| LEE 'THE KING' TANG TAKES
THE CROWN IN 7-CARD STUD
Lee "The King" Tang can now challenge the Los Angeles retailer ("Paul, the king of big-screen TV") who constantly proclaims in his ad campaign: "I am the king." Tang, a regular in Commerce Casino's $100-$200 five-card stud game, backed up his claim to royalty by winning the 12th event of Cal State 2003, $1,000 seven-card stud. First place paid $22,400.
Tang, a restaurant owner, has been playing side games here for three years. His previous best tournament finish was a third in the Los Angeles Poker Classic earlier this year.
This event was slated for a two-day structure, but the players voted to play it out. This being a $1,000 event, each player started with $1,500 in chips, playing hour rounds.
When the final table assembled, Tang had $28,750 in chips, three times as much as his closest competitor. Six other players were grouped in $7,000-$9,000 range, while Rich Lister, a sports psychologist, was the short stack with $4,000. The finalists were playing for $500-$1,000 limits, with $100 antes and a $200 low-card bring-in. There were six minutes left in that round.
Chip Jett was first out after limits had gone to $800-$1,600. He started with buried queens, then bet all in for $1,600 when he still had the lead over Moon Young Chang, who began with pocket jacks. But Jett never improved while Chang, who caught an ace on fourth street, hit a second bullet on sixth to take the pot. Jett, a well-known pro, earned $1,680.
As play continued, Robert Daniel moved into contention by picking up a $12,800 pot that was re-raised on third street. He paired a king on the end to make two pair and beat Vince Stella, a recreational player who described himself on his bio sheet as a "househusband."
Stella gave up more chips after surrendering on a bluff by Robert Daniel ("I'm too dumb to give up," Daniel, an air traffic controller, said when he showed his nothing hand.) Soon after, Stella finished seventh when he fell to Tang's queen-high flush. His cash-out came to $2,240.
A few hands later, there was three-way action with Daniel, Chang and Toto Leonidas. Starting with A-K/K, Chang bet all in for $250 on fourth street, losing when Tran showed him queens-up. Chang collected $2,800 for sixth place.
The next player to go all in was Lister. He raised to $750 on third street with split fours and got calls from Tang, Leonidas and Ralph Levine. Levine is a retiree with a third in $5,000 stud at the World Series to his credit. He bet when he showed two open jacks. Leonidas and Tang folded, and the jacks were enough to leave Lister, normally a side game player, in fifth place. He collected $3,360.
Limits now went to $1,000-$2,000, with $150 antes and a $300 low-card bring-in. A half-dozen hands into the new limits, Leonidas bet all in for $500 with three cards to a straight. He was called by Tang, who had split kings. Toto picked up another straight draw card but couldn't complete, while Tang caught a third king. Leonidas' fourth-place finish was worth $3,920.
A long stretch of back-and-forth action now developed. Finally, Tang won a pot with just a pair of fours Levine, starting with three monster cards, couldn't hit anything and was left with just $3,900 to play at the next level, which was $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes and a $500 low-card bring-in. He was up against Tang, with $51,000 and Daniel, with $29,000.
Levine folded the first hand at the new limits. On the next hand he completed the bet with A-10/K, then went all in and couldn't make a pair. Tang, meanwhile, started with split queens and had an easy win with queens and nines. Levine cashed out in third place for $6,720.
Heads-up, Tang enjoyed a chip lead of $52,900 to $31,100. After a dozen hands had gone by without too much change, Daniel lost four pots in a row, which left Tang in control of the air traffic controller, with a chip lead of $77,000-$7,000.
Three hands later, Daniel was all in and had the lead with J-6/7-6-7 to Tang's A-8/2-4-8. But Daniel failed to improve his two pair, while Tang caught a nine on sixth street and another nine on the river to edge his final opponent.
Daniel cashed in for $12,880 for second place, while Lee "King Poker" Tang donned his new crown. --Max Shapiro
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