KEY
HAND CHECK-RAISE BLUFF
PROPELS THOR HANSEN TO WIN
After a long dry spell, Thor Hansen, the
pro originally from Oslo, Norway, finally
won one more title with a runaway win
in the 16th event of LAPC XIII, $300 limit
hold'em. "I've had so many final tables,
with bad things happening to me," he said.
"But that's poker."
The
key hand came during a confrontation with
Ba Tran, a young poker dealer. Tran, in
a hyperactive mode, had been building
his stacks up by betting wildly, banging
his chips on the table and chattering
away as he tried to talk players off a
hand. With limits then at $15,000-$30,000,
the flop of 6-5-5 was three-bet. When
a jack turned, Tran bet and then folded
when Hansen check-raised him. Hansen later
said he had nothing, but "something told
me he didn't have anything either." That
play gave Hansen more than 400,000 of
the 685,500 chips on the table and he
was able to coast home.
Hansen,
known for his quiet and agreeable temperament
at the table, has two other LAPC titles,
along with two World Series bracelets
and a couple of European championships.
Runner-up Van Pham, meanwhile, increased
his all-around points race lead to 162,
well ahead of everybody else.
The
final table started with $6,000-$12,000
limits and 11:06 left. After six hands,
Jerry Yessian left. When Tran raised,
Yessian, an Asian section floorman at
Commerce, added his last chip holding
10-7. Tran had A-5, flopped an ace and
ended up with a wheel.
Three
more players were eliminated in the next
10 hands after limits went to $10,000-$20,000.
Hand
9: The board was 7-7-5-A. Hansen bet.
John Myung, an accountant who picked up
$1 million for winning the Showdown at
the Sands, raised all in with A-J. Hansen
had A-K and won with the better kicker.
Hand
15: Jay Hyun, short chipped, was all in
with pocket deuces, Hansen had pocket
9s which held up.
Hand
16: The board was 9-9-4-J. Chip Jett,
who won the championship event at Commerce's
Cal State last year, had Q-10 for an open-end
straight. He didn't get there and Pham
won with pocket aces.
A
hand later, Pham was nearing 200,000 in
chips after he bet into a 9-3-6-A board
and S. Tan folded. Two hands later, Hansen
passed him when he flopped a set of 7s
and filled, leaving local pro Jaime Perez
with only 11k. Perez hung on for a number
of hands, surviving an all-in one time
with pocket 5s, another with a full house.
Hansen finally broke him with a draw-out.
He had Ac-7c to Perez' A-Q and won when
a 7 flopped.
After
going all in and surviving, Tran began
going on his rampage. By the end of the
level, he was up to 180k, second to Hansen's
295k. Pham had 140k, while Tan and Gioi
Luong were short-chipped with 40 and 30k
respectively.
The
hand after limits went to 15-30k, Hansen
pulled off his check-raise bluff to pull
Tran back to earth.
The
next hand featured a battle of the short-chips.
Luong started with only 10-8, but somehow
managed to make
a full house, leaving Tan in fifth place.
The
chip counts now read: Hansen, 400k; Pham,
110k; Tran, 100k; and Luong, 75k.
Tran
now found himself in real trouble when
he missed his heart flush draw but bet
out on the river in another attempt to
steal. This time it was Pham who picked
him off, with just ace-high, and suddenly
Tran was down to a single $5,000 chip.
The next hand he took the small blind
with just 10-4, and the chip went in.
Pham was in the big blind with J-6. The
board missed both players, and the jack-high
left Tran in 4th place.
After
Pham missed an open-end straight draw,
Hansen had soared to nearly 500k and the
tournament, after only 44 hands at the
final table, was already drawing to a
close.
Pham
then got heads-up by knocking out Luong.
He had K-Q to Luong's A-5, and re-raised
pre-flop. With a board of 10-10-4-K, Luong
went all in for his last four chips. Luong
couldn't catch the ace he needed to overtake
Pham's paired king, and cashed out in
third place. But the payday of $37,015
wasn't that bad, and the 40 points moved
Luong into second place with 128 points.
Three
hands into their match, Hansen had K-9
and won when the board came 10-6-5-J-9.
"The 9 on the river beat me," said Pham,
mucking his hand with an obvious smaller
pair. "How did that happen?"
Two
hands later it was all over. Van had the
button with Q-8 and Hansen was in the
big blind with 6-3. The flop brought Pham
an 8, but it also brought Hansen two more
treys. A 7 and four was dealt out, and
Hansen's dry spell ended as he cashed
in for an official $139,830 and picked
up his third Remington trophy.
-- by Max Shapiro
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