SCOTTY
NGUYEN RACKS UP ONE
MORE WIN IN NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM
Scotty Nguyen, who has accumulated a whole
room full of trophies during his unparalleled
career in poker, added yet another one
as he coasted to an easy win in the 21st
event of 2004 California State Poker Championship,
$500 no-limit hold'em.
He
arrived at the final table with a substantial
chip lead of $66,900 and dominated it
with his patented brand of nonstop laughter,
confusing chatter and aggressive play.
"I was in the zone, and when that happens
they just give in to me," he said.
With
five players left, the former world champion,
who boasts a very high win rate once he
makes the final table, owned most of the
chips. He later took a 50k hit, but still
had a good lead with three players left.
A deal was then made and play ended.
This
tournament replaced the scheduled $1,500
pot-limit Omaha contest, the third event
to be changed. Once again a handful of
players (11 this time) still wanted to
play, so this third extra tournament was
run simultaneously. Hasan Habib won the
PLO, collecting $18,525. Also in the money
were Avi Freedman, Jonathan "Doodle" Gallin
and Charlie Shoten.
The
remaining three Cal State events will
be run as originally scheduled.
Play
for the no-limit event commenced at level
10 with $200 antes, blinds of $600 and
$1,200 and 29:20 left on the clock. With
Kevin Song, Peter Costa and David Levi
also in attendance, this was one of the
toughest final tables to date. It was
certainly the noisiest. Nobody could hold
a decibel to Nguyen's racket ("Ha! Ha!
Ha! You call and it's all over baby"),
but David ("You play goood") Levi did
his best to sing chorus with echoing "Ha
Ha's."
Levi,
who vowed he wouldn't be first out as
he was the day before, soon got short-chipped,
but continued to survive a number of all-in
situations. Instead, it was Lance Allred
who left first. He opened for 4k and Costa
made it 12.5k to go. Nguyen then moved
in, offering to pay Allred $400 over and
above tenth place if he called. Allred
did call all in for a total of about 30k
and Costa decided to fold his A-K. Nguyen
had Q-Q, and Allred, with J-J, cashed
out when the board came 10-4-2-5-8. Allred's
job is promotional advertising but Nguyen
could probably give him some tips in that
field.
With
$200 antes and $800-$1,600 blinds, Song
moved in for $17,500 with A-10 and Joe
Lim covered him with J-J. Song couldn't
hit and finished ninth. Two hands later,
retiree Joe Chiracosta, down to 1.2k,
called all in with A-6 and lost to Hung
La's A-8. "I tried, but I wasn't playing
in their league," he shrugged.
Nguyen, meanwhile, had been punishing
the table, raising close to every other
hand, offering to pay players if they
called but warning them of the dire consequences
if they did, showing bluffs when nobody
called. After blinds went to $1,000 and
$2,000 with $300 antes, he paid Zavala
off for about 13k when he lost with A-6
to A-K, but that didn't make much of a
dent in his stacks.
Joe
Lim went out in seventh place after he
raised all in for 14k with A-5 and got
knocked off by Levi's pocket queens.
The
same pocket queens, this time held by
Zavala, eliminated Greg Gayheart, who
was all in from the big blind. Levi had
raised to 11k and Zavala moved in for
about 14k more. Just then his cell phone
rang. Zavala answered it by asking, "Tell
me what David Levi has." Levi was not
amused and folded. Meanwhile, Gayheart
turned up A-9 and the best he could do
was pair his 9.
By
the time blinds went to $1,500-$3,000
with $500 antes, Nguyen had lapped the
field with 144k, followed by Zavala, 50.7k;
La, 44.9k; Costa, 23k; and Levi, 10.3k.
Costa,
aka "Peter the Poet," is a noted British
pro whose many accomplishments include
a win on the "Late Night" program shown
on Fox TV. On the first hand of the new
level, he moved in with Ad-7d. "A very
bad time for you to do that," said Nguyen
sadly, turning over pocket aces. A second
diamond came on fourth street, but that
was one shy and Costa finished in fifth
place.
A
hand later, Zavala pushed in about 50k
with A-Q. Nguyen called with A-J. A jack
flopped, and with a board of J-3-2-5,
Zavala stood up and prepared to take his
leave. "See you later, Frankie," Nguyen
chirped. Not yet. A queen hit the river
and Zavala sat down, doubled up to about
100k.
Two
hands later, Levi finally ran out of escapes.
He was in the big blind with just 5k left
and pocket 8s. La, with pocket kings,
put him in. The board showed A-Q-J-9-J,
and Levi left the game in fourth place.
Another six hands were played with not
much change in chips while a deal was
discussed on and off.
Finally
a chip count was taken and showed Nguyen
with 121k; Zavala with 81k and La with
70.5k. Nguyen proved to be a fierce and
astute negotiator. Zavala wasn't too happy
with what was offered but didn't want
to object because "each time I have, I
ended up getting knocked out," he said.
Finally an agreement was reached. Zavala
runs a sports information service in Las
Vegas, and his wife does therapeutic massage,
with a roster of top poker players as
customers. Zavala then tried to talk Nguyen
out of the trophy, explaining that he
wanted it to present to their two young
daughters. "I have eleven girls," Nguyen
replied.
As
usual, Scotty had the last word along
with the last chips and got the trophy
too.
-- by Max Shapiro
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