TOMMY HANG WINS STUD HI-LO
AND DECIDES TO BECOME A PRO
Tommy Hang, who has been in the mortgage broker business in Washington, came to Los Angeles eight months ago to see about playing poker for a living. He came in third in an earlier limit hold'em contest, and after winning the 21st event of LAPC XIII, $1,500 7-card stud hi-lo, he is definitely going that route. In the late stages of tonight's event, he went on a rush. He kept catching cards, ran over the field and won easily.
Limits at the final table started at $1,000-$2,000, with $100 antes and a $300 bring-in.
There was spirited four-way action in early going. On sixth street, the boards showed: Van Pham, Q-A-5-5, Fred Koubi, J-2-7-10; Tim Fu, 3-10-K-4; and Josh Ariah, A-3-5-K. On the river, Pham turned up (Q-Q-J) for a full house, Fu had a 7-6 low and Ariah had folded his counterfeited low draw. Koubi, who finished second in the Omaha hi-lo event the day before, was all in and made a production out of turning up his hole cards. First a 5, then a 4, and then he called for an ace in order to make a better low than Fu's. "I said ace, not 8!" he declared when an 8c gave him a useless flush and 8-low as he finished...8th.
David "You play gooood" Levi, who started the final table lowest-chipped with 9k, was getting short on ammo when he started with (2-7)5. He caught a queen, then raised all in for $3,500 with a paired deuce on fifth street. A jack and trey got him nowhere. Ariah, beginning with (4-4)10, made two pair and the former pro soccer player from Israel cashed in seventh.
Limits went to $1,500-$3,.000 with $200 antes and a $500 bring-in. Toward the end of that level, a last-card draw-out left Tim Fu in sixth place. He started with buried kings and made two pair on sixth street. Ariah, with (6-2)A-5-10-6, caught a bullet on the river and won with aces-up.
Two hands later, Hang took the lead. He was freerolling with 2-3-4-5-8 against architect Edward Sirakovit, who showed 9-8-8-6 and made aces-up. Hang hit an ace on the river for a wheel and now had 80,000 in chips, half the chips in play. On the next hand, Jim "Jimbo" Geary was all in for $2,900 showing 5-A-8-K. He scooped with 8s and 6s to leave Ariah with just $4,700.
Limits become $2,000-$4,000 with $300 antes and $500 bring-ins. Ariah quickly succumbed. Going in with split jacks, he missed an inside straight draw and lost his last chips to Geary, who made two pair.
Geary, a "soccer dad" who was on the U.S. Scrabble team during the last four championship events, said the key hand for him came earlier in the tournament. "Paul Phillips, the game theory expert, gave me all his chips with two deuces," he laughed.
However, he was still low on chips himself, but then got a little breathing room when he went all in and scooped Pham with queens-up.
Hang now began his dominance over the table. He bet into Pham showing 10-7-9-6, then turned up an 8 for a straight. This brought him to about the 120k level and dropped Pham down to around 20k. Hang moved up to around 125k, then fell back a little when Geary, all in again, made a set of deuces. Then Hang attacked Pham again, making a set of 4s to leave him with just $2,000. Soon after, Pham was all in with pocket 9s. Holding A-5-6-3-2, Hang caught a 4 for a wheel and 6-high straight, and Pham departed in fourth place.
As a generous consolation prize, however, Pham picked up 36 points in the Best All-Around points race and, with one more day to go, had locked up first place, worth $22,500 of the $50,000 prize pool.
Three-handed, Sirakovit had about 21k, Geary 5k and Hang had all the rest. The outcome appeared ordained, but it took Hang a long time before he had all the chips. Geary was to go all in seven times and Sirakovit three before the contest ended.
By the time limits had gone to $3,000-$6,000, with $500 antes and a $1,000 bring-in, things hadn't changed much. Sirakout had 15k while Geary was still hanging on with 7k.
As it turned out, Sirakout was the one who got the match heads-up. On fifth street, Geary was all in and showed A-6-K. "You have no outs," Sirakovit said. He showed 5d-7d-3, and turned up a 4d-6d for a spectacular five-card hand: a 7-high straight with an open-end draw to a straight flush! He caught a 9d for a flush, while the best that Geary could make was aces-up.
That brought Sirakovit up to $29,500, but he was still a 4.5-1 underdog. On the first hand heads-up, Hang scooped with a pair of 10s, and Sirakovit was in more trouble.
Still, the match-up lasted a total of 15 hands. On the final deal, Sirakovit started with (6-5)6. By sixth street he had a straight draw but missed, ending up with his starting 6s. Hang, beginning with a less-promising (A-6)Q, caught an ace and a queen and his two pair took it all.
Add one more pro to the list. If he keeps catching cards like tonight, he'll make a fortune. Max Shapiro
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