| KENNA JAMES SINGS AND
JOKES AND WINS NO-LIMIT
It was a fun night for Kenna James. He regaled spectators with bursts of song, joked around and sported a small towel as a head covering. But his good-natured clowning did not diminish his shrewd and aggressive play as he scored a decisive victory in the eighth event of the 2003 Four Queens Poker Classic, $300 no-limit hold'em.
It has been a great year for James, a P.R. player at Hawaiian Gardens. Starting out with back-to-back wins at Hollywood Park, he's had 12 final tables and six wins so far, along with three cash-outs at this year's World Series.
When he got heads-up, he had better than a 2-1 lead over his final opponent, Jim Miller, tournament director and shift manager at the Hustler Casino. No slouch at the tables either, Miller had four WSOP cash-outs this year. The two played more than 30 hands without much happening. Finally, with the board showing 10-6-2-4-A, Miller, with exquisitely bad timing, tried a showboat all-in move with 7-2 and discovered that James, with 5-3, had turned a six-high straight.
This was a tough final table. Along with journeyman pros David Plastik and Minh Nguyen, it also included Laumar Hampton, who won a World Series bracelet in razz in 1992, and a World Poker Open hold'em event in 2002. The table started with $100 antes and $500-$1,000 blinds and soon went to $200 antes, $800-$1,600 blinds. R.W. Miller, a retiree, retired on hand seven. After he raised to $4,500, Plastik re-raised. "Nothing," said J.W, calling all in. Actually, he had A-Q against Plastik's 10-10 and took the lead with an A-7-6 flop. But then an 8-9 came to give Plastik a straight.
Starting third-lowest chipped with only 11k, James moved in four times the first 14 hands without being called and soon became a force at the table. Next out on a bad beat was Steve Addy, who is on the Las Vegas Review Journal's sports staff. After Nguyen raised $4,000 with pocket eights, Addy moved in for another $8,700 with pocket queens, losing when Nguyen turned a set.
After dropping down a notch, James doubled up against real estate developer Ned Cruey, who moved in with A-K and lost to James' pocket 10s.
Bruce Corman, who owns a clothing store in Nottingham, England, won the Four Queens' main event last year. In this event he started second-lowest in chips and couldn't get anything going. Right after blinds went to $1,000-$2,000, Miller raised with pocket kings. Corman, down to about $4,000, called all in with A-5 and couldn't do better than pair his five.
Cruey, badly hurt after dropping 12k to James, now began a series of all-in moves and repaired the damage. "I'm back," he said. Meanwhile, James, continuing his own series of all-in moves, had bulled his way into a substantial lead of more than 55k by the times blinds moved up to $1,500-$3,000 with $400 antes.
Mixed in with all the seasoned pros was one local student, Frank Cremen. After Plastik raised 8k under the gun with pocket sixes, Cremen moved in with A-K and finished seventh when rags came.
Hampton and Cruey were almost dead even in chips when they got involved in a big pot. Hampton raised to 9k with Qs-Js and Cruey moved in for 22k with pocket queens. When the board came 10-3-2-8-3, Hampton was left with $400, just enough for the ante on the next hand. Nguyen swallowed that with A-Q versus Hampton's K-9, and five were left.
When blinds went to 2-4k with 500 antes, James, Cruey and Miller all had about 50k or close to it, while Plastik and Nguyen were in the 30 and 20k range respectively.
As hand 100 approached, three players went out very quickly. First to go was Cruey, moving in from the cut-off seat for 34k. "Looks like he was ready to make a raise no matter what happened," James mused aloud. He made a good call with Ah-Kh against A-8 and Cruey was gone. On the next hand, Plastik moved in for 10k with Qc-10c and Miller called with As-4s. The board showed a straight -- J-10-9-Q-8 -- but it included three spades, and Miller's flush won. And just three hands after that, James made it 8k with K-5 and Nguyen moved in for 14k with A-9. A king and two fives gave James a surprise full house.
Heads-up, James led by roughly 140-66k. The two made a deal, then played cautiously. "We might be here a while," James said after blinds went to 3-6k. But then he hit the straight for his sixth win this year. --Max Shapiro
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