| YEUNG GETS TITLE, SPIRES THE TROPHY; CALL IT A TIE
Essentially dead even after 21 hands of heads-up play, Ted Spires made Philip Yeung an unusual offer. Yeung could have the title if Spires could take home the trophy. A bit taken aback, Yeung said, "You're a good player and I'd like to beat you, but
" and accepted. That made him the official winner of event 10 of 2003 Four Queens Poker Classic, $300 Omaha hi-lo.
Spires is a computer programmer from Aurora, Colorado. Yeung is a Fresno, California attorney recently relocated to Las Vegas. He's been playing poker eight years and this is his first major tournament win. He prefers live action, his game of choice being $40-$80 Omaha hi-lo at the Bellagio.
The other remarkable feature of this event was the performance of R.W. Miller. Harder to kill than the proverbial cockroach, he went all in a dozen times, three times with one chip, before finishing third. "Just call me one-chip Wayne," he said.
The final table began with $200-$400 blinds and $400-$800 limits, 11:59 remaining. Rebekah Emmons had the chip lead with $17,000, while Texas state worker Judy Coover and Zien Chan were perilously low with $1,100 and $900 respectively.
Also present was Ram Vaswani, the fourth and final member of Britain's "Hendon Mob" to make a final table. On the third hand Vaswani raised and was called by Coover and then by Chan, who went all in holding A-Q-J-8. The flop came 9-7-5 and Coover bet, holding K-K-3-2. A deuce turned to counterfeit her low, but she still had kings and bet all in. Vaswani was holding A-2-4-Q, and then a trey came on the river to give him a wheel and bust both players.
Four hands later, with limits at $300-$600, a wheel ran over a third player. Frankie O'Dell, who won a bracelet in Omaha/8 this year, raised holding A-3-5-6, and Kent Ervin called with 2-4-5-6. The flop was A-7-3, giving O'Dell aces-up and a straight draw. Ervin had a nut low and huge wraparound straight draw along with a flush draw. A five on fourth street gave Ervin a wheel and O'Dell retired in eighth place.
Returning from a 7 p.m. break, limits were $500-$1,000, with three players now sharing the lead. Philip Leung had 16.5k while Emmons and Vaswani were tied with 16k each. When limits had gone up two more notches, to $1,500-$3000, seven players still were left, though three players, Emmons, Miller and Bolton, were very low-chipped, with each of them already all in several times.
On hand 47, all three went all in. Miller had his last $500 posted in the small blind. Then Emmons called all in for $1,500, along with Tony Bolton, Spires and Vaswani, who was in the big blind. The flop was 5h-5c-2s. Bolton bet all in for $1,500 and got two calls. Then a 7-4 was dealt and the hands were turned up. Bolton, with A-2-3-K, had a wheel; Miller, with 3-4-5-Q had a full house, and both survived. Vaswani took the side pot with a straight six. Emmons mucked her hand without showing and left.
A few hands later, Bolton was all in with a great starting hand: A-2-3-5. Only two low cards came, and Spires won with pocket aces. As play continued, Vaswani dropped down to $4,000. He got away with a couple of all-ins, then went all in again on hand 51 holding Ad-3d-Jh-Kh. Spires had all low cards, 2-4-6-7, and then made a surprise full house with a 7-6-3-10-6 board.
Four-handed, the chip count was: Leung, 30k; Spires, 25k; Miller, 16.5k; and Ervin, 3.5k.
The limits went to $2,000-$4,000 on the next deal. Four hands later, Spires raised with K-K-Q-3 and Ervin, a retiree, re-raised all in, better than a 3-1 favorite with A-A-3-7 and a suited ace. But Omaha, as anyone who has played it knows, can be a cruel game, and Spires ended up with a Broadway straight, cutting the field to three. The approximate count now was: Spires, 35k Yeung, 26k, and Milleer, 14k.
Folding on the river in a hand where he couldn't beat ace-high, Miller was down to one chip. Again and again, Spires and Leung took turns trying to bust him, but he always managed to escape. Finally, with a board of 4c-4d-3c, Miller went in for the last time with 5-6-7-10 and two clubs. A deuce and a 9c gave him a six-high straight and a flush, but Leung, with Ac-2-5c-K, had a wheel and a bigger flush.
Heads-up, Leung led about 4-3 in chips. When they got close to even they chopped the prize money, played another 16 hands, then made the final title/trophy deal. --Max Shapiro
Bubble Zien Chan
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