TV
Commercial Salesman Kelly
Corbin Wins 13-Hand No-Limit
Doesn't
anyone want to play poker any more? Event
number one of Grand Slam of Poker Tournament
III ended in a deal after only 20 hands,
with seven players still left. Tonight's
second event, $200 no-limit, ended after
only 13 hands were dealt, again with seven
players left. If this pattern continues,
look for event three to end after a mere
six hands.
In order to fill the allotted space in
this report, it may be necessary to use
either very big words or a very big type
face.
In
any event, the winner was Kelly Corbin,
a salesman for a company that produces
television commercials for attorneys.
Or the winner of record, in any event.
When the seven finalists began discussing
a chip count deal, Corbin wouldn't agree
until he had regained the chip lead which
he had when the final table started. Nutritional
doctor Frank Rite at that point was the
leader, and Corbin was only in third position.
However, he wasn't that far off the pace,
so everyone agreed to let him have the
title and trophy so that they all could
go home.
Still,
Corbin might very well have taken the
lead if play had continued. While this
is his first win, he has a tremendous
batting average. Though he's played poker
for five years, he's been playing tournaments
for only three months. So far he's entered
seven events and made four final tables.
The other three were at Lucky Chances,
the Battle of the Bay in San Francisco
and Muckleshoot in Seattle.
Corbin
now plays tournaments almost exclusively.
He plays only no-limit, which he prefers
because it allows you to make bets relative
to the size of your hand. "But in limit,
you could hold aces or kings, but you
still have to make the same size bet."
Tonight
he won almost in spite of himself. "I've
played a tournament every day this week,"
explained Corbin, whose job entails a
lot of travel. "I came here at noon, played
four satellites, and was tired as hell.
I just wanted to go home." Short-stacked,
he was about to go home, but decided to
rebuy, doubled up with K-J, tripled up
on the next hand and suddenly found himself
on his way.
Action
at the final table began at level 13,
with blinds of $1,200 and $2,400 with
$400 antes and 23:40 left on the clock.
It
took one hand to lose a player. Bryan
Chan, a loan officer, moved in for $20,400
with pocket 4s and poker player Mike Husa
called for $18,900 with A-K. All rags
came and Husa finished 10th, which paid
$725.
Very
short-chipped poker dealer Jan Somchub
moved all in a few hands later with Kd-Qd.
Corbin, in the small blind, had only 9-5
but had to call for the few more chips.
"Thank you, thank you," Somchub exclaimed
when she won after catching two more queens.
Chan,
described by one of his opponents as an
"up and coming player," was up and coming
in chips in the next couple of hands when
he opened for $15,000 the first time,
and then moved in on the next deal, both
times without calls.
Mark
Ketteringham is a salesman and self-described
rookie poker player. "What's ninth place
pay?" he asked when he moved in on hand
number 10 for $7,700. He was in the cut-off
seat and was trying to pick up the antes
and blinds holding only 10-4. Freddy Legaspi
picked him off with Q-J and won when the
board came K-J-9-6-5. To answer Ketteringham's
question, ninth place paid him $840.
Joe Joucar, a florist, echoed Ketteringham's
doomsday remark on the next hand. "Send
me home," he said when he moved in for
$22,000. But poker player Daniel Alnei
was the one who went home. Joucar had
pocket 9s and Alnei, calling for about
$6,000, had Ah-6h. The board came J-5-3-5-7
and Alnei cashed in eighth for $1,210.
Two
hands later, with blinds now at $1,500-$3,000,
the last hand came down. Once again Somchub
had cause to say "Thank you, thank you,"
but this time she had a lot more to be
thankful for. She was all in again with
As-6s against Legaspi's Ad-9d. The flop
came K-3-2 with one spade. Legaspi was
better than a 3-1 favorite until two running
spades saved Somchub with a flush.
A deal was now proposed, and the chips
were counted down. Rite had $47,500; Chan
had $45,500; Corbin had $39,500; Joucar
had $35,500; Legaspi had $33,500; Ernest
Bennett had $23,000; and Somchub had $18,500.
After some discussion, Rite surrendered
the trophy, and Corbin was the official
winner with an official cash prize, on
paper, at least, of $18,330.
Max Shapiro
|
