| HOLD’EM EVENT ENDS FAST AS
HUNG DU REGISTERS FIRST WIN
The final table for the 23rd event of California State Poker Championship was the speediest yet, taking just a bit over two hours to complete. Hung Du, who’s been playing poker for five years but only the past year professionally, was declared the winner when a three-way chip count deal ended the action.
It was the first tournament win for Du, who plays mostly side games, specializing in limit hold’em, “never no-limit.”
Dung Nguyen is a pro player who finished 40th in this year’s World Series championship event and cashed out for $60,000. Tonight, he had started the final table with a sizeable chip led of $82,000 and was running over the players in the early stages until Du took some big pots and the lead.
But perhaps the most dramatic story revolved around Jack Boghossian, a watchmaker and familiar face around the local tournament circuit. With four players left, he was down to a handful of chips when he went all in by betting blind before the flop. He won the pot, began raising nonstop, making big hands and starting shooting up like a rocket. By the time the field was down to the last three, he had nearly closed the gap. He had 99k to 101k for Nguyen and 129k for Du, and that was the basis for the chop.
Level 10 opening limits at the final table were $2,000-$4,000 with 26:36 remaining. On the fifth hand, EDX Dizon had $1,000 left after posting his big blind. Nguyen raised. Dizon fretted for several minutes. When he finally called all in and turned up a reasonable calling hand of A-8, the table wondered why he even had to think. He was getting 7-1 odds and would have been all in on the small blind the next hand. As it turned out he was in bad shape when Hung showed pocket 9s. The board came 8-2-2-5-K and Dizon, who lives in Milpitas, was out of action, finishing ninth and collecting $3,040.
Nguyen, running hot, claimed his second victim with pocket kings. He raised pre-flop and then Binh Ta, with pocket 7s, bet all in when the flop came10-9-5. A jack and a 6 didn’t help him and Ta had finished eighth, which paid $3,790
Later, Nguyen got involved in a re-raised pot with Boghossian. Nguyen bet the river with the board showing K-9-5-7-4, Boghossian, who called with little enthusiasm, asked, “Do you have aces?” That’s exactly what Nguyen had. He also had about 125k in chips now, more than twice anybody else’s.
After limits went to $4,000-$8,000, poker player John Hoang was almost down to the cloth in the big blind when the flop came 9-6-5. Hung, with 5-4, bet and Hoang called all in with 10-7. He couldn’t hit and Hung’s paired 5 knocked him out in seventh place. It paid $4,740.
Not many hands later, Django Young, an investor, had to invest his last chips in the small blind with K-9. Realtor George Shahrezay had him covered in chips and cards with A-9 and nailed him when an ace flopped. Young picked up $6,635 for sixth place and the table was now down to five players.
The table continued to get rapidly pared down. David Smira is a Portland, Oregon artist. He was in the big blind with pocket 6s and called when Hung Du raised. The flop was 3-2-2. He bet, Hung Du raised. When a 10 hit fourth street, Smira went all in for $3,500. Hung Du turned up pocket kings, and the artist was out of the picture, cashing out in fifth place for $11,370.
Du now had moved into the lead with about 125k to around 100k for Nguyen, 85k for Shahrezay and 30k for Boghossian.
Several hands later, Boghossian had slipped down and was on the verge of elimination when he looked down at A-K. Deciding he had to go with the hand, he bet blind for his last $1,500, hit a king and started his recovery.
He raised a couple of times without calls, then won a pot holding pocket 10s. The watchmaker who had taken a licking now was ticking. Then, after hauling in a big pot when he flopped a straight and then made a flush on the river in a hand against Shahrezay, he was suddenly up to about 75k.
A hand later he again got involved in a pot with Shahrezay. On a rush now, Boghossian re-raised with K-J and ended up with a straight when the board came Q-10-7-Q-9.
After that, Shahrezay was not able to recover. On his final hand, Du bet when the flop came K-8-4. Nguyen raised and Shahrezay re-raised all in for 10k. There was a bit of uncertainty when Du flashed pocket 9s. For a moment it seemed as if he had turned his cards up by mistake, but he was just folding. Shahrezay had the lead with K-Q to 9-8 for Du. The turn turned everything around when another 8 gave Du trips, to outrun the realtor’s paired king, and Shahrezay cashed out fourth for $11,370.
The chips were counted out, the calculations were made and the players accepted the figures as event number 23 (three more than scheduled because of a reformatting of the schedule) was in the books. Du collected an official $70,115 for first place, while second paid $36,005 and third, $18,005.
Tomorrow starts the first day of the $10,000 championship no-limit hold’em event. —Max Shapiro
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