All
Fold’em, Hold’em Win!
Tim Foley set some kind of poker tournament
record when he folded every hand he was
dealt and still ended up winning the third
event of Winnin’ o’ the Green 2004.
How
was that possible? Simple. Only five hands
were played at the final table before
the nine finalists agreed to a chip count
deal. Foley, who owns a catering business,
started with a very big chip lead of 96,500
and was still in front when all the chips
were tallied.
However,
as noteworthy as Foley’s win was, an even
more remarkable feat would be managing
to fill in all the allotted space in this
report with almost nothing to write about
and without using 72-point type. But we’ll
give it a go, using the largest words
we can think of. Too bad Arnold Schwarzenegger
didn’t make the final table. Writing his
name a few times would have taken up a
lot of space. Well, we’ll do it anyway:
Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger, Schwarzenegger.
Occupation-wise,
it was an interesting final table in that
three of the players are, or were, in
the food and restaurant business, and
a fourth is a restaurant inspector.
The final table started with $500 antes
and blinds of $5,000-$10,000, with 6:46
remaining. On the first hand, Stanley
Yen, an environmental health specialist
(restaurant inspector) living in Cerritos,
very nearly busted out. Yen, who plays
online, started with 38,000 in chips and
was dealt K-6 in the big blind. When the
flop came Kh-10s-4s, he moved all in with
his paired king. Jerome Moss had flopped
a set of 10s and had an easy call. After
a trey and a queen were dealt, Moss scooped
up the chips, leaving Yen with just 6,000.
Moss, who lives in Sherman Oaks, recently
sold his soul food restaurant and plans
to open another.
On
the second hand, Freddy Legaspi of Los
Angeles, who is self-employed, moved in
with A-7. Yen called from the small blind
with his last 3,500 holding pocket queens.
The ladies held up when the board came
9-4-3-8-K, and Yen got to stick around.
On the next hand, Paul Savier, from Cebu
in the Philippines, took the pot by moving
in after Moss re-raised.
The
next hand was almost the last. Savier
went all in with pocket jacks. He was
in good shape against Moss, who called
with A-J, but then a board of 10-3-2-5-4
gave Moss a wheel, and Savier cashed out
in 10th place for $504.
After
one more hand the blinds were to be $3,000-$6,000
with $1,000 antes. But things never got
that far because the players talked deal,
and a chip count was taken. The results:
Foley, who had only given up five antes,
had $94,000 and won an unofficial $8,845.
Moss, who had 89,500, cashed in second
for $8,450. Donald Lambertus had 40,000
and picked up $4,160 for third. Lambertus,
a retired realtor from Scottsdale, Arizona
now is a full-time player. He plays mostly
online, his game of choice being no-limit
hold’em.
Tony
“TNT” Nasr of Covina is a Bike regular
playing daily tournaments. He considers
this casino lucky for him, and has been
having a good year so far. He finished
with 31,000 in chips and collected $3,380
for fourth. After him came Legaspi, a
Los Angeles businessman, whose payoff
was $3,160 for his 28,500 in chips. Dale
Nelson of Azusa, retired and a regular
at the $9-$18 Omaha hi-lo tables, picked
up $3,030 for his chip total of 27,000.
Yen had 23,500 and cashed in for $2,730.
Eric Chhor of Bell Gardens is a gambler
and former bakery owner making his second
straight final table. He had 18,500 and
won $2,295. And Arlo Eisenberg of San
Pedro, low-chipped with 15k, won $1,990.
BIOGRAPHY
Timothy Foley owns Red Carpet Catering,
which does parties for business and private
groups. He’s been in the restaurant business
for two years and right now is looking
for investors for his next venture, an
upscale deli in Los Angeles. Any takers?
Foley has been playing poker all his life,
and tournaments only about a year. His
side game is $6-$12 Omaha hi-lo. He likes
no-limit hold’em for tournaments, and
has been trying to get more practice in
for that game, though he didn’t get much
practice at the final table tonight. He’s
had some cash-outs, but this is his first
tournament win.
His
style of play, he said, varies depending
on the game and his opponents. In this
tournament, he recalled, he got off to
a rocky start when three hands in a row,
pocket kings the first two times, pocket
deuces the next, were beaten, but after
that went steadily upwards.
Max Shapiro
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