Peter
Wu Goes from #2 to 1
Peter
Wu, an antiques importer who finished
second in this contest in 2002, did better
this year and won the 10th event of Big
Poker Oktober 2003, no-limit hold’em.
It was his first tournament victory. He
had a tremendous final table chip lead
of $112,500, then got blinded and anted
down to about $70,000 when he didn’t
play a single hand for the first 26 deals.
When he finally did, fireworks erupted.
He went up against the two toughest players
at the table, Amir Vahedi and David “The
Dragon” Pham (currently ranked number
one and two respectively in Card Player
magazine’s best all-around rankings)
in what turned out to be the key hand
of the night. More later.
The
final table began with $500 antes and
blinds of $2,000-$4,000, 20:59 remaining.
Action came fast. On the first hand, Pham
moved in for $16,600 with Kc-5c. After
several minutes, Vahedi called with A-2.
Pham survived when a king flopped. Two
hands later, Cliff Cantor was all in for
$12,000 with A-Q against Dan Abrams’
A-4. “How do they do it?” Cantor
moaned when a four flopped. “Oh,
there is a God,” he said when a queen
saved him.
Two
hands later, Michael Yoshino had his last
$1,500 in the small blind with just 7s-2s.
Dan Abrams, a Mini Series winner who formerly
did post-production for the World Poker
Tour, raised to $20,000 with K-J. Then
Aurel de Hollan moved in for $33,500 with
A-Q and Abrams called. After Abrams flopped
two more kings, de Hollan collected $1,350
for ninth place, Yoshino $1,125 for 10th.
A hand later, Cliff Cantor moved in for
$31,000 with pocket 10s and Cary Hall
III called all in for $9,500. The 10s
held up and Hall, a lawyer making his
fourth final table this year, was paid
$1,795 for his services.
With
blinds at $3,000-$6,000 and $1,000 antes,
Randy Holland, all in for $1,500 with
three way action, jokingly announced “no
deal” when his ace-high won. Two
hands later he cashed out for $2,245 when
his J-8 lost to Abrams’ pocket nines.
Vahedi got lucky on hand 19. He moved
in for $44,000 with A-Q. “Please,
let them pick up something,” he table-talked.
Abrams did: A-K, but a queen flopped.
Now
came hand 27. Limits were $4,000-$8,000
with $1,500 antes. Wu made it $40,000
to go, Pham called for $22,000, Vahedi
moved in for $38,000 more and Wu also
called all in. Wu showed Kh-Jh. To their
mutual dismay, Pham and Vahedi both turned
up pocket 10s. The board came K-J-6-3-7.
Pham cashed out for $3,145 in sixth place,
Wu shot up to about $180,000 and a furious
Vahedi was left with just $8,500. He lost
it on the next hand when his pocket sevens
couldn’t catch Abrams’ pocket
kings. Fifth place paid $4,045.
Three
hands later, Michael Magnanimo, with many
final tables but no wins, finished fourth
and picked up $5,840. When Abrams raised
with A-10, Magnanimo called for $10,000
with A-5 and couldn’t help.
At
this point, Wu led with $174,500, Abrams
had $174,000 and Cantor had $101,000.
After interminable discussions, they finally
agreed to divvy up most of the prize pool,
and kept playing. Nineteen hands now went
by without a flop. With $2,000 antes and
blinds of $6,000-$12,000, Wu still had
the lead with $162,000, while Abrams had
$135,000 and Cantor, who sold his nightclub
to become CEO of a film company called
Spaghetti King Productions, had $132,000.
By hand 59, Abrams had the lead, but Wu
crippled him when he had K-K and Abrams,
moving in for $170,000, lost with A-9.
On the next hand, Abrams raised all in
for $25,000 with Kc-Qc. Cantor called
with A-Q and flopped an ace. Third place
paid Abrams $8,540.
Wu
now had $315,000 to Cantor’s $134,000,
and they made their final deal.
BIOGRAPHY
He was not sitting on his chip lead when
he let so many hands go by, Peter Wu explained.
He was just dealt a succession of totally
unplayable hands. “I was looking
at seven-high, six-high,” he said,
“but I had the luxury of being able
to wait.” Wu, who plays mostly $15-$30
and $20-$40 hold’em side action,
also has a fourth-place finish at Commerce’s
Rags to Riches tournament.
His
style of play, he said, depends on the
make-up of the table, and this was a very
tough table he faced, so he tried to stay
out of the way of the name players. However,
he added, he noticed that Vahedi had been
gambling, so when he was first in with
the K-J, he wasn’t afraid to call
with the rest of his chips when Vahedi
raised. One of his key plays, he added,
came at the second table when he had pocket
jacks and made a good read on a player
with A-Q.
Max Shapiro
|
