Jimmy Tran Takes Pot-Limit!
Jimmy Tran, a pro for only two years, won his first Legends of Poker event, $1,000 pot-limit hold’em, and cashed in for $31,600. He came to the final table with a slight chip lead over Mario Esquerra and had a massive lead when the two got heads-up and made a deal.
“Super” Mario’s key hand came with three tables left. The flop was K-10-7 of diamonds. Mario, with the nut flush, and Paul Kroh, with J-9 of diamonds, checked. Rod Peate, with a smaller flush, bet $1,200. Mario flat called and Paul raised $4,000. Rod called, Mario moved in for $6,300, Kroh moved in with a bigger stack and Peate belatedly folded. No straight flush came, and Mario hauled in a $28,000 pot. On the last hand before the final table, John Juanda raised, Tran re-raised and John, putting him on a steal, moved in. John had queens to Jimmy's A-10 of spades, but an ace flopped to leave all-around points leader Juanda in 10th place.
Final table blinds started at $300-$600. Iranian-born Arash Ghaneian left on the fourth hand. After checking a flop of K-9-4, Tran bet $5,000 when an eight turned and Arash moved in with his last few chips and two jacks. "If you have a king, you win," he said. Jimmy did (K-J) and Jimmy won. On hand 13, Kroh raised to $1,500 and Hasan Habib made it $4,000. On a flop of 9-9-4, Hasan put Paul in for $3,500. He had queens, Paul had K-J and departed when he couldn't catch up. A hand later, World Series champ Chris "Jesus" Ferguson ended up seventh. On a board of 10-8-4-5, Jimmy bet $1,500 with a 10-8 two pair and Chris moved in for $5,600 with a Q-8 and flush draw, losing when an offsuit ace failed to help.
Hollywood Park executive host Rod Peate lost with A-K suited on the 19th hand. On a 6-5-3 flop, Habib bet $1,000 with pocket deuces. Rod moved in for $2,300 and couldn't hit either card. Blinds went to $500-$1,000. A discouraged Mel Judah, ground down by junk hands, was one off the big blind with $1,000 left when he called with K-9. On a K-4-3 flop, he had the lead against Hasan's K-8 and Mario's K-5, but a five on the river gave Mario two pair and put Mel away.
The four-handed chip count was: Tran, $52,500; Esquerra, $43,500; Habib, $32,000; Cantor, $30,500. Suddenly power-broker Men “The Master” Nguyen once again appeared and rapidly calculated a save-and-play suggestion which happened to be exactly what tournament assistant Robyn Shepard had proposed.
On hand number 46, Hasan raised to $3,000 with A-8. Cantor, with A-K, made it $6,000, and Hasan moved in for about $20,000 more. A board of Q-10-7-2-5 left the Pakistani-born tournament veteran in fourth place.
Cliff Cantor, runner-up in the no-limit event two days earlier, had vowed to never get knocked out of a tournament unless somebody sucked out on him, and he was true to his word. On his last hand, his A-Q lost to Jimmy’s A-8. On a 10-8-6 flop, Cliff bet $3,000 and Jimmy called. When a deuce turned, Cliff went all in for about $18,000. Jimmy called and nailed it with a third eight on the river. He now had a huge chip lead, and he and Esquerra made a final deal. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Jimmy Ngoc Tran is 40 and formerly managed a grocery store that his wife owns. Earlier this year he chopped a tournament in the opening event of the Orleans Open three ways. Until the final hand, he had the lead. He also won the first two events of a Sam’s Town tournament.
Tonight, he was down to only $200 at the second break. Then, with A-Q of hearts, he picked up three-way action, won and began moving up. A key hand for him came when he was raised with pocket queens with about 13 players left. He moved in against the two-ace raiser, flopped a set and made quads on the river. His style, he said, is to mix up his play, and adjust it according to the overall play of the table. Tonight, he felt his final opponents tended to play a little too tight, and he was able to take advantage of that.
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