Poker Tournament Results

California State Poker Championship

William Bessent

Tournament Report

EX-MARINE OVERCOMES ODDS TO WIN LIMIT HOLD'EM EVENT Limit hold'em, the last event of Cal State 2003 before the championship, looked like a blowout. Pham Kang, an engineer, came to the final table with an impressive chip lead of $78,000, began terrorizing the other players with unrelenting raising and soon built a huge wall of chips. But John Bessent, an ex-Marine and retired realtor, patiently waited him out, wore him down, picked him off when he got out of line, and gradually took over the chip lead when they were heads up. As 4 a.m. approached, Kang impatiently suggested a switch to no-limit. A showdown hand, when Bessent had a lead of about 193-70k, suddenly ended it. This is the biggest tournament win to date for Bessent, who plays mostly side games at Hawaiian Gardens. When he became a real estate broker after Marine service and college on the G.I. Bill, he vowed to retire after selling 1,000 homes and set a goal of 20 years to do it. He hit his mark three years early, in 1990, which gave him the leisure time to pursue poker. The final table started with 1,500/3,000 limits, 33 minutes remaining. Nearly as wild as Kang at the outset was Ardashes Mazmanian, the second chip leader, whose eagerness to mix it up resulted in big swings in his chip supply. Meanwhile, Barry Greenstein's point lead of 146 stood up (John Hoang was the only one playing in the final points event who could overtake him), and Greenstein won the first-place prize of $18,000, which, along with all his tournament wins, will go to charity. David Tuchman, a young writer, was first out on hand 15. The pot was capped before the flop. Tuchman had pocket queens, and at the showdown was surprised to see Bessent and Mazmanian both turn up pocket kings and split up his last chips. Jim Pechac, a pro from Arizona, started with only 4,000 and had been hanging on. He managed to last 24 hands before finally raising all in for 3k with A-K. He was in bad shape against Bessent's pocket kings. But it was Can Hua, in the big blind with only 8-6, who won the pot and busted Pechac when a board of 7-6-5-5-9 gave him a straight. With limits at 2,000/4,000, Kang did not slow down, forcing other players to fold and getting lucky when he was an underdog. On the first hand at the new limits, he started with 10-9, made two pair and ran his chip count up to nearly 80k. A few hands later he re-raised with pocket deuces, going up against an all-in John Hoang's pocket fours. He flopped a set, filled and left Hoang in eighth place. Continuing to run over the table, he had now run his chip count up to about 100k. Hoang picked up 20 points for finishing eighth, not quite good enough to overtake David Levi, and ended up third in the points race. Thang Doan was left with 2k after his pocket sixes were shot down by Can Hoa's two bullets. The 2,000 was posted the next hand when he held 9-2 in the big blind. Hoa had only 10-3 in the small blind, but it was enough to leave Doan in seventh place. Eight hands later, on the 54th deal, Hoa got in a raising war with Na Phan. He had pocket queens to her As-Qs. He went all in on the turn with the board showing 8-7-3-7 and two spades. "Spade!" Phan shouted. She got her wish, and Hoa finished sixth. Two hands later, Mazmanian held the A-Q and he also got into a raising war, "Oh, oh," he said when Bessent three-bet before the flop with pocket kings. A queen flopped and another turned, giving Mazmanian the lead, but a king on fifth street gave Bessent kings-full. "What a river; it killed me," Mazmanian moaned. Two hands later he raised all in with Q-10. He had all the best of it against Minh Nguyen, who called from the small blind with Q-7. But the flop gave Nguyen two pair, and Mazmanian was out of action. Limits now went to 3,000/6,000. A few hands later, Kang, who seemed unstoppable, knocked out Nguyen. Holding Q-J, Nguyen flopped a straight, but Kang hit a flush on the river. Three-handed, he now had about 160k to roughly 50k each for Phan and Besset. Besset made some hands and climbed to about 130k, but then Kang came back even more, while Phan at one point had dropped down to 18k. By the time limits were kicked up to 4,000/8,000, Kang had reasserted himself with 176k to 56k for Bessent and 31k for Phan. Phan went south on hand 107. She made her last stand with 10h-3h, and lost to Kang's K-9 when a king flopped. Heads-up, everything seemed to change as Bessent began winning a succession of pots, pulling even and then hammering Kang down to about 80k. Then the tide changed again. On the 23rd hand heads-up, five diamonds hit the board. Kang, with a 4d in his hand, made a higher flush, and now pulled even again. At this point, Kang began urging that the game be changed to no-limit, and after a few more hands, Bessent went along with the suggestion. It wasn't a particularly helpful switch for Kang, because after a dozen hands he was down to about 70k. Some 8-1/2 hours had gone by since the second-day final table got going at 7:30, and Kang had had enough. He impulsively committed his last money, lost a showdown hand and settled for second place. --Max Shapiro