Last
Man in, Last Man Out!
Side
game pro Suriyan “Paul” Bhinestien played
tonight’s limit hold’em tournament only
after a friend coaxed him, saying they
had nothing else to do. Last to sign up,
he was first at the end. He came to the
final table close to the chip lead, took
it over on the first hand and kept the
pressure on throughout with aggressive
raising. A record turnout was registered
for this event, the third in a row for
Winnin’ o’ the Green 2003.
The final table made it after Juan Arroy’s
10-9 lost to an ace-high. Blinds started
at $2,000-$4,000, playing for 4-8k. Chip
leader was Joseph Chee, a waiter. On the
first hand, after Bhinestien raised with
9h, 8h, Chee three-bet the pot. Bhinestien
flopped a flush draw and kept betting
it. He missed flushing but won with a
river 9. After losing a couple more pots,
Chee re-raised all in for $11,000 on hand
11 with A-Q against Howard Tattrie, who
held K-J, and Edgar Garong, all in for
$7,000 with Ac, 10c. Five rags were dealt
and Chee’s ace with queen kicker held
up as Garong cashed out for $565 in 10th
place.
Hand 15: Three-way action with blinds
at $3,000-$6,000 and $6,000-$12,000 limits,
Steven Suh raised with Q-Q. Alan Wood,
a systems administrator, called with K-Q.
Tho Ngo called all in with Ac, 10c. On
a flop of K-5-2, Suh also went all in.
Two blanks came and Woods’ paired king
left Ngo in ninth place for $655 and Suh
in eighth for $835.
Chee, getting involved in a lot of pots,
entered his last one two hands later.
He raised with A-5 offsuit. Tattrie called
with As, 10s. Chee, refusing to back off,
bet the flop of 10-3-2 and then bet all
in when a queen came. His only out was
a 4 for a straight, but the out he got
was the exit as the waiter collected a
$1,005 “tip” for sixth place. Next, restaurant
manager Vegan Sarkissian was in the small
blind with Jc, 8c when he went all in
for 7k. Wood had pocket aces and made
a set to leave Vegan in sixth place for
$1,365.
Hung Pham, meanwhile, had been unable
to play a hand. Finally, he moved in for
$8,000 with Q-10, “the best I’ve seen
all night.” He won with a flopped 10,
then won the next pot when his A-J beat
Woods’ Q-J. Happy to finally have some
chips, he began whistling, explaining
that he was just a $1 kondition pan player,
not really a poker player. When Pham bet
a couple of hands later, Tattrie speculated
that his whistling was really a tell for
a weak hand … but he folded anyway.
At this point Russ Rosen, who is in the
auto accessories parts business and has
a victory in a Legends of Poker 7-stud
event, had the lead. But Bhinestien suddenly
went on a rush. First, he took a capped
pot from Wood with A-K against A-Q. Then
he busted Pham on the next deal. Pham,
with A-K, thought he had a dream flop
of K-7-3 and raised all in, only to see
Paul had a set of 7s. After taking the
next pot with an uncalled re-raise, Paul
had run his chip count to about $170,000,
more than half the chips in play.
With $5,000-$10,000 blinds, playing 10-20,
Wood finally slowed the runaway train.
Paul bet a board of A-J-9 and Alan, not
at all confident, called and won with
K-J. As play continued, the chips began
to even out. It took until hand 46 to
get down to three. Bhinestien raised with
K-9, Tattrie added another 2K with 9-9.
Two kings flopped and Howard finished
fourth, picking up $2,440. Three more
hands went by. Then the finalists agreed
to a chip-count split and Bhinestien,
with a slight lead, was the official winner.
BIOGRAPHY
“I was playing for fun tonight, just
to kill time,“ a delighted Suriyan “Paul”
Bhinestien said, still trying to grasp
the fact that he had just won a major
tournament. Paul is a 32-year-old native
of Thailand who came to this country 11
years ago. He only plays two or three
tournaments a year, none higher than $300.
Last year he came in sixth in the Bicycle
Casino’s $100,000 freeroll. He arrived
at that final table as chip leader but
lost his momentum after running into pocket
aces.
Paul, has supported himself playing $40-$80
and $80-$160 hold’em the past four or
five years. Before that he was a computer
information systems student. He describes
himself as an aggressive player. Analyzing
his win tonight, he said he had three
things going for him: good cards, good
flops and his own skill.
Max Shapiro
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