Poker Tournament Results

LA Poker Classic / WPT Event Season 4

Alan Goehring

Tournament Report

TWO BIG DRAW-OUTS ARE KEY TO ALAN GOEHRING'S LAPC/WPT WIN Alan Goehring, a retired junk bond analyst from New York, overcame a 2-1 chip deficit when he got heads-up with cash game player Daniel Quach as he took down the championship event of LAPC/WPT 2006, $10,000 no-limit hold'em. His $2,391,550 win.was the largest first-place payout for any regular-season WPT event. Two very big draw-outs helped propel Goehring to victory. The first came when he hit a one-outer on the river to knock out J.C. Tran in fifth place. The second came on the final hand, when he had a bare chip lead over Quach. Goehring, with K-8, was on the ropes against Quach's A-J when the flop came Q-J-9. Then a king turned to give him the pot and the title. This is Goehring's second WPT win. He also has a $1 million victory in the first season of the Bellagio Five-Star/WPT $25,000 championship event, along with a second-place finish at the WSOP championship in 1999. Quach, who rarely plays tournaments, finished 190th in this year's WSOP main event. Final-day action started with 5,000 antes and 25,000-50,000 blinds. None of the six finalists arrived short-chipped. Counts ranged from 1,505,000 for Steven Simmons to 3,720,000 for chip-leader JC Tran. In all, over 13 million chips. There would be numerous chip-lead changes duiring this seven-hour, 144-hand final table. The first all-in didn't come until hand 14 when Simmons opened for 150,000, Tran re-raised to 400,000, Simmons moved in for over 1 million, and Tran folded. The first all-in call came when Quach raised to 200,000, Tran re-raised to 600,000 and Quach moved in for 1,820,000. Both had A-K suited and the pot was split. After the next break, players returned to play with blinds of 40,000-80,000 with 10,000 antes. Tran still led with just over 3 million. The first massive chip exchange came two hands later when Per 'Nemo' Ummer opened for 225,000 and Simmons raised 1,220,000. Simmons had pocket queens to Ummer's pocket jacks, and moved into the lead after the board came A-4-3-10-10 Four hands later, Ummer opened for 500,000 with pocket aces and was called by Tran with 10-7. A flop of Q-9-8 gave Tran an open-ended straight draw, but he missed and lost. Then Goehring took a big pot from Tran with a set of 9s agaist Tran's missed straight draw. Chips continued to move around the table. By hand 39, Ummer had taken a slight lead with 3.8 million to 3.5 for Simmons. With blinds at 60,000-120,000 with 15,000 antes(costing each player 270,000 chips a round), four players were in a close race wth between 2.3 and 2.7 million, while Goehring and Tran (who had survived an all in with A-K against Goehring's K-J) were low with 1 and 1.5 million respectively. Tran would then go all in three more times. He was called once and won with trip 5s. Next it was Nemo's turn to survive. He had K-Q to Goehring's A-Q and flopped two pair. We were now playing with 100,000-200,000 blinds and 20,000 antes. Finally, on hand 80, we lost our first player. Ummer moved in for 1.5 million with Ac-7c. Tran had him just covered and button-called with Ah-Kh. The board came 10-10-4-J-2, and Nemo was finding the cashier to collect $199,296. As play continued, Woo doubled through to over 3 million against Tran, 9s against 77s. Then, on hand 95, came the most heart-stopping hand of the night. Tran opened for 600,000. Goehring moved in with 5c-5h and Tran called, for just 5,000 less, with As-Ad. With a board of 9s-7s-2s-2h, Goehring could win with only one card, the offsuit 5...and it came! Tran got $265,728 for fifth. A few hands later, blinds went to $150,000-300,000 with 30,000 antes, and with Quach leading with 6.4 million. Immediately after, Simmons busted out in fourth place. He moved in with Jh-10h. Goehring called with Kh-Jh and won with king-high when the board came 5-4-3-6-Q. Fourth paid $338,803. The approximate count now was Quach, 6.5 million; Goehring, 3.9 million; Woo, 3.2 million. On hand 112, Woo raised to 1 million with 5d-5h, and Quach put him in with Ks-Qd. With a board of As-Ah-Qs-10s, Woo, just like Goehring, could only be saved by a non-spade 5, but one miracle a night was enough. It didn't come, Woo was out in third place, worth $571,375, and we were heads up. There was now the traditional, bringing-in-the-cash ceremony, the honors performed by a bevy of beauties led by WPT hostess Courtney Friel. Defending champion Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi was introduced, and announced that he became the father of a baby girl two weeks ago. Play resumed with Quach leading, 9.3 million to 4.5 million for Goehring. After blinds went to 250,000-500,000 with 50,000 antes, Goehring came very close to even after Quach opened for 1.5 million, then folded after Goehring moved in for 3.4 million more. Over the next 20 hands, Quach increased his lead, then Goehring, chipping away, gradually moved in front. On the final hand, Quach moved in with Ad-Jh, and Goehring, barely covering him, called with Kd-Qh and hit a turn-card king. —Max Shapiro