Van
Pham Flops a Victory!
"Bad
cards, good flops." That's how Van Pham
summed up his win in the 12th event of
Big Poker Oktober 2002, $200 Omaha hi-lo.
He moved up steadily at the final table
with admittedly lucky catches, and when
it became three-handed, he had about $50,000
of the $79,000 in play. When he got heads
up with retired Air Force Lt. Col. Jerry
Simon, he had a 3-1 chip lead and the
two agreed to a deal.
It took an unbelievable two hours, more
than twice as long as yesterday's hand-for-hand
marathon, for the 11th player to be eliminated.
It was mostly Harold Berger's fault. He
went all in about five times, usually
with one chip, and somehow slipped by
to the final (10-handed) table…with one
chip. Once there, he went all in and survived
three more times, hanging on all the way
to fifth place. Luck, however, is no stranger
to Berger, president of NPN, a pay phone
company. Back in the old jackpot days,
Berger once hit five in one year at the
Bike, including one for more than $70,000,
the largest ever to that date.
CHIP
POSITION FINAL TABLE
Harold
Berger $500
Van Pham $25,500
Ricky Ortiz $1,000
Jason Thompson $4,000
Barry Caraco $6,000
Rocky Enciso $1,500
Gerald Stamler $5,500
Jerry Simon $33,500
Andre Maloof $1,500
In any event, Andre Maloof, with a full
house, finally broke the unidentified
11th player. It then took another 30 minutes
for player number 10 to depart, one out
of the money after a proposal to pay something
to that spot was vetoed. Ulises Molina,
in the big blind with Q-8-6-6, departed
when Simon flopped three kings.
The official final table began with limits
continuing at $1,000-$2,000, 10:14 remaining.
As was the case yesterday, the pace then
picked up considerably, with five players
knocked out in just 11 hands. On the second
hand, Barry Caraco bet his last $2,000
when he made kings and 10s on the turn.
But two of the board cards were spades.
Pham started with A-2-4-6 with a suited
ace of spades and then picked off Caraco
with a river spade. Rocky Enciso departed
two hands later. The poker player, starting
with A-3-7-8. was drawing dead by the
turn after Maloof flopped a straight.
Since he and Rocky both started with just
$1,500, Andre still had scant chips when
he was in the big blind the next hand.
He had a decent A-2-8-10 and Van had just
A-6-7-9, but when the board came K-J-6-4-J,
the paired 6 was all Van needed to close
the books on the CPA.
Moving right along, Ricky Ortiz got dynamited
out two hands later. With $2,000-$4,000
limits, he was in the big blind with a
very weak Q-9-8-6 when options trader
Jason Thompson left him no options by
flopping four aces. Then, on hand 11,
Harold Berger, also in the big blind,
was all in as usual with his usual one
chip. He had 5-5-6-8 with two clubs and
seemingly got lucky again by flopping
a set when A-7-5 came, and then picking
up a flush draw on the turn. But Gerald
Stamler, himself going all in on fourth
street, had made a wheel, ending Harold's
lucky streak.
Seven
deals later, Thompson was in the small
blind when he picked up A-3-J-Q double-suited
and raised all in for $4,000. Simon called
with A-4-6-Q, then hit one 4 on the river
and another on the turn to cut the field
to three. On the next hand, Pham beat
Simon with a flush to build his stacks
up to about $50,000, with his opponents
almost evenly splitting the rest. After
taking the next two pots with no calls,
Van was up to $60,000.
A
few hands later, Jerry finished off Gerald.
Stamler had A-7-9-10, and when a board
of 7-7-5 gave him trips, he bet all in.
But Simon, with two 5s in his hand, had
flopped a full house, and for good measure
made quads on the river. He and Pham then
made their deal and the final table ended
in a brisk 45 minutes.
BIOGRAPHY
Van
Pham has been playing poker for over 10
years and tournaments for eight. He has
a couple of victories in hold'em, the
most notable being when he won an opening
event at the Orleans that attracted a
field of 940. He also had a win at Commerce's
Holiday Bonus Tournament last year. He
likes hold'em and Omaha equally well,
and this is his first Omaha victory.
Unlike
some players who feel it's a badge of
dishonor to be called lucky, Van Pham
had no qualms in saying that he had an
abundance of it in this event. He said
he was frustrated when a lot of times
his good hands didn't get called, but
it was still better than being outdrawn.
Tonight he was down to $100 by the second
round but managed to build it up to $600
by the second break. "When that happened,
I felt lucky." And, he added, "You have
to be lucky to win tournaments."
ALL-AROUND
PAYOFF POINTS
Name
Total
1.
Binh Do 129
2. Minh Ly 109
3. Tom Roach 106
4. Tony Abesamis 105
5. Ulises Molina 105
6. Clinton Moore 98
7. Justin Westmoreland 95
8. Andom Ghebre 87
9. Jollibert David 73
10. Rocky Enciso 68
11. Can Hua 61
12. Albert Luna 60
13. Tho Ngo 58
14. Anthony Tran 57
14. Joe Grew 57
15. Fran Pinchot 57
16. Farhang Ebadipour 57
17. Men Nguyen 57
Max Shapiro
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