Last Man in, Last Man Out!
Side game pro Suriyan 'Paul' Bhinestien played tonight's limit hold'em tournament only after a friend coaxed him, saying they had nothing else to do. Last to sign up, he was first at the end. He came to the final table close to the chip lead, took it over on the first hand and kept the pressure on throughout with aggressive raising. A record turnout was registered for this event, the third in a row for Winnin 'o' the Green 2003.
The final table made it after Juan Arroy's 10-9 lost to an ace-high.
Blinds started at $2,000-$4,000, playing for 4-8k. Chip leader was Joseph Chee, a waiter. On the first hand, after Bhinestien raised with 9h, 8h, Chee three-bet the pot. Bhinestien flopped a flush draw and kept betting it. He missed flushing but won with a river 9. After losing a couple more pots, Chee re-raised all in for $11,000 on hand 11 with A-Q against Howard Tattrie, who held K-J, and Edgar Garong, all in for $7,000 with Ac, 10c. Five rags were dealt and Chee's ace with queen kicker held up as Garong cashed out for $565 in 10th place.
Hand 15: Three-way action with blinds at $3,000-$6,000 and $6,000-$12,000 limits, Steven Suh raised with Q-Q. Alan Wood, a systems administrator, called with K-Q. Tho Ngo called all in with Ac, 10c. On a flop of K-5-2, Suh also went all in. Two blanks came and Woods' paired king left Ngo in ninth place for $655 and Suh in eighth for $835.
Chee, getting involved in a lot of pots, entered his last one two hands later.
He raised with A-5 offsuit. Tattrie called with As, 10s. Chee, refusing to back off, bet the flop of 10-3-2 and then bet all in when a queen came. His only out was a 4 for a straight, but the out he got was the exit as the waiter collected a $1,005 'tip' for sixth place. Next, restaurant manager Vegan Sarkissian was in the small blind with Jc, 8c when he went all in for 7k. Wood had pocket aces and made a set to leave Vegan in sixth place for $1,365.
Hung Pham, meanwhile, had been unable to play a hand. Finally, he moved in for $8,000 with Q-10, 'the best I've seen all night.' He won with a flopped 10, then won the next pot when his A-J beat Woods' Q-J. Happy to finally have some chips, he began whistling, explaining that he was just a $1 kondition pan player, not really a poker player. When Pham bet a couple of hands later, Tattrie speculated that his whistling was really a tell for a weak hand … but he folded anyway.
At this point Russ Rosen, who is in the auto accessories parts business and has a victory in a Legends of Poker 7-stud event, had the lead. But Bhinestien suddenly went on a rush. First, he took a capped pot from Wood with A-K against A-Q. Then he busted Pham on the next deal. Pham, with A-K, thought he had a dream flop of K-7-3 and raised all in, only to see Paul had a set of 7s. After taking the next pot with an uncalled re-raise, Paul had run his chip count to about $170,000, more than half the chips in play.
With $5,000-$10,000 blinds, playing 10-20, Wood finally slowed the runaway train. Paul bet a board of A-J-9 and Alan, not at all confident, called and won with K-J. As play continued, the chips began to even out. It took until hand 46 to get down to three. Bhinestien raised with K-9, Tattrie added another 2K with 9-9. Two kings flopped and Howard finished fourth, picking up $2,440. Three more hands went by. Then the finalists agreed to a chip-count split and Bhinestien, with a slight lead, was the official winner. - Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
'I was playing for fun tonight, just to kill time,' a delighted Suriyan 'Paul' Bhinestien said, still trying to grasp the fact that he had just won a major tournament. Paul is a 32-year-old native of Thailand who came to this country 11 years ago. He only plays two or three tournaments a year, none higher than $300. Last year he came in sixth in the Bicycle Casino's $100,000 freeroll. He arrived at that final table as chip leader but began going downhill after running into pocket aces.
Paul has supported himself playing $40-$80 and $80-$160 hold'em the past four or five years. Before that he was a computer information systems student. He describes himself as an aggressive player. Analyzing his win tonight, he said he had three things going for him: good cards, good flops and his own skill.
ALL-AROUND PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
Name Points
1. Paul Bhinestien 61
2. Robert Bakovic 61
3. Joe Boghossian 61
4. Barry Bergida 61
5. Russ Rosen 53
6. Unknown 53
7. Joseph Isagulyan 53
8. B. J. Behboudi 53
9. Tae Womack 47
10.Shig Nakayama 47
11.Rolando Florendo 47
12.Alan Wood 47
13.Denfield Eudelle 44
14.Tony Bigdali 42
15.Howard Tattrie 42
16.Freddy Legaspi 42
17.Dennis Thorn 42
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