Event Ends Right for Enright!
By Max Shapiro
Barbara Enright
|
Barbara Enright, possibly the best woman poker player ever, added another page to her book of tournament wins by capturing the second event in the Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker, limit hold 'em, as she ran over a field of 437 competitors.
She won the same event here three years ago and then the 7-card stud tournament two days later. The Bike has always been her favorite place for tournaments, where she's won numerous events at Legends, Winnin' O' the Green and Big Poker Oktober. About eight years ago she won a stud event at Diamond Jim Brady and then placed second the next day in limit hold 'em. And, just this past May, she captured a stud tourney at the Bicycle Casino's Queen of Champions tournament.
It was pretty much ladies day as Tiffani Le placed second. Le, who won a Chinese poker event at the 1995 Legends, is a former poker dealer who now deals Asian games at the Hustler Casino.
Tonight's event ended suddenly as the four finalists decided to chop and call it a night, carving up the money on a chip-for-chip basis. The problem was that the limits at that point were $10,000 and $20,000, which meant that anyone could have had their stacks vaporized in one hand. Also, Enright was anxious to roar into the points lead and shoot for the $30,000 Chrysler PT. She's still smarting over losing a car three years ago when she won two of the first three events, was an odds-on favorite to drive off with a new BMW, but lost out on the final day.
The final table was set after Le knocked out Victor Melendez. She went in with two baby diamonds and made a flush, while he couldn't do anything with his 8-5. The last table was short one player for about 10 minutes. At the second table, Gu Long Qing dropped a card on the floor and drew a 20-minute penalty despite his vigorous protests that it was an accident. Players by now should know that there are no excuses when a card falls because judging intent on a case-by-case basis has proved too difficult and sets off disputes almost every time. Even Card Player owner Barry Shulman was sent to stand in the corner for 20 minutes a few nights earlier when a card snagged a corner of the dealer's tray and flipped up. As Jack McClelland would say, "If your cards accidentally fall off the table, you will get an accidental 20-minute penalty."
On the very first hand of the final table, with limits at $3,000-$6,000, Enright made a big draw-out to send James Mena home. She raised with pocket queens, he re-raised with pocket kings and she flat called. The flop came A-10-Q. Mena bet and Enright, fearing he might have pocket aces, just called again. When a four turned, he bet all in and then surrendered to her three queens when a harmless deuce came on the end.
Four minutes into the final table, limits were raised to $5,000-$10,000. Le knocked out Mike Carpenter when he raised to $10,000 with 10-7 of spades and she re-raised to put him all in with pocket jacks. The board came 6-9-Q/A-Q and Carpenter got sawed off.
Qing, back at the table after his forced vacation, perhaps should have stayed away longer. When Chuck "Big Dog" Cannon raised, he re-raised and Cannon and Hai Tran, a casino house player, called. After a flop of J-5-7, Qing went all in with Q-10. All Tran had was pocket threes, but they held up and Qing got pinged.
Meanwhile, the two chip leaders, Enright and Le, were the most aggressive players, repeatedly raising and picking up blinds.
Big Dog, a pro who a long time ago was a beer-truck driver known as beer-truck Chuck, next disposed of Randy Pham. Pham, short-chipped, moved in for $5,200 with Q-4 of hearts. Starting with A-K, the Cannon blew Pham away by picking up two more cowboys.
Cannon lost chips to Le when he re-raised her pre-flop and bet a flop of 2-K-4. A six fell on the river to give her a set of sixes. She checked, but the Big Dog didn't bite, and Tiffani took the pot.
Enright next won the pot of the night on another big draw-out. She raised with K-10 and Mitchell Whitmore, whose business is apartment management, called with Q-J. When the flop came 10-K-9 to give her two pair and him a nut straight, he checked, she bet and he check-raised. When a four turned, the pot was three-bet and he went all in. Enright, suddenly chip-depleted, had four outs, and one of them, in the form of a full-house kings, hit the river to knock him out and maintain her chip lead.
Four-handed, Enright had $126,700 in chips, Le had $111,500, Cannon had $66,400 and Tran trailed with $45,700. The ladies ducked out to the ladies room while the men talked deal. On their return, an agreement was reached and the tournament came to a sudden happy end for four people.
Biography - Barbara Enright
Barbara Enright is generally considered to be the world's dominant woman poker player. She is the leading women's money winner at the World Series, the first to win the ladies championship there twice, the first woman to win a major open event a the WSOP (pot limit hold 'em in 1996) and the only woman to make the final table at the WSOP. She finished fifth in that event in 1995 and might have gone much higher had not Brent Carter put a brutal beat on her when she moved all in with pocket eights, he called with 6-3 suited and flopped two pair. Before deciding to play poker full time, she was a master barber with such celebrity clients as Andy Griffith and Rudy Vallee.
In tonight's tournament, she was never in trouble and all-in only once. "I made all the right moves at the right time," she commented. "When I had big hands they called, and when I bluffed they folded. I changed gears a lot." And when her third-table trip sixes put her into the lead, "I got a strong feelings I was going to win it."
|
