Newbie Tao Wins No-Limit
Yubin Tao, a commercial real estate broker, has only been playing poker for three years and tournaments since last year. Tonight he scored his first major cash-out by winning the 21st event of 2004 Legends of Poker, $500 no-limit hold’em. In the final stages, he took and kept the lead by winning two of the last four hands, and after lengthy discussion, the event came to an abrupt halt with a six-way deal.
The final table formed after Allen Cunningham was all in with A-7 and ran into Desmond Portano’s pocket aces. Earlier, Tobey Maguire registered his second Legends cash-out by making the second table. “Spiderman” was exterminated after moving in for $6,400 with Ac-6c. David Rosebloom came over the top for $12,900 more with pocket jacks. The actor flopped an ace, but Rosebloom flopped a third jack, and Spidey crawled off in 17th place.
At the final table, blinds started at $2,000-$4,000, with $500 antes and 40:34 left. Vince Burgio arrived with $108,500, more than twice as much as anybody else. This was worrisome because Burgio had a far more important assignment coming up. He had agreed to spell this writer as a guest reporter for tomorrow’s H.O.E. tournament, and I was concerned that he might not get enough sleep. Even with the six-way deal, the event still ran past 8 a.m.
On the third hand, poker player Arash Ghaneian was crippled after he re-raised all in with pocket queens. Larry Gordon, an investor from West Hollywood, called with pocket 6s and hit a 6 on the river. “I’m not going to complain,” Ghaneian said with commendable restraint. “This is how I make my living, and it’s not new to me.” Four hands later he moved in for his last $8,000 with 7d-6d and was called by Rosebloom and Gordon. Rosebloom, with Jh-8h, made a third 8 on the turn. He won but failed to get Gordon to bite after he checked his trips on the turn and river.
“Hobbiest” Ken Wagner has now made five final tables and had seven cash-outs. He gave up $24,000 when he moved in with Q-9 on a K-9-3 flop and Portano, a poker player from Brooklyn, again showed pocket aces. On hand 20, Portano moved in with K-10, only to see first Wagner and then Emiliano Calitis Jr., push in all their chips. Both callers had A-K. Nobody helped, and Wagner, with the most chips, broke Portano and got an extra $6,000 from the split with Calitis.
Two hands later there was a break before blinds went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,000 antes. The chip leaders at that point were Burgio with $105,000 and Gordon with $104,000; followed by Rosebloom, $91,000; Rusty Mandap, $62,000; Tao, $52,000; Calitis, $45,000; Wagner, $30,000; and local pro Eric Arreca, $20,000.
After picking up a couple of pots, Tao began moving in on the chip leaders. On hand 31 he opened for $20,000 and was called by Gordon. The flop came 7-6-4. Gordon bet $14,000, Tao moved in for $71,000 and Gordon folded as Tao took the lead. A hand later, Wagner had all his chips posted in the blind with 7-9. Tao had A-J and broke him when the board came K-K-8-8-5.
And one hand later, Arreca moved in for $15,000 from the button with A-2. Gordon called from the small blind with A-Q, and the young pro finished seventh when the board came K-7-4-5-6.
There was one more hand, which Burgio took with a pre-flop raise, and then a chip count pay-out was calculated. The count now was: Tao, $161,000; Burgio, $115,500; Rosebloom, $77,000; Gordon, $72,000; Mandap, the tournament director at Hawaiian Gardens, $54,500; and Calitis, $29,500. Tao, new to this sort of thing, was somewhat skeptical, but the others prevailed upon him. “I want to go home,” said Burgio, no doubt more concerned about his important upcoming writing job than he was about second-place money. Finally, Tao agreed, and was declared the winner.
– Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Yubin Tao only began playing tournaments last November. Until then his main poker activity pretty much centered around no-limit hold’em side games. He’s now played around 12 or 13 no-limit tournaments, but hasn’t had any significant prior cash-ins, though he did win a couple of super satellites at the Hustler Casino. He likes no-limit, he explained, because he doesn’t feel he has much advantage in limit games, where his opponents have more of a sense of control. No-limit being a mental game, he feels he can get inside players’ heads and outwit them.
As a schoolchild, Tao grew up traveling on a scholastic circuit playing a math-based strategy card game called “Magic” and playing alongside a fellow student, now a top poker player, Robert Williamson III. Tonight, he said, he got very lucky. Midway through the tournament he tried a steal with 5d-2d, got committed, beat a player with pocket kings by making a flush, and that catapulted him into good chip position.
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