EX-MARINE OVERCOMES ODDS
TO WIN LIMIT HOLD'EM EVENT
Limit hold'em, the last event of Cal
State 2003 before the championship, looked
like a blowout. Pham Kang, an engineer,
came to the final table with an impressive
chip lead of $78,000, began terrorizing
the other players with unrelenting raising
and soon built a huge wall of chips. But
John Bessent, an ex-Marine and retired
realtor, patiently waited him out, wore
him down, picked him off when he got out
of line, and gradually took over the chip
lead when they were heads up. As 4 a.m.
approached, Kang impatiently suggested
a switch to no-limit. A showdown hand,
when Bessent had a lead of about 193-70k,
suddenly ended it.
This is the biggest tournament win to
date for Bessent, who plays mostly side
games at Hawaiian Gardens. When he became
a real estate broker after Marine service
and college on the G.I. Bill, he vowed
to retire after selling 1,000 homes and
set a goal of 20 years to do it. He hit
his mark three years early, in 1990, which
gave him the leisure time to pursue poker.
The final table started with 1,500/3,000
limits, 33 minutes remaining. Nearly as
wild as Kang at the outset was Ardashes
Mazmanian, the second chip leader, whose
eagerness to mix it up resulted in big
swings in his chip supply.
Meanwhile, Barry Greenstein's point lead
of 146 stood up (John Hoang was the only
one playing in the final points event
who could overtake him), and Greenstein
won the first-place prize of $18,000,
which, along with all his tournament wins,
will go to charity.
David Tuchman, a young writer, was first
out on hand 15. The pot was capped before
the flop. Tuchman had pocket queens, and
at the showdown was surprised to see Bessent
and Mazmanian both turn up pocket kings
and split up his last chips.
Jim Pechac, a pro from Arizona, started
with only 4,000 and had been hanging on.
He managed to last 24 hands before finally
raising all in for 3k with A-K. He was
in bad shape against Bessent's pocket
kings. But it was Can Hua, in the big
blind with only 8-6, who won the pot and
busted Pechac when a board of 7-6-5-5-9
gave him a straight.
With limits at 2,000/4,000, Kang did not
slow down, forcing other players to fold
and getting lucky when he was an underdog.
On the first hand at the new limits, he
started with 10-9, made two pair and ran
his chip count up to nearly 80k. A few
hands later he re-raised with pocket deuces,
going up against an all-in John Hoang's
pocket fours. He flopped a set, filled
and left Hoang in eighth place. Continuing
to run over the table, he had now run
his chip count up to about 100k.
Hoang picked up 20 points for finishing
eighth, not quite good enough to overtake
David Levi, and ended up third in the
points race.
Thang Doan was left with 2k after his
pocket sixes were shot down by Can Hoa's
two bullets. The 2,000 was posted the
next hand when he held 9-2 in the big
blind. Hoa had only 10-3 in the small
blind, but it was enough to leave Doan
in seventh place.
Eight hands later, on the 54th deal, Hoa
got in a raising war with Na Phan. He
had pocket queens to her As-Qs. He went
all in on the turn with the board showing
8-7-3-7 and two spades. "Spade!" Phan
shouted. She got her wish, and Hoa finished
sixth.
Two hands later, Mazmanian held the A-Q
and he also got into a raising war, "Oh,
oh," he said when Bessent three-bet before
the flop with pocket kings. A queen flopped
and another turned, giving Mazmanian the
lead, but a king on fifth street gave
Bessent kings-full.
What a river; it killed me," Mazmanian
moaned. Two hands later he raised all
in with Q-10. He had all the best of it
against Minh Nguyen, who called from the
small blind with Q-7. But the flop gave
Nguyen two pair, and Mazmanian was out
of action.
Limits now went to 3,000/6,000. A few
hands later, Kang, who seemed unstoppable,
knocked out Nguyen. Holding Q-J, Nguyen
flopped a straight, but Kang hit a flush
on the river. Three-handed, he now had
about 160k to roughly 50k each for Phan
and Besset.
Besset made some hands and climbed to
about 130k, but then Kang came back even
more, while Phan at one point had dropped
down to 18k. By the time limits were kicked
up to 4,000/8,000, Kang had reasserted
himself with 176k to 56k for Bessent and
31k for Phan.
Phan went south on hand 107. She made
her last stand with 10h-3h, and lost to
Kang's K-9 when a king flopped.
Heads-up, everything seemed to change
as Bessent began winning a succession
of pots, pulling even and then hammering
Kang down to about 80k. Then the tide
changed again. On the 23rd hand heads-up,
five diamonds hit the board. Kang, with
a 4d in his hand, made a higher flush,
and now pulled even again.
At this point, Kang began urging that
the game be changed to no-limit, and after
a few more hands, Bessent went along with
the suggestion.
It wasn't a particularly helpful switch
for Kang, because after a dozen hands
he was down to about 70k. Some 8-1/2 hours
had gone by since the second-day final
table got going at 7:30, and Kang had
had enough. He impulsively committed his
last money, lost a showdown hand and settled
for second place.
-- by Max Shapiro
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