Raj
Engineers Hold’em Win!
Electrical engineer Raj Kattamuri has
only played three or four live tournaments
in his life, but already has two major
wins. Earlier this year he placed first
in the WPO $2,000 limit hold’em event,
and tonight he added the 24th event of
Winnin’ of the Green 2004, $1,000 limit
hold’em. Average in chips through half
the final table, he turned the corner
when he spiked a third seven on the river
to beat chip leader Steve Ford’s set of
treys. That started Kattamuri on a steady
climb and eventual domination of the table.
When it got heads-up, he had 85k to Ford’s
35, and the two did a deal.
The nine finalists began play with limits
of $800-$1,600 and 52 minutes remaining.
Cindy Dang, describing her occupation
as “action poker,” didn’t see much action.
On the first hand, she had A-K and bet
her last chips into a board of K-10-10-9.
Danny Alnei had already flopped 10s full
of kings, and Dang was done.
Six
hands later, Thomas Joanides had the same
unlucky A-K. He looked good when the flop
came K-6-6, until a deuce turned to give
an all-in Ray Patel deuces full. Joanides
lost the rest of his chips on the next
hand. With A-J, the flop of J-10-3 looked
great. Once again looks were deceiving
because Steve Ford had flopped a set of
treys and Joanides finished eighth.
The
biggest pot so far developed on hand 22.
It was three-bet pre-flop in three-way
action. On a board of Js-6c-8d-Ad, Gioi
Luong had the lead with A-Q, but Ford
had lots of outs with Kd-Jd, and hit one
of them with a river king.
Patel
was the next player to depart. He was
in the big blind with just 500 left, and
Gioi Luong, with Kc-4c, raised him all
in. Patel had Js-10s, and on a board of
K-6-2-Q, he had draws to a flush and open-end
straight. An offsuit 5 on the river dashed
his hopes, and now six remained.
At
the first break, Alnei and Ford were virtually
tied for the lead with 33 and 32k respectively.
Limits were now 1-2k. Two hands into that
level, Ford took the lead with about 40k
when he started with A-3 and, for the
second of about five times that night,
made three treys. Twenty minutes later,
Ford, who won the 5k championship at the
Four Queens last year, increased his lead
to 50k when he three-bet a board of 8-4-3-Q
and Kattamuri folded.
Luong
finished sixth. He had pocket jacks and
lost to Ford’s A-Q when a queen hit the
river. Playing lots of hands and winning
more than his share, Kattamuri took the
lead and soon had 60k. At the other end,
“Machine” Patty Gallagher who came in
second in the 2001 WSOP ladies championship,
was card dead and steadily dropping. But
this didn’t stop the animated Gallagher
from her usual non-stop chatter, giggling
and mugging, much to the amusement of
other players. Finally down to $2,500,
she kept promising “this is it,” until
she finally did go all in with pocket
4s in the big blind. She flopped a set,
only to bust out when runner-runner hearts
gave Alnei a flush.
Limits
now went up to $1,500-$3,000. It took
more than 50 hands for the next player
to be eliminated. Alnei re-raised all
in with Ks-Js and lost to Ford’s A-7 when
the board came A-5-Q 6-8.
As
limits went to 2-4k, Kattamuri was still
leading with 81k to 47.5 for Ford and
48.5 for Larry Ross. Three hands later,
Ross, a retiree, finally succumbed. He
had Q-J and flopped two pair. Kattamuri,
with Ah-8h, then caught runner-runner
hearts for a flush. The deal was made
and Kattamuri had his second win.
BIOGRAPHY
Raj Kattamuri, originally from India,
lives in Texas and is an electrical engineer
for Nokia, the cell phone company. He’s
been playing poker for about five years,
but only two years playing hold’em, the
game he concentrates on now. The reason
he favors hold’em, he explained, is because
“You don’t need good cards to win.” It’s
also his side game choice, at 40-80 limits.
Kattamuri
has been honing his skills online, where
he plays a lot, but now intends to enter
more live tournaments. His style of play,
he said, is to switch back and forth,
playing tight the first couple of hours,
then stepping up the pace. Tonight, he
said, he was in pretty good shape throughout
the tournament. He played a lot of hands
at the end, he explained, because when
the game gets short-handed, you’re forced
to play more.
Max Shapiro
|
