By Max Shapiro
In a slam-bang action final table that ended in under an hour, Florencio"General Poy" Umel out-manovered his opponents to win event number two of Winnin' O The Green, $100 Limit Hold'em. There were three distinct waves in this conflict, Rich Nguyen laid down the first barrage and captured half the chips on the table. Then Robert "Chip Burner" Turner lit his flame-thrower and took the lead, but in war the only battle that counts is the last one, and once the General took the offensive, he was unstoppable.
This event attracted a mob of 386 players, following the door-busting capacity crowd of 485 entrants who stormed the $50 Limit Hold'em opener. Just missing the final cut was Chuck Cannon, who called all in with J-10 and lost to Makram Merhom's A-6 when a six flopped. The action seldom let up at the final table, with virtually every pot raised and often re-raised. Bud Kilbury, who spent 26 years as a diver with the U.S. Navy, was first out. On hand one, with limits at $3,000 - $6,000, he abandoned a pot in which he had invested $36,000 when Daniel Quach bet into a board of 10-10-Q-6-J. On hand two, the ex diver sunk to the bottom. He got into a raising war with A-Q against Robert Turner's A-K, was committed after a flop of A-9-8,and put his last chips in on the river when a king fell. Two hands later Kenny Tran, in the big blind, went all in holding 6-4. He flopped a four but was blown away by Amir Vahedi's set of tens.
On the move, Nguyen, scored a major victory in hand number 11. In three-way action, the pot was capped. With a 7-J-8 flop, Nguyen bet out with pocket queens, Than Doan called all in with pocket Aces and Vahedi re-raised with A-J. a queen on the turn gave Nguyen a set. He then put Vahedi in a busted both players. One hand later, a low-chipped Merhom went quietly with J-9 against Nguyen's A-2 of Diamonds after all blanks fell. In 20 minutes, five players had been shot down and Nguyen had accumulated so many chips so fast they were all in a messy pile waiting to be stacked. But Nguyen began to falter when he put Umel all in but lost him when the General's Pocket sevens turned into a filly. With limits at $10,000 - $20,000, Turner took over the chip lead after Nguyen invested $50,000 in a pot but got cold feet after the chip burner re-raised him on a flop of K-2-J. Then, after Turner forced Nguyen to fold another hand on the turn, his chip count rose to about $160,000.
Now Umel came out shooting. He held A-K and put Quach all in on the flop. Quach, with 5-4,had an open-end straight, but it stayed open. On the next hand, Robert, with Q-5,Went against a depleted Nguyen,with pocket fives. The board came Q-Q-J-J-2, filling Turner and finishing Quach. Heads up, Turner took a massive hit for $80,000 when he failed to force out Umel, who had paired an eight. On the last hand, the General staged an ambush by limping with A-K and luring in Turner with K-6 of Spades. When the smoke cleared, the board showed 6-10-2-9-A and Turner, with no chips, raised the white flag of surrender.
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