| Sensational Hand Wins 700k Pot And Championship for Tim Phan
It was a hand for the poker history books. With four players left, Tim Phan
and Young Phan were almost tied for the chip lead. Young had pocket kings and
Tim was in the big blind with 9-8. A flop of J-9-9 gave Tim trips. He checked,
Young bet and Tim moved in. A king turned and now Young took the lead with kings
full. Then a 9 hit the river to give Tim quads and a $700,000 pot containing
more than half the chips in play.
After that he coasted to victory in the $3,000 no-limit hold'em championship
event of Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker Tournament III.
Tim Phan is 30 and has played poker for 10 years. He owns a restaurant but
is retired from active involvement and is pretty much a full-time player now.
Though he has one prior tournament win, in stud at Foxwoods, he is mainly a
high-limit side-game stud player. He sometimes plays in Larry Flynt's
big game, but only when the usual limits are dropped down to $500-$1,000.
This was a very tough final table that went six hours and 163 hands, with
numerous chip-lead changes. The two-day championship played down to 27 players
on day one. On day two, Hasan Habib and Allen Patatanyan started as co-leaders
with 104,000 and 105,500 respectively. But after Tim Phan took down two big
pots, once when his pocket queens beat Chris Karagulleyan's pocket 8s
and once when he sucked out with K-Q versus A-K, he came to the final table
with an enormous lead of $451,000.
Action got underway with $500 antes, blinds of $2,000-$4,000 and a full hour
of play left. Ron Faltinsky had the fewest chips and he departed on hand 16.
Tim raised with 6d-5d, Faltinsky moved in with pocket kings and lost when Tim
made a straight.
Habib was the most active player in early going, and his frequent raises soon
got him past the $200,000 mark. Robert Peltekci, much more selective, finally
made his move with pocket aces when he was down to $16,000. Allen Cunningham
called with 10s-8s and made a flush on the river.
Jenny Kang, meanwhile, did not play one hand in 50 deals and was blinded and
anted down from $91,000 to $18,000. Finally, one away from the big blind, she
moved in with K-8, got two callers and tripled up when her kicker won. Two hands
later she doubled up against Tim, A-J versus A-9, going from 18k to over 100k
in three hands.
Blinds now went to $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000 antes. Stan Goldstein, who recently
finished second to Ben Affleck in the championship event at the Cal State Poker
Championship, finished eighth when he raised all in for $18,000 and got three
callers. He had K-9 and lost to Habib's A-8 when an ace flopped. At this
point, Tim Phan still held a commanding lead with about $470,000. When blinds
went to $6,000-$12,000 on hand 88, Tim still was in front with about $320,000,
but Patatanyan, an attorney, wasn't far behind with about $300,000 after
winning a couple of pots with pocket 8s. On hand 98, Kang moved in for $69,000
on the button with Kd-3d. Tim picked her off with Ks-Qs and now six were left.
Cunningham was next to take the lead. He took a big pot from Young Phan by
moving in pre-flop after Young had re-raised to $60,000. Cunningham won the
next pot and now had close to $400,000.
Van Zakarian, who is in the fashion business, finished sixth. He moved in
with a $25,000 raise holding Ac-6c on the button. Habib beat him when his pocket
10s held up. It had taken four hours now to lose half the final table. A rough
chip count showed: Cunningham, $375,000; Tim Phan, $315,000; Patatanyan, $280,000;
Phan, $190,000; and Habib, $130,000. Blinds were now $8,000-$16,000 with $3,000
antes. Habib, who had been up and down, went down and out on hand 135 when he
tried an all-in raise from the button for $94,000 with just 7-4. "I knew
he was making a move," said Young Phan, who called with A-Q and flopped
a queen.
With four players left, three were bunched in the mid-$300,000 range, while
Tim Phan, who had lost several pots, trailed with about $180,000. This changed
dramatically on the next hand when Tim Phan was all in with Kd-9d against chip
leader Cunningham, who had A-J. A board of 10-8-7-8-6 gave Tim Phan a straight.
Suddenly he was first while Cunningham was last.
Then came hand 141 when Tim Phan made his dramatic quad nines against Young
Phan. "Well, at least the pot wasn't that big," joked the
easy-going Phan in a situation that would have driven most other players up
the wall. He had only $7,000 left, doubled through once, but soon after busted
out with Q-6 against Patatanyan's K-6.
A hand later, Cunningham followed him out. He moved in for $110,000 with 10c-7c
and was in bad shape when Tim Phan called with Kc-2c. A flopped king finished
Cunningham.
Heads-up, Tim Phan had a huge lead. After Patatanyan closed much of the gap
they discussed a deal, but decided to keep playing. Phan pulled way ahead again
when he held Q-6 and made a king-high straight. On the final hand, Phan had
only 6h-5h to Patatanyan's pocket queens, but made a flush to end the
match and claim the 2004 Grand Slam III Championship.
—Max Shapiro |
