| The Man From Spirit Mountain Wins
Vanndy Yem, who went to the last table with the least chips, ended up three hours later with all the chips. The final table was reached at 12:35 A. M. The limits were $1,000 and $2,000 and the fireworks started immediately when Aaron Lashlee raised the pot and was called by Stephen Vitalich. Aaron flopped top pair and bet out, unfortunately for him Stephen flopped a set of fives and raised. Aaron was the first casualty and the final table was down to nine.
Masud Hussain was the next to be eliminated. He was holding A-K against pocket fours for Jeremy Weisdorfer. Masud flopped a king and had the lead until old man river produced a four.
Si Mei Sun was knocked out in eightth place. Si came to last table second in chips but lost a monster pot when her pocket aces ran into a set of jJacks. After losing that pot her chips were low and a few hands later she went all in with A-10, only to run into two queens. Si Mei Sun was our eithth-place finisher.
Seventh Place went to Michael Byrne who came to the last table short stacked and never was able to get into the running. He was impressive in his playing of the short stack but tonight wasn’t his night.
The next causality was Stephen Vitalich. Stephen with only $2,500 made a stand with J-10. He was called by Jeremy Weisdorfer who held As-8s, and ended up making a spade flush.
Fifth place went to Lyn McGonagle, who called all in on her big blind. She was down to her last $1,500. She was eliminated by Tricia Frick.
When the final four was reached Jeremy Weisdorfer had a commanding lead; he held $48,000 of the $88, 000 total. Kevin and Vanndy held about $17,000 apiece and Tricia had the remaining $5,000. The limits by now were $2,000 and $4,000. The scenario for the rest of the tournament began to unfold as Jeremy and Vanndy played several large pots with Vanndy gaining a slight lead.
Kevin Huynh, a dealer at the Commerce Casino, ran into a run of “no cards” and watched his stack dwindle down to $6,000. He finally picked up A-2 in the little blind. raised the pot and was called by Vanndy. Vanndy held A-4. The flop came A-J-8, the turn was a nine, and what looked like would become a split pot didn’t happen because the last card was a four. A three-outer did in Kevin.
At three handed, Tricia was nursing the short stack and doing a good job of it until finally she got her last $7,500 in with a 10d-7d. She had the best hand as she looked at Jeremy’s 9-8. The flop brought bad news when a nine hit, then nothing else to help Tricia. Then there were two.
The chip count at this point was almost dead even. It looked like it would take some time to get a winner but that’s not the way it happened. The pot that vrtutally decided the tournament came up when Vanndy raised, making it $6,000 and Jeremy re-raised making it $9,000. The flop was 10-8-6 with two hearts. Vanndy bet and was raised. The turn brought the king of hearts, Vanndy bet, Jeremy called, the river was a black jack. Vanndy bet and was called. Vanndy showed a flush and now had Jeremy down to $2,000. Two hands later it was all over when Vanndy held A-Q against Jeremy’s Jack Nine. Nothing came, the ace-high stood up and we had our first champion at Legends of Poker 2003.
BIOGRAPHY
Vanndy Yem is a thirty-four year old employee of Spirit Mountain Casino in Oregon. Vanndy has been dealing poker for seven years. He is also a pretty darn good player. He has wins from the Orleans Open, The Peppermill in Reno plus many wins at the casinos and clubs in the Northwest. Vanndy came to this country about twenty years ago from Cambodia. He is married and has two daughters. He lives about twenty minutes from Spirit Mountain in Salem, Oregon. His favorite games to play are first Hold-em and second Omaha hi-lo
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