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Idea Man Wins Hold’em!
Dedric Oree, an “idea man” in the advertising
department of a Southern California cable
station, had the right idea as he took
down the second event of Winnin’ o’ the
Green 2004, $100 limit hold’em. Oree has
won a number of “nooner” events, but this
was his first major victory. He arrived
as second chip leader with 62,500, quickly
took command with a run of good cards
and coasted to a no-sweat victory.
The
final table commenced with $3,000-$6,000
limits and 23:28 remaining. Play started
cautiously, and there was no flop for
the first five hands. But then the pace
picked up rapidly and the final table
ended up being a bang-bang affair that
took only 31 hands and less than 45 minutes
to complete. It ended in a three-way chip-count
chop between Oree, Xuan Nguyen and Danny
Morgan.
On
hand six, Eric Chhor, a gambler who started
low-chipped with 10k, was all in with
A-J. Jesus Garcia, a handyman, had A-K.
Oree had Ah-6h. The flop came Kc-Qh-3h
and Garcia bet. A jack of hearts turned,
giving Oree a nut flush and leaving both
opponents drawing dead. Oree checked,
Garcia bet, Oree check-raised to put him
all in and suddenly two players were gone.
Chhor, with the fewer chips, finished
tenth and Garcia ninth.
After
some all-in escapes by Paul Lillemo, Anthony
Hamilton and Amadeo “Jun” Parado, limits
on the 18th hand went to $5,000-$10,000.
Four hands later, Steven Spate, a Fresno
farmer playing in his first major tournament,
cashed out in eighth place. He posted
all his chips in the small blind with
K-6 and lost to Nguyen’s A-10 on a board
of Q-5-4-10-6.
A
hand later Oree pulled into the lead with
about 325k when he made two pair with
Q-J. Three hands later, Lillemo, a real
estate appraiser in northern California,
was in the big blind with only one chip
left when the pot was raised by Anthony
Hamilton and re-raised by Xuan Nguyen.
Holding junk cards, and showing more discipline
than most players could muster, Lillemo
folded. By doing so, he was able to outlast
three players and finished fourth. When
the flop on that hand came K-10-7, Nguyen
bet his A-K and Hamilton, who is from
the United Kingdom, tossed in his last
thousand-dollar chip with pocket jacks.
An ace turned and Hamilton finished seventh.
On
the next hand, Lillemo’s saved chip was
posted in the small blind as he was dealt
Q-8. Kevin Arnovitz had started as chip
leader with 91k, but had little luck after
than and now went all in with Ad-10d,
while Nguyen again had A-K. The flop came
8s-7d-2d. Arnovitz missed his flush draw.
Lillemo took the main pot, Nguyen took
the side pot when his king kicker played,
and Arnovitz, a television and magazine
writer, was written out of the script
as he finished sixth.
By
now, Oree and Nguyen together held virtually
all the chips on the table, and there
were only two more hands to go.
On
the next hand, Parado, a navy retiree,
went out on a really bad beat. He raised
with pocket kings and Oree re-raised and
put him all in with just Q-J. The cowboys
were nearly a 6-1 favorite until a queen
flopped and another came on the river,
and the navy man sunk to the bottom, finishing
fourth.
On
the next and final hand, Lillemo’s luck
ran out as he was caught in the big blind
with just J-2 against Morgan’s K-J. The
board came 7-4-3-A-8, and the king-high
took it.
A
chip count was taken. Oree had 156k to
137 for Nguyen and 27 for Morgan, a Los
Angeles sanitation supervisor. The three
agreed to a chip-count deal, and the festivities
were over.
BIOGRAPHY
Oree has been playing poker for about
10 years. His game of choice is no-limit
hold’em which he prefers over limit hold’em
because he feels you can do a better job
protecting your hand, while in limit you
have to hold cards. He’s been trying to
improve himself in that game, and hanging
out with Raymond Davis, who’s been giving
him pointers. In side action, Oree loves
to play in a $400 buy-in no-limit game
spread at Commerce.
He
said he started off badly tonight, getting
big cards and being outdrawn the first
five hands, but after that he moved steadily
up and was never in danger. His style
of play, he said, is to try not to be
overly aggressive. He feels that if you
keep picking on players, they are more
likely to turn on you and do the same.
Max Shapiro
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