| Peter Wu Goes from #2 to 1
Peter Wu, an antiques importer who finished second in this contest in 2002, did better this year and won the 10th event of Big Poker Oktober 2003, no-limit hold’em. It was his first tournament victory. He had a tremendous final table chip lead of $112,500, then got blinded and anted down to about $70,000 when he didn’t play a single hand for the first 26 deals. When he finally did, fireworks erupted. He went up against the two toughest players at the table, Amir Vahedi and David The Dragon” Pham (currently ranked number one and two respectively in Card Player magazine’s best all-around rankings) in what turned out to be the key hand of the night. More later.
The final table began with $500 antes and blinds of $2,000-$4,000, 20:59 remaining. Action came fast. On the first hand, Pham moved in for $16,600 with Kc-5c. After several minutes, Vahedi called with A-2. Pham survived when a king flopped. Two hands later, Cliff Cantor was all in for $12,000 with A-Q against Dan Abrams A-4. How do they do it?Cantor moaned when a four flopped. Oh, there is a God,he said when a queen saved him.
Two hands later, Michael Yoshino had his last $1,500 in the small blind with just 7s-2s. Dan Abrams, a Mini Series winner who formerly did post-production for the World Poker Tour, raised to $20,000 with K-J. Then Aurel de Hollan moved in for $33,500 with A-Q and Abrams called. After Abrams flopped two more kings, de Hollan collected $1,350 for ninth place, Yoshino $1,125 for 10th. A hand later, Cliff Cantor moved in for $31,000 with pocket 10s and Cary Hall III called all in for $9,500. The 10s held up and Hall, a lawyer making his fourth final table this year, was paid $1,795 for his services.
With blinds at $3,000-$6,000 and $1,000 antes, Randy Holland, all in for $1,500 with three way action, jokingly announced no deal” when his ace-high won. Two hands later he cashed out for $2,245 when his J-8 lost to Abrams pocket nines. Vahedi got lucky on hand 19. He moved in for $44,000 with A-Q. Please, let them pick up something, he table-talked. Abrams did: A-K, but a queen flopped.
Now came hand 27. Limits were $4,000-$8,000 with $1,500 antes. Wu made it $40,000 to go, Pham called for $22,000, Vahedi moved in for $38,000 more and Wu also called all in. Wu showed Kh-Jh. To their mutual dismay, Pham and Vahedi both turned up pocket 10s. The board came K-J-6-3-7. Pham cashed out for $3,145 in sixth place, Wu shot up to about $180,000 and a furious Vahedi was left with just $8,500. He lost it on the next hand when his pocket sevens couldn't catch Abrams pocket kings. Fifth place paid $4,045.
Three hands later, Michael Magnanimo, with many final tables but no wins, finished fourth and picked up $5,840. When Abrams raised with A-10, Magnanimo called for $10,000 with A-5 and couldn't help.
At this point, Wu led with $174,500, Abrams had $174,000 and Cantor had $101,000. After interminable discussions, they finally agreed to divvy up most of the prize pool, and kept playing. Nineteen hands now went by without a flop. With $2,000 antes and blinds of $6,000-$12,000, Wu still had the lead with $162,000, while Abrams had $135,000 and Cantor, who sold his nightclub to become CEO of a film company called Spaghetti King Productions, had $132,000. By hand 59, Abrams had the lead, but Wu crippled him when he had K-K and Abrams, moving in for $170,000, lost with A-9. On the next hand, Abrams raised all in for $25,000 with Kc-Qc. Cantor called with A-Q and flopped an ace. Third place paid Abrams $8,540.
Wu now had $315,000 to Cantor's $134,000, and they made their final deal.
Max Shapiro.
BIOGRAPHY
He was not sitting on his chip lead when he let so many hands go by, Peter Wu explained. He was just dealt a succession of totally unplayable hands. I was looking at seven-high, six-high,he said, but I had the luxury of being able to wait. Wu, who plays mostly $15-$30 and $20-$40 hold em side action, also has a fourth-place finish at Commerce's Rags to Riches tournament.
His style of play, he said, depends on the make-up of the table, and this was a very tough table he faced, so he tried to stay out of the way of the name players. However, he added, he noticed that Vahedi had been gambling, so when he was first in with the K-J, he wasn't afraid to call with the rest of his chips when Vahedi raised. One of his key plays, he added, came at the second table when he had pocket jacks and made a good read on a player with A-Q. |
