The
Dragon Eats Event #27
David “The Dragon” Pham
overcame a huge heads-up chip disadvantage
to overtake construction business owner
Jaime Perez and take down event number
27, $500 limit hold’em. This was
the first 2003 Legends final table for
Pham, who won best all-around last year.
Ironically, a mere $1,000 stood in the
way of a deal that would have given Perez
first place. When it got down to three,
he had 140k in chips to 43k for Pham and
48k for Vinnie Vinh. The best the two
very tough pros would offer Perez was
32k, the least he would accept was 33k.
After Vinh went broke a few hands later,
the two finalists went at it for 27 hands
before Pham finally wore him down.
Limits
at the final table, after three minutes
of play, were $1,500-$3,000. Truong Lawrence
was first out. He led with a paired jack
on the flop, but Perez, in the big blind
with 9-2, turned two pair and rivered
a full house. Eight hands later, Phillip
Luong was one away from the big blind
and decided to go with 9-7. He flopped
a nine, not nearly good enough against
Tom Brownscombe’s pocket jacks, and
finished ninth. Three deals later, on
hand 25, Cy Jassinowsky, a pro from South
Africa, was all in with A-Q, a big favorite
against Pham’s A-J. Then a river
jack washed him away.
At
the break, Pham, the starting chip leader,
still had a slight edge with 53k to Freddy
Lavassani’s 50k, while Vinh was third
with 39k. Limits now were 2-4k. Warren
Karp who had been doing tournament volunteer
work by shushing the noisy spectators,
lost his job on hand 47. He raised with
A-8 and got re-raised by Jim Schmidt,
who had pocket kings. Karp kept chasing,
and couldn’t catch an ace.
A
pot of more than $40,000 developed on
hand 40. With a board of Ah-4d-2d-As,
Pham had trip aces and a flush draw holding
Ad-Qd. A river king of diamonds gave Pham
his flush, but Lavassani, with A-2, already
had a filly and took a small lead. He
increased it with a good call against
Pham. With a board of As-Kc-5h-Qc-8c,
Pham bet and Lavassani, who with his twin
brother banks pai gow at Crystal Park
and Normandie, called and won with a mere
Q-J offsuit.
Now
Perez went on a tremendous rush. Hand
55: He beat Lavassini with a river flush.
Hand 57: with 3-6k limits, he went against
Schmidt’s A-Q with A-4 and broke
him with a set of fours. Hand 59: he eliminated
Tom Brownscombe (making his fourth final
table) with K-K against 10-10.
Lavassani
went out on hand 69. He had K-6 to Pham’s
9-5 and flopped a six. Pham had a straight
draw, but instead caught a nine on the
river. The no-deal stalemate came when
limits went to 4-8k. Right after Pham
cut into Perez’s stack with a paired
queen, Vinh went broke with pocket fives
against Perez’s pocket aces.
Heads-up,
Pham took the lead after 10 hands, lost
it with pocket aces when Perez, with J-4,
made three jacks, then moved back into
a huge lead when he beat Perez’s
pocket queens by starting with 8-7 and
making trip eights. He left Perez very
short-chipped when he rivered an ace to
his A-Q. On the final hand, he beat Perez’s
pocket jacks by catching two nines to
his 9-6.
BIOGRAPHY
David Pham is 36 and came here from Vietnam
14 years ago. He has a WSOP bracelet in
the S.H.O.E. event two years ago, was
Card Player magazine’s Player of
the Year in 2000, and in February collected
$450,000 by winning Commerce Casino’s
million-dollar guaranteed event. Hold’em,
of all varieties, is his game of choice.
Though
he made eight Legends final tables last
year, this was his first 2003 final in
eight tries. He said he had to rebuy at
the $15-$30 level, but by the time he
was at the eighth table he had the lead,
which he held all the way to the last
table. He said he really didn’t care
one way or the other whether Perez had
accepted the three-way deal or played
it out, because he had great confidence
in his short-handed game and he knew that
Perez’s best game was stud, not hold’em.
Max
Shapiro
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