| Kenna James Outlasts the Field in
Bruising No-Limit Hold'em Battle
The second event of Grand Slam of Poker, no-limit hold'em, proved to be wild and unpredictable. With four players left, Kenna James held a substantial chip lead, but the action became fast and furious and the lead changed several times before James finally ended up with all the chips and top prize of $28,120.
James, a P.R. player at Hawaiian Gardens, has been having a good year. He won three events at Hollywood Park's Poker and Ponies tournament in January, finished fourth at the Commerce's L.A. Poker Classic main event and had four cash-outs at the World Series. Interestingly, two key hands for him came when he outdrew players who slow-played big hands. The first came when he knocked out Kathy Liebert in 20th place when she held pocket kings and he made a flush. The second occurred when he had just K-3 against Greg Hopkins' pocket queens, but made two pair to regain the chip lead.
The final table began with $300 antes and blinds of $1,000-$2,000, 34 minutes remaining. Hopkins had the chip lead with 64k. At the other end was Jack Boghssian with only 5k. He went all in on the first hand, doubled up with a paired queen and managed to hang on and climb three rungs on the ladder.
On hand seven, Dan Heimiller tried to steal the antes and blinds from the button by pushing in his $25,100 with just 8-2 offsuit. James called him with A-10 and turned a nut straight. As he walked off, Heimiller muttered, "I hate when 8-2 doesn't hold up." One hand later, Reza Golestani moved in with pocket nines. Ben Boyd called with his remaining 19k holding A-K and busted out when the board came J-10-7-6-J.
On hand 18 the blinds increased to$1,500-$3,000 with $500 antes. Right after that, three players went broke in four hands. Tuong Luu, a popular local player, was first to go. He had J-10 to Greg Hopkins' J-9. A flop of Q-10-6 gave Luu two 10s, and he caught a third one on the river, but a turn-card eight had given Hopkins a straight.
Two hands later, Boghssian, who had survived a second all-in encounter, moved in for about 19k. Holding Ad-3d, he was in bad shape when Ramzi Daniel challenged him with A-Q and he finished eighth. A hand later, Darryl Wooldridge also had A-3 in the big blind. James put him all in holding Ad-10d and broke him when he flopped a 10.
A rough chip count showed James in the lead with about 90k, followed by Reza Golestani with 78k; Hopkins with about 64k; Jon Barker with 40k and Daniel with around 28k.
Barker had been very aggressive, repeatedly calling "all in." When he did it again, Hopkins asked him, "Are those the only words you know?" Maybe not, but they were his last words. He had K-J of clubs and ran into pocket aces held by James. Kenna flopped a set and moved up to about $120,000 after hauling in Barker's $30,500.
Blinds became 4-8k with $500 antes. Now it was Golestani who became the aggressor, with a lot of all-in bets. "I'm trying to either win it or go home," he explained. Daniel then made a unique proposal: everyone take $5,000 and play winner-take-all for the remainder. Different amounts were argued for the non-winners, but no deal was reached.
After a lot of heated action and chip movement, Golestani moved in for $52,500 with pocket eights. Daniel called for his last 38k with A-Q. A queen flopped, and Golestani was left with 15k. On the next hand, Golestani was in the big blind as blinds jumped to 3-6k with $1,000 antes. With half his chips committed, he pushed the remainder in blind. Hopkins, with A-10, made trip 10s and blew Golestani away.
Three-handed, Hopkins led with about 162k while Ramzi had about 70k and James, 65k. More action, lots of all-in moves and a little singing by James to ease the tension. Then, on hand 77, James reclaimed the lead. On a flop of 7-4-3, Hopkins, with pocket queens, made a trap bet of just 8k. James, with just K-3, called with his paired three, hit his king on the river and took down a big pot. Two hands later, Hopkins called Kenna's all-in bet. "Yow!" he exclaimed, as he saw James had pocket sixes to his pocket fives. No six came, and James suddenly was heads up with Daniel with an overwhelming 215-81k lead.
It all ended seven hands later. The board showed 8c-5d-2d-Ah. Daniel, with 10-5, bet 10k and James moved in with 7d-3d. "You call and it's all over, baby," he warned, borrowing Scotty Nguyen's trademark line. Daniel called, a river Kd gave James a flush, and it indeed was all over, as Kenna James made another mark on his 2003 scorecard. --Max Shapiro.
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