| Waiter Scores First Win
Michael Wong, a young waiter who's only played a couple of major tournaments, had his first cash-in, his first final table and his first win when the seventh event of Big Poker Oktober, $100 no-limit hold'em, ended in a four-way chop. At that point he had $81,000 while his three opponents all had very close to $60,000 each.
Right after limits went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,000 antes, he was down to about $10,000. He went all in two times in a row, beat Al Baham both times, and climbed to about $80,000. Four hands later, Omar Vachhani finished fifth and the deal was made.
The final table just missed being a family affair after two players went broke at the same time. One of them was Randy Holland. He finished 10th when his A-Q fell to Anthony Nguyen's pocket 10s, and he lost the chance to compete with his wife and protégé, Laurene Holland.
Final table stakes started with $1,000-$2,000 blinds and $300 antes, 10:30 remaining. Baham had lead with $59,900, and Andrew Lake trailed with $12,800. On the fifth hand, Nguyen raised, Holland re-raised all in for $10,000 with pocket sixes and then Wong moved in from the small blind for more than $30,000 holding pocket jacks. Nguyen couldn’t take the heat and folded his pocket eights. "That's disgusting," he said when an eight flopped. "That's wonderful," Holland thought when a six turned to save her with a set.
After blinds moved to $2,000-$4,000 with $500 antes, Holland collected a lot more chips. Nguyen moved in from the button for $31,500 with Ad-6d. Holland looked at pocket kings. She went in, covering him with $33,000. And Lake, with Ks-7s, threw in his last chips also. The flop came Qh-10s-2s, giving Lake a flush draw. A 9c-Qc came and Nguyen cashed out for $650 in eighth place while Lake got $490 for ninth.
Two hands after that, Holland broke another player. With $2,000-$4,000 blinds and $500 antes, Andrew Walton moved in for about $25,000 and Holland called from the button. "I might be in trouble," he said, turning up pocket fives. Actually, he was about an eight percent favorite to Holland's A-Q, but became worse than a 10-1 dog on a flop of K-Q-J. He couldn't help, and finished seventh, collecting $815. Holland, meanwhile, had shot up from her starting $14,100 to a chip-lead of about $106,000.
Next, Baham was in the big blind with 8c-5c when poker dealer Cory Mihocko raised all in for $12,000 with K-10. "Gotta call," Baham said, and proceeded to make a wheel on a board of A-Q-3-2-4. Sixth place paid Mihocko $1,140.
Blinds went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,000 antes on hand 26. Wong had lost half his chips a few hands earlier when Steven Goldman moved for $13,500 with pocket fives and he called with A-10. Now low-chipped, Wong was in the small blind with K-Q. He called all in after Baham raised with A-10. A king flopped and Wong hauled in the pot. On the next hand, Baham raised to $12,000 with Q-10 and Wong moved in for $21,000 more with A-10. The board came A-5-3-Q-3, and suddenly Wong had about $80,000.
On the next hand, Steven Goldman tried a steal by moving in for $23,000 with 7-5. "You got me," he said when Holland called with A-Q. "I'd rather be lucky than good," he amended when he made a nine-high straight. Three hands later the tournament ended when Vachhani had his last $4,500 posted in the big blind with the "computer hand": Q-7. On the turn he had three sevens, but on the river, Baham, holding Ah-5h, made a flush. Fifth place paid $1,465. The four players remaining made their deal and that ended event number seven. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Wong is a waiter at Palermo's Italian restaurant on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. He grew up watching his cousins play poker, but only started playing the game "semi-seriously" himself a little more than a year ago. He's played in a few very small tournaments, but this is only about his second for these limits. In side action, he plays low-limit hold'em. He describes his play as "tight-aggressive."
Tonight, he got ammunition in early going when he held pocket aces, broke one player who moved in with pocket queens and took chips from another player, in the lead at the time, who had A-K. That got him up to about $1,300. He said he made one bad play when he had Q-J, didn't bet a Q-rag-rag flop, and allowed a player to make a flush. But he chalked it off to a learning experience and moved on.
ALL AROUND
PLAY-OFF
POINTS
Name Total
1. Van Mahesh 79
2. Eric Hamilton 78
3. Manalito Navarro 61
4. Viet Tran 61
5. James Mena 61
6 Angel Juarez 61
7. Michael Wong 61
8. Larry Jensen 60
9. Binh Do 59
10. Patrick Schulze 59
11.Chris Straghalis 53
12 Jin Son Gu 53
13.Gioi Luong 53
14.Gary Vick 53
15.Steven Goldman 53
16.John Henson 51
17.Xue Ping Shi 51
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