Kim
Lim is Back in Trim!
Kim Cheu Lim, still taking a break
from his recent heavy side game losses,
showed that, in tournaments at least,
he's in top form. Tonight he played a
strong, steady game to overcome a huge
starting lead held at the final table
by Mohammad Mohammad and went on to score
his second win at Legends 2004. His victory
in the 17th event, $300 7-card stud, comes
after his win in event five, $300 limit
hold'em. He also moved into second place
in the all-around points race, 12 behind
Kenneth Wagner.
The
final table started with $200 antes and
a $300 low-card bring-in and limits of
$1,000-$2,000, with 9:23 remaining. The
checks were not evenly distributed. With
$51,100, Mohammad had better than 43 percent
of them, while four players–"Syracuse"
Chris Tsiprailidis, Franco Brunetti, Brian
Goddard and Wilbert Cannon–could only
muster a paltry $17,100 between them.
Mohammad might have sat on his chips,
played selectively and coasted home. Instead,
he played far more hands than needed,
blew them off and went out disappointingly
in fifth place.
In
early action, both Goddard and Brunetti
went all in and got away. Limits then
went to $1,500-$3,000, with $200 antes
and a $400 low-card bring-in. At that
point, Lim, who started the final table
in second place with $19,500, had won
three of the first six hands and was starting
to surge ahead. On the next hand, race
car driver and poker pro Brian Goddard
raised all in with split 7s. Walter Smiley,
a veteran local player, had two 9s and
caught a third one to leave Goddard in
eighth place. Brunetti, a real estate
developer, was meanwhile showing a lot
of resiliency. He went all in for the
second time on the next hand, beating
Smiley's pocket 7s with a straight, then
escaped against Mohammad with two pair,
and again for a fourth time with two pair
against Lim.
On
hand 17, Bruce Lee went out in seventh
place when Mohammad made three 7s. One
hand later, Lim moved into a slight lead
ahead of Mohammed, roughly $42,000 to
$36,000, when he showed a flush on the
river and Mohammad mucked his aces-up.
Mohammad took another hit on the next
hand when Syracuse Chris, with rolled-up
6s, made a full house. And two hands after
that, he dropped down to about $14,000
when Lim beat him with a pair of queens.
Hand
22 was as dramatic as they come. Showing
K-J-8-5, Brunetti checked, then check-raised
when Tsiprailidis bet. Syracuse Chris
then re-raised, pushing in all his chips
and putting Brunetti all in for the fifth
time. Brunetti confidently turned up (A-Q-10)
for a completely hidden straight. Syracuse
Chris, with a board of K-J-8-5, did him
one better. He turned over the two remaining
kings and a deuce for a completely hidden
kings-full, and a stunned Brunetti finished
sixth.
Limits
now were $2,000-$4,000 with $300 antes
and a $500 bring-in. Seven hands later,
Syracuse Chris put Mohammad out of action.
Mohammad raised all in with (9s-4s)As
and couldn't make a pair. On seventh street
Tsiprailidis finished him by pairing his
ace. "He didn't have to play seven out
of eight hands," Tsiprailidis remarked,
shaking his head. Two hands later, Smiley
was all in on fifth street with pocket
10s. "I got there," said Lim, making a
winning straight on the river. Three-handed,
Lim had now accumulated close to $60,000,
while his two remaining opponents were
in the $30,000 range.
With
limits at $3,000-$6,000, $500 antes and
a $1,000 bring-in, Cannon, who had just
flown in from Atlantic City and was fighting
jet lag, lost chips when an all-in Tsiprailidis
hit another full house. Lim then finished
him when Cannon made two pair on fourth
street and Lim hit another straight on
the river. The heads-up match lasted only
two hands. A low-chipped Tsiprailidis
was forced to play rags while Lim yet
again hit a winning straight on the last
card.
BIOGRAPHY
Professional
player Kim Lim's tournament streak started
when he won a $500 no-limit hold'em event
last month at the Hustler Casino's Grand
Slam of Poker. He said then that he was
taking a break from his high-limit side
game action after dropping $200,000 in
two months. He's had prior big cash-outs
from the Bike and Commerce, but his livelihood
depends mostly on side games, $400-$800
hold'em and $200-$400 stud. "I'm playing
tournaments for fun," he insisted. He's
still not got back into the groove in
cash games though. He recently, for example,
had a couple of $125,000 losses in Chinese
Poker.
Tonight,
he said, his early strategy at the final
table was to try to stay out of Mohammad's
way, because even though his opponent
was not playing an optimal game, he had
been running hot. So while he might test
the waters with a starting pair, Lim said,
if he didn't improve immediately, he would
fold.
Max Shapiro
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