Sensational
Hand Wins 700k Pot
And Championship for Tim Phan
It was a hand for the poker history books.
With four players left, Tim Phan and Young
Phan were almost tied for the chip lead.
Young had pocket kings and Tim was in
the big blind with 9-8. A flop of J-9-9
gave Tim trips. He checked, Young bet
and Tim moved in. A king turned and now
Young took the lead with kings full. Then
a 9 hit the river to give Tim quads and
a $700,000 pot containing more than half
the chips in play.
After
that he coasted to victory in the $3,000
no-limit hold'em championship event of
Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker Tournament
III.
Tim
Phan is 30 and has played poker for 10
years. He owns a restaurant but is retired
from active involvement and is pretty
much a full-time player now. Though he
has one prior tournament win, in stud
at Foxwoods, he is mainly a high-limit
side-game stud player. He sometimes plays
in Larry Flynt's big game, but only when
the usual limits are dropped down to $500-$1,000.
This
was a very tough final table that went
six hours and 163 hands, with numerous
chip-lead changes. The two-day championship
played down to 27 players on day one.
On day two, Hasan Habib and Allen Patatanyan
started as co-leaders with 104,000 and
105,500 respectively. But after Tim Phan
took down two big pots, once when his
pocket queens beat Chris Karagulleyan's
pocket 8s and once when he sucked out
with K-Q versus A-K, he came to the final
table with an enormous lead of $451,000.
Action
got underway with $500 antes, blinds of
$2,000-$4,000 and a full hour of play
left. Ron Faltinsky had the fewest chips
and he departed on hand 16. Tim raised
with 6d-5d, Faltinsky moved in with pocket
kings and lost when Tim made a straight.
Habib
was the most active player in early going,
and his frequent raises soon got him past
the $200,000 mark. Robert Peltekci, much
more selective, finally made his move
with pocket aces when he was down to $16,000.
Allen Cunningham called with 10s-8s and
made a flush on the river.
Jenny
Kang, meanwhile, did not play one hand
in 50 deals and was blinded and anted
down from $91,000 to $18,000. Finally,
one away from the big blind, she moved
in with K-8, got two callers and tripled
up when her kicker won. Two hands later
she doubled up against Tim, A-J versus
A-9, going from 18k to over 100k in three
hands.
Blinds
now went to $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000
antes. Stan Goldstein, who recently finished
second to Ben Affleck in the championship
event at the Cal State Poker Championship,
finished eighth when he raised all in
for $18,000 and got three callers. He
had K-9 and lost to Habib's A-8 when an
ace flopped. At this point, Tim Phan still
held a commanding lead with about $470,000.
When blinds went to $6,000-$12,000 on
hand 88, Tim still was in front with about
$320,000, but Patatanyan, an attorney,
wasn't far behind with about $300,000
after winning a couple of pots with pocket
8s. On hand 98, Kang moved in for $69,000
on the button with Kd-3d. Tim picked her
off with Ks-Qs and now six were left.
Cunningham
was next to take the lead. He took a big
pot from Young Phan by moving in pre-flop
after Young had re-raised to $60,000.
Cunningham won the next pot and now had
close to $400,000.
Van
Zakarian, who is in the fashion business,
finished sixth. He moved in with a $25,000
raise holding Ac-6c on the button. Habib
beat him when his pocket 10s held up.
It had taken four hours now to lose half
the final table. A rough chip count showed:
Cunningham, $375,000; Tim Phan, $315,000;
Patatanyan, $280,000; Phan, $190,000;
and Habib, $130,000. Blinds were now $8,000-$16,000
with $3,000 antes. Habib, who had been
up and down, went down and out on hand
135 when he tried an all-in raise from
the button for $94,000 with just 7-4.
"I knew he was making a move," said Young
Phan, who called with A-Q and flopped
a queen.
With
four players left, three were bunched
in the mid-$300,000 range, while Tim Phan,
who had lost several pots, trailed with
about $180,000. This changed dramatically
on the next hand when Tim Phan was all
in with Kd-9d against chip leader Cunningham,
who had A-J. A board of 10-8-7-8-6 gave
Tim Phan a straight. Suddenly he was first
while Cunningham was last.
Then
came hand 141 when Tim Phan made his dramatic
quad nines against Young Phan. "Well,
at least the pot wasn't that big," joked
the easy-going Phan in a situation that
would have driven most other players up
the wall. He had only $7,000 left, doubled
through once, but soon after busted out
with Q-6 against Patatanyan's K-6.
A
hand later, Cunningham followed him out.
He moved in for $110,000 with 10c-7c and
was in bad shape when Tim Phan called
with Kc-2c. A flopped king finished Cunningham.
Heads-up,
Tim Phan had a huge lead. After Patatanyan
closed much of the gap they discussed
a deal, but decided to keep playing. Phan
pulled way ahead again when he held Q-6
and made a king-high straight. On the
final hand, Phan had only 6h-5h to Patatanyan's
pocket queens, but made a flush to end
the match and claim the 2004 Grand Slam
III Championship.
Max Shapiro
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