Shen Tien Tsai Knocks Out Seven and Insures His No Limit Win
Event #7 of the Deepstack Mini Series drew 238 players creating a prize pool of $34,629. 1st place was $12,819 and all the final table players were gunning for the big money. The final table was set at 4:15am and play started off with immediate fireworks.
Hand #1 resulted in the battle of the blinds. Small blind Shen Tien Tsai was all-in preflop with Q-Q against big blind Du Hung holding Js-J. The flop came As-Qs-Q and it was all but over for Hung. The turn 10s gave a royal flush draw for Hung but the river brick allowed Shen's quad Queens to take the pot. It's not often that a player is drawing live (albeit awfully lean) when your opponent flops quads. Du Hung finished in 10th place and collected $440.
Hand #2 was just as exciting as the first when 3-way action saw the flop with two of the players all-in. Shen Tsai covered his opponents and had the lead with Q-Q again. Garri Tigrenyan held Qd-10d and Arman Siradeghyan held Ah-7h. The flop was 7-6-3 giving a little hope to Arman's 7. The turn Jack and river 8 were no help and Shen Tsai took the 2nd consecutive pot and sent both Garri and Arman to the rail in 8th and 9th places respectively.
Hand #17 had chip leader Shen Tsai covering Paul Leaverton preflop. Shen showed Q-8 and Paul held 6-6. The flop was Q-8-4 and Shen had the lead with top two pair. The turn Ace and river King didn't change anything and Paul Leaverton was eliminated in 7th place and collected $865.
Hand #19 had Shen Tsai involved again against Steve Sax. Shen held A-6 and was dominated by Steve's A-10. The flop was K-6-3 ended the domination for Steve. The turn deuce and the Ace on the river spelled doom for Steve Sax as he was eliminated in 6th place for $1,210.
Hand #26 has Shen Tsai covering Dan Klochian in another preflop domination contest. Shen, behind with an A-8, is against Dan's A-K. The board falls 10-7-6-5-9 giving Shen the gutshot straight and Dan Klochian was eliminated in 5th place for $1,560. Shen Tsai has eliminated all 6 players at this final table.
On hand #35 Shen Tsai saw a flop with Hoang Ta and the flop was J-10-8. Hoang went all-in after the flop for his last 120,000 chips. Shen took about 5 minutes to decide and finally made the call. Shen showed J-10 for top two pair and Hoang showed A-Q for a gut shot Broadway draw. The turn 10 filled up Shen and Hoang was drawing dead. Hoang Ta finished in 4th place and earned $2,075 on his original $175 investment and about 11 hours at the poker table.
The final three players discussed a chip count deal while Shen "The Terminator" Tsai held over 70% of the total chips in play. A few minutes of negotiation between 2nd & 3rd place was resolved with Shen and the deal was done. Shen Tsai was declared the winner.
-- Jay "Bugsy" Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Shen Tsai sells life insurance when he's not playing poker. He has only been playing for two years after a co-worker taught him how to play and invited him to a $20 buy-in No Limit home game. Shen typically plays $100-$200 buy-in No Limit cash games but occasionally plays tournaments. Shen was responsible for every single knockout at the final table. He said the cards just kept on coming and when he was behind, the board would just work to his advantage.
CHIP COUNTS ARRIVING AT FINAL TABLE:
Seat 1 Liok Levi $42,000
Seat 2 Shen Tien Tsai $315,000
Seat 3 Du Hung $122,000
Seat 4 Hoang Luu $106,000
Seat 5 Paul Leaverton $90,000
Seat 6 Steve Sax $151,000
Seat 7 Hoang Ta $472,000
Seat 8 Dan Klochian $252,000
Seat 9 Garri Tigranyan $70,000
Seat 10 Arnan Siradeghyan $48,000
Chip Variance = +2000
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