| Bruce Lee Wins a Quickie!
It wasn’t as fast as the night before, which lasted all of five hands and ended in a nine-way chip-count deal. But tonight’s $100 shootout event wasn’t exactly a marathon either, lasting only 40 minutes before coming to an abrupt halt. In a shootout, normally the last man standing becomes the winner. Tonight, there were seven men still standing at the conclusion, but Bruce Lee had by far the most chip ammunition after knocking out two players in the final hand. A seven-way chip-count deal was proposed and agreed to, and Lee, a side game pro, was declared the undisputed champion in event number four of Winnin’ o’ the Green 2004.
This event was structured as limit hold’em until the 280 entrants got down to 10, at which time the game reverted to no-limit. When the final table got underway, blinds were $100-$200, and there were22 minutes left.
In early action, Rusty Bagaygay, Duoc Nguyen and Isaac Gonzales all moved all in, without attracting any customers. Finally, an all-in Parviz Dardashty, a businessman who started in a tie with Lee for the fewest chips, was all in with 9-8 against Eric Arreca’s A-7 on hand number 12. The board came 10-9-8-3-J, and the flopped 8 was enough to keep Dardashty in action.
Three hands later, Kevin Goodling, a Costa Mesa contractor, was on the button with pocket 6s. He raised, and Nguyen went all in with pocket jacks. A river jack gave Nguyen a set, and Goodling was left with just $125.
On the next hand, blinds remained the same, but $25 antes were instituted. On the first hand, Isaac Gonzales, who is in the restaurant business, went all in with no callers. On the next hand Goodling committed his last $75 with pocket 9s. Bagaygay was waiting for him with pocket aces. The board came 5-4-3-8-Q, and Goodling was first to say goodnight, cashing in for $350 for 10th place.
On the next hand, Bagaygay bet $500 into a flop of 6-4-2. “All in,” Lee said quietly.
“What did you say?” Bagaygay asked, pretending he didn’t hear.
“ALL IN,” Lee announced more firmly. This time Rusty got the message and folded.
Two deals later came the 26th hand, which was to be the final one. Chris Grigorian has had several tournament wins, but what made him happiest was finishing second in two World Series events last year. He wasn’t getting any hands at the final table, so when he finally picked up A-J, it looked big to him and he moved in. Eric Arreca, an aspiring young pro from Baldwin Park with wins at Hollywood Park’s Sport of Kings, the San Francisco Open and at the Bike’s Ho Ho Hold’em, hadn’t been able to play any hands at the final table. Now he looked at pocket jacks, and called with his remaining chips, about $850. Lee, in the big blind, had an easy call with pocket kings. A board of Q-9-2-2-9 didn’t change anything, and two players were suddenly gone. Grigorian, with more chips, cashed out eighth for $420 while Arreca finished ninth and collected $350.
A chip-count deal was now suggested, and the seven players left all said “aye” after calculations were made and dollar amounts were announced. Lee, who lives in Downey, had exactly 10,000 in chips and was the winner. First place paid an official $10,350. Behind him with 3,900 was Diamond Bar resident Bagaygay, whose official payout was $5,110. The other five were Nguyen, of Bell Gardens, 3,300 in chips, $2,470; Gonzales, of El Monte, 2,750 and $1,540; Jun Parado, Hacienda Heights, 2,250 and $1,260; Tipton Schoolhouse, a pro from South Pasadena, 1,725 and $980; and Dardashty, Los Angeles, 875 and $700. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Lee has been playing poker professionally since the 1980s. He is mainly a live action player, preferring mixed games from $40-$80 to $150-$300. This is only his second tournament this year. He hasn’t played many overall, but once won two Omaha tournaments in two consecutive years, including one at Winnin’ o’ the Green. He also has a second in no-limit hold’em.
Lee said he was a solid player a long time ago, but gradually came to realize that he had to be more aggressive in tournaments, and changed his style. Tonight he said he was never in trouble. “Anybody could have won if they got the cards I got,” he explained. A big hand for him came at the second table when he picked up two queens against Eric Arreca. After tonight’s win, Lee said he might be stepping up his tournament participation.
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