| Vol. XIII, No. 3
Saturday, March 2, 2002
House Player Wins No-Limit!
Phi Nguyen, a Hawaiian Gardens house player and hold'em specialist, played aggressively and got lucky in the right places to win the third event of Winnin' o' the Green 2002, $100 no-limit hold'em. Three-handed, he had $108,000 in chips to $99,000 for Jay "Moose" Moriarty and $43,000 for Al Korson, and the finalists made a chip-count deal. Moriarty, a TV writer/producer, has several titles including a Seniors championship, and is the founder of the Aces and Eights private poker tournament.
Ibrahim Jajo finished 10th when he expired in the big blind with 10-5 and couldn't catch Melissa Hayden's K-9. The final table opened with $500 antes and blinds of $2,000 and $4,000. On the first hand, Andre Maloof, who won this event last year, lost most of his chips when he called Gregg McFarland's all-in $7,500 raise. McFarland, an insurance company president, had 10-10. Andre, with A-6 suited, lost when the board came K-J-4-9-7. The CPA got broke on the next hand when Nguyen raised with A-K. Maloof had 10-9 and couldn't help when all low cards hit.
Limits went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,000 antes, leaving a tempting $17,000 in dead money on the table each hand. First McFarland and then Thomas Kremer, an investor, picked it up with uncalled all-in moves. Then, on hand five, Kremer pushed in all his chips holding A-10 of clubs. Vinnie Landrum, a pro with a second-place finish at this year's Reno Hilton tournament, was forced to call in the big blind with a few more chips holding 10-7 of diamonds. Vinnie was dead when an ace turned, and dead and buried when another ace rivered.
Moriarty made his first play on hand eight, moving in with A-K. McFarland, calling with his last $8,000, was a big dog with K-J, and ended up in seventh place when 10-7-2-3-10 was dealt out. Five hands later, the Moose got very lucky. Ferydun Gholami had started with $60,000, tied for the chip lead with Hayden. Now, down to about $13,000, he went all in with K-J. Moriarty, in the big blind, called with Q-7. The flop was K-8-4, giving Gholami a big lead. But then runner-runner 6-5 gave Jay a straight, and the field was cut to five.
One of the fine points of no-limit play was brought out when Korson was gently chided for folding after Moriarty announced a raise but hadn't finished putting in his chips. He was told that, with players remaining, a premature fold could change the size of the raise. Later, a similar question arose. When Nguyen said "raise" and began pushing in stacks, Melissa questioned how many times he could go back for more chips. As many times as he wanted, so long as it was done in continuous motion, Denny Williams answered.
On hand 21 the blinds jumped to $5,000-$10,000 with $2,000 antes. Four hands later, it was Nguyen's turn to get lucky. He raised to $30,000 with Q-10. Kremer, just short that amount, called with A-10. The flop was 10-8-4, and then a queen on the turn gave Phi a two-pair winner. But the tables were turned a hand later when Korson, in the small blind, raised all in for about $15,000 more. "Good call," he said, turning over Q-7 after Nguyen called with A-9. Both an ace and a 7 flopped, but then a queen turned to keep Korson alive. The next hand, Phi tried to break Melissa who was in the big blind. He put her all in for $25,000, but her Q-J beat his Q-7. A hand later, Melissa, in the small blind, moved in with K-2. Moriarty called in the big blind, saying "I need help." He got it, by making quad 5s. A hand later, Melissa moved in for her last $13,000 with K-10. Nguyen, in the small blind with J-10, called for the extra $3,000 and hit a jack on the to send the photographer/poker player home in fourth place. The three finalists then agreed to the deal that gave Nguyen the win. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Phi Nguyen, a native of Vietnam, is 40, has been playing professionally for 11 years and has been employed at Hawaiian Gardens for two, propping hold'em games ranging from $20-$40 to $40-80. He splits his personal playing time between tournaments and live games, so long as they're hold'em, either limit or no-limit. In tournament play, he has a couple of prior hold'em titles at Hollywood Park and the Bicycle Casino.
He describes his style of play as aggressive, and "very aggressive" when it comes to no-limit. Tonight, he said, he got lucky a few times. He thought the key hand came at the final table when he raised to $30,000 with Q-10 and was up against Tom Kremer's A-10 but then busted him when a queen came on the turn.
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