AMID
SOME CONFUSION, KEVIN
SONG WINS POT-LIMIT HOLD'EM
In
what had to be one of the wildest and
most confusing tournament finishes ever,
veteran pro Kevin Song won the 14th event
of 2004 California State Poker Championship,
$1,500 pot-limit hold'em.
Song
was heads up with Florida poker player
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi with a
substantial chip lead. Blinds were $500
and $1,000. Song, with the button/small
blind, raised $2,500, Mizrachi re-raised
the pot and Song three-bet it for $15,000
more.
Mizrachi
thought for a while and Song called for
the clock. "Let's gamble, I call," Mizrachi
announced. He turned up Kh-Qh to Song's
6-6. The Qd-9h-2h flop was near-perfect
for Mizrachi, and then a 9-K gave him
a winner.
"If
you didn't say 'clock' I'd have folded,"
Mizrachi told Song. He decided that Song
had a small hand and was trying to put
pressure on him. The two now were dead
even in chips with $47,000 each. As the
next hand was dealt, Mizrachi seemed to
recall that he had gone in with about
$27,000 and should have more chips. Whatever
the true count, the ruling was that since
another hand had been dealt, nothing could
be done.
Instead,
the two decided to chop the remaining
$49,450 and play one showdown hand for
the win. Song won with A-8 to 9-6 when
a board of 10-7-2-5-10 was dealt. Realizing
that Song got the trophy and title, Mizrachi
now felt he should have played it out,
but this one was already in the books.
The
Korean-born Song has a 1997 World Series
bracelet in a $2,000 limit hold'em event,
and finished second in a limit hold'em
shootout at the WSOP this year. He recently
returned to tournament play after a three-year
absence while he built a retail business.
With
just 33 entrants, only five places were
paid and this also turned into a one-day
event. When it got down to the official
five, Song had more than half the chips
in play, a position he held until almost
the end.
Song,
who started the nine-handed final table
only average in chips, loaded up in two
big hands. The first time, he had 7-5
while Scott Fischman, the 23-year old
who won two World Series bracelets this
year, had A-7. Fischman bet the 10-10-7
flop, then checked when a 7 on the turn
gave him a full house. Song, who sensed
that Fischman did not have a 10, bet the
turn, then moved in on the river and Fischman,
with the same full house, folded.
The
second big pot for Song came when Amir
Vahedi check-raised all in with K-Q top
pair on a board of Q- 9-7-10. Song already
had a set of 10s and busted Vahedi with
quads.
The five finalists made the money when
Barry Greenstein finished sixth. Down
to $1,450, he moved in with A-9. Dan Alspach
called with Ks-2s and made a flush.
The
five were playing with blinds of $150-$300
and 21:45 left. Song had $53,850 of the
$74,000 in play. When blinds went to $200-$400,
he had about the same lead. It took 54
hands to lose the first player. Alspach,
a retired engineering executive who came
in fourth in the recent $10,000 Plaza
tournament, moved in for $2,200 with 7-7.
Fischman called with A-K and caught two
more cowboys.
With blinds of $300-$600, the most-discussed
hand of the tournament came down. Mizrachi
opened for $1,000 and Song called. The
flop was 10h-8s-6c and Mizrachi bet. When
a Jc turned, Song bet $3,500 and Mizrachi
check-raised $4,500 more. Song just called,
but bet $6,000 when Mizrachi checked a
river trey. After very long hesitation,
Mizrachi announced he was making a big
laydown and showed A-J. After much prompting
Song, who doesn't normally show uncalled
hands, finally disclosed he had Qc-9c
for a straight as well as a flush draw.
A
humorous (though not to Song) incident
then occurred. When Song took a few steps
away from the table to get coffee from
an urn, his hand was folded because of
the somewhat controversial Tournament
Directors Association rule that a player
must be in his seat on the deal or get
folded. When Song protested during the
next hand, standing up and asking if that
would get his hand folded, he ended up
getting his hand declared dead a second
time! "Maybe I should wear a safety belt
and carry my chair with me," Song fumed.
With
blinds of $400-$800, Song still led big
with about $58,000. After several all-in
escapes, Joe Chiracosta finished fourth
after moving in with pocket 8s and running
into Song's pocket queens. "I'm busting
almost everybody here," Song declared.
True
to his word, he then busted Fischman.
Song, with just 8-6, bet $2,000 on a flop
of 5-4-2 and Fischman raised all in with
A-10. Song called and caught an 8 on the
turn. "I know where he was coming from,"
Song said, explaining why he called with
virtually nothing except a gut-shot draw.
Song
was now heads-up with Mizrachi, who finished
fifth in stud the day before. Song held
a lead of $76,800 to $17,200. After some
47 hands of relatively cautious heads-up
play, Mizrachi had just moved up a bit
to somewhere in the $20,000 range. Then
came the hand where Mizrachi called with
K-Q because Song put the clock on him,
the chip count evened and then the showdown
hand ended it.
-- by Max Shapiro
|
