Kim
Lim Brakes Henson
For most of tonight's final table,
bet and raise were the only words in Bill
Henson's vocabulary. Playing fast and
loose and running hot, he won at will.
At one point he raised with 8-3 just because
his birthday is August 3rd, and won. But
then pro player Kim Lim, who had been
staying out of Henson's way, finally braked
him in two big pots, first with a flush,
then a straight. Sensing that Henson was
cooling off, Kim went on the offensive
himself and after 25 hands of heads-up
play broke the veteran player to win the
fifth event of 2004 Legends of Poker,
$300 limit hold'em, and also take the
points lead.
The
final table started with $1,500-$3,000
limits and 28:48 remaining. Everyone was
in the $20,000 range except "Miami John"
Cernuto, who had $11,500. By hand 20 Gagik
Zhamkochyan was low man holding A-7. Cernuto
put him in with A-K and when the king
played, Zhamkochyan was knocked out. Or,
since he's a locksmith, make that locked
out.
Limits
became $2,000-$4,000. With a K-Q-7-5 board,
real estate broker Van Mahesh bet his
last $1,500 with pocket 9s and lost to
Henson's pocket jacks. "Write that the
broker went broker," Mahesh suggested.
No way.
Henson,
meanwhile, remained by far the most aggressive
player at the table, and his stacks kept
rising. On the hand after he knocked off
Mahesh, he picked off Cernuto's river
bluff with a paired 6 and ran his lead
to about $60,000. By hand 37 Cernuto was
down to 2k, but outlasted Thanhdat Tran,
who went out on the next hand. Tran had
K-10 and flopped a 10, little use against
Dan Guerrero's pocket aces. Two hands
later Cernuto was all in against Henson
and Beverley Kruskol. Henson, with Jh-2h,
hit a flush on the river. Cernuto mucked
his unseen hand and departed seventh.
One
hand later, Edvard Vartanian had pocket
queens. The board came K-10-5. Lim, in
the small blind with K-8, bet, Vartanian
raised and Kim three-bet to put Vartanian
all in and then out when the cowboys prevailed.
On the next hand, Henson seemed untouchable
when he made his goofy 8-3 raise into
a flop of Q-10-5, won when an 8 turned
and ran his chip count to about $85,000.
Limits
went to $3,000-$6,000. Kruskol, on the
button, had pocket queens, but Henson
flopped an ace to his A-3 and Kruskol
finished fifth. Still speeding down the
highway, Henson ran into his first speed
bump on the next hand when Lim, in the
small blind with 5-3, turned a straight,
though Henson got most of his chips back
on the next hand when he raised on the
turn and Lim folded. Henson then disposed
of Mike McLaughlin on hand 61. McLaughlin
had 3-3, and Henson blew him away with
aces and 7s. He now had more than $100,000,
while Kim and Guerrero were both in the
$50,000 range. Henson hit the $150,000
mark when Guerrero raised with a board
of 8-7-4-7-J, then folded when Henson
re-raised. Don't try to steal from a thief,"
Henson admonished him.
Hand
73 was the turning point. Kim had Qs-Js
and took down a $120,000 pot when he turned
a flush to beat Henson's straight. Four
hands later the pot was capped pre-flopped.
Once again Kim had Q-J, and this time
won with a straight. At the break, Lim
now had the lead with $123,000 to $88,000
for Henson while Guerrero was down to
$18,000. Returning to limits of $4,000-$8,000,
Guerrero busted out on the first hand.
He had 9c-8c, missed a flush draw and
lost to Lim, who turned K-6 into a full
house.
Soon
after they got heads-up, Lim took a big
bite out of Henson's chips when Henson
paired a queen on the flop while Lim,
with 9-6, hit a third 6 on the turn. As
they fought on, Henson finally was down
to $6,000 after Lim picked off his bluff
with just a paired deuce. On the next
hand, Lim raised blind pre-flop to put
Henson all in. He had Q-7 to Henson's
10-9 and won with queen-high.
BIOGRAPHY
Kim Lim is a successful pro whose resume
includes six-figure cash-outs from both
the Bicycle and Commerce casinos. Recently
he said he was running bad in high-limit
side games, dropping about $200,000 in
a two-month period. So, to take a break,
he entered a $500 no-limit hold'em tournament
at the Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of
Poker just two weeks ago and came in first.
Tonight
he said he had to give up a lot of hands
against Henson, who was running hot and
playing fearlessly, while he himself was
not catching cards and didn't want to
mix it up. In the late stages he explained
that he sensed a change in Henson after
things started going the other way. "He
was afraid of losing now," Lim pointed
out. This enabled Lim at one point to
pull off a check-raise bluff with small
cards on board when all he had was K-2,
forcing Henson to lay down a suited A-K.
Max Shapiro
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