Any Game Can Do for Can!
By Max Shapiro
Can Hua
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Can Hua, a 42-year-old professional, likes to say that he plays all
games equally well. He demonstrated his versatility by winning
the 16th event in Legends of Poker, 7-card stud hi-lo, after earlier
coming in the money in the 7-card stud, limit hold'em and hold'em
shootout events. He also jumped up from eighteenth to sixth
place in the points race, which otherwise had no major changes
among the points leaders.
Scotty Nguyen almost missed the cut when he ran into Rich Korbin's
7-4 flush hand. He then picked up a couple of small pots, but still
came to the final table lowest chipped. Stranded on the "bubble"
was Jeff Han. He missed both a low and a straight draw, and his
two sevens were beaten by Jack Rosenfeldt's tens.
Limits at the final table were $1,000-$2,000 with $200 blinds and
a $300 bring-in. Rosenfeldt, a house player for the Bicycle Casino,
drew first blood against Kevin Song. Showing 5-5-6-2, he
surprised Song by turning up an A-3-4 for a wheel. On the next
hand, Nguyen, with split jacks, re-raised all in on third street
against Song's buried kings and got out alive when he made a
second pair. But he went out in eighth spot in a huge pot a few
hands later. Scotty showed 7-5 against Hua's J-5. The two got
into a raising war and the pot was capped. Rosenfeldt also called
with a Q-9. Scotty then bet all in on fifth street. Making a
straight eight, the 1998 World Series champ was thinking scoop.
There was a scoop, but it was made by Hua, who showed a
nine-high straight and an 8-7-6-5-3 for low.
Song, who started as the chip leader, dropped down another notch
when he was beaten by Steve Richman, who went all in with a
6-7-2 of hearts and proceeded to fill up by catching a deuce, two
queens and another deuce. But the table got noticeably quiet a hand
later when Richman, put all his chips in with 6-5-2-8-8. He didn't
improve and lost to Song's aces and sevens. He was philosophical
about going out. "I'm happy," he said. "I can play $6-$12 now."
With six players left, Rich Korbin, a full-time player from
Colorado, hadn't found much material to work with and was
lowest chipped. But he did a remarkable job of hanging on and
working his way back up, eventually finishing second.
Meanwhile, another raising war erupted, this time between
Hua and Song. They got in four bets on third street, but they
both abandoned ship midway through and the pot was split by
an all-in Thomas Chung, with an 8-6 low, and Rosenfeldt, who
made trip deuces. Song then took another hit after calling down
all the way against Rosenfeldt, who scooped with an 8-6 and
three fives. Kevin barely escaped an all-in encounter a few moments
later when he missed his low but won high with two sixes. A
hand later, with limits at $2,000-$4,000, he raised with an ace
door card and went all in when Rosenfeldt re-raised. He missed
his low and bowed out when Rosenfeldt's jacks-up beat his aces,
while Korbin took the low with a 6-4.
Fellow Korean Chung quickly followed him out. "Let's go," he
says, raising all in for his last $3,600. But the only place he got
to go was out the door as his buried tens got buried by Rosenfeldt's
split queens. On the next hand, Hassan Kamoei, who hadn't seen
too much action, started with a 2-8-4 and caught a three on fifth
street. That's as far as he went. All his chips went in on sixth
street, and his deuces were no match for Hua's pocket aces.
Now Korbin starts to make his move. He scoops Rosenfeldt with
a 6-5 and takes high with two sixes and a better kicker against Jack's
sixes. Next, he jackhammers Jack by making a flush on five cards,
pulling roughly even with Hua. A moment later, Rosenfeldt gets eliminated when all his chips go in with pocket tens and he can't
improve against Hua's pocket kings.
Heads-up, Hua has about a 5-4 chip lead over Korbin. They
negotiate, shake hands, and Legends 16 is a wrap.
Biography - Can Hua
Can Hua won the $200 limit hold'em event in the Winnin' o' the
Green tournament earlier this year. His other major tournament
victory was a 7-stud event at Commerce Casino's California State
Poker Championship. He also has a number of second and third
place finishes at Commerce. Originally from Vietnam, Hua has
been playing poker full time for about eight years. He plays mostly
side action every day at $20-$40 limits, and he doesn't care what
game it is he plays them all.
Tonight he was down to only $1,125 with 24 players left, when
he was facing stacks of $8,000 and $10,000. But he kept picking
up antes, then scooped a big pot and got up to nearly $6,000. He
was in good shape when he came to the final table with $15,000
and had no trouble after that.
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