| Can Hua, in All-Viet Finish, Wins
Grand Slam Poker Championship
The three finalists in the $2,500 no-limit championship event of Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker were Can Hua, Scotty Nguyen and Tony "The Tiger" Ma. At that point the language became "Vietnamese only," and, after a chip-count chop, the intensity of the contest lifted as the three pros joked their way to the finale, playing only for the trophy and title.
At that point, a rough count showed Hua in the lead with about 375k, followed by Nguyen with around 330k and Ma with around 215k, and that's the order in which they finished. This is Hua's biggest cash-out. His biggest prior win was fifth place at a World Poker Tour event at the Bike.
Action in this two-day event was halted at 2 a.m. the first day. The 20 finalists returned at 1 p.m. with Scotty Nguyen the chip leader with $109,700. Phil Hellmuth, once chip-rich, had a terrible time. Late at night his pocket queens were beaten by kings, then his A-K ran into kings, and the next day he busted with A-K vs. kings. He was seen talking to himself for 45 minutes.
The Tiger had better luck. At the second table he knocked out four players including Hellmuth and Men the Master, and came to the final table with a huge lead of $299,000.
Final table stakes were $500 antes with 2-4k blinds, 52:41 remaining. For the first 24 hands until dinner break there was almost no action except for a perilously short-chipped Chris Grigorian going all in twice, surviving once with a set of kings, the other time when he earned a chop, A-Q versus Tuan Le's A-K, when two pair hit the board.
Things loosened up after dinner. With $1,000 antes and blinds of 3-6k, Nick Kurzon busted out on the second hand when he went all in with Ac-2c and lost to Kirk Conrad's A-Q. Next, Grigorian went all in a third time, but the Armenian Express stayed on the tracks when his Q-Q stood up against Ma's 10-10. Tuan Le finished ninth. After he moved in for 19k with 5-5, Ma called with K-J and turned a jack.
Ma, who had been holding steady at the 300k mark, suddenly had his stacks cut nearly in half on two consecutive hands. On hand 37, Ma dropped 99.5k to Hua when he raised to 25k with pocket cowboys and Hua moved in with pocket aces. On the next hand, Ma raised to 20k with A-Q. Richard Tatalovich moved in for 49k with A-K and won when the board came 8-5-2-5-K.
The Armenian Express finally ran out of steam on hand 40. He went all in for 35k with K-Q and Hua busted him with pocket queens. Two hands later, Dick Corpuz moved in for 60k with pocket jacks. Hua saw him with A-Q, and when the board came Q-5-2-3-9, the field was down to six and Hua had the lead with about $320,000,
Recovering, Ma added 78k to his stacks when he knocked out Kirk Conrad in sixth place. Conrad opened for 20k with K-Q and Ma closed him out by moving him in with pocket 10s and filling up when the board came 2-2-J-10, The Tiger was now back up to about 260k and began raising aggressively and picking up more chips.
By the time limits increased to $1,000 antes with blinds of 4-8k, Ma had the lead again with about 360k followed by Hua, 250k; Tatalovich, 120k, Nguyen, 110k and Wiener, 60k. A few hands later, after Ma bet 40k into a flop of K-J-6, Hua came over the top for 60k more, Ma folded and Hua had climbed to 360k.
On hand 64, Wiener opened for 12k pre-flop, then bet all in blind about 48k more with A-J. Tatalovich called with Q-9 and finished Mel off by flopping a queen.
Blinds were now 6-12k with $200 antes. Tatalovich, card dead all night, finally looked at his best hand so far: pocket jacks. When Nguyen raised 25k, Rich moved in for 164k. Nguyen, with A-Q, called, just covering him with 165.5k, and flopped a queen.
The three now made a chip-count deal and played for the trophy. On hand 97, Ma took a big hit when Hua slow-played a set of deuces. With a board of 10-5-2-K, Ma bet 20k, Hua hit it for 60 more, hauled in a pot of over 100k and left Ma with about 60k. A hand later Nguyen finished him off when his Kd-Jd held up against Ma's Jc-10c.
Hua, with an advantage of about 560-360k, dueled with Nguyen for a dozen hands. On hand 111, Scotty, getting tired, went ahead and bet all in without looking. When he looked, he had only a 6-2. Hua called with K-5. The board came J-10-4-9-J, and Hua was crowned the no-limit champion of Grand Slam of Poker 2003. -- Max Shapiro
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