‘Grind'
is OK Now for Sam
Sam "Desert Ice" Alaama (he picked
up the nickname playing college basketball)
is a very high-limit cash game player
who only started playing tournaments three
weeks ago. He's played six events and
got into the money four times. A few days
ago he cashed out at Legends for $1,100.
"But it was an eight-hour grind," he said,
"and I had to ask myself, was it worth
it?" Tonight, however, he took the bulk
of the $75,260 first-place prize money
when the 11th event of Legends 2004, $300
limit hold'em, ended in a four-way chip-count
deal. And now, he is thinking, perhaps
tournaments are worth the grind after
all.
Alaama came to the final table with a
slight chip lead. In late going he won
two big pots in a row, crippling one player
and knocking out another, shooting into
a near-insurmountable lead which he carried
to the end.
Tonight's
event carried a $150,000 guarantee. It
attracted 333 players who re-bought 336
times and generated a prize pool of $200,700.
Action
commenced at the final table with $2,000-$4,000
limits and 27:15 left. On hand six, realtor
Edwin Jacinto raised with A-10 and Gioi
Luong put him in with pocket 4s. Jacinto
flopped an ace but Luong spiked a 4 on
the river. One down.
On
hand 17, Derek Bukowski raised all in
from the cut-off seat with A-6. "They'll
kick my butt if I don't call," said Tony
"The Mailman" Tolentino, who was in the
big blind with just 9c-3c. He called for
$1,500 more and did his job when a board
of Q-9-4-8-6 paired his 9. Two down.
With
limits at $3,000-$6,000, Mark Tucker,
a mathematician, went up against Alaama.
Tucker had the best hand, A-Q versus K-8,
but Alaama flopped a king, put Tucker,
all in on fourth street and knocked him
out in eighth place.
Hand
32 was the one where Alaama caught fire.
With a board of K-9-2-2-3, he raised Tolentino
on the turn and again on the river, turned
up a winning A-K and left the Mailman
with $12,000. On the next hand, he had
K-Q to K-10 for octogenarian Gene Resnick.
The flop of K-J-6 was three bet. On the
turn, a 10 gave Resnick the lead with
two pair. Again the pot was bet, raised
and re-raised, and Resnick went all in.
Then the river brought a brutal ace to
give Alaama a straight, and Resnick finished
seventh. After raising the next two pots
and picking up the blinds, Alaama now
had about $180,000 of the $334,000 in
play.
Tolentino
had a close call two hands later. He was
all in on the flop against Larry Eubanks
and Alaama. Eubanks bet and Alaama folded,
warning, "You better have something."
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Eubanks responded.
Eubanks had pocket 5s, and all Tolentino
had was a straight draw. He called for
either of two cards, and ended up getting
both of them. But six hands later he couldn't
hit another needed straight. He had pocket
9s and Eubanks, with K-10, put him in
when a flop of 10-7-3 gave him a paired
10 and the lead. A turn card 8 gave the
Mailman an open-end straight draw, but
when a deuce dropped into his mailbox
on the river, he was out in sixth place.
Three
hands later there was a break and players
returned on hand number 50 with limits
now at $4,000-$8,000. On the first and
only hand, Sheila Kargar, a mortgage broker,
was in the big blind and was all in with
A-5. Eubanks had her covered with A-9.
"Let me go, I'm tired,"she said. She got
her wish. The board came A-7-3-3-8, and
she finished in fifth place.
The
four finalists now asked for the chip-count
pay-out figures. Alaama had $155,000 to
$111,000 for Luong, $65,000 for Eubanks
and $38,000 for Binh Do. The figures were
acceptable to the four professional players,
and the tournament was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Sam
Alaama has played poker full time for
seven years, all his adult life. He plays
the highest-limit hold'em and sometimes
mixed games he can find, usually $80-$160,
and when they are spread, as high as $300-$600.
Used to those limits, he was not thrilled
at putting in eight hours to win $1,100
a few days ago, but tonight paid off better.
Before this win, he had tournament cash-outs
at the Commerce, Hustler and here in various
hold'em games.
Tonight,
he said, he kept losing and re-bought
three times at the first table when he
was chased down and outdrawn by players
with weak hands. But once the rebuy period
ended, so did the bad luck. His style
of play, he said, depends on the players.
He said he had earlier encountered two
of the players at the final table and
knew they were tight, so he played aggressively
against them. Against looser players he
is more careful.
Max Shapiro
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