Poker Tournament Results

Grand Slam of Poker

Place	Name	Prize
1	Frank Rite (Irvine, CA, USA)	$16,505
2	J.C. Tran (Sacramento, CA, USA)	$8,275
3	David Levi (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$4,130
4	Agop "Jack" Boghossian (Los Angeles, CA, USA, USA)	$2,605
5	Grady Talbos (Arcadia, CA, USA)	$2,180
6	Can Kim Hua AKA "CK" (Rosemead, CA, USA)	$1,745
7	Mel Weiner AKA "mr stoke" (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,310
8	Gene Resnick (Hidden Hills, CA, USA)	$1,090
9	Kavous Shariatzadeh AKA "kass" (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$765
10	Dennis Waterman (Sedona, AZ, USA)	$685
11	Andre Maloof (Burbank, CA, USA)	$685
12	James Harrington (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$685
13	Ray Vandervliet	$545
14	Greg Meyer (USA)	$545
15	Gino Yu (Torrance, CA, USA)	$545
16	Marcel Sabag (Tarzana, CA, USA)	$435
17	Dick Corpus (San Jose, CA, USA)	$435
18	Daniel Torla (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)	$435

Tournament Report

Dr. Frank Rite Goes on Rush and Does All Rite in Pot-Limit Event Dr. Frank Rite is a naturopath, a hypnotherapist, a clinical nutritionist and an energy healer, and he needed all his healing powers when he was down to $200 with about 10 tables to go in tonight's pot-limit hold'em event. But then a couple of winning river cards, one against Chris Grigorian, got him going. For most of the final table he was in about average shape until, with 10 hands to go, he went on a big rush, climaxed when he won an $84,000 pot. With three players left, Rite had about $120,000 of the $192,800 in play, and a deal was struck ending the fourth event of Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker. Rite's biggest cash-outs to date have been a $45,000 win at the Aladdin years ago and a $27,000 pot-limit hold'em win at Commerce. The final table got underway with blinds of $300-$600, 13:27 remaining. Mel Weiner was chip leader with $39,900, but on the second hand he went from the proverbial penthouse to the poor house. In the big blind with 9s-2s, he bet when the flop came J-7s-5s, only to have J.C. Tran move in with K-J. No flush came, the jacks won, and Tran took the lead with about 44k while Wiener was left with around 17k. With blinds at $600-$1,200, a big three-way pot developed on the eighth hand. The flop was Kh-9c-7h. Dennis Waterman was in the small blind with K-10 and moved all in for $3,200. Kavous "Kav" Shariatzadeh also went all in holding K-Q, and Weiner called with 10h-8h, giving him draws to an open-end straight and a flush. Two rags came and Kav's higher-kicker kings won. Waterman was out of business, and Weiner was down to about 8k. Kav's chips only kept him in action a few more hands. With a board of K-9-7-8-A, he check-raised Can Kim and went all in for 10k holding aces and sevens. Despite three clubs on board, Kim called, won with aces and eights, and Kav cashed out ninth. After winning the next pot, Kim took the lead with close to 50k. There were two unfamiliar faces at the final table: an attorney named Grady Talbot and a retiree named Gene Resnick. Both had been playing very cautiously. Finally, Resnick had a tremendous flop. Holding Jh-10h, he had a straight flush draw when the flop came Kh-9h-9. He bet out, went all in on the turn, missed everything and lost to Jack Boghossian's nines full. As play continued, Tran built his stacks to about 80k and increased his lead after beating Kim in two pots. Weiner, meanwhile, hadn't been able to recover and busted out on hand 30. At this point, blinds were 1k-2k, meaning that a player could raise to 7k by calling the 2k big blind and betting the pot of 5k. In the small blind, Weiner went all in with Q-10. Rite called from the big blind with J-6 and flopped a jack to send Mel home in seventh place. Three deals later, Rite dispatched Kim in an unusual hand. Kim moved all in with pocket threes and ended up with a full house when the board came J-9-9-9-3. Rite, however, had A-J, and he made nines full of jacks. On hand 36 it was doctor versus lawyer, though no Indian chief was in sight. Holding Jh-9h, Talbot raised to 7k and Rite put him all in for an additional $5,500. Rite held pocket eights and made a full house when the board came A-Q-7-A-8. With four players left, Tran still held a comfortable lead with about $90,000, more than twice as much as any other player. Rite and Boghossian were pretty closely tied for second with roughly $42,000 each, while David Levi brought up the rear with less than 20k. Levi, winner of the Omaha hi-lo event the night before, had been down to about $200 earlier, before the break, and he had been struggling to stay afloat ever since. He finally went all In with 9-8, pairing his nine and thwarting Dr. Rite, who had been trying to anesthetize him. "Trying to get rid of me, doctor? Get sick," Levi told him, as the players engaged in friendly banter. Rite started making his move on hand 49 when he went in with J-8 and outdrew Boghossian's Q-J by making a straight. The next hand saw four-way action, and Rite chased everyone away by betting the flop. Hand 54 was the big one. Rite had Q-J to Tran's pocket eights. With blinds now at $1,500-$3,000, Tran raised to $10,500 pre-flop and Rite called. Tran then bet 15k into the K-Q-A flop and the turn-card deuce. The river brought a trey. Both players checked, and Rite took in an 84k pot. On the next hand, Tran knocked out Boghossian when his pocket sixes held up against Jack's K-Q. Holding most of the chips, Rite now agreed to a deal and the festivities ended. --Max Shapiro