First
Event Win for Nurse
Richard Bustamente, a hospital nurse
playing the first tournament in his life,
is the winner of the third Last Chance
tournament of Legends 2004. Bustamente
had the chip lead with $61,500 when he
sat down at the final table, and still
had a lead of $105,500 when the $100 no-limit
event ended abruptly with a six-way chip-count
deal.
This
multi-way deal in turn brings up yesterday’s
event, Last Chance #2, which ended in
a 10-way deal without a shot being fired
at the final table. I had turned in a
memo saying there would be no report because
there was little if anything to write
about. Imagine my surprise when that memo
was used as the entire newsletter write-up,
which was 99.9 percent blank. How embarrassing.
The big question now is: Do I dare bill
the Bicycle Casino for that report? Since
I suspect that nobody in the front office
reads my write-ups, I probably will. Even
if I don’t get away with it, I have another
out. This “nothing-to-write-about” report
has become an instant classic, and I understand
that copies are being sold on e-Bay for
$50 each, so I guess I’ll sell a few there.
On
a more serious note, with Legends 2004
winding down, this would be a good opportunity
to give credit to poker operations manager
Rick Cloward for his superlative job in
setting up and overseeing this year’s
schedule, and to tournament director Denny
Williams, tournament coordinator Ron Cramer
and the entire staff for running it so
smoothly and professionally. When Legends
ends on Sunday there will have been 36
tournaments, three of them two- or four-day
events, two filmed events, play-offs for
the regular tournaments and for the Last
Chance events, a super satellite points
race and a dinner/roast for Lyle Berman.
In all, the logistics involved were greater
than those needed for the Allied invasion
of Normandy in World War II, and everything
came off without a hitch.
Along
with her crew, Sharon Silvas did her usual
effortless job handling all the myriad
tasks that are given to the Welcome Center.
But the most credit, of course, goes to
Max Shapiro for his informative and entertaining
reports and his incredible endurance.
In particular, on August 31 there were
three events: Ladies Poker Party day 2,
then the Championship/WPT event; and then
Last Chance #1. Shapiro somehow managed
to cover and write up all three events,
an unparalleled accomplishment which simultaneously
landed him in the Guinness Book of Records
and the emergency room.
With
a little room left, let us now return
to Last Chance #3. When the last 10 entrants
assembled at the final table, they were
playing with antes of $500, $1,500-$3,000
blinds and 26:36 left in that round. It
didn’t take long for the first player
to be knocked out. On the first hand,
Tuong Luu, who sat down with only $1,000,
was all in with Qs-4s. Jeff Huffman then
pushed in his $61,000 stack with pocket
9s and pro player Tony Abesamis called
all in with A-2. A board of 7-5-4-6-4
gave Luu the main pot as he tripled up
with trip 4s. Huffman took the side pot
and Abesamis finished 10th.
Two
hands Luu survived again, this time with
pocket 8s against Kham Hoang’s Q-5. On
hand nine, Bustamente increased his chip
lead significantly as he eliminated Kham
Hoang by pairing his king. Hoang moved
in with pocket queens and Bustamente called
with K-10. The board came 5-3-2-K-7 and
Bustamente busted Hoang out of the tournament.
There
were now six minutes left in the round,
and a chip-count calculation was called
for. It was: Jeff Huffman, $72,000 Bustamente,
$70,000; Param Gill, $38,500; Ernie Sebastian,
$36,000; Luu, $23,000; Major Polk, $22,500;
Grady Talbot, $20,000; and Jon Setoguchi,
$19,500. Polk objected to a deal, thus
becoming the man to beat.
Play
resumed. Blinds soon went to $2,000-$4,000,
with $1,000 antes. There were all-in moves
by Talbot, Sebastian and Bustamente, none
of which was called. Then, on hand 26,
Talbot, with A-10 raised $10,000 pre-flop
and was called by Gill with A-K. A flop
of K-Q-5 gave Gill top pair and Talbot
a straight draw. Talbot moved in for about
$20,000. Two 7s came, and Talbot, an attorney,
was out in eighth place.
On the next hand, Polk was sent packing.
He was all in with the best hand, K-Q
against J-4 for Bustamente. Then a 4 flopped
and Bustamente’s paired 4s held up. With
Polk gone, another chip count was called
for. Now Bustamente led with $105,500
to $76,500 for Gill, $53,000 for Sebastian,
$40,000 for Huffman (a dealer at Diamond
Jim’s up north); $16,000 for attorney
Jon Setoguchi; and $10,500 for Luu. This
time everybody was agreeable, and Last
Chance #3 was over.
BIOGRAPHY
Richard
Bustamente has been a nurse at the Queen
of Angels Hospital in Hollywood for 10
years, and he’s been playing poker for
about the same length of time. Until now,
his poker activity has been restricted
to $6-$12 limit hold’em side games. He
decided to play his very first tournament
tonight “just for fun,” and was surprised
to win it. Will this prompt him to play
tournaments more often? “Maybe someday,”
he said.
He
also said he wasn’t bothered by jumping
into no-limit. His strategy was simple:
With any decent cards, he just “pushed
in.” Sometimes he had the best hand, sometimes
not, but in the latter case, he outdrew
often enough so that he was never in trouble.
The big hand for him came with three tables
left. He was in the big blind with 9-4.
A player with pocket kings limped, hoping
to trap him. Instead, Bustamente flopped
a full house and won about $20,000.
Max Shapiro
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