Kenna
James Outlasts the Field in
Bruising No-Limit Hold'em Battle
The second event of Grand Slam of Poker,
no-limit hold'em, proved to be wild and
unpredictable. With four players left,
Kenna James held a substantial chip lead,
but the action became fast and furious
and the lead changed several times before
James finally ended up with all the chips
and top prize of $28,120.
James, a P.R. player at Hawaiian Gardens,
has been having a good year. He won three
events at Hollywood Park's Poker and Ponies
tournament in January, finished fourth
at the Commerce's L.A. Poker Classic main
event and had four cash-outs at the World
Series. Interestingly, two key hands for
him came when he outdrew players who slow-played
big hands. The first came when he knocked
out Kathy Liebert in 20th place when she
held pocket kings and he made a flush.
The second occurred when he had just K-3
against Greg Hopkins' pocket queens, but
made two pair to regain the chip lead.
The final table began with $300 antes
and blinds of $1,000-$2,000, 34 minutes
remaining. Hopkins had the chip lead with
64k. At the other end was Jack Boghssian
with only 5k. He went all in on the first
hand, doubled up with a paired queen and
managed to hang on and climb three rungs
on the ladder.
On hand seven, Dan Heimiller tried to
steal the antes and blinds from the button
by pushing in his $25,100 with just 8-2
offsuit. James called him with A-10 and
turned a nut straight. As he walked off,
Heimiller muttered, "I hate when 8-2 doesn't
hold up." One hand later, Reza Golestani
moved in with pocket nines. Ben Boyd called
with his remaining 19k holding A-K and
busted out when the board came J-10-7-6-J.
On hand 18 the blinds increased to$1,500-$3,000
with $500 antes. Right after that, three
players went broke in four hands. Tuong
Luu, a popular local player, was first
to go. He had J-10 to Greg Hopkins' J-9.
A flop of Q-10-6 gave Luu two 10s, and
he caught a third one on the river, but
a turn-card eight had given Hopkins a
straight.
Two hands later, Boghssian, who had survived
a second all-in encounter, moved in for
about 19k. Holding Ad-3d, he was in bad
shape when Ramzi Daniel challenged him
with A-Q and he finished eighth. A hand
later, Darryl Wooldridge also had A-3
in the big blind. James put him all in
holding Ad-10d and broke him when he flopped
a 10.
A rough chip count showed James in the
lead with about 90k, followed by Reza
Golestani with 78k; Hopkins with about
64k; Jon Barker with 40k and Daniel with
around 28k.
Barker
had been very aggressive, repeatedly calling
"all in." When he did it again, Hopkins
asked him, "Are those the only words you
know?" Maybe not, but they were his last
words. He had K-J of clubs and ran into
pocket aces held by James. Kenna flopped
a set and moved up to about $120,000 after
hauling in Barker's $30,500.
Blinds became 4-8k with $500 antes. Now
it was Golestani who became the aggressor,
with a lot of all-in bets. "I'm trying
to either win it or go home," he explained.
Daniel then made a unique proposal: everyone
take $5,000 and play winner-take-all for
the remainder. Different amounts were
argued for the non-winners, but no deal
was reached.
After a lot of heated action and chip
movement, Golestani moved in for $52,500
with pocket eights. Daniel called for
his last 38k with A-Q. A queen flopped,
and Golestani was left with 15k. On the
next hand, Golestani was in the big blind
as blinds jumped to 3-6k with $1,000 antes.
With half his chips committed, he pushed
the remainder in blind. Hopkins, with
A-10, made trip 10s and blew Golestani
away.
Three-handed, Hopkins led with about 162k
while Ramzi had about 70k and James, 65k.
More action, lots of all-in moves and
a little singing by James to ease the
tension. Then, on hand 77, James reclaimed
the lead. On a flop of 7-4-3, Hopkins,
with pocket queens, made a trap bet of
just 8k. James, with just K-3, called
with his paired three, hit his king on
the river and took down a big pot. Two
hands later, Hopkins called Kenna's all-in
bet. "Yow!" he exclaimed, as he saw James
had pocket sixes to his pocket fives.
No five came, and James suddenly was heads
up with Daniel with an overwhelming 215-81k
lead.
It all ended seven hands later. The board
showed 8c-5d-2d-Ah. Daniel, with 10-5,
bet 10k and James moved in with 7d-3d.
"You call and it's all over, baby," he
warned, borrowing Scotty Nguyen's trademark
line. Daniel called, a river Kd gave James
a flush, and it indeed was all over, as
Kenna James made another mark on his 2003
scorecard.
Max Shapiro
|
