EVENT #16 LIMIT HOLD'EM
Saturday, July 22, 2000
$450 BUY-IN
$1,000 in chips
WHY CHIP LEADERS MAKE DEALS
By Mike Paulle
The winner of a tournament takes a terrible beat. He or she wins 100% of
the
chips and gets only a little over a third of the money. With over half the
chips on the table with three players left, our chip leader today waited
for
a short stack to go out and finished 3rd costing himself about $25,000.
That's why chip leaders make deals.
There were 358 entrants in the $450 Buy-In Limit Hold'em for a total prize
pool of $161,100. Three tables were paid, a total of 30 players.
Scotty Nguyen called an all-in player and won the hand with a King high
making the remaining 30 players very happy. They were all in the money.
The Final Table was set up when Ed Fernandez picked up pocket Aces. He
couldn't release the hand when three diamonds flopped. Van Pham flopped a
flush with the 7 5 of Diamonds and got Fernandez all-in.
THE FINAL TABLE:
18 mins left of 1 hr. The blind are $1,000 and $2,000
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Chris Tsiprailidis (Syracuse, NY) | $23,100 |
| Seat 2: T.J. Cloutier (Richardson, TX) | $84,900 |
| Seat 3: Donald G. Ray (Jackson, MI) | $48,400 |
| Seat 4: Mike Keohan (W. Orange, NJ) | $23,700 |
| Seat 5: Young Phan (Los Angeles, CA) | $14,700 |
| Seat 6: Yohannes Muryz (Las Vegas, NV) | $26,200 |
| Seat 7: Norai Khodadian (Los Angeles, CA) | $33,900 |
| Seat 8: Van Pham (Bell Gardens, CA) | $66,000 |
| Seat 9: Wilfredo Aguas (Las Vegas, NV) | $27,600 |
| Seat 10: Scotty Nguyen (Henderson, NV) | $19,900 |
When he gets older, do you think Young Phan will learn how to play this
game?
10th in chips at the start, Phan was first out because he couldn't make a
hand. All-in with the K Q of Diamonds in the small blind, Young lost to TJ
Cloutier's A K when two under pair hit the board making the TJ's Ace good.
The six seat was just as dead as the five seat. Yohannes Muryz reraised
Mike
Keohan's three-bet all-in for his last $1,500 in complete frustration. Mike
had what he advertised, pocket Kings, which left Yohannes and his pocket
Queens only two outs. There was one more out, Muryz walked out in 9th.
It's amazing that Norai Khodadian could last to 8th place after the beat he
took early. Norai had A J and had Aces full of Jacks on the turn. Van Pham
had raised and reraised Norai to the river with A Q and caught the Queen
for
a higher full house. Norai had $3,000 left and survived a couple of all-ins
before Mike Keohan rivered a Spade flush on Khodadian's made pair of
Queens.
It was a tough spot for Wilfredo Aguas. He was in hot waters with three of
the toughest tournament players in the game right behind him. Every time he
bet one of them would come over the top of him. Finally Aguas raised all-in
with a K J on the button. Wouldn't you know that Syracuse Chris would have
pocket Aces in the big blind to douse Wilfredo's chances in 7th.
No player has made three Final Tables in this year's Orleans Open. Scotty
Nguyen now has made four. Scotty made five finals at the World Poker Open
earlier this year, winning two events. And he's already won one here. But a
second win didn't come today. Scotty had the same problem Will Aguas had.
Chris Tsiprailidis and TJ Cloutier were right behind him. He could never
get
a run going and went all-in with the J 10 of Clubs. Scotty clapped his
hands
when he saw the 7 6 4 flop which had two clubs. But no more clubs came.
With
a 5 on the turn and a 9 on the river, Donald Ray made a straight with his
pocket 8's.
In a hand dripping with irony, TJ Cloutier went out in 5th holding an A 9.
That's the hand that beat him for the World title. Just as in the World
Series final hand, the river struck the great Cloutier, who again had the
best hand on the turn. Van Pham had K 10 and flopped a King. There was a 9
on
the flop and another on the turn. The guys were hammering each other until
TJ
was all-in. The crowd exploded in disbelief as a King came on the river.
Ever
gracious, TJ wished the boys luck as he left. (By the way, I have to
correct
an error I made in an article I wrote for Card Player Magazine. TJ Cloutier
is a young 60, not 62 as I stated. Sorry, big guy.)
Mike Keohan almost made it into the big money. He even had the chip lead
briefly a couple of time. But playing $10,000/$20,000 is a bad time for
your
cards to go dead. It only took a few rounds of $15,000 blinds for Mike to
go
all-in with an A 3 in the small blind. Mike flopped the best hand with a 3,
but Van Pham caught the Jack he needed on the turn with J 10 to shut off
the
Mike on Keohan in 4th.
There were several times in the late stages of this event that 'Syracuse'
Chris Tsiprailidis had half the chips on the table. When the other two
players asked to talk about a deal, Chris would go over to his backer and
come back with a 'no.' At his peak, Chris could have locked up $40,000.
This
is why chip leaders make deals. Chris was the next one out for 'only'
$15,115. It looked like Chris and Van Pham were waiting for Donald Ray to
go
out before chopping up the money. There was a slight problem with the
scenario. Donald Ray wasn't going anywhere. Every time Chris raised, Donald
Ray woke up with a hand. At $40,000 a pop on the turn and river, it didn't
take long for Chris to be the short stack. Syracuse raised all-in from the
small blind with Q 5. Donald Ray had yet another monster hand in the big
blind. Ray had an A 6 and flopped 6 6 to bedevil Chris Tsiprailidis into
3rd.
Donald Ray should have been history on a hand where he raised with 10 9
against Van Pham. Van reraised Donald all-in with pocket Kings. The board
came perfect perfect for Ray with a 10 on the turn and a 9 on the river.
That
last card made Donald Ray $35,000. Instead of 4th, Ray and Pham split the
$89,095 first and second place money. Pham accepted another $500 so Ray
could
play in the TOC. That's why chip leaders make deals.
Official Money Winners
| 1. Donald G. Ray | $58,865 |
| 2. Van Pham | $30,230 |
| 3. Chris Tsiprailidis | $15,115 |
| 4. Mike Keohan | $10,335 |
| 5. T.J. Cloutier | $7,950 |
| 6. Scotty Nguyen | $5,570 |
| 7. Wilfredo Aguas | $3,980 |
| 8. Norai Khodadian | $3,180 |
| 9. Yohannes Muryz | $2,385 |
| 10. Young Phan | $1,990 |
11th-15th received $1,195
Ed Fernandez, Matt Heintschel, Roy Thung, Anthony Tran and La Dawn Platt
16th-20th received $1,035
Sonny Baza, John McIntosh, Bill Wolfe, Chris Grigorian and Hai Le
21st-25th received $875
Rudy Danos, Jeff Brown, Harvey Millar, Jim Daniels and Robert Turner
26th-30th received $795
Fred Berger, Doug Saab, Shamrock Kid, Minh Ly and Chris Compton
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