| Amir Wins, is Still No.1
Amir Vahedi solidified his current ranking as Card Player magazine’s best all-around player of the year with a resounding win in the 11th event of Legends of Poker 2003, $500 limit hold’em. He’s had several second-place finishes, but this $75,000 guaranteed event was his first Legends win.
At the final table, he got off to a start that belongs in the Guinness Book of Records. . He arrived with a huge lead of $68,500 and a reputation for aggressively unorthodox play, and immediately began using his chips to bully the table with raises. He took the first three hands that were dealt to climb to the $100,000 mark, then proceeded to win all 13 of the first 13 hands he played (taking seven pots and stealing six antes) to amass about $150,000 of the $237,000 in play. Not until hand 32 did someone beat him, and to do it, Dr. Barry Marfleet needed four queens to beat Vahedi’s full house.
The final table started with $1,000-$1,500 blinds, $1,500-$3,000 limits. On hand six, An Tran raised with pocket treys and poker host Kenna James took him out by re-raising with K-J and making two pair.
On hand 12, Tony Nguyen, second only to Vahedi in aggressiveness, raised going in, then jumped up in shock when Vahedi turned up J-4 at the end, winning with trip fours. “Is that a professional play?” Fernando Ramirez wondered. “I’m not playing professionally, I’m playing my game,” Vahedi replied. When Nguyen forcefully raised on the next hand, Vahedi decided not to enter the pot. “He’s a wounded camel and I don’t want to mess with him,” he said.
Amir made it eight for eight on hand 17 by knocking plumbing contactor Juan Holub out in ninth place, winning with pocket nines when Holub couldn’t hit his As-10s. He then took his ninth straight pot with a Qh after five hearts hit the board. “Play good and get good cards, a deadly combination,” he remarked as his chips hit the 139k mark.
Next out was James. He went with his A-7 in the big blind and lost to Ramirez’s A-J.
With limits of 2-4k, Vahedi made it 12 for 12 by knocking out Billy Juleff after raising with 4h-2h and making a straight on the river. More cries of pain from his opponents. “Do you want me to sit back? I’m just doing my job as chip leader,” Vahedi informed them. His streak was finally broken when he went in with pocket 10s against Marfleet’s A-Q and three ladies hit the board. Marfleet, going on a small rush of his own, a few hands later eliminated Nguyen, who raised all in with pocket sevens. Marfleet had A-K and flopped a king.
One hand later, property investor Ramzi Daniel invested his last chips with K-J and finished fifth against Ramirez’s pocket eights. At this point, Vahedi was still a mile in front with about 140k, while Marfleet had around 42 k and Ramirez and Steve Boudrgham each had between 26 to 28k. Some15 hands later, Boudrgham four-bet and went all in with pocket aces on a flop of Q-7-6. Ramirez turned up Q-6 for two pair. “Yes!” Boudrgham exclaimed, when a river six gave him aces up. “Oh,” he said when he realized that it also gave Ramirez a filly. Three left.
Vahedi, meanwhile, had gone into a bit of a slump, losing four straight hands as he tried to bust all-in players and dropping to $119,500 against $67,500 for Ramirez and $47,500 for Marfleet. It was now 6 a.m. and after some negotiating, the three finalists made a deal and the 11th event was in the books. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
This has been an incredible year so far for Amir Vahedi. At the World Series, the Iranian-born pro won the $1,500 no-limit event, came in fifth in $5,000 no-limit, and then finished sixth in the big one. He also won the championship event at Hustler Casino’s Challenge Cup. Past triumphs include a best-all around at Foxwoods and no-limit hold’em player of the year in 2001.
Tonight, Vahedi said, he picked up much of his chip lead at the third table. He said his style of play was to carefully pick his spots and play the right hands (an assessment his opponents might take issue with), but he also acknowledging that he was able to use his chips to run over the table final table. “A combination, I guess.” Vahedi added that, even with his formidable lead, he agreed to a deal because of the hour and because he wanted his first Legends ring. “And in a tournament, anything can happen.”
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