| ‘Grind’ is OK Now for Sam
Sam “Desert Ice” Alaama (he picked up the nickname playing college basketball) is a very high-limit cash game player who only started playing tournaments three weeks ago. He’s played six events and got into the money four times. A few days ago he cashed out at Legends for $1,100. “But it was an eight-hour grind,” he said, “and I had to ask myself, was it worth it?” Tonight, however, he took the bulk of the $75,260 first-place prize money when the 11th event of Legends 2004, $300 limit hold’em, ended in a four-way chip-count deal. And now, he is thinking, perhaps tournaments are worth the grind after all
Alaama came to the final table with a slight chip lead. In late going he won two big pots in a row, crippling one player and knocking out another, shooting into a near-insurmountable lead which he carried to the end.
Tonight’s event carried a $150,000 guarantee. It attracted 333 players who re-bought 336 times and generated a prize pool of $200,700.
Action commenced at the final table with $2,000-$4,000 limits and 27:15 left. On hand six, realtor Edwin Jacinto raised with A-10 and Gioi Luong put him in with pocket 4s. Jacinto flopped an ace but Luong spiked a 4 on the river. One down.
On hand 17, Derek Bukowski raised all in from the cut-off seat with A-6. “They’ll kick my butt if I don’t call,” said Tony “The Mailman” Tolentino, who was in the big blind with just 9c-3c. He called for $1,500 more and did his job when a board of Q-9-4-8-6 paired his 9. Two down.
With limits at $3,000-$6,000, Mark Tucker, a mathematician, went up against Alaama. Tucker had the best hand, A-Q versus K-8, but Alaama flopped a king, put Tucker, all in on fourth street and knocked him out in eighth place.
Hand 32 was the one where Alaama caught fire. With a board of K-9-2-2-3, he raised Tolentino on the turn and again on the river, turned up a winning A-K and left the Mailman with $12,000. On the next hand, he had K-Q to K-10 for octogenarian Gene Resnick. The flop of K-J-6 was three bet. On the turn, a 10 gave Resnick the lead with two pair. Again the pot was bet, raised and re-raised, and Resnick went all in. Then the river brought a brutal ace to give Alaama a straight, and Resnick finished seventh. After raising the next two pots and picking up the blinds, Alaama now had about $180,000 of the $334,000 in play.
Tolentino had a close call two hands later. He was all in on the flop against Larry Eubanks and Alaama. Eubanks bet and Alaama folded, warning, “You better have something.” “Do you think I’m an idiot?” Eubanks responded. Eubanks had pocket 5s, and all Tolentino had was a straight draw. He called for either of two cards, and ended up getting both of them. But six hands later he couldn’t hit another needed straight. He had pocket 9s and Eubanks, with K-10, put him in when a flop of 10-7-3 gave him a paired 10 and the lead. A turn card 8 gave the Mailman an open-end straight draw, but when a deuce dropped into his mailbox on the river, he was out in sixth place.
Three hands later there was a break and players returned on hand number 50 with limits now at $4,000-$8,000. On the first and only hand, Sheila Kargar, a mortgage broker, was in the big blind and was all in with A-5. Eubanks had her covered with A-9. “Let me go, I’m tired,”she said. She got her wish. The board came A-7-3-3-8, and she finished in fifth place.
The four finalists now asked for the chip-count pay-out figures. Alaama had $155,000 to $111,000 for Luong, $65,000 for Eubanks and $38,000 for Binh Do. The figures were acceptable to the four professional players, and the tournament was over. --Max Shapiro.
BIOGRAPHY
Sam Alaama has played poker full time for seven years, all his adult life. He plays the highest-limit hold’em and sometimes mixed games he can find, usually $80-$160, and when they are spread, as high as $300-$600. Used to those limits, he was not thrilled at putting in eight hours to win $1,100 a few days ago, but tonight paid off better. Before this win, he had tournament cash-outs at the Commerce, Hustler and here in various hold’em games.
Tonight, he said, he kept losing and re-bought three times at the first table when he was chased down and outdrawn by players with weak hands. But once the rebuy period ended, so did the bad luck. His style of play, he said, depends on the players. He said he had earlier encountered two of the players at the final table and knew they were tight, so he played aggressively against them. Against looser players he is more careful.
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