NO-LIMIT
IS NO PROBLEM AS
THANH DINH WINS IT EASILY
Thanh
Danny Dinh, who says he has been playing
poker for a long time but never had any
major prior wins, scored a thumping wire-to-wire
victory to take down event two of the
4 Queens Poker Classic, $100 no-limit
hold'em. The Las Vegas retiree, originally
from Vietnam, came to the final table
with $113,900 of the $340,400 in play
and maintained his daunting chip lead
throughout.
The final table started at 11:30 with
$2,000-$4,000 blinds and $500 antes, 26:43
left, after John Robertson finished 10th.
He was in the small blind with only $4,500
left and decided to move in. But his J-8
was near hopeless against Stan Schrier,
who held pocket jacks and filled when
a jack and two deuces were dealt.
The
pace was a bit faster than for the first
event, where 90 minutes went by before
the first player broke. Tonight, three
players were gone in eight hands, and
six departed in barely over an hour.
The first hand saw the first casualty.
On his bio sheet, Ken Bastien described
himself as a "Man of Leisure," and he
was indeed at leisure when he pushed in
the remainder of his $32,700 with A-K
from the small blind. "You call?" he asked
in some surprise when Dinh saw him and
turned up J-10 of clubs. Three clubs flopped
and the rich got a lot richer.
Five hands later, Joseph Karriman, an
aerospace retiree, raised all in for $5,500
with A-3. Joe Belofsky, an artist making
his 14th final table this year, got heads-up
with him when he made it $15,000 to go
holding K-K. No ace came and two were
left. Only two hands later, Schrier moved
in with A-K and Jaime Mena, with A-J,
called him with a slightly smaller stack
of about $24,000. Stan flopped trip kings
and now three were gone.
On hand 10, the personable Spring Cheong,
a San Ramon, California cardroom manager,
lost half her chips to Marc Kroopneck
when her A-Q couldn't catch his A-K. Two
hands later she faced him again, moving
all in under the gun with K-9 of clubs.
His pocket 8s stood up when the board
came A-Q-4-10-7, and she finished sixth.
After blinds went to $3,000-$6,000 with
$700 antes, Belofsky got stung a couple
of times. First he raised to $15,000 but
quickly folded his pocket 8s when Dinh,
using his massive stacks as a cudgel,
announced all in. Joe tried the same raise
a few hands later, but went south when
Laurene Holland moved in for about $48,000.
"He's afraid of my lucky dollar," she
explained. Laurene, a RN who has only
played no-limit for a year or so, is now
tied with hubby Randy with three no-limit
final tables this year.
On the next hand, after Schrier moved
in again with A-K suited, Belofsky called
all in for about $19,000 with K-10. The
picture turned black for the artist when
the board came A-8-4-3 and he was out
of outs. Three hands later, still only
the 29th hand, the sixth player cashed
out. One off the button, Young Marc Kroopneck
raised all in for his last $4,000 with
pocket 7s. Dinh, in the big blind, had
only 9-5 of diamonds, but the call was
chump change to him. When the board came
Q-9-2-8-5, his paired nine got the field
down to the last three players.
Schrier, who has a new car dealership
in Omaha, dividing his time between there
and Las Vegas, is a very strong player.
He came in third at the World Series championship
in 2001, cashing in for $700,000, the
biggest ever pay-out for that finish.
Tonight, he was the most aggressive and
most assured player at the table. "You're
not all in again?" Dinh asked in mock
surprise when Stan failed to push in all
his chips on one hand.
When blinds rose to $4,000-$8,000, with
$1,000 antes, Schrier had bulled his way
up to $111,000, but still considerably
trailed Dinh's l9$175,000, while nurse
Holland was nursing her third-place stack
of $54,000. On the first hand at the new
level, Dinh moved all in with A-Q offsuit.
Laurene decided to make her stand from
the small blind with 10-9 of diamonds.
When the board showed 7-5-2-6, she was
still alive to a 10, a 9 or an 8 for an
inside straight, but another 6 on the
river crushed her last hope.
Dinh,
who says he had only some small prior
wins, now had $238,000 to Schrier's $102,000.
It took him just two more hands to complete
his night's work. On hand 39 of the final
table, he opened for $30,000 with Q-7
of diamonds. Schrier, with K-7 of clubs,
moved all in yet another time, this time
the last. The board came Q-5-3-4-8, and
long-time player Thanh Danny Dinh had
the biggest cash-out of his poker career.
Max Shapiro
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