Event
18 Ends in 4 Hands!
Doesn’t anybody want to play poker any
more? Yesterday’s final table ended in
a 10-way deal without a shot being fired
at the final table. Tonight’s event, $500
pot-limit hold’em, didn’t go much farther:
four hands to be precise. Oh, yes, Joe
Grew had the most chips so he was declared
the winner of event number 18, even though
he was reluctant to accept the mantle
for a tournament that wasn’t played out.
Should
these all-pay, no-play scenarios continue,
tournament writing will become an extinct
art.
Still,
it could have been worse. There was a
very close call for this writer when a
10-way chip count deal was proposed. Filling
space would have been even more difficult
than yesterday, if not totally impossible,
because, with only nine players slated
for the final table, there were still
two tables in play. This would have meant
that no bio sheets would be distributed
to offer an inkling of who each player
was, and there would be no way to lay
out a final table chip position graph.
However, after the tournament staff calculated
the chip-count pay-out numbers, there
was an objection to the deal and play
resumed. Whew!
This
writer’s relief was short-lived. The final
table assembled after a low-chipped Yda
McCaskey went out with K-J against Grew’s
pocket 5s. As soon as the final nine assembled,
there was a resumption of lengthy and
heated discussion about a chip deal, and
this time one seemed imminent. It was
finally vetoed, and play resumed once
more. Whew again!
Final
table action started with blinds of $800-$1,600,
meaning the first player in could raise
to anywhere from $3,200 to $5,600. The
clock showed 34:25 left at this level.
The
veteran player Billy Duarte, who used
to have the moniker of Boston Billy, arrived
with the most chips, 19,400. Incredibly,
he was first out, and in only three hands.
On the first hand, he raised with A-K
and Grew re-raised for his entire $13,600
with pocket 9s. Duarte called. The board
came J-7-7-5-2, and in one hand Duarte
went from top to bottom, tied with Young
Min Song for last place with 5,800 in
chips.
On
hand two, Grew raised and wasn’t called.
Then, on the third hand, Eugene Tito raised
the maximum of $5,600 with pocket 7s and
Duarte went all in for $200 more with
pocket 6s. Tito’s pair held up when the
board came K-10-3-4-4, and the table was
now down to eight.
But
after only one more hand, to this writer’s
horror, yet another chip-count proposal
was brought before the house and this
time, after the usual lengthy wheeling
and dealing, it was accepted. Rocky Enciso
expressed the sentiments of all the players,
saying that a deal was just as well because
with those blinds and betting limits,
anyone could bust out in one hand. In
addition, Enciso, who finished second
by chip count, was happy to accept the
points because it extended his lead in
the all-around race to a huge 70 points
ahead of John Hoang.
Grew,
a young pro from Carlsbad with two prior
wins at the Bicycle Casino, ended with
a big chip lead of 32,000. Local pro Enciso
finished second with 19,400. In third
place with 11,400 was Tito, a financial
analyst, nurse and instructor, with cash-outs
in Legends and Heavenly Hold’em, and a
win in a winner-take-all no-limit event.
Retired
realtor turned poker player John Bessent
finished fourth with 10,400. Bessent,
an ex-marine, won last year’s California
State poker championship $500 limit hold’em
event. Habib Khanis was fifth with 7,500
chips. Song had 5,800 and was sixth. Land
developer Chuck Albrecq was seventh with
5,300. And Massoud Setayesh, with 5,200,
was eighth in the evening-ending deal.
BIOGRAPHY
Joe Grew won the no-limit hold’em
championship event at Big Poker Oktober
in 2002 and a pot-limit hold’em contest
at Legends last year. When he won the
BPO championship, he was described as
something of a mystery man, reluctantly
photographed with cap brim pulled over
his eyes and few details provided about
himself other than he was then 29, lived
in Carlsbad and was originally from someplace
else. He wasn’t any less secretive when
he won the Legends event, or tonight either.
Anyway,
he’s been playing poker for seven years
and tournaments for two. Pot-limit hold’em
and pot-limit Omaha are his preferred
games, and no-limit hold’em for tournaments.
He’s also had other final tables, including
the Bike’s Mini Series of poker, a 4th-place
finish in a $2,000 no-limit event at Hustler
Casino’s 2003 Poker Challenge Cup, and
17th place in a $1,500 shootout contest
two years ago at the World Series.
Max Shapiro
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