| 'K.K.' in Strong Finish Wins First
Tournament Against 'Heist' Actor
Chad Brown is an actor whose next role will be in a "heist" movie starring Joe Montegna. When he got heads up in the 13th event of Grand Slam of Poker, $300 no-limit hold'em, he had a 2-1 chip lead. But then he watched as his lead and the tournament win was heisted by a business analyst going only by his initials of K.K.
K.K. came to the final table with the least chips, quickly quadrupled and came on strong at the end to win his first tournament ever. He normally only plays two events a year, but began playing a lot more this year.
Brown listed his greatest poker accomplishment as knocking out Phil Hellmuth in a tournament. "Phil is the greatest player in the world -- he told me so," Brown said.
Opening stakes at the final table were $400-$800 blinds with $100 antes. In the first four hands, K.K. doubled up twice, once against Brown with jacks against eights, then against Thor Hansen, eights versus K-Q, and leaped from $6,900 to about 30k.
Some 19 hands and five all-in survivals went by before the first player went out. Blinds were now $600-$1,200 with $200 antes. Ernie Sebastian moved in for 7k with pocket fives, losing to Hansen, who called with A-J and flopped a jack.
Kevin Armstrong had been pretty much card-dead at the final table, so when he picked up Ks-10s, it looked big to him and he moved in for $11,400. Brown called with pocket queens, proceeded to make quads and disconnected the Pac Bell technician.
Engineering executive George Derischebourg started as the chip leader with 35k. Not content to sit on his chips, he got involved several times with disastrous results. By hand 33 he was down to $6,900 and somewhat impatiently moved in with Kd-5d. Thor Hansen called with 10-10, made a set on the turn and seven were left.
On the next hand, T.J. Cloutier moved in from the big blind with two limpers in the pot. They folded and T.J. advertised by showing 5-2 off.
To this point, Brown and Reza Bayvar were the most active players, often heads-up. Brown picked up a lot of chips by moving all in and nicking Bayvar twice in a row. The first time, Brown doubled up with A-Q versus 9c-6c. The next hand Bayvar raised to 10k and Brown moved all in again. "How much this time?" Bayvar asked wearily before folding. On the next hand, Bayvar bet and this time Brown folded. "You're not all in again?" T.J. asked in mock astonishment.
On hand 49, Brown opened for 6k and T.J. raised 12k. The flop came Qs-Js-6c and T.J. pushed in his last $15,300. Brown nodded, rubbed his chin, made calculations in the air with his fingers and finally called with A-Q. "You've got aces," he said fatalistically. T.J. who earlier swore he had played every Grand Slam tournament without ever picking up aces (or kings either) had two eights. He busted out sixth as Brown took a monster lead of about $80,000.
Cash game pro Andrew "A.J" Kelsall finished sixth. With $1,500-$3,000 blinds and $500 antes, he lost his last 7k when his Ac-7c couldn't catch Bayvar's A-J. Then Kevin McBride, who finished 2nd to Scotty Nguyen in the 1998 WSOP championship, was all in holding only 6-5 suited and ran into K.K.'s A-A.
Four-handed, Hansen was low-chipped with about 20k, while his opponents were all in the 50-k range. The man from Oslo, Norway, moved in on hand 66 with K-Q. This time Bayvar had the pocket rockets to take him down and move into the lead.
But then Bayvar and Brown began mixing it up again, with Bayvar usually getting the short end. By hand 82 he was down to about 21k. He raised 6k from the small blind with J-10 and his old nemesis called from the big blind with K-J. Bayvar took the lead on a flop of 10-7-3. But then a runner-runner queen and ace gave Brown a straight, and the match was heads up, with Brown leading, 127k to K.K.'s 66k.
With $500 antes and blinds of 2-4k, K.K. began grinding away, and in five hands had drawn up even. On hand 89, K.K. raised 8k pre-flop. With a flop of J-8-2, K.K. bet $12,000, Brown kicked it up to 32k, K.K. moved in and Brown folded with only 32k left.
It ended on hand 103. With a Q-J-4 board, K.K., who had flopped jacks and fours, bet 8k. Brown raised 10k with Q-2, and K.K. moved him in. The two pair held up, and K.K. scored his final K.O. to win his first tournament. --Max Shapiro
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