| Hoang has Comeback Win!
He came to the final table with only 4,000 in chips. He was all in three times in the first 13 hands. He was out-chipped nearly 3-1 when he got heads-up with Asher Derei, who has a prior best all-around in Legends to his credit. But everything turned around stunningly when he scooped Derei three straight times in a stud round, and two hands later John Hoang, a 38-year-old pro, had won the 20th event of Legends 2004, the E.O. championship.
E.O. was structured with alternating 45-minute rounds of hi-lo stud and Omaha. The final table got there after Sergey “The Mad Russian” Khromov blew away Mel Judah in an Omaha round. Khromov had A-2-3-6 and flopped a straight and a nut low. Omaha continued at the final table with limits of $1,000-$2,000 and 38:05 left.
The lights went out for “Prince of Docness” on hand two. The colorful “floppological surgeon” had A-4-8-6, got counterfeited when the board came J-6-2-9-A and lost to Derei’s 5-3 low while Matthew Ho took high with aces-up.
Ho then took a bad beat and got low-chipped when he flopped a set of kings and lost to Qi Liu, who managed to turn J-J-4-5 into a straight. Two hands later Ho went out with A-2-7-K. He got his ace counterfeited, made trip aces, but lost everything to Mike Woo’s nut low and flush.
On hand 13, Hoang, going all in and surviving for the third time, this time with a two pair scoop, enthusiastically clapped and congratulated himself. Mike Krescanko suggested to Hoang that he pay by-standers $10 apiece to do the cheering for him.
Khromov finished sixth right after the game became stud, with $200 antes, a $400 bring-in and $1,500-$3,000 limits. He had split 10s, bet fourth street and was raised all in by Krescanko, who caught a jack for a winning set. Khromov requested that his departure time be recorded so that he could prove to his wife where he was. OK, Sergey: 3:43 a.m., way past bar closing time.
Mike Woo is a veteran poker player and real estate investor whose biggest poker accomplishment by far was beating Max Shapiro in an Omaha tournament at Commerce Casino, the dirty rat. He went all in on fifth street with draws to a flush and back-door low. Hitting the flush wouldn’t have mattered because Derei, starting with (2-5)A-5-7, made 5s-full.
At this point, Krescanko and Qi Liu, who came to the final table 1-2 in chips, were fairly closely tied for the lead. But then disaster befell them both. In a very big pot, Krescanko made a flush but once again Derei made a full house and took the lead with over $50,000. And then Liu accidentally dropped cards on the floor and, to use Jack McClelland’s famous line, accidentally got a 20-minute penalty. She missed 18 hands. Amazingly, she had only one low-card bring-in, on the final hand, but her absence still cost her 4,000 chips.
When the game reverted to $2,000-$4,000 Omaha, Asher had built his lead to a bit under $60,000. Hand 62 was Krescanko’s last. He had A-5-J-Q, a tiny 51-49 favorite over Derei’s 2-2-4-4. The board came 10-8-3-5-6, giving Derei a 6-high straight and roughly $75,000 in chips to about $35,000 for Liu and $25,000 for Hoang.
Hoang then surged ahead of Liu by making a scoop flush in a sizeable pot. On hand 77, Derei raised with K-K-9-2. Qi called and then went all in with J-J-8-3. The board came Q-6-3-6-5 and Derei’s kings were enough to leave Liu in third place.
On the next hand, the game became stud, with $500 antes, a $1,000 bring-in and $3,000-$6,000 limits. Derei led, 97-34k. But seven hands into the round, everything turned around as Hoang scooped three straight hands, first with a straight, then with two pair and a low, and then again with two pair. Two hands later it was over when Hoang made jacks-up and Derei, showing 2-5-9-7, surrendered without showing his down cards. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
John Hoang had 25 final tables and three wins last year. This year, only six finals – but four wins, plus a fourth in a World Series stud hi-lo event. He’s been playing live action for about eight years, but only began getting serious with tournaments a year ago. Though he’s been working on his no-limit hold’em game, stud hi-lo, which he plays up to $200-$400 in live action, remains his favorite game. “The free-roll concept makes it the safest to play,” he points out. “It has the fewest bad-beat dangers.” On the other hand, it offers the most traps for very bad players, he adds. “If you play stud hi-lo horribly, you’re better off playing blackjack.”
Hoang says he pushes hard in side games, but plays tournaments more conservatively, preferring to see flops and turn cards. Tonight he was low-chipped with never more than $6,000 until he got to the final table. “But I felt comfortable, because this is my game.”
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