Poker Tournament Results

Five-Diamond World Poker Classic II / WPT Event Season 3

David Pham

Tournament Report

'DRAGON' FLIES Daniel Negreanu saw it coming. In his blog yesterday, Daniel said that if David 'The Dragon' Pham won the $3,000 No Limit, it would be Pham not Negreanu nor John Juanda who would take over the Player of the Year points lead. The Dragon flies on Sunday. FINAL TABLE Seat/Player/Hometown/Chip Count Seat 1 David Pham Cerritos, CA 605,000 Seat 2 Ronnie Jackson Raleigh, NC 140,000 Seat 3 Brian Brandon Chicago, IL 60,000 Seat 4 Alan Goehring Henderson, NV 120,000 Seat 5 Dennis Waterman Myrtle Point, OR 290,000 Seat 6 Eugene Katchalov Brooklyn, NY 510,000 Seat 7 Steve Zolotow Las Vegas, NV 360,000,br> Seat 8 Dan Alspach La Jolla, CA 220,000 Seat 9 Minh Nguyen Lake Elsinore, CA 175,000 2,000 ante. 5,000 and 10,000 blinds for 20 minutes longer. 17 players survived the first day of this 420 entry No Limit marathon. The total prize pool of over $1.2 million was getting the player's attention. It took two hours on Sunday afternoon to get down to nine for an official Final Table. When Ken Boisvert went all-in with two overcards to the flop, David Pham was ready with two real overcards--pocket Aces. The chip counts above are approximations as play didn't stop to count the chips. On the fifth hand of the official Final Table, Minh Nguyen went all-in from the small blind with pocket 10's and 155k against David Pham in the big blind. David, who had just had pocket Aces a few hands before to win 300k and regain the chip lead, had pocket Queens this time. It must be nice. Suddenly, after hours of struggle to get to nine, we were eight handed. With the ante now 3k and blinds of 8k/16k, some of the shorter stacks were starting to feel the pressure. Still it wasn't until hand 39 that there was another casualty. Surprisingly it was Dennis 'Swami' Waterman who left in a disappointed 8th. Dennis started this table fourth in chips, but he couldn't catch a hand. Waterman wasn't supposed to be here at all. He had only 65k with 17 players left starting Sunday when he was 15th. But Dennis took a couple hundred thousand from the then chip leader David Pham with the nut straight at the second table to get here with some ammunition. On hand 43, it really got expensive to stay in high society. 3k antes, 10k and 20k blinds. But that's when the volatile Dan Alspach made his move. Dan was being sweated like two mother hens by a total of nine WSOP bracelets. Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier were actively rooting for Alspach on the sidelines. George Marlowe joked about the millionaire Alspach, "It's nice to see someone doing well who needs the money." "I don't care how much money a player has, I want a nice guy to win," TJ said. There is no question, Dan Alspach is a nice guy. He also can get a little loose at a poker table. "He'll play anything," Dan joked about himself as he went all-in for his last 52k, "even pocket 10's." It wasn't much for Alan Goehring to call, in the big blind, even with a crummy 10 7 offsuit. Alan was drawing dead to running sevens on the flop and a dangerous player known worldwide as Dan A was still alive. Now five hands later Dan had just enough chips to knock someone off the table. "I'm getting tired of poker," Dan joked. "I'm ready to go home." Dan, in the small blind, called Brian Brandon's 189k with the A J of Clubs. I thought the two hens were going to faint. Too funny, except to Brandon in 7th. His pocket 6's were good until runner runner clubs came to promote Alspach's no pair to a flush. Dan was going to get another lecture from the experts for that move. >From Dan A to Steve Z, what a game we have here. The gamut of emotions. With only 40,000 left now, Zolotow went straight out for a cocktail in 6th. Unfairly, it was Goehring who did the honors with Z's own A Q from before. Steve had pocket 2's all-in for 24k when an Ace flopped, naturally. Who said poker was fair, not I? It makes sense that the Russians, who are the world's greatest chess players, should be able to play poker well. It makes sense to me, anyway. There are several rising Russian poker players. Eugene Katchalov climbed from 9th starting at two tables to take the chip lead briefly by knocking out Thierry Mulin from France. Eugene was another of the card dead gang, however, when he got here. There were only three players allowed to win a hand at this table--David Pham, Alan Goehring and Dan Alspach. All the others could have stayed home. Katchalov made it 75k to go under the gun with pocket Jacks. Eugene called all-in for 220k when David Pham raised him. David had A K and slicked a big King on the river. That's how you win the money in poker tournaments, sports fans. Eugene was rushin' to the rail in 5th. Now that David Pham showed him, Dan Alspach knew how to do it. Three hands later, it was Ronnie Jackson all-in from the big blind with his last raise of 28k over Dan's 60k bring-in. Jackson is a backed pro from North Carolina. Ronnie had pocket Kings. Dan A had A J off. Jackson grabbed his head in pain as the three-out Ace hit the river. Now there were three with David Pham the clear chip leader. The worst anyone could do was $101,720. Not the worst worst for two days work and a $3,100 investment. You had the feeling that the next demise would be brutal after two river suckouts in a row. It was the correct feeling. Dan Alspach and his two braintrust handlers, Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier, couldn't be prepared for hand 95. Dan A was all-in from the big blind and had Alan G by the short hairs. The flop came Q 7 3 all Spades. Dan had a Queen with the 4 of Spades. He'd been called for 210k by the adventurous Alan Goehring from the small blind with 5 3 offsuit. Alan had a pair of 3's.and the 5 of Spades. A five is higher than a four, isn't it? Then Alan Goehring won with a higher spade flush on the river when a fourth spade came. Heads up it was close. 1.4 million for David Pham. 1.1 million for Alan Goehring. Probably the most memorable hand of the day came on hand 109 when with the board Q 4 4 8, Dave and Alan raised and reraised each other a couple times each. Alan finally believed David, which was a mistake. David Pham took a 2-1 chip lead over Alan Goehring on a stone cold bluff. David showed Alan a K 10 offsuit afterward. No pair, no draw, no nuttin' honey. Since they were only playing for the $200,000 difference between 1st and 2nd place, Alan just smiled and briefly tried to find--unsuccessfully--his own bluff in the muck. What an outstanding read by David Pham. On hand 119 Alan Goehring finally lost a showdown. Oddly it was one of the few where he had a lead preflop. Alan won the first WPT Championship. David was Player of the Year three years ago. These guys know how to win the biggest events. So, not surprisingly, it came down to a coin toss hand for the title. Goehring had pocket Queens. Pham had A K offsuit. An Ace flopped. End of story. After all the hoopla about Negreanu or Juanda, Juanda or Negreanu. It was David 'The Dragon' Pham who flew to the top of the Player of the Year leaderboard and made a couple of bucks in the process. Mike Paulle