Iraqi-Born
Habib Khanis Storms to Victory in $1,000
Buy-In Limit Holdem Event
Habib
Khanis, who arrived in the United States
from his native Iraq twenty years ago,
topped a highly competitive field of 258
entrants and won the $1,000 Buy-In Limit
Holdem event at the 2004 Jack Binion World
Poker Open. Khanis plays regularly in
the San Diego area, where he now resides.
Although Khanis has a number of previous
tournament victories and final table appearances
to his name, including major events held
at the Commerce Casino and Oceans 11 in
California, this was Khanis' biggest win
to date.
The
nine finalists took their seats on Day
Two, with local favorite Alan Katzen of
Memphis holding a commanding chip lead.
In fact, Katzen had a 3 to 1 or better
chip advantage over all but one player,
Khanis � who would later become Katzen�s
nemesis and was second in chips.
Thirty
minutes after play began, Vinnie Vinh
was eliminated after he suffered a couple
of beats in the early rounds. Vinh was
down to just $10K in chips when he was
dealt A-J versus Ayaz Mahmoud's A-Q. Vinh's
hand was totally dominated, and when a
Queen flopped, Vinh might as well have
been slapped in the face. The outcome
of the hand was all purely academic when
a second Queen fell on the turn, giving
Mahmoud trip queens to Vinh's no pair.
$3,726 was paid to Vinnie Vinh for ninth
place.
Limits
increased to $3K-6K. One key early hand
took place when Habib Khanis won a critical
pot at Todd Taylor's expense when his
4-4 scooped a $45K pot when four clubs
were dealt and Khanis' 4c completed the
flush.
A
short time later, Ayaz Mahmoud made a
pre-flop raise with 10-10 and Rodney Hobbs
tried to isolate the "all-in" player by
re-raising. The strategy worked. Hobbs
(with K-7 suited) got heads-up against
Mahmoud and he was able to see all five
cards for the bargain price of a single
re-raise. Hobbs' spiked a King on the
river when the final board showed A-J-J-4-K.
Mahmoud, making his second final table
appearance at this year's JBWPO, collected
$4,657 for eighth place.
Dave
Brown came into Day Two low on chips and
made his last stand of the night with
K-J. Brown, a union electrician (with
IBEU Local 176 in Joliet, IL, he proudly
pointed out) was "all-in" against Alan
Katzen's A-J. The electrician was "shocked"
to see the flop come A-A-4. Brown's bid
to stay on the job was rejected when two
blanks fell on the turn and river, which
put the loyal union member out in seventh
place, with $5,822.
One
of three players from Houston to make
it to the final table, Peter Vilandos
went out next when he was very low on
chips and put in his last bet with K-2
after the flop came A-Q-2. Unfortunately,
Habib Khanis flopped a pair of Aces, which
in the end, left Vilandos �walking back
to Houston� in sixth-place with $8,150.
Alan
Katzen remained firmly entrenched as the
chip leader when play became five-handed.
Limits increased to $4K-8K. Rodney Hobbs,
a retired jeweler from Alabama, then made
a raise with 8-8 and kept right on betting
until his last chip was in the pot. Todd
Taylor managed to flop a set of 6s on
the hand, which meant Hobbs was denied
the chance to add some additional jewelry
to his collection -- the coveted JBWPO
gold and diamond bracelet. Hobbs took
fifth-place, good for $10,479.
About
two hours into play in the finale, Oscar
San Miguel went all-in with A-2 after
an Ace flopped. Unfortunately, chip leader
Alan Katzen had A-K, which gave him a
much better kicker. San Miguel then picked
up a straight draw on the turn, but when
the board paired on the river, Katzen's
King on he side played as the fifth card.
San Miguel, a trial lawyer from Austin,
TX had his motion to stay at the final
table denied, and he was sentenced to
fourth place, with a $13,972 verdict.
Katzen
had a 4 to 1 chip lead over both of his
two remaining opponents. He made a courageous
call with pocket 3s, when the board amazingly
showed five over-cards. On the hand, Habib
Khanis made a river bet with nothing,
and Katzen snapped off the bluff perfectly,
and won the large pot.
However,
Katzen suffered his first major setback
of the evening when he flopped an open-ended
straight draw, with 8-6 versus Habib Khanis'
K-K. The flop came J-7-5 and both players
put in three bets each on third-street.
Two blanks came on the last two cards,
and when Katzen led out with a bluff,
Khanis quickly called with the big pair
and nearly doubled-up on a single hand.
A
few hands later Todd Taylor flopped trip
6s against Katzen and took another couple
of stacks from the chip leader. Within
just a 15-minute span, Katzen had gone
from a seemingly insurmountable chip lead
to nearly a dead heat in a three-player
showdown, where the outcome was wide open.
But
after the limits increased again, this
time to $6K-12K, it was Taylor who took
a bad beat when his top-pair, Ace-kicker
lost to Khanis' two-pair 7s and 6s. $70K
in chips was redistributed on the hand,
and Khanis had the chip lead for the first
time.But
that too, was short-lived. Katzen regained
the chip lead after he won a couple of
big pots against Taylor, who by this time
had become perilously short-stacked. Taylor
finally went out when he was in the big
blind with 10-8 and failed to make a pair.
Taylor, who plays poker professionally,
received $22,122 for third place.
It
was fitting that the two finalists included
the same two players with the largest
stack sizes coming into Day Two. With
Katzen holding about a 2 to 1 chip advantage,
the two rivals fought back and forth for
15 minutes until Khanis went on a monster-run
and dominated that last few hands of the
tournament. All it took was a few key
hands to completely dislodge Alan Katzen
from his formidable position.
The
final hand of the night was dealt nearly
five hours after play at the final table
started. Alan Katzen was dealt 6s-5s.
Habib Khanis was dealt 10-9 off-suit.
The flop came 9-3s-2s. Katzen had a flush
draw, an inside straight draw, and a straight-flush
draw and he bet his hand aggressively.
Khanis felt confident he had the best
hand with top pair -- 9s. By the turn,
all of Katzen's remaining chips were in
the pot. The fourth card paired the 3s,
no help to either player. Now, Katzen
was down to a single card and needed help
to survive. When a non-spade Queen fell
on the river, Katzen had missed his draw
and was knocked out. Meanwhile, Khanis
was jubilant for having won his first
championship at the Jack Binion World
Poker Open.
To his credit, Alan Katzen played remarkably
well, especially for someone who was making
his first major tournament final table
appearance. Katzen, how plays locally
in cash games here in Tunica and was cheered
on by an enthusiastic group of family
members and well-wishers, received $44,243
as the runner up.
But
the night clearly belonged to Habib Kahnis,
who played brilliantly over the tournament's
two-day span. Afterward, Khanis congratulated
Katzen for his competitiveness, turned
to the final table and gazed upon the
gold and diamond bracelet and $86,157
in prize money. When asked which meant
more -- the championship title or the
cash -Khanis, ever the diplomat said "I�ll
take both."
-- by Nolan Dalla
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