| THE HAND
There were several candidates for top story in this $2,000 No Limit event, but one story stood clear of the rest. Let's call it "THE HAND."
It was amazing to see. Literally hundreds of human beings seemed to materialize out of thin air, all to crowd around the poker table, all pointing and talking at once. No one had ever seen anything like this before. One hand, four destinies practically determined preflop. But I precede myself.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count,
Seat 1 Allie Prescott Memphis TN 92,000
Seat 2 Lonnie Alexander Bozeman MT 235,000
Seat 3 Brian Applebaum Scottsdale AZ 83,000
Seat 4 Thomas Mathiesen Skjetten, Norway 113,000
Seat 5 Michael Mizrachi Hollywood FL 62,000
Seat 6 Jean-Robert Bellande Hollywood CA 374,000
Seat 7 Gioi Luong Westminster CA 238,000
Seat 8 Romerico Magbanua Vancouver, Canada 70,000
Seat 9 Phi Nguyen Hawaii Gardens CA 164,000
1,000 ante. The blinds are 2,000 and 4,000. There are 21 minutes left at this level.
Lonnie Alexander is great at getting to a Final Table. Lonnie Alexander is not great at staying at one. A few days ago, Lonnie appeared at the $2k No Limit final second in starting chips. Only to finish an inglorious seventh. Not great! Can Alexander do any worse? Yes! In that we can call him 'Alexander the Great.' Today, Lonnie arrived third in chips and finished dead last. And presumably he can't blame his parents (You had to see the movie).
Again, today, Alexander didn't win a hand. A couple of times he made some bets only to have someone else come over the top. At that point, Lonnie would fold leaving his chips in the pot. On hand 20, Alexander had had enough of being pushed around. He raised all-in from the big blind with the 8 7 of Diamonds.
Fortunately for Michael Mizrachi, the extra 37,000 wasn't enough to make Michael muck his A 9 of Hearts. Although, the super-tight Mizrachi nicknamed 'The Grinder' thought about mucking very seriously. Good thing Michael didn't muck. He'd need all those chips later. The board came with a 9 to end it for the not-so-great one.
Thomas Mathiesen looks too young to get fake ID. He must get carded to buy soda pop. Cigarettes? Forget it, son. Thomas is yet another of the Internet babies that are coming over from Europe to take our money in the new world. New world this, Gioi Luong says with the A K of Spades in the big blind. Thomas has pocket 10's and goes all-in for around 100k. No waiting here. Luong shows Mathiesen a new world, the rail, with an Ace on the flop.
A few hands later, top pro Phi Nguyen feels the pain of departure into 7th. Phi was trying to pick up 30k Michael Mizrachi had placed on the table from middle position. Nguyen was in the small blind with A Q offsuit. Phi shoved his last 100k hoping for a fold from Mizrachi. Michael rowed Phi's boat ashore, however, with pocket Kings and a King on the flop.
Have I stalled long enough? I think so. Now it's time for THE HAND.
"If the hand don't fit, you must acquit." Hand number 32. O.J.'s number.
It started when Romerico Magbanua sailed all his chips in under the gun. It seemed odd at the time that several players applauded. Sure, Romerico was playing tight and hadn't been in too many pots. But the reaction to his all-in for 44k seemed excessive until we saw why so many players were happy to see chips in the pot. Turns out there were three overpairs to Magbanua's pocket Jacks behind him, all hoping to make hay while the sun shines.
In succession Brian Applebaum, Michael Mizrachi and then Gioi Luong, in the big blind, all followed Romerico all-in. Gioi had them all covered in a pot of over 600,000 or about half the chips on the table.
Suddenly as if the director had called in the entire Las Vegas extra board, seemingly hundreds of people crowded around the table. All the hands were exposed. Applebaum could beat the pocket Jacks. He had pocket Kings. Gioi Luong could beat the pocket Jacks as well. He had the other pocket Kings. But Michael Mizrachi could beat them all. He had pocket Aces! Four premium pairs on the same hand.
The Kings and Jacks were drawing nearly dead when the two available flushes didn't arrive. The Aces held up when no Jack appeared. What a hand! Magbanua was 6th and Applebaum 5th based on prior chip count. Michael Mizrachi, who had started last in chips, now had more than twice anyone else. Actually, the fate of the table was determined. We just didn't know it yet.
It took until hand 84 and the 5k/10k blinds to whittle off another player. Allie Prescott is tough. Even in defeat he had a heck of a draw. Gioi Luong makes it 25k from the button. Allie calls with the Q 10 of Hearts from the small blind. The flop comes A J 3 with two Hearts. Luong bets Prescott all-in for 60k. Gioi, who is at his second Final Table of the Five-Diamond tournament, has flopped trip 3's. Allie gets no love story from the board with blank, blank for 4th.
Hollywood Jean-Robert Bellande used to own a tonie restaurant in La La land. Now he's being staked to play poker. Get used to it. This guy has more moves than Fred Astaire. He's been watching too much poker on TV. Anyway after a very long talk by the last three combatants we can finally get back to playing cards. And on hand 114, two players had something at the same time.
"How can you call 340,000?" Bellande asked Gioi Luong afterward. Actually it was only 240,000 since Luong already had 100,000 in the pot. But who's counting? Bellande had pocket 8's on the button, and he made it 30k to go first to act three handed.
Luong raised to 100k and Bellande went all-in. Luong called, with chip leader Mizrachi all ready out, the extra 240k with A Q offsuit from the small blind. This shouldn't be a surprise call to anyone who'd watched Bellande for several hours. Now we were heads up when a Queen flopped.
You'll have to hear why Michael Mizrachi was declared the winner from someone else.
But the real reason is because he won 'THE HAND.'
Mike Paulle
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