Desert
Ice Ices Second Win
Samer "Desert Ice" Alaama, a high-limit
cash game player who only started playing
tournaments a few weeks ago, locked up
his second Legends 2004 win in event number
27, $500 no-limit hold'em. He came to
the final table virtually tied for the
lead, soon took over and essentially held
it throughout.
Meanwhile,
an uncharacteristically quiet Scotty Nguyen,
who was down to $10,000 by the sixth hand,
played selectively and shrewdly, gradually
building his stacks and taking the lead
briefly at one point before hitting roadblocks
and finishing third. A few hands later,
with Alaama holding about 195,000 of the
252,000 chips in play, he made a deal
with runner-up Tho Ngo to close out the
evening.
Final
table play started with $200 antes, $800-$1,600
blinds and 21:25 left. Alaama had 47,000
chips, just 1,100 less than John Farrell,
who owns a fireplace retail store.
Nguyen
was left short-chipped after he opened
for $3,700 two hands in a row and folded
both times when a player came over the
top. Soon after, he started his comeback
by making a flush.
By
hand 15 we had seven all-ins with no casualties.
Then Ashok Surapeneni, a student at the
Wharton School of Finance, opened for
$6,000 and bet $5,000 into a flop of K-5-2.
On the turn, Alaama bet $10,000, then
bet 1k blind to put Surapeneni all in.
Alaama showed a K-10 and Surapeneni mucked
his hand. The Iceman now had a big lead
with about $75,000.
Henry
Chhor had been crippled in early action
when Nam Le, with A-J, beat his A-9. After
going all in and surviving twice, the
third time was not the charm for Chhor.
He went all in for $16,100 with Kh-8h
and went broke against the pocket queens
held by Max Angeloni of Barcelona, Spain.
On
hand 20, Ngo was left with $5,000 after
his pocket nines fell to Nguyen's pocket
queens, then recovered by making a wheel
against Farrell. With blinds moved up
to $1,500-$3,000, the chip count read:
Alaama, $65,000; Nguyen, $55,000; Farrell,
$40,000; Ron Fenton, $28,000; Rocky Enciso,
$26,000; Angeloni, $16,000; Ngo, $13,000;
and Le, $9,000.
Four
hands later Le went out. He was in the
big blind with Q-8 and couldn't beat Enciso,
who put him in with A-8. On hand 34, Nguyen
took a slight lead after Alaama lost chips
to an all-in Angeloni, who had pocket
jacks to Alaama's Ks-10s. Alaama took
over again on the next hand after Enciso
moved in for about $30,000 with A-K. "I'll
give it a call," said Alaama, turning
up two 5s. Enciso flopped a king, but
Alaama hit a third 5 on the river. The
field was down to six, and Alaama was
back up to about $75,000.
Fenton moved in for $13,500 with pocket
9s on hand 42 and got a quick call from
Ngo, with pocket kings. The two cowboys
were good enough, but Ngo made it official
with a third king on the river, and we
were down to five.
On
hand 60, with $2,000-$4,000 blinds and
$1,000 antes, Nguyen eliminated Farrell.
Nguyen had opened for $7,500 with A-J.
Farrell, with pocket 7s, moved in for
$14,000 and busted out after a flop of
J-8-4 gave Nguyen a higher pair. Scotty's
chip count now reached about $95,000,
roughly $20,000 short of Alaama's. Desert
Ice then took a lot of chips from Nguyen
when he check-raised all in on a flop
of Q-Q-6 and Nguyen folded.
Angeloni
had been moving in repeatedly. Alaama,
each time holding rags, could not call.
"Here we go again," Alaama said, when
Angeloni, with K-5 raised his big blind.
This time Alaama found something, an A-4.
He called and knocked out Angeloni when
the board came A-8-10-9-3. Nguyen, meanwhile,
had been taking hits. He was left with
$17,000 after Ngo, with Kc-Jc, made a
flush to beat his A-J. A few hands later
the former world champ went out with A-K
against Alaama's pocket jacks. The chip
count deal then ended activities.
BIOGRAPHY
Sam
Alaama has been a pro for seven years
and plays the highest limit cash games
he can find. In his brief tournament career,
he's had cash-outs here and at the Commerce,
Hustler and Hollywood Park, in addition
to his two Legends tonight and in $300
no-limit hold'em. Tonight, he said, he
was up and down, re-bought a few times
and slowly built his stacks. Perhaps the
key hand came when he had $12,000 left
at the second table, and the small blind
moved in. Alaama had pegged the player
as "such a bully" from earlier encounters.
Alaama had Ac-9c and didn't want to go
broke on a hand like that, but because
of his opponent's prior moves, he decided
to call. The bully had A-7, and after
winning the pot, Alaama said nothing could
stop him.
At
the final table, Alaama felt that chip-leader
Farrell would get hurt because he was
playing about one in three hands, and
that's what happened.
Max Shapiro
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