Tuan Le Wins Again

In my last column I mentioned how much I loved playing in the $25,000 buy-in championship event at Bellagio. It is so amazing to start play with $50,000 in chips. It gives you the opportunity to withstand a few bad beats, unless you are at a table where the pots are big from the get-go. I lasted awhile because my table never dictated that I had to move chips. However, every time I looked at a nearby table; there was a million-dollar pot. As I was playing cautiously due to my chip count and table position, I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table with a few guys with whom I haven't played too often.

The first person who caused problems when moved to my table was John Phan. John is playing with all of the confidence in the world, and he has no problem raising and reraising with absolutely nothing. It makes it very difficult to get involved when he is running all over the table. I think I watched him double up over and over again without ever playing a pot. It really shows how important it is to steal the antes and blinds. John ended up capturing fourth place and winning more than half a million dollars. With his great finish, he moved into the pole position in the Player of the Year race.

Another player who really shined was Hasan Habib. Hasan went into the final day with a pretty big chip lead and got a little unlucky in a few spots or else he could have won easily. He ended up finishing third, just one spot lower than his runner-up finish last year. Hasan is deadly when he plays in events with lots of starting chips.

Others who made the final table were Phil Ivey, Rob Hollink, Paul Maxfield, and Tuan Le. I mentioned John and Hasan first because I played many hours with them, and I can't report too much on the other guys because they were always at other tables. Paul Maxfield ended up going heads up with Tuan Le. After a back-and-forth battle, Tuan pulled ahead for the victory and won $2,856,150. This was his second win on the WPT circuit this season (he won at Foxwoods, too). Be sure to read Lee Munzer's column for full details.

The day after the WPT Championship concluded, the final table of the PPT was played. The players were Lee Markholt, Barry Shulman, Doyle Brunson, Chris Bjorin, Dan Heimiller, and Erick Lindgren. Since you all were probably wondering, Dad came in second – and Lee Markholt won. More important than all of this was that Card Player GM Dominik Karelus came in 21st in his first ever tournament. He took his PPT winnings of zero and two days of lost time and submitted a request for more vacation time to pursue a career in poker. ♠