Men Destroys Final Table!
Bouncing back from a brutal beat the night before, Men "The Master" Nguyen totally dominated the final table to run off with Legends event 24, $300 limit hold'em. He arrived with a big chip lead, demolished opponents as fast as he demolished Coronas, broke seven of the eight other players and played and talked his way to a no-deal $70,085 victory. The previous day, he got knocked out with pocket aces in a no-limit contest when one player made a set of queens on fourth street, the other a set of kings on the river.
The Master warmed up by bumping Fi Tran into tenth place. He flopped a gut-shot straight holding A-4, missed, but did the job with a river ace. The last table started with $2,000-$4,000 limits, and two minutes later went to $3,000-$6,000. David Pham barely made it there with just $2,000. Winning the button, he promised to wait for aces. He lied. On the third hand he called with A-Q and lost when Men, holding J-8, flopped a straight. Pham, who may have set a Legends record with seven final tables to date, now has the highest all-around points total ever accumulated at a Legends tournament.
Realtor George Rechnitzer was next to fall after the Master once again demonstrated an uncanny knack for starting with garbage and drawing out. In the big blind with 7-3 of hearts against Rechnitzer's A-7, he hit a flush on the end, breaking his third straight player. The Master then made it four for four on hand 24. Ken Flaton raised all in for $5,400 holding J-10 of spades. Men, on the button, for once had the better hand, A-J, and called with the Skyhawk in his sights. The board came A-Q-10-2-9 and six were left.
Not slowing down, Men proceeded to cash out his fifth straight player. On hand 38, with limits now at $4,000-$8,000, Tony Cousineau was all in with A-6 of diamonds. Men won with K-Q when the board came Q-10-5-2-5. He also picked up a lot of chips from Barry Shulman. Barry, perhaps deciding that Men couldn't always have a hand given the frequency of his raises, check-raised him on the flop, only to have The Master play back at him and force him out on the turn.
A few hands later, Men tangled with John Strzemp, the chief financial officer for Steve Wynn's properties. Strzemp, with A-K, kept trying to bull the hand, even though he didn't match the board of J-6-6-2-10. Men called him down with J-9 and then chastised him: "Are you trying to run over me? Who do you think you're playing with? Don't tell me I get lucky." Etc., etc. With five players left, Nguyen now had roughly $180,000 of the $312,500 in play.
Allyn Jaffrey, being coached in tournament play by Shulman and making her highest tournament finish ever, had been playing cautiously. She finally raised all in for $8,000 with A-10. Giving Men a breather, Strzemp did the honors this time, sending her to the sidelines with pocket queens when neither player helped. With $6,000-$12,000 Limits, Men resumed the role of terminator. John put in all his chips in the small blind with 6-4 and got nowhere against Men, who flopped an ace to his A-7. Hand 89 was Steve Flicker's last. He raised all in with for $12,000 with K-5. Men had A-7 and won easily with a flopped ace.
Heads-up, Shulman had only about $30,000 against Men's piles of chips, and he lasted but four deals. On the last hand, Barry called all in for $4,000. He had A-8 to Men's Q-6, but once again the Master drew out by flopping a queen to end the one-sided match.
-Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
This is the third win for Men "The Master" Nguyen in Legends 2002. He also came in first in $300 7-card stud and $1,000 limit hold'em. God gave me a second chance to win, he declared, perhaps a trifle extravagantly, referring to his missed opportunity when his aces were cracked wide open a day earlier. Tonight, he was down to four chips with three tables left when he won with A-9 in the big blind and never looked back. At the final table he said he was betting and raising even more than he usually does because he found he was hitting the flop "most of the time, and I knew it was my day."
Nguyen, with numerous titles including four WSOP bracelets and three best all-arounds at the Bicycle Casino, said he was fairly certain he would add this event to his resume when it got down to four players because he didn't feel he had much to fear from his remaining opponents.
EVENT #24 RESULTS
LIMIT HOLD'EM
$300 + $30
$186,900 PRIZE POOL
266 PLAYERS
357 REBUYS
1. Men Nguyen $70,085
2. Barry Shulman $35,510
3. Steve Flicker $17,755
4. John Strzemp $12,150
5. Allyn Jaffrey $8,410
6. Tony Cousineau $6,540
7. Ken Flaton $4,675
8. George Rechnitzer $3,740.
9. David Pham $2,805
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Barry Shulman
$69,000
George Rechnitzer
$6,000
Ken Flaton
$26,500
Men Nguyen
$86,000
David Pham
$2,000
John Strzemp
$41,500
Steve Flicker
$42,500
Allyn Jaffrey
$9,000
Tony Cousineau
$30,000
Chips raced and/or blinded off: $150
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. David Pham 323
2. Men Nguyen 253
3. Daniel Negreanu 221
4. Kathy Liebert 219
5. Marlon Delossantos 192
6. Huck Seed 171
7. Scotty Nguyen 148
8. Sam Sanusi 148
9. Ron Faltinsky 132
10.Andre Maloof 131
SUPER SATELLITE
PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 353
2. Randy Holland 278
3. Tony Cousineau 251
4. Param Gill 232
5. Mickey Mouse 207
6. Hassan Kamoei 175
7. Jimmy Tran 143
8. Can Hua 140
9. Harley Hall 138
10.Phillip Barres 138
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