| CAN HUA RUNS LAST CHIP ANTE
INTO $184,815 WIN IN NO-LIMIT!
In an astounding "chip and a chair" performance, L.A. pro Can Hua anted his last $1,000 chip with six players left, and within 17 hands had multiplied that chip 200,000 times over to take the lead and go on to victory in the 18th event of LAPC XIII, $1,500 no-limit hold'em.
It was a tough final table that lasted nearly seven hours, with four different players holding substantial chip leads at various times. When he got heads-up, Hua, who had more than 400,000 of the 666,000 chips in play at one time, had fallen back and Ben Johnson had about a 3-2 lead. But Hua used his greater experience, repeatedly coming over the top and forcing Johnson to lay down his hand, as he retook the lead and eventually all the chips.
Hua has numerous tournament victories including 7-stud wins at Legends, the World Poker Open and the Cal State poker championship, and a hold'em win at Winnin' o' the Green. Johnson, who teaches chess 10 hours a week and plays poker the rest of the time, mainly online, has a cash-out at a Borgata main event.
The final table started with $300 antes and 1-2k blinds, 23:56 left. Hon Le had the lead, slightly ahead of Paul Phillips, a dot.com zillionaire and poker pro who won the Bellagio's Five Diamond championship in December and was just on the cover of Card Player. A good deal of Hon Le's chips came with three tables left when he made a nut flush on the river, knocking out Lee Salem and George Marlowe, both of whom had sets.
Eric Haber, a hedge fund manager, finished 10th after blinds went to $1,500-$3,000. He had pocket 4s, and Hon Le, with pocket 7s, flopped a set. Hon Le then eliminated Ryan Russ, moving him in after Russ raised to 10k. Russ had the better hand, A-J to Q-10, but that meant nothing to the Kamikaze Kid, who proceeded to make a straight, increasing his lead to about 175k.
On hand 34, Gioi Luong, still in a race with Van Pham for the best all-around points lead, re-raised Jorge Walker and went all in with pocket jacks. Walker, who plays small- limit weekly tournaments, had K-10 and won when a king flopped..
When blinds went to 2-4k with $500 antes, Hon Le still led with a bit over 200k, followed by Phillips with 116k and Johnson with 92k. A big hand then came down. On a flop of 7-5-2, Phillips bet 15k, Hon Le re-raised for 30k more and Phillips called. When a 6 turned, Hon Le moved in and Phillips called for his remaining 66.5k. He then turned up pocket 5s for a set and Hon Le mucked without waiting for the river. After picking up a couple more pots, Phillips led with about 270k.
After major chip swings, when new blinds of 3-6k and 1k antes kicked in, Phillips still lead with 230k while Walker was second with 155k and Johnson third with 110k. A low-chipped Guy Calvert then finished seventh when he went all in with 7c-6c and lost to Phillips' ace-high.
On hand 83, Hua was left with one chip after he moved in for 40k with A-6 and ran into Jimmy Cha's pocket 10s. On the next hand, he used it for his ante and won with K-Q. Two hands later he put his remaining 4k and split the pot when a straight hit the board. Going all in three more times, he continued to win and pile up chips. But while Hua was going up, Hon Le was going out. He three-bet a pot with Ad-8d and Walker busted him with pocket 9s.
On hand 102, Hua took down a big pot with A-Q against Walker's As-9s to move past the 200k mark. Jimmy Cha went out not long after that when Walker, again with pocket 9s, beat his Ad-Kd. Then Hua neared the 300k mark when he re-raised Johnson's 30k raise 80k more on a Q-9-4 flop and Johnson folded.
After blinds went to 5-10k with 2k antes, one-time chip leader Phillips was all in one time, survived, stayed alive by repeatedly moving in and taking blinds and antes. He finally succumbed on hand 147. Phillips moved in yet again with K-5 and Hua called with As-Ks. Phillips made two pair, but Hua made a flush on fourth street. He now had 401k to 142 for Walker and 122 for Johnson.
A few hands later, fortunes were reversed. After folding a couple of times in big pots, Hua was lowest chipped with about 150k while Johnson had the 400k. Then,`when blinds became 8-16k with 2k antes, Hua and Johnson were about tied in the 270k range while Walker was low man. He went out on hand 166, moving in for 68k with pocket deuces. Johnson called with A-7 and ended up with four bullets.
The heads-up match lasted some 25 hands. Time and again Johnson would make a moderate raise, then fold when Hua played back at him.
"I was looking for something at least marginal to play," Johnson said later. Whether Hua had something marginal, superior or inferior, nobody knew. On the final hand, deciding he had to play something, Johnson called Hua's 50k raise with Q-4. When Hua bet 20k into a Q-6-5 flop, Johnson moved in. But Hua did have something, Q-J, and a jack on the turn ended it. A chip, a chair and lots of heart. --Max Shapiro
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