Poker Tournament Results

Winnin 'O' the Green

Benjamin Nguyen

Tournament Report

Benjamin Nguyen - No Limit Win The 2009 Winnin' O' the Green series continued with another $500+$45 No Limit Hold'em event. 116 players created a prize pool of $56,260 and a grand prize of $21,230. Hand-for-hand play lasted for almost a full 40-minute round with 19 players remaining due to a single objection to paying 19th place. The final table was set at 1am with blinds of 1500/3000 and a 500 ante. The average chip stack was about 23 big blinds (69,600 chips). On hand #11 short stack Sam Dassa pushed his last few chips in with a suited 4-2. He was called and covered by Robert Cramer showing a 9-8. The board came J-8-4-5-10 and Robert's higher pair earned the pot. Sam Dassa finished in 10th place and earned $985. On hand #21 Robert Cramer was all-in and was called in two spots. The flop came J-5-3 and Stuart Krasney bet out and got Lionel Rival to fold. Stuart showed K-J and Robert showed his A-5. The turn 9 and river 4 was no help to Robert Cramer and he finished in 9th place and collected $1,125. On hand #38 Stuart Krasney was all-in against Andy Phan preflop. Stuart showed his suited connectors (7c-8c) and Andy Phan had K-Q. The board came K-9-4-2-9 and Stuart couldn't catch Andy's top pair. Stuart Krasney finished in 8th place for $1,265. Just three hands later Nikhil Gera called the short stack all-in of John Zentner. John held 8-6 and Nikhil showed A-J. The flop was J-6-3 and John pulled ahead. An Ace on the turn returned the lead to Nikhil and the river 4 kept Nikhil ahead. John Zentner III finished in 7th place and received $1,405. On hand #46 Lionel Rival was all-in and covered by Ricky 'The Rooster' Madrid. Lionel showed Q-8 and Ricky had an underpair of 4s. The board was 9-7-5-K-J and missed Lionel completely. The Rooster had his first knockout in this final table. Lionel Rival finished in 6th place and took home $1,970. On the very next hand Nikhil got it all-in against Matthew Leecy with a board of 8-3-2-A. Matthew Leecy had Q-6 and was drawing dead after having his all-in turn bet called by Nikhil's two pair. The river 9 fell and Matthew Leecy was eliminated in 5th place earning $2,530. Hand #51 had both Benjamin Nguyen and Andy Phan all-in preflop. Benjamin showed a suited A-K and Andy had the slight advantage with his 8-8. The flop was J-10-5 and Andy ‘s middle pair was $3,375in the lead. The turn 7 changed nothing but the river Ace gave Benjamin the win. Andy Phan was eliminated in 4th place for $3,375. On the final hand of the event (#65) Nikhil Gera was the short stack all-in against Ricky Madrid. Ricky showed a Q-10 and Nikhil held 7h-5h. The board was 10-9-8-9-5 and Nikhil did not catch his 6. Nikhil Gera was eliminated in 3rd place and earned $5,345. The heads-up match had each player with about even stacks. Benjamin had about 30,000 more than Ricky. The made a deal and called it a day at 3:30am. Benjamin Nguyen was declared the winner and Ricky did not catch the back-to-back titles but finished with a respectable 2nd place payday. - Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel BIOGRAPHY Benjamin Nguyen was hesitant to discuss any personal details for publication. Benjamin Nguyen has had a very successful tournament career. Earning two No Limit titles in the last two years and countless cashes in all the major tournaments in the Los Angeles area