‘Superman'
Defeats Spidey!
"I must be Superman," said Phi Nguyen
after winning the sixth event of Legends
of Poker 2004, $300 no-limit. "I knocked
out Spiderman, and only Superman can do
that." With about 16 tables left, actor
Tobey "Spiderman" Maguire, with pocket
kings, spun a web with a small trap raise
and ended up snaring himself. Nguyen called
with Qs-10s. When the flop came Q-8-2
with one spade, Nguyen bet, Spidey moved
in, and then two running spades brought
Nguyen a flush and a big pot. Nguyen said
it was the key hand of the night for him
because it gave him enough chips to play
comfortably from there on.
There
was more to it than that, because this
was a grueling tournament that lasted
until nearly 8 a.m. with countless chip-lead
changes along the way. Nguyen, a host
at Hawaiian Gardens, played a controlled,
assured game, avoiding the barrage of
all-in raises all around him, picking
his spots and steadily building his stacks
with smaller raises. Nguyen, finishing
second yesterday, now has a substantial
points race lead.
At 5 a.m., three players were knocked
out at once, leaving just eight for the
final table. At one table, Kevin Song
had the big blind, all in with 8-2. On
a 10c-7c-5 flop, Amir Vahedi moved in
with Q-Q and Rajesh Sharma called with
A-K. An offsuit 6-3 came, Song finished
11th, Sharma ninth, and their chips gave
Amir the lead with $99,500. At the other
table, Kathy Liebert raised all in with
pocket 9s. Min Lee called with Q-6 and
made two pair. Liebert finished 10th.
The
final table started with $500 antes and
blinds of $1,500-$3,000, 17 minutes remaining.
On hand 28, with blinds at $2,000-$4,000,
Ignacio Villegas pushed in his $42,000
with Ah-Qh. Ashkan knocked him out with
A-K and took over the lead with about
$125,000.
Four
hands later, Lee moved in with A-Q. Keith
Hang called all in with 8s-7s and busted
out after a queen flopped. In the first
27 hands, there were only three flops
because of so many all-in moves. Doing
more than his share was Ken Wagner. He
started lowest-chipped with $17,000. By
hand 49 he had gone all in eight times
and his aggressive play had gotten him
the lead with about $115,000. Going in
the opposite direction was Vahedi, who
kept taking hits. The first came on hand
42. Lee opened for $12,000. Vahedi came
over the top for $20,000 more, then folded
when Lee moved in. Vahedi showed two 8s
and Lee showed two 9s. On the next hand,
Vahedi's pocket 5s fell to Wagner's pocket
8s. A few hands after that, with limits
of $3,000-$6,000 and $1,000 antes, Vahedi
was all in for $3,000 from the small blind
with Kd-10d. A player going by the name
of A.M. had A-K, and a board of A-J-6-7-8
left Vahedi in sixth place. A.M., obviously
French, had loud support from six nearby
Gaullist pals.
Some
20 hands after Vahedi's departure, Bijan
Ashkan suffered two terrible beats. The
first time, Lee tried a steal by moving
in with 10-7 and flopped a 10 to beat
Ashkan's A-8 suited. On the next hand,
Nguyen took the rest of his chips when
he flopped a set of treys to outrun Ashkan's
7-7. Now Nguyen led. Wagner, meanwhile,
had gone card-dead. Finally finding a
reasonable hand, he went all in for $47,000
with Kc-Qc against Lee's Kd-Qd. It looked
like a split when they both flopped a
Broadway straight, but then runner-runner
diamonds gave Nguyen a very big lead with
three players left. He then knocked out
another player by outdrawing him. Lee
was all in with 5-5 and Nguyen flopoped
an ace to his A-Q.
Heads-up,
Nguyen had $295,000 to $88,000 for A.M.
Blinds immediately went to $6,000-$12,000
with $2,000 antes. A.M. moved in the first
two hands, and Nguyen let him have the
pot. The next hand, A.M. moved in again,
with Kc-4c. Smiling, Nguyen called this
time with 5-5 and took all the chips when
the board came Q-J-4-6-A.
BIOGRAPHY
Phi
Nguyen, a host at Hawaiian Gardens for
the past three years, has a World Series
bracelet for no-limit hold'em in 2002,
and this year came second in $2,000 pot-limit
hold'em and eighth in $3,000 pot-limit
hold'em at the WSOP.
Asked
about his pattern of moderate raises amidst
all the all-in moves by other players,
he said he learned this technique from
David "The Dragon" Pham, whose trademark
is an almost invariable raise of three
times the big blind. Besides disguising
the strength of his holding, Nguyen said,
this style also lets him get away from
his hand if someone plays back at him.
Tonight, he said, he had plenty of chips
after knocking out Spiderman, and never
had to struggle. When he got to the final
table he felt he was a big favorite, and
after Amir Vahedi, whom he described as
"fearless," was knocked out, he knew he
would win.
Max Shapiro
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