KENNA
JAMES SINGS AND
JOKES AND WINS NO-LIMIT
It
was a fun night for Kenna James. He regaled
spectators with bursts of song, joked
around and sported a small towel as a
head covering. But his good-natured clowning
did not diminish his shrewd and aggressive
play as he scored a decisive victory in
the eighth event of the 2003 Four Queens
Poker Classic, $300 no-limit hold'em.
It
has been a great year for James, a P.R.
player at Hawaiian Gardens. Starting out
with back-to-back wins at Hollywood Park,
he's had 12 final tables and six wins
so far, along with three cash-outs at
this year's World Series.
When
he got heads-up, he had better than a
2-1 lead over his final opponent, Jim
Miller, tournament director and shift
manager at the Hustler Casino. No slouch
at the tables either, Miller had four
WSOP cash-outs this year. The two played
more than 30 hands without much happening.
Finally, with the board showing 10-6-2-4-A,
Miller, with exquisitely bad timing, tried
a showboat all-in move with 7-2 and discovered
that James, with 5-3, had turned a six-high
straight.
This
was a tough final table. Along with journeyman
pros David Plastik and Minh Nguyen, it
also included Laumar Hampton, who won
a World Series bracelet in razz in 1992,
and a World Poker Open hold'em event in
2002. The table started with $100 antes
and $500-$1,000 blinds and soon went to
$200 antes, $800-$1,600 blinds. R.W. Miller,
a retiree, retired on hand seven. After
he raised to $4,500, Plastik re-raised.
"Nothing," said J.W, calling
all in. Actually, he had A-Q against Plastik's
10-10 and took the lead with an A-7-6
flop. But then an 8-9 came to give Plastik
a straight.
Starting
third-lowest chipped with only 11k, James
moved in four times the first 14 hands
without being called and soon became a
force at the table. Next out on a bad
beat was Steve Addy, who is on the Las
Vegas Review Journal's sports staff. After
Nguyen raised $4,000 with pocket eights,
Addy moved in for another $8,700 with
pocket queens, losing when Nguyen turned
a set.
After
dropping down a notch, James doubled up
against real estate developer Ned Cruey,
who moved in with A-K and lost to James'
pocket 10s.
Bruce
Corman, who owns a clothing store in Nottingham,
England, won the Four Queens' main event
last year. In this event he started second-lowest
in chips and couldn't get anything going.
Right after blinds went to $1,000-$2,000,
Miller raised with pocket kings. Corman,
down to about $4,000, called all in with
A-5 and couldn't do better than pair his
five.
Cruey,
badly hurt after dropping 12k to James,
now began a series of all-in moves and
repaired the damage. "I'm back,"
he said. Meanwhile, James, continuing
his own series of all-in moves, had bulled
his way into a substantial lead of more
than 55k by the times blinds moved up
to $1,500-$3,000 with $400 antes.
Mixed
in with all the seasoned pros was one
local student, Frank Cremen. After Plastik
raised 8k under the gun with pocket sixes,
Cremen moved in with A-K and finished
seventh when rags came.
Hampton
and Cruey were almost dead even in chips
when they got involved in a big pot. Hampton
raised to 9k with Qs-Js and Cruey moved
in for 22k with pocket queens. When the
board came 10-3-2-8-3, Hampton was left
with $400, just enough for the ante on
the next hand. Nguyen swallowed that with
A-Q versus Hampton's K-9, and five were
left.
When
blinds went to 2-4k with 500 antes, James,
Cruey and Miller all had about 50k or
close to it, while Plastik and Nguyen
were in the 30 and 20k range respectively.
As
hand 100 approached, three players went
out very quickly. First to go was Cruey,
moving in from the cut-off seat for 34k.
"Looks like he was ready to make
a raise no matter what happened,"
James mused aloud. He made a good call
with Ah-Kh against A-8 and Cruey was gone.
On the next hand, Plastik moved in for
10k with Qc-10c and Miller called with
As-4s. The board showed a straight --
J-10-9-Q-8 -- but it included three spades,
and Miller's flush won. And just three
hands after that, James made it 8k with
K-5 and Nguyen moved in for 14k with A-9.
A king and two fives gave James a surprise
full house.
Heads-up,
James led by roughly 140-66k. The two
made a deal, then played cautiously. "We
might be here a while," James said
after blinds went to 3-6k. But then he
hit the straight for his sixth win this
year.
Max Shapiro
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