| Sunar (or Later) He Wins it!
After a grueling heads-up battle that lasted 96 hands, Britain's Surinder Sunar finally claimed victory against a stubborn and resourceful opponent in the 27th event of Legends 2002, $1,000 pot-limit hold'em. Sunar, knocking out seven of the his eight final table opponents, had a 3.5-1 lead when he got heads-up with Steve Boudrgham, a Hustler Casino floorman. Boudrgham survived five all-in hands, pulled into leads twice and at one point would have won if Sunar hadn’t drawn out on the river.
The final table got there after Barry Shulman knocked out Ken Flaton. Ken missed an open-end straight draw and lost to Barry's paired 8. Limits started at $300-$600. Hand 11 was the first one with a flop and the last one for Arkansas lad Justin Westmoreland. Justin made a third raise to go all in with pocket jacks. Sam Sanusi had pocket 9s and won by flopping a set. The hand two deals later was almost a carbon copy. Agop Boghossian, a watchman, made a third raise to go all in with pocket jacks. But this time his opponent, Sunar, had pocket aces. The board came 7-6-5-10-A, and the watchman was watching from the sidelines.
Barry Shulman got knocked out on hand 39. He may fire me from Card Player for writing this, but his play was very doubtful.. On a flop of A-Q-9 and two hearts, Sunar, with A-6, bet $150 and Shulman, with Q-J off, raised the size of the pot. When a 4 turned, Sunar shoved in a big stack and Shulman, calling all in for about $8,000, went broke with his paired queen. Perhaps he was in a hurry because of an editorial deadline. Paul Pirrone then busted out with pocket queens when Sunar flopped a set of treys. Right after blinds went up to $600-$1,200, Brian Decater, a driver for Airborne Express, ran out of gas. He bet his last $3,500 with K-J on a flop of Q-6-3 and lost to Sunar's A-10.
John Juanda finished fourth. He raised with A-3. When the turn came K-9-8, Sunar bet $5,800. With $12,600 in the center, Juanda finally decided to call all in for about $4,000. Figuring Sunar for two big cards, he hoped he might be on a straight draw and couldn’t beat his ace. Sunar did have two high cards, but one was a king. A few hands later, Sanusi, who held a slight chip lead, also made the mistake of underestimating Sunar's hand. When Sunar bet $29,700 all in into a board of 10-8-3, Sanusi, holding J-8, got up, paced, thought for about three minutes and finally announced, "I call your bluff." No bluff: Sunar had A-10 and caught an ace on the river. He finished him off on hand 81 holding A-8 when Sam couldn't catch up with K-Q.
Steve now had $32,000 to Surinder's $112,000, but he wasn't about to "surinder."
He won a couple of pots, drew close to even after making a full house with 7-4 when the board came K-4-3-K-4 and finally took a small lead. On hand 16 heads-up, Sunar finally went all in with A-K against Boudrgham's pocket 6s, but everything turned around again when he hit an ace on the river. Steve was now down to about $6,000. He then went all in five separate times and lived, the fifth time when he outran pocket aces by hitting two kings to his K-9. He eventually took the lead again but then got crushed again when an all-in Sunar won a pot of more than $100,000 with Q-J against J-8 after a jack flopped. Left with about $30,000, Steve still lasted another 28 hands until, with blinds now at $2,000-$4,000, he went all in for the last time with pocket 7s and couldn't overtake Surinder’s pocket 10s. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Born in India and now living in London, Surinder Sunar is a former electronic engineer who turned to poker 15 years ago. His biggest cash-outs were about $100,000 for winning the British Open, and around $150,000 for coming in second at the Taj Mahal’s U.S. Open championship. He used to play a lot of tournaments but now plays mostly side games because he’s lost his patience for tournaments. He showed lots of patience tonight, “because I had nothing else to do since I’m not playing tomorrow.”
Tonight, he said, he was short-chipped throughout much of the competition. He wasn’t getting very good cards, but managed to make up for that by hitting a lot of flops. This event also had bittersweet memories for him. Five years ago he won the same pot-limit tournament here on the same day that Princess Diana was killed. “All night long I kept thinking about her,” he said.
EVENT #27 RESULTS
POT-LIMIT HOLD’EM
$1,000 + $60
$72,000 PRIZE POOL
72 PLAYERS
1. Surinder Sunar $28,800
2. Steve Boudrgham 16,560
3. Sam Sanusi $8,640
4. John Juanda $5,040
5. Brian Decater $3,960
6. Paul Pirrone $3,240
7. Barry Shulman $2,520
8. Agop Boghoissian $1,800
9. Justin Westmoreland $1,400
NEXT
1/2 7-Card Stud
& 1/2 Limit Hold’em
$1,000+$60
Wednesday, August 28, 3:15 p.m.
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Barry Shulman
$16,300
John Juanda
$21,100
Justin Westmoreland
$7,600
Agop Boghossian
$15,200
Sam Sanusi
$15,900
Steve Boudrgham
$29,800
Barry Shulman
$16,300
Brian Decater
$16,800
Paul Pirrone
$7,800
ALL-AROUND
Points
Name Total
1. David Pham 323
2. Men Nguyen 297
3. Daniel Negreanu 221
4. Kathy Liebert 219
5. Marlon Delossantos 192
6. Sam Sanusi 189
7. Huck Seed 183
8. Scotty Nguyen 148
9. John Juanda 145
10.Ron Faltinsky 132
SUPER SATELLITE
PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Jeff Yoak 405
2. Randy Holland 278
3. Tony Cousineau 251
4. Param Gill 242
5. Mickey Mouse 231
6. Hassan Kamoei 175
7. Harley Hall 150
8. Jimmy Tran 143
9. Can Hua 140
10.Phillip Barres 138
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