10-Way
Deal for Event 17!
The 17th event of Winnin’ o’ the Green
2004 ended without a hand played at the
final table when the 10 finalists agreed
to a chip-count deal that left local pro
John Hoang as the winner. But that doesn’t
mean that the tournament set any speed
records. First, it was a $100,000 guarantee
rebuy tournament, and with a prize pool
nearly double the guarantee and 311,000
chips in play, there were still two tables
left as 2 a.m. approached.
It
took forever for the 11th player to be
eliminated. It appeared to be Cliff Cantor,
a film producer, who went all in with
As-10s and was called by Dutch Boyd who
held Kd-5d. But Cantor flopped a queen
and the ladies held up. Finally, Jack
Boghessian was all in with pocket jacks
and Hoang called with A-10 offsuit. An
ace flopped, and the final table was ready
to start playing with blinds of $1,000-$2,000
and $300 antes.
Not
quite. A chip count deal was proposed
that would have ended the tournament.
The tournament staff did the math and
announced the figures. This in turn set
off a marathon session of negotiating,
arguing, demands, concessions and flare-ups
that more closely resembled Congress debating
the budget than it did a poker tournament.
Just
when it seemed that agreement might be
near, there were objections from the lower-chipped
players. Leader of this contingent was
Cantor, who dubbed himself “the Jimmy
Hoffa of the short stacks.” After more
wheeling-dealing and generous concessions
from Hoang, the deal appeared finally
settled. Then came more objections. “The
deal’s off,” snapped an obviously irritated
Hoang. As the players started jabbering
again, an out-of-patience tournament staff
imposed a deadline and started the clock.
At
long last, everyone agreed, this time
the deal stuck and the players crowded
around the tournament desk to get their
share of the $163,720 in prize pool money
they had just divvied up. All in all,
it took an hour and a half to complete
the negotiations and pay off the players.
At
the end, Hoang had the chip lead with
56,600, much of which he had gotten when
he knocked off Boghossian. In second place
was Mo Fathipour, a business manager,
who had 48,000 in chips.
A
close third was Mel Wiener, with 45,500.
Wiener, who is in real estate development,
has a 1996 bracelet for $2,500 no-limit
hold’em. Wiener also helped generate the
biggest laugh ever registered during the
World Series. When pairings were being
announced for a heads-up contest, his
pairing with Phil Hellmuth was described
as “the Wiener versus the whiner.”
Ramzi
Daniel, with 39,800 in chips, placed fourth.
Daniel has had a number of final tables,
including a second in no-limit at the
Hustler’s Grand Slam of Poker and a fifth
in limit hold’em at Legends. Mike Lee,
a real estate appraiser, finished fifth
with 29,200. Hagob Kouredjian, a jeweler,
had 22,900 and placed sixth. Frank Schram,
who’s in insurance, finished seventh with
19,200. Schram’s contribution to the tournament
was crippling Boghossian at the second
table. He raised with pocket 8s, Boghossian
came over the top with pocket kings and
put Schram all in. Then four clubs came,
and Schram made a flush. If Boghossian
had more chips, Schram said, Hoang would
have been unlikely to go against him later,
and everything would have changed.
Attorney
Tod Dubow finished eighth with 18,900.
Cantor, a semi-pro ex-night club owner
has wins in pot-limit hold’em at the World
Poker Open and no-limit at Commerce’s
Cal State. He ended ninth with 16,700.
And finishing 10th with 12,600 was Dutch
Boyd, co-founder of “The Crew,” a group
of poker-playing housemates, one of whom,
Bret Jungblut, won yesterday’s 7-stud
event. Boyd finished 12th in last year’s
WSOP championship.
BIOGRAPHY
John Hoang was a software engineer
back east before moving here and starting
his poker career. He’s been a pro for
two years and has wins in hold’em and
stud at Bicycle Casino tournaments, and
in stud hi-lo at Commerce. In side action
he plays stud “as high as I can afford,”
but a year ago began concentrating on
tournaments. His win tonight lifted him
to second place in the all-around points
race.
Tonight
he was low-chipped, never with more than
$3,000, until the sixth table, when he
began moving up. He describes himself
as a solid player, but not always. “You
can’t win playing that way all the time.”
He credited his win largely to having
the discipline to lay down big hands such
as jacks and queens when he had close
calls. On the other hand, he said, he
had a good read on Jack Boghossian when
he broke him.
Max Shapiro
|
