7 but an 8 on the river sealed it for Tran knocking Janes out in 9th place for $1,455.
Vince Burgio and Lawrence Fujii got involved in a hand with a board of 8-5-J-Q-A. Fujii showed down A-K for a pair of Aces. Burgio did not show but by his reaction it was all but obvious the river Ace was a lucky catch for Fujii. Burgio finished in 8th place for $1,635.
"Miami" John Cernuto came to the final table with a decent chip stack but after losing a couple of sizeable pots he found himself short stacked putting his last chips in on a flop of Q-6-2. Cernuto held Q-2 and flopped two-pair. Bill Williams held K-6 and when the turn came a King, Williams jumped ahead with a higher two-pair. The river 10 was no help to Cernuto as he finished in 7th place for $1,820.
Victoria Papazian, Manh Tran, and Lawrence Fujii got involved in a big 3-way pot. Papazian was all-in preflop with A-6. Manh Tran got his last chips all-in with K-Q on a flop of 9-10-Q. Fujii held J-8 and flopped a Queen-high straight. After the turn came an Ace and river came a 9, Fujii's straight knocked out two players sending Papazian and Tran out in 6th place for $2,545 and 5th place for $3,275, respectively.
After moving a couple spots up after the double knockout, Bill Williams found himself all-in with pocket 5's. Eric Chhor held A-9. The board came A-A-K-9-3 and Chhor's Aces full of 9's sent Williams out in 4th place for $4,365.
Three-handed play lasted for a while. On hand #80 Eric Chhor and Lawrence Fujii capped the betting before the flop and on the flop of K-4-3. Fujii was all-in with A-7 against Chhor's A-K. The turn and river were no help to Fujii as Chhro's pair of Kings sent Fujii, winner of event #11 Stud 8 or better, out in 3rd place for $6,910.
We were now heads up between Chhor and Grigorian. After a handful of hands, there were negotiations for a deal. Chhor had the chip lead at this point and after the numbers were agreed to, he was declared winner of event #22.
-- O.J. Alcaraz
BIOGRAPHY
This was Eric Chhor's first win at the Legends of Poker series. His best run was back in 2003 when he made 4 final tables at the LA Poker Classic. He enjoys split games especially Omaha Hi/Lo. He described his strategy tonight as patient and focused on position. He stayed away from marginal hands and situations that helped him build his chip stack and control the final table leading him to tonight's win.
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