Tuesday, August 22, 2006

EVENT #20 RESULTS

NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
$1,000 + $70
$363,000 PRIZE POOL
363 ENTRIES

Ha Diep Books Solid No Limit Win

Event #20, $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, lured in 363 entries by offering a “player’s
structure” of $3,000 in starting chips and hour-long rounds. There is a lot of play with
this structure and we proved that. The 10-handed final table was set at 7:45am—a long
15 hours into the tournament. With a $363,000 prize pool, all players were eyeing the
$136,125 first place payout. Play was very deliberate a there were only 4 showdowns in
the first 60 minutes of play. There was some early discussion of a chip count deal but too
many of the players wanted a chance at first place money.
The first showdown hand came at hand #4. Chip leader, Ha Diep, a student at UCI,
raised from early position and found a re-raise from Makram Merhom in the big blind.
Ha re-raised all-in and got called instantly. Makram showed AA and Ha was in bad shape
with his underpair, QQ. A flop of Q-A-9 gave both players a flopped set and Ha needed a
one-outer. The turn and river were no help (10-5) and Makram strengthened his stack
through the chip leader.
On hand #8, Jianhua Zhou raised preflop all-in and was called by chip leader Ha Diep.
Jianhua showed AK and Ha was slightly ahead with 55. The flop favored Ha with a 2-2-
8 but the turn King shifted the lead to Jianhua who needed a win to survive. The river 3
gave Jianhua the pot and he lived to fight another hand. Ha has just doubled up two short
stacks in the first 8 hands of the final table.
On hand #22, Jianhua Zhou raised from late position and Tony “TNT” Nasr, re-raised
all-in with his pocket Aces. He was called by Jianhua Zhou with pocket Kings. The
board was 5-6-J-Q-4 and the Aces held up. Tony completed a much needed double-up.
Tony was dressed in a PokerBlue sponsored loud suit and was giving away a $200 bounty
(PokerBlue will add $200 to your account) for anyone who knocks him out. Tony was
all-in often but he survived every single one.
After a 10-minute break between rounds, the players had just played for 90 minutes
without a single elimination from the 10-handed table. They requested a chip count
calculation and when the numbers were returned it was 9:45am. As the payouts were
read to the players, one unnamed players said, “If anyone asks for $1 more than the chip
count calculation, there is no deal and we play.” I think that did it because there was no
discussion, just a unanimous decision to accept the deal. Ha Diep, who entered the final
table with the chip lead, ended the tournament with the chip lead and booked his 1st
tournament win.
-Jay “Bugsy” Siegel

BIOGRAPHY
Ha Diep, a undergrad at UCI, took time out of his summer vacation to play in the
Legends of Poker event before school starts up again next week. Ha’s a cash game player
who occasionally plays tournaments. His typical game is the restricted buy-in $300-$500
No Limit Hold’em game at The Bicycle Casino. Ha has been playing poker for serious
money for the last 3 years. He does not play on-line and prefers the face-to-face
competition of live play. Ha’s strategy for this tournament was just to survive. He found
himself short stacked about halfway through the tournament when he pushed all-in with
AJ and ran into QQ. Ha delivered a bad beat to the Queens and then went on to
accumulate chips. Ha entered the final table with about one-third of the chips in play. He
doubled up some short stacks but maintained his chip lead until the deal was made and he
was declared the winner. This is Ha’s first tournament win and he accepted the Legends
ring humbly and proudly.
Congrats Ha! Hours of solid play and a timely double-up earned you the well-deserved
title.

CHIP COUNTS ENTERING FINAL TABLE

Seat 1. Tony “TNT” Nasr $ 38,000
Seat 2. Asher Derei $ 189,000
Seat 3 Larry Konis $ 37,500
Seat 4. Eric Young $ 81,000
Seat 5. Walt Schafer $ 115,000
Seat 6. Frederick “Ty” Arni $ 61,000
Seat 7. Albertin Hernandez $ 120,000
Seat 8. Makram Merhom $ 112,000
Seat 9. Jianhua Zhou $ 24,500
Seat 10.Ha Diep $ 311,000

FINAL TABLE RESULTS

1st Ha Deip Huntington Bch, CA $136,125
2nd Makram Merhom Glendale, CA $ 67,155
rd
3 Asher Derei Sherman Oaks, CA $ 32,670
4th Tony “TNT” Nasr Whittier, CA $ 21,780
5th Jianhua Zhou Egg Harbor Twp, NJ $ 16,355
th
6 Albertin Hernandez Downey, CA $ 12,705
7th Larry Konis West Lake Vlg, CA $ 9,075
th
8 Walt Schafer Downey, CA $ 7,260
9th Eric Young Ontario, CAN $ 5,445
10th Fredrick “Ty” Arni Rch Cucamonga, CA $ 4,535

ALL AROUND
PLAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
Freddy Legaspi 156
Al Barbieri 144
John Kimmons 130
Geoffrey Wright 117
Gebrehiwet Goitom 87
Hoan Ly 79
Matthew Mortensen 76
Phillip Penn Sr. 75
Michael Krescanko 70
Barrett Heins 69

NEXT
Limit Hold’em
$1,000 + $70
Wednesday, August 22, 2006 4:15pm

Single Table Satellites $10K LOP/WPT Seat

Thursday, 8/24/06 11am, 8:30pm: $1,040
Saturday, 8/26/06 9am-1pm: $1,040

Mega Super Satellites $10K LOP/WPT Seats

Friday, 08/25/06 1pm, 8pm: $1000 + $20

Tournament Results: www.thebike.com