Minh
Ly is Back on Track!
Minh
Ly, a local pro with "too many tournament
wins to count," has been having tough
sledding the past couple of years. Tonight
he returned to form, stayed ahead of the
pack at the final table and claimed victory
in the ninth event of Big Poker Oktober
2002, $200 limit hold'em. He started with
the chip lead and still retained it when
the five finalists agreed to a chip-count
chop.
With the exception of Jan Somchub and
a prop named Yuyi Jiang, the final table
featured a cast of very familiar faces
in local medium-limit tournaments. One
of them was Binh Do, who finished number
eight to open up a 31-point lead in the
all-around points race.
CHIP
POSITION FINAL TABLE
Yuyi
Jiang $7,000
Jand Somchub $8,000
Phil Nguyen $10,500
Andom Ghebre $19,000
Beverley Kruskol $6,000
Carlito Lampaya $22,500
Binh Do $12,000
Can Hua $21,500
Minh Ly $35,000
The "semi-final" table of 10 got there
after Phi Nguyen's pocket jacks were beaten
by Tho Nguyen, who flopped a king to his
K-2 of diamonds. The real final table
got there in eight hands. On a flop of
K-Q-J, Tho raised. His K-10 gave him kings
and a draw to a king-high straight. Ly,
who flopped the nut straight with A-10,
flat called. A river 9 was disastrous
for Tho, giving him his number 2 straight.
This time Ly raised and broke his opponent.
Limits
started at $1,000-$2.000, 16 minutes remaining.
On the third hand, Beverley Kruskol threw
away her pocket queens after Phil Nguyen
bet when an ace turned. It was a prudent
fold because Phil flashed pocket aces,
but Bev was left with just two chips.
Those went in when she had only J-2 in
the big blind three hands later. Binh
Do had K-Q and easily put her away when
a king flopped.
On
hand 17, with limits at $2,000-$4,000,
all-around points leader Binh Do had 10c,
10x. When the board came 8-K-3-5-5 with
four clubs, Andom Ghebre bet to put Do
all in as Ly mucked a jack of clubs. Andom
then turned up A-4 of clubs. "I called
because I knew you didn't have a king,"
Do said. Unbelievably, the same thing
happened on the next hand: four clubs
came, and a player went bust with a single
club, losing to a player with two clubs.
Jiang, in the big blind, was all in with
8c, 5h. The board came J-10-6-K-Q with
four clubs and Ly, holding Q-5 of clubs
in the small blind, won with the number
two flush.
To this point, Carlito Lampaya, who started
with a respectable chip count of $22,500,
must have been getting a terrible run
of cards because he was playing very few
if any hands at all as his stacks dwindled.
Minh Ly still held the lead with $36,000
while Ghebre was right behind him with
35K. For an odds-defying third time in
13 hands, four suited cards again showed
up with a player holding two of the same
suit, this time spades. Phil Nguyen bet
the river and threw his hand away when
Ghebre raised and then showed K-10 of
spades for the nuts.
Hand
31 was Jan Somchub's last. She was in
the big blild, all in with A-Q. Saying
he had no choice, Ly called from the small
blind with K-5 of spades. A board of 9-5-4-7-9
gave Ly a pair of 5s, all he needed to
cut the field to five. On hand 34, Carlito
finally found a hand he could play: 9-9.
He went all in and built his chips back
up by beating Andon's two 7s. A few hands
later Can Hua went all in for $3,500 on
the turn and stayed in action with pocket
aces. Two hands after that he was dealt
bullets again and picked up some more
chips.
With
limits at $3,000-$6,000, the players got
in four more hands, and then began discussing
a deal. The chip count was: Minh Ly, $35,000;
Can Hua, $31,500; Phil Nguyen, $27,000;
Andom Ghebre, $24,500; and Carlito Lampaya,
$23,500. After some discussion about saving
a small amount and playing on, the decided
on a chip-count division, to bring the
festivities to a close.
BIOGRAPHY
Min
Ly, who is 48, once plied the trade of
a welder before he decided to play poker
full time seven or eight years ago. He
has a great track record, with numerous
victories including a best-all-around
in an America's Poker Classic event. Two
years ago he started to run bad, frequently
suffering the frustration of seeing players
with one or two outs draw out on him.
But tonight he felt so confident that
he made a $1,000 side bet that he would
win the event. That confidence, he added,
propelled him through the final table.
Things
did not look that great tonight with five
or six tables left. He had only $200 left
and went all in four or five times before
finally picking up some meaningful pots.
The key hand of the evening for him, he
said, came when he flopped a club flush
to eliminate Binh Do.
ALL-AROUND
PAYOFF POINTS
Name
Total
1.
Binh Do 129
2. Clinton Moore 98
3. Justin Westmoreland 95
4. Ulises Molina 91
5. Andom Ghebre 87
6. Tony Abesamis 75
7. Jollibert David 73
8. Albert Luna 60
9. Tom Roach 57
10. Men Nguyen 57
11. Farhang Ebadipour 57
12. Anthony Tran 57
13. Minh Ly 57
14. Leo Alvarez 56
15. Boris Kolas 55
16. Richard Dagres 53
Max Shapiro
|
