Hoang
has Comeback Win!
He came to the final table with only
4,000 in chips. He was all in three times
in the first 13 hands. He was out-chipped
nearly 3-1 when he got heads-up with Asher
Derei, who has a prior best all-around
in Legends to his credit. But everything
turned around stunningly when he scooped
Derei three straight times in a stud round,
and two hands later John Hoang, a 38-year-old
pro, had won the 20th event of Legends
2004, the E.O. championship.
E.O. was structured with alternating 45-minute
rounds of hi-lo stud and Omaha. The final
table got there after Sergey "The Mad
Russian" Khromov blew away Mel Judah in
an Omaha round. Khromov had A-2-3-6 and
flopped a straight and a nut low. Omaha
continued at the final table with limits
of $1,000-$2,000 and 38:05 left.
The
lights went out for "Prince of Docness"
on hand two. The colorful "floppological
surgeon" had A-4-8-6, got counterfeited
when the board came J-6-2-9-A and lost
to Derei's 5-3 low while Matthew Ho took
high with aces-up.
Ho
then took a bad beat and got low-chipped
when he flopped a set of kings and lost
to Qi Liu, who managed to turn J-J-4-5
into a straight. Two hands later Ho went
out with A-2-7-K. He got his ace counterfeited,
made trip aces, but lost everything to
Mike Woo's nut low and flush.
On
hand 13, Hoang, going all in and surviving
for the third time, this time with a two
pair scoop, enthusiastically clapped and
congratulated himself. Mike Krescanko
suggested to Hoang that he pay by-standers
$10 apiece to do the cheering for him.
Khromov
finished sixth right after the game became
stud, with $200 antes, a $400 bring-in
and $1,500-$3,000 limits. He had split
10s, bet fourth street and was raised
all in by Krescanko, who caught a jack
for a winning set. Khromov requested that
his departure time be recorded so that
he could prove to his wife where he was.
OK, Sergey: 3:43 a.m., way past bar closing
time.
Mike
Woo is a veteran poker player and real
estate investor whose biggest poker accomplishment
by far was beating Max Shapiro in an Omaha
tournament at Commerce Casino, the dirty
rat. He went all in on fifth street with
draws to a flush and back-door low. Hitting
the flush wouldn't have mattered because
Derei, starting with (2-5)A-5-7, made
5s-full.
At
this point, Krescanko and Qi Liu, who
came to the final table 1-2 in chips,
were fairly closely tied for the lead.
But then disaster befell them both. In
a very big pot, Krescanko made a flush
but once again Derei made a full house
and took the lead with over $50,000. And
then Liu accidentally dropped cards on
the floor and, to use Jack McClelland's
famous line, accidentally got a 20-minute
penalty. She missed 18 hands. Amazingly,
she had only one low-card bring-in, on
the final hand, but her absence still
cost her 4,000 chips.
When
the game reverted to $2,000-$4,000 Omaha,
Asher had built his lead to a bit under
$60,000. Hand 62 was Krescanko's last.
He had A-5-J-Q, a tiny 51-49 favorite
over Derei's 2-2-4-4. The board came 10-8-3-5-6,
giving Derei a 6-high straight and roughly
$75,000 in chips to about $35,000 for
Liu and $25,000 for Hoang.
Hoang
then surged ahead of Liu by making a scoop
flush in a sizeable pot. On hand 77, Derei
raised with K-K-9-2. Qi called and then
went all in with J-J-8-3. The board came
Q-6-3-6-5 and Derei's kings were enough
to leave Liu in third place.
On
the next hand, the game became stud, with
$500 antes, a $1,000 bring-in and $3,000-$6,000
limits. Derei led, 97-34k. But seven hands
into the round, everything turned around
as Hoang scooped three straight hands,
first with a straight, then with two pair
and a low, and then again with two pair.
Two hands later it was over when Hoang
made jacks-up and Derei, showing 2-5-9-7,
surrendered without showing his down cards.
BIOGRAPHY
John
Hoang had 25 final tables and three wins
last year. This year, only six finals
� but four wins, plus a fourth in a World
Series stud hi-lo event. He's been playing
live action for about eight years, but
only began getting serious with tournaments
a year ago. Though he's been working on
his no-limit hold'em game, stud hi-lo,
which he plays up to $200-$400 in live
action, remains his favorite game. "The
free-roll concept makes it the safest
to play," he points out. "It has the fewest
bad-beat dangers." On the other hand,
it offers the most traps for very bad
players, he adds. "If you play stud hi-lo
horribly, you're better off playing blackjack."
Hoang
says he pushes hard in side games, but
plays tournaments more conservatively,
preferring to see flops and turn cards.
Tonight he was low-chipped with never
more than $6,000 until he got to the final
table. "But I felt comfortable, because
this is my game."
Max Shapiro
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