Phi
Nguyen Pulls Off Staggering Upset and
Wins First Gold Bracelet in No-Limit Texas
Hold'em
You
can make it, if you put your mind to it.
-- Phi Nguyen after winning his first
WSOP championship
Coming
into the final table of the $2,500 Buy-in
No-Limit Texas Hold'em event, few observers
would have made Phi Nguyen the favorite.
It's not that Nguyen isn't a solid player,
it's just that he hadn't finished any
higher than 9th place in any event previously
at the World Series of Poker. Face it,
experience counts at this level. Contrast
this with formidable poker foes such as
Mike Matusow (with two wins -- 2002 Omaha
High-Low and 1999 No-Limit Hold'em), Tom
Jacobs (21 previous cashes at the World
Series of Poker, including 2nd in the
championship in 1992), Eric Holum (with
one win -- 1999 No-Limit Hold'em), Steve
Zolotow (with two wins -- 2001 Pot-Limit
Hold'em and 1995 Chinese Poker) and T.J.
Cloutier (with four wins -- 1998 Pot-Limit
Omaha, 1994 Pot-Limit Hold'em, 1994 Omaha
High-Low, and 1987 Limit Omaha). Clearly,
Phi Nguyen was a big underdog.
However,
in one of the most staggering upsets in
World Series of Poker history, Nguyen
bested all of the former champions, overcoming
several chip disadvantages at various
stages, and ultimately ended up with all
the chips and his first gold bracelet.
It was a final table which featured several
reversals of fortune, some terrible bad
beats, and far too many dramatic moments
to mention. A few days ago, it would have
been hard to imagine a final table with
more pure entertainment value than watching
living poker legend Doyle Brunson win
his record-ninth championship. But after
watching Phi Nguyen's upset win, this
was by any measure the most exciting and
interesting final table of the 2003 series,
to date.
Mike
"Motor Mouth" Matusow came into the second
day with an imposing chip advantage. He
used his big stack effectively, as Abraham
Rosenkrantz, T.J. Cloutier, and Eric Holum
busted out 10th, 9th, and 8th respectively.
Of the three players, Cloutier's elimination
had to be the most surprising as he was
unable to generate any momentum at the
final table on this day.
One of the most dramatic hands of the
tournament (and there were many) came
unexpectedly when Jim Miller tried to
make a move by stealing with the K-10
of spades. He came over the top of Mike
Matusow with an "all-in" raise and then
was horrified when Eric Holum called the
"all-in" bet. Holum flopped an absolute
monster with pocket jacks, as another
jack landed on board. Miller started to
get up from the table and was flabbergasted
when he caught two perfect running cards
and made a straight on the river (10-J-Q-K-A).
The bad beat was like a kick in the stomach
to Holum, who walked away graciously from
the table in 8th place. Bad beats don't
get much worse than flopping top set and
losing.
Phi
Nguyen moved closer in chips to Mike Matusow
when he eliminated David Singer just a
short time later. Nguyen's pocket kings
held up, and suddenly it was Nguyen who
was the main concern to Matusow.
Yet another stunning hand developed when
Steve Zolotow made his final stand of
the night with 10-10 and was horrified
to see Nguyen call the "all in" bet instantly
with A-A. Just as Zolotow started to get
up, he spiked a 10 on the flop, which
brought the crowd to its feet. Just as
Zolotow thought he might escape the axe
of death, an insidious ace fell on the
turn, which bounced Zolotow off the final
table in 6th place.
There
was still more to come. Tom Jacobs has
enjoyed an impressive career here at the
World Series of Poker. But for all of
his tournament success, which includes
WSOP winnings in excess of $600,000, Jacobs
has still not yet won a gold bracelet.
He now has to wait until another day as
his A-Q was shredded by Jim Miller's K-K.
A few hands later, Jacobs went out in
5th place and collected $27,100.
Kenna
James was on a roller coaster all day
long. His stack fluctuated wildly up and
down during his three-hour stay at the
final table. But the reservation finally
ran out. His final hand of the night came
when he took a stand with A-6 against
Nguyen's A-7. The A-7 held up and James
was out in 4th place with $36,140.
Down
to the last three players, the chips counts
stood roughly as follows:
Nguyen: $290 K
Matusow: $270 K
Miller: $80 K
Miller
staged at rally at one point and drew
close to even with the co-ship leaders
when he won three successive big hands.
However, just as soon as he seemed to
becoming a serious threat with big chips,
Miller would lose key hands and continue
wavering around the $100K mark. Ninety
minutes into three-way action, Miller
was back to his original $80K.
It
would be hard to pick the most exciting
hand during the final table. Certainly,
with over 200 hands dealt out, there would
be plenty of big hands worthy of consideration.
However, the crowd favorite would have
to be Matusow and Nguyen's monstrous confrontation
where the two chip leaders went to war,
an unforeseeable development which catapulted
Jim Miller up into second place (good
for an additional $57,000 in prize money.)
The
hand in question had danger written all
over it from the start. Matusow made a
$50K raise with J-J. Nguyen contemplated
his decision carefully, then moved all-in
for the remainder of his chips -- nearly
$300K. Matusow thought long and hard and
finally called the bet. When Matusow saw
Nguyen turn over Q-Q, he was sickened.
The J-J underpair in Matusow's hand was
a sizable dog. Incredibly, the dealer
revealed the flop and a jack was the first
card seen by Matusow and the rest of the
crowd. But it was if the poker Gods decided
to play a cruel joke on Matusow, as a
queen was revealed on the flop, as well.
Nguyen held the huge advantage with set
over set. Matusow was down to a single
out (a jack) and missed, which essentially
put Nguyen on the verge of his first poker
championship.
Mike
"Motor Mouth" Matusow stormed away in
disgust, then came back and later admitted
calling the large raise by Nguyen was
a mistake. He took $57,200 for third place.
The
end came rather quickly after the nuclear
exchange of big pairs between the superpowers.
Miller realized he had just been handed
a huge gift with the guaranteed second-place
prize money (and additional $57K) and
couldn't help but smile at the way things
had developed. Although he was determined
to win a championship, Miller was obviously
pleased with the way things turned out
-- 2nd place and $114,420 in prize money.
The
final hand was anti-climactic by comparison,
as Nguyen won the last hand with A-J against
Miller's K-8 suited. Nguyen was congratulated
by several well-wishers, including his
wife Ann who was cheering his victory.
Phi
Nguyen is 37 years old. He was born in
Vietnam and came to the U.S. at the age
of 16. Nguyen started a successful real
estate business in Riverside, CA before
turning to poker as his main source of
income several years ago. He now plays
nearly everyday as a host at the Hawaiian
Gardens Casino in Southern California,
where his regular game is $30-60 and $40-80
limit hold'em and Omaha. Nguyen is married
and has two children, ages 6 and 8.
"I
have never played the $10,000 (championship)
event before," Nguyen said afterward as
he was collecting nearly a quarter of
a million dollars in prize money. "But
this year, I think I might play."
Bet
on it.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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