Poker Tournament Results

Grand Slam of Poker

Place	Name	Prize
1	Jeffrey Louie (Westlake Villiage, CA, USA)	$19,375
2	Mike Downing (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$7,690
3	Van Pham (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	$4,845
4	Paul Lui (Irvine, CA, USA)	$3,060
5	Kirk Conrad (Orange, CA, USA)	$2,040
6	Edward Yi (Norwalk, CA, USA)	$1,785
7	Gus Ayasai (Canyon Country, CA)	$1,405
8	Tony Nguyen (Gresham, OR, USA)	$1,105
9	Anton Ulker (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$765
10	Joon "Mike" Lee (La Habra, CA, USA)	$595
11	Maurice Azoulay (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$595
12	Paul Zibits (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$595
13	Phillip Luong (Tustin, CA, USA)	$525
14	Adam Hersh ( Agoura Hills, CA, USA)	$525
15	Matt Schultz AKA "DVD" (San Diego, CA, USA)	$525
16	Petronius Kian	$410
17	LuLu Toquero	$410
18	Hassan K	$410
19	Unknown	$255

Tournament Report

Jeffrey Louie, a 21-year-old math major who works as a roofing salesman and estimator, won the final event of Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker, $200 no-limit hold'em. "Being a math major helped me in counting chips," he joked. Louie, who plays tournaments more than side games, has won some small "crap-shoot" events, but this is his first major win. The lead rotated among the three finalists with the chips, in line with one of Mike Caro's theories, moving to the left. Mike Downing, a Vegas pro with titles in pot-limit Omaha at the British Open and pot-limit hold'em at the World Poker Open, at first held a big lead. Then Van Pham, a local pro, took over. But at the end, when the three made a deal, Louie had about a 2-1 lead over both players. As the final event of Grand Slam of Poker 2003 wound down, tournament director Jim Miller and tournament coordinator Warren Karp expressed their gratitude to all the players who supported them. "We hope we gave you a good time and a good play for your money, and we look forward to seeing you all on the tournament trail," they said. Meanwhile, Chris "The Armenian Express" Grigorian, winner of three limit hold'em events, took down the all-around points championship and first-place prize of $10,000. Gus Mintzias won the super satellite race and earned $5,000 for his first-place finish, and Randy Holland, with the best performance in the four Grand Slam events, was awarded $5,000. The final table started with $500 antes and blinds of $1,500-$3,000, six minutes left. On the second hand, Tony Nguyen raised 20k with pocket jacks. Joon Lee called for his last 2k with K-Q and finished 10th when rags came. With $2,500-$5,000 blinds and $1,000 antes, Downing made it 30k to go with Qd-3d. Antranik Ulker added $500 more with A-K and flopped a straight. But two running diamonds gave Downing a flush and now two were gone. Tony Nguyen departed on hand 12. He moved in on the button for 23k with A-3. Louie called all in for 28k with A-K, and then Downing called with K-Q. A board of Q-J-7-10-Q gave Louie a straight and he tripled up as Nguyen cashed in. Hand 27 also produced three-way action with one casualty. Blinds were now 4-8k with $1,500 antes. First Pham moved in with pocket fives. Bicycle Casino floorman Gus Ayasai called all in with A-Q, and Eddie Yi, the starting chip leader, gladly joined the fray with pocket aces. Pham made a full house on the river when the board came 4-2-2-10-5, and the popular floorman was floored. One hand later, Downing flopped an ace to his A-Q, bet 30k and was called by Yi. Slow-playing, Downing checked the turn. Taking the bait, Yi bet his last 20k on the river with a paired king and ended up fifth. Downing now held a sizeable lead of about 220k. Kirk Conrad, making his third Grand Slam final table, along with numerous other final tables this year, bowed out fifth. He had Ac-Kc and raised all in for $35,500. Downing, holding Ad-Jd, called. A board of 7-8-6-10-9 gave them both a straight, but Downing's was higher. Ex-dealer Paul Lui cashed out fourth a few hands later. Pham raised 30k and Lui added $9,500 more to go all in. Lui had Ac-6c to Pham's K-J, but Pham outran him when the flop came J-8-8. No ace came to save him, and Lui's departure left four remaining players. At this point, Pham was closing in with about 220k to Downing's 238k, while Louie trailed with 52k. Pham then picked up a couple of pots with all-in raises, and with 6-12k blinds and $2,000 antes, he now led with about 280k. An all-in Louie later doubled up against Pham when his K-J held up against Pham's 9-7 suited. He began moving up, and by the time the blinds had gone to $6,000-$12,000, with $2,000 antes, he had the lead with 240k to 155k for Pham and 115k for Downing. Then, after calling a 40k raise by Louie, Downing faced a bet of $100,000 with a board of 10-5-4 and two spades. After long hesitation and indecision, he finally folded, with less than 80k remaining. But on the next hand he doubled up and was back in the running again. Louie moved him in holding K-4, and Downing called with A-10 of diamonds. His hand held up when the board came J-J-10-Q-5, and Downing now had about $180,000. A chip count showed that Louie now had a lead of about 2-1 over both players. After some brief discussion, the three agreed to deal and the final event of Grand Slam 2003 was over. Louie took the title and trophy, while Pham, with just a few more chips than Downing, came second. --Max Shapiro