| 2nd Win, Point Lead for Lim!
A higher kicker on the last hand was the margin of victory for Cheu Kim “Joe” Lim in $500 7-card stud, enabling him to regain the lead in the points race. Andy Gamboa, who finished fifth in this year’s TOC, was the chip leader until the two tangled in a big pot. Both had queens, but Lim’s ace kicker decided it and gave him a big lead. A hand later, the three finalists agreed to divide the prize pool by chip count, with attorney Julian Levy getting third place. Lim, with a win in $300 limit hold’em and a sixth in $300 Omaha hi-lo, now has a six-point lead over John Juanda.
Mike Ruter finished ninth. He anted his last $100 chip, and made nothing. On the river, Scotty Nguyen bet his three eights. Lim, who had three aces, folded. "I made a mistake," he said sheepishly.
Final table limits continued at $1,000-$2,000 with $200 antes and a $300 bring-in. Tom Connors, the Bicycle Casino dealer who won the first event, arrived with only $300 and survived the first hand by starting with 8-9/J of clubs and making two pair. Los Angeles attorney Michael Hurey put in his last $800 with split eights, had a shot at a straight, but couldn’t overtake Gamboa’s nines and deuces. On the next hand, Connors committed his last $1,300 with A-10/K after Levy raised with pocket queens. He missed a flush draw but hit a straight on the river to beat Levy’s two pair. “I’m the luckiest man on the planet,” he exulted. But his luck deserted him two hands later when Scotty made kings-up to beat his smaller two pair and knock him out.
Six hands later, Rich Nguyen faced a tough decision. He had $1,700 left and a pair of tens when Joe Lim bet the river showing 4-10-3-3. He finally decided to go with the tens. Joe turned up a second four, and the table was quickly down to five. After limits went to $2,000-$4,000 with $300 antes and a $500 bring-in, there were only four left. World champion Scottty Nguyen had sixes and threes and bet all in on fifth street, losing to Gamboa’s aces and deuces.
Vancouver businessman Harry Fitzpatrick once spent about 18 months in Houston, which earned him the nickname of “Houston Harry.” Folding after Gamboa paired his six on fifth street, he was left with only $4,000, but managed to stick around for a while. He escaped once with a flush against Cheu and then again with a straight against Gamboa, who couldn’t fill his trip threes. But a few hands later the situation was reversed. Fitzpatrick, with split queens, caught a third one on fourth street, went all in for $1,800 and lost when Andy made a seven-high straight. To his shock, he then discovered why very few Canadians play tournaments: nearly 40 percent of their winnings is withheld.
Soon after, Lim and Gamboa went at it with three raises on third street. When the betting ended, each had queens, but Lim’s ace kicker vaulted him into a big lead. A hand later, as limits rose to $3,000-$6,000, Cheu had $55,500, Gamboa had $17,500 and Levy, $16,500. They decided to do a deal, and the tournament was over. Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Cheu Kim Lim said he hadn’t wanted to play tonight’s event after being sleep-deprived. But his wife, who wants the Mercedes SUV, made him, and now he’s committed to play all remaining events. Cheu, with several cash-outs at local casinos, also won the first Shooting Star event in San Jose this year, and last year finished second in the championship.
Tonight, he said, he lost a couple of hands early on, and “did not feel good.” But after taking a nice pot at the $15-$30 level, he began to feel better, and his confidence improved as he went along. As for the three aces fold against Scotty, he said he thought the WSOP champ was trying to suck him in because he hadn’t bet on an earlier round, and he convinced himself he was facing a full house or a flush. But he said he didn’t care that much because he still had a lot of hands to get his chips back.
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