RAY D BEATS DANIEL AND T.J.FOR FIRST TOURNAMENT WIN
Ray Dehkharghani, a cash game player who for obvious reasons goes by the handle of Ray D, beat back Daniel Negreanu and T.J. Cloutier, two of the very best in the business, to win the 14th event of 4 Queens Poker Classic, $1,000 limit hold'em, for his first major tournament win. Playing three-handed, T.J. ran into bad luck. His worst beat came when he matched his pocket queens against Ray's pocket jacks. Four diamonds came and Ray flushed a$16,000 pot. Heads-up, Ray, who has played a lot with Daniel and is familiar with his aggressive style, stayed with him and slowly ground him down.
Vinnie Vinh finished 10th. He flopped two pair, losing when Tony Cousineau, in the small blind with 9-6, hit his open-end straight on the turn. The final table started with $300-$600 limits. On hand eight, Jimmy Tran was in the small blind with 6s, 4s. A flop of 5s, 3s, 9h gave him an open-end straight flush draw. When an 8 turned, he check-raised all in against Ray D, who held 7-5. A river 6 gave Ray an inside straight and Jimmy was gone.
Play went fast, with 43 hands dealt in the 50 minutes left in the round. Returning from a break, with limits now at $400-$800, Ray, Daniel and Uruguayan impresario Jaime Ateneloff were the leaders with about $11,000-$12,000 each. Three hands later Negreanu made a small flush, leaving Scotty Nguyen with $4,000. Soon after, the WSOP champ left after he missed a flush draw and lost to Cousineau's paired ace.
Charles Fiore called with his last $500 holding A-10. Three players limped. "I'll take it from here," Costineau announced after flopping a set of 5s. He bet out, won and now six were left. On hand 136, Daniel rolled over Tony with a wheel, leaving him with $1,700. A few hands later, Cousineau raised with A-2 of hearts and was chased by three callers. "Some respect I'm getting," he complained. But he flopped aces full to quadruple up. Just before the next level, he got knocked down again to $1,500 when T.J. made a straight to outrun his aces. Continually in trouble, Tony still managed to eventually finish fourth. "You outlasted players with tons of chips," T.J. later said in tribute. "You make John Inashima (an ultra-tight survival specialist) look like he wasn't there."
With limits up twice to $800-$1,600, Daniel and T.J. were chip leaders with about $20,000 and $18,000 respectively. Las Vegas pro David Plastik, still upset after T.J. had earlier beat him with a runner-runner two pair, wasn't any happier when Ateneloff left him on the bubble by making a runner-runner flush. David, with ace-deuce, had a big lead against Jaime's Kh, Jd when the flop came Ad, Qh, 4h. Jaime, who has a reputation for not surrendering hands, raised and called Plastik's re-raise. Plastik bet all in when a 9h turned, then busted out when an 8h rivered.
Jaime's turn came on hand 170 when he tried to bull a pot with 10-3 of hearts. Negreanu stayed with him with A-6 of hearts, knocking the Uruguayan out by winning with a flopped 6. Five hands later, Tony was in the big blind with 10-7. He called all in and was in very bad shape when T.J. raised with K-10. Junk came and now three were left.
The biggest pot so far built up between Daniel and Ray, but it was wasted time, because they both flopped the same two pair, each holding K-8, and split. There was no split, however, on hand 190 when Ray made his unexpected flush with J-J to beat T.J.'s two queens. Fifteen hands later, another pot was bet, raised and re-raised to $18,000 between Negreanu and Cloutier. T.J. had only ace-high, but he bet and called to the end when the board came Q-3-3-K-5. "I knew you didn't have a 3," he said. Daniel didn't, but he did have pocket 7s, and now T.J. was down to $4,500. That went in on the next hand, when limits became $1,000-$2,000. Holding J-5 of spades, T.J. flopped draws to both a straight and a flush when 6-4-3 was dealt. He missed and Negreanu, with 9-6, put him out with his small pair.
Heads-up, Ray had a slight lead, which Daniel overcame on the first hand when Ray folded on the river. After that, it was Ray D all the way. He pulled way ahead, about $43,000-$20,000 when a flop of Q-10-3 gave him queens to Daniel's 10s. A few hands later he won with 8-7 when a 7 turned, then left Daniel with just $1,500 when he flopped a jack to his J-3. The next hand, number 225, was the last. Daniel had to go with 5-4 to Ray's 10-3 and lost to the Vegas pro when a board of A-7-10-A-A gave him an unexpected full house and his first tournament win. --Max Shapiro
Chip Position, Final Table
Seat Player Chip Count
1 T.J. Cloutier $7,275
2. David Plastik $9,875
3. Charles Fiore $2,800
4. Jaime Ateneloff $8,400
5 Tony Cousineau $6,700
6. Daniel Negreanu $9,025
7. Scotty Nguyen $10,700
8. Ray Dehkharghani $5,350
9. Jimmy Tran $2,875
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