Canada Pro Wins No-Limit
A
Canadian poker player named Viet Tran
scored his first tournament victory ever
by winning the third event of 2003 Big
Poker Oktober, no-limit hold’em.
As with the first two events, this one
ended abruptly with a multi-way chip-count
chop. The first two times, five players
divvied up the remaining prize pool, and
this time four. Tran had more than twice
the chips of his nearest competitor, and
was declared the winner.
With
400 entrants and 839 rebuys, a prize pool
of $61,950 was generated, an astonishing
sum for a $50 tournament. It offers more
evidence that poker, especially tournament
poker, is entering a new era of popularity,
thanks to the World Poker Tour and ESPN
World Series coverage.
The
first two Big Poker Oktober events only
lasted 40 and 30 minutes respectively.
Tonight’s tournament made them look
like marathons by comparison, lasting
12 hands and 30 minutes.
Rounds
were extended to 30 minutes during the
rebuy period tonight, then reverted to
20 minutes. Karl Preusser arrived at the
final table with the most chips, $181,500,
and Tran wasn’t far behind with $124,500.
Antes were $1,500 with $4,000-$8,000 blinds,
1:53 remaining.
Michael
Gross, who has several prior tournament
wins, went broke on the first hand. He
was in the small blind with A-J when Anthony
Lee, on the button, raised with pocket
treys to put him all in for the rest of
his starting $24,000. A flop of Q-6-3
gave Lee a set and made him better than
a 98 percent favorite. Two aces came to
give Gross trips, but it also filled up
Lee. Gross collected $775 for 10th place.
Two
hands later, antes went to $2,000, with
blinds of $6,000-$12,000. Eric Arreca
moved in from the small blind with A-3.
Larry Jensen, making his second consecutive
final table, was in the big blind with
$5,500 left and called all in holding
10h-8h. Once again three was the magic
number as the flop came Q-3-2. A four
and a nine were then dealt, and Arreca’s
paired trey did the trick. Jensen collected
$935 for ninth place. Karlos Shaverdians
was all in on the next hand with K-7,
but his king-high held up.
On
the next deal, poker player Arreca, who
has wins at Hollywood Park, the Bike and
Casino San Pablo, left the scene. He raised
all of his $38,000 with A-7 and was in
bad shape when Pruesser called with A-J.
A board of 9-9-5-Q-3 didn’t rescue
him, and Arreca collected $1,240 for finishing
eighth.
Just
two hands after that, a player requesting
anonymity found himself all in with K-Q
against Gioi Luong’s A-9. A board
of 10-8-7-4-8 changed nothing, and the
nameless player was now seatless, cashing
in for $1,550 for seventh.
On
the next hand, Karlos Shaverdians put
in his last $4,000 with K-9. Gioi Luong
had J-7 and won with a paired seven on
a board of A-8-2-7-6. Sixth place paid
$2,170.
Three
hands later, Tran went up against Shaverdians
and took the lead away from him.
Pre-flop, he opened for $24,000 with Ac-9c,
and Shaverdians popped it another 12k
holding A-10. The flop was 9-8-8. Tran
checked, Shaverdians bet $12,000 and Tran
check-raised him all in for $53,000 more.
He got called. Two queens came, and Tran
hauled in a $212,000 pot.
Antes
now were $3,000, with blinds of $10,000-$20,000.
One hand to go. On the button, Tran raised
to 40k with A-3 and Anthony Lee, in the
big blind, called all in for 37k. Tran
had A-3, Lee had K-2. The board came 9-7-5-3-2,
and Lee got $2,790 for fifth place.
The chip count now was: Tran, 269k; Luong,
131k; Lee Kimball, 113k; and Preusser,
109k. A deal was made and event number
three was in the books.
BIOGRAPHY
Viet Tran is 28, lives in Toronto, and
has been playing poker for some 10 years.
In Canada, were casinos other than charity
venues have recently come into being,
he plays $20-$40 hold’em. He’s
made final tables at places like the Casino
Regina and Cash Casino, but never came
in first. In any events, the tournaments
there aren’t very big, so two or
three times a year he comes down to the
States for action, the Bike being his
favorite venue.
Tran
describes himself as a “pretty tight”
player and estimates that 95 percent of
the time he entered a pot in this event
he was the favorite. His best play, he
thinks, was a good laydown. With about
four tables left, a player made a big
raise and he folded pocket 10s. The player
only had pocket sevens, but rivered a
seven, and would have taken 75 percent
of his chips had he called.
Max Shapiro
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