Newbie
Tao Wins No-Limit
Yubin Tao, a commercial real estate
broker, has only been playing poker for
three years and tournaments since last
year. Tonight he scored his first major
cash-out by winning the 21st event of
2004 Legends of Poker, $500 no-limit hold'em.
In the final stages, he took and kept
the lead by winning two of the last four
hands, and after lengthy discussion, the
event came to an abrupt halt with a six-way
deal.
The
final table formed after Allen Cunningham
was all in with A-7 and ran into Desmond
Portano's pocket aces. Earlier, Tobey
Maguire registered his second Legends
cash-out by making the second table. "Spiderman"
was exterminated after moving in for $6,400
with Ac-6c. David Rosebloom came over
the top for $12,900 more with pocket jacks.
The actor flopped an ace, but Rosebloom
flopped a third jack, and Spidey crawled
off in 17th place.
At the final table, blinds started at
$2,000-$4,000, with $500 antes and 40:34
left. Vince Burgio arrived with $108,500,
more than twice as much as anybody else.
This was worrisome because Burgio had
a far more important assignment coming
up. He had agreed to spell this writer
as a guest reporter for tomorrow's H.O.E.
tournament, and I was concerned that he
might not get enough sleep. Even with
the six-way deal, the event still ran
past 8 a.m.
On the third hand, poker player Arash
Ghaneian was crippled after he re-raised
all in with pocket queens. Larry Gordon,
an investor from West Hollywood, called
with pocket 6s and hit a 6 on the river.
"I'm not going to complain," Ghaneian
said with commendable restraint. "This
is how I make my living, and it's not
new to me." Four hands later he moved
in for his last $8,000 with 7d-6d and
was called by Rosebloom and Gordon. Rosebloom,
with Jh-8h, made a third 8 on the turn.
He won but failed to get Gordon to bite
after he checked his trips on the turn
and river.
"Hobbiest"
Ken Wagner has now made five final tables
and had seven cash-outs. He gave up $24,000
when he moved in with Q-9 on a K-9-3 flop
and Portano, a poker player from Brooklyn,
again showed pocket aces. On hand 20,
Portano moved in with K-10, only to see
first Wagner and then Emiliano Calitis
Jr., push in all their chips. Both callers
had A-K. Nobody helped, and Wagner, with
the most chips, broke Portano and got
an extra $6,000 from the split with Calitis.
Two
hands later there was a break before blinds
went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,000 antes.
The chip leaders at that point were Burgio
with $105,000 and Gordon with $104,000;
followed by Rosebloom, $91,000; Rusty
Mandap, $62,000; Tao, $52,000; Calitis,
$45,000; Wagner, $30,000; and local pro
Eric Arreca, $20,000. After picking up
a couple of pots, Tao began moving in
on the chip leaders. On hand 31 he opened
for $20,000 and was called by Gordon.
The flop came 7-6-4. Gordon bet $14,000,
Tao moved in for $71,000 and Gordon folded
as Tao took the lead. A hand later, Wagner
had all his chips posted in the blind
with 7-9. Tao had A-J and broke him when
the board came K-K-8-8-5.
And
one hand later, Arreca moved in for $15,000
from the button with A-2. Gordon called
from the small blind with A-Q, and the
young pro finished seventh when the board
came K-7-4-5-6.
There
was one more hand, which Burgio took with
a pre-flop raise, and then a chip count
pay-out was calculated. The count now
was: Tao, $161,000; Burgio, $115,500;
Rosebloom, $77,000; Gordon, $72,000; Mandap,
the tournament director at Hawaiian Gardens,
$54,500; and Calitis, $29,500. Tao, new
to this sort of thing, was somewhat skeptical,
but the others prevailed upon him. "I
want to go home," said Burgio, no doubt
more concerned about his important upcoming
writing job than he was about second-place
money. Finally, Tao agreed, and was declared
the winner.
BIOGRAPHY
Yubin
Tao only began playing tournaments last
November. Until then his main poker activity
pretty much centered around no-limit hold'em
side games. He's now played around 12
or 13 no-limit tournaments, but hasn't
had any significant prior cash-ins, though
he did win a couple of super satellites
at the Hustler Casino. He likes no-limit,
he explained, because he doesn't feel
he has much advantage in limit games,
where his opponents have more of a sense
of control. No-limit being a mental game,
he feels he can get inside players' heads
and outwit them.
As
a schoolchild, Tao grew up traveling on
a scholastic circuit playing a math-based
strategy card game called "Magic" and
playing alongside a fellow student, now
a top poker player, Robert Williamson
III. Tonight, he said, he got very lucky.
Midway through the tournament he tried
a steal with 5d-2d, got committed, beat
a player with pocket kings by making a
flush, and that catapulted him into good
chip position.
Max Shapiro
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