Amir Ghazvinian Wins Mini Series Championship Event
Event #24 of the Deepstack Mini Series was the championship event which drew a field of 208 players. There were over 3,100,000 chips in play with a very aggressive field playing down into the money at three tables. A prize pool exceeding $100,000 was up for grabs and 1st place was going to take home $33,500 plus a $10,000 seat into the WPT/Legends of Poker in August 2009. The final table was set at 3:30am with a 2000 ante and 6000/12000 blinds.
Hand #3 was a battle between Austin Yoo and Kevork Vorperian. Austin Yoo held 6-4 offsuit in the small blind and had Kevork covered. Kevork held A-4. Both players flopped a straight (5-3-2) although Yoo had the 6-high straight against Kevork’s wheel. The turn 4 and river Queen changed nothing and Kevork was eliminated in 10th place and collected $1,135.
Hand #10 was another confrontation where Edmund Liu raised preflop and was re-raised all-in by Jae Ok. Jae showed pocket 8s and was dominated by Edmund’s A-A. The board fell J-10-9-3-5 and the Aces held up. Jae Ok finished in 9th place for $1,360.
Hand #15 occurred as the blinds were raised to 8000/16000 and an ante of 2000. Khan Pham called the all-in raise by Paul Pugh. Paul showed Ks-9s and Khan held Ad-Kd. The flop was 4-3-2 and Khan increased his already dominated lead. The turn Jack and river Queen was no help to Paul Pugh. Paul was eliminated in 8th place and collected $1,815 for his efforts.
Hand #25 was folded around to the button who made a modest raise. The small blind folded and the big blind went all-in. The button, Amir Ghazvinian, called instantly and showed pocket Kings. The big blind, Sang Pham, showed his suited Qs-10s. The flop was A-7-7 and Sang was in bad shape. The turn 9 and river 8 failed Sang and he was eliminated in 7th place and pocketed $2,270.
Level 19 began and the blinds were 10000/20000 with a 3000 ante. On hand #30 Austin Yoo pushed all-in under-the-gun and was called by Khan Pham. The other players folded and the players showed their holdings. Austin held Ad-9d and Khan had 10-10. The board fell 4-3-3-9-6 and sent Austin to the rail in 6th place. Austin Yoo collected $3,180.
Hand #38 had Gyorgy Kovaks raising all-in preflop with a relatively short stack into the big blind Amir Ghazvinian. Amir, who held 7-5 suited, called even after seeing Kirk Conrad’s accidental exposed 5. Gyorgy showed 10-9. The flop was A-4-3 and the turn was an 8. The river 7 paired Amir and he earned the pot. Gyorgy Kovaks was eliminated in 5th place and received $4,085.
The final four players worked on a chip count deal which was a complex process since the prize pool included a $10,000 seat to the WPT/Legends of Poker which was indivisible. A deal could not be reached and play continued at 5:20am.
Just four hands later Kirk Conrad was all-in preflop with a suited Ace (Ah-4h) and ran into Amir, in the big blind, holding A-A. Kirk was in bad shape and was drawing dead by the turn. The full board ended up J-6-2-K-K. Kirk Conrad, in his third final table appearance at the Mini Series, finished in 4th place and cashed for $5,450.
A chip count deal was calculated again and the final three players agreed to the terms with very little negotiation. Amir Ghazvinian, after knocking out Kirk, was the chip leader by approximately 100,000 chips and was declared the winner at 5:40am.
-- Jay “Bugsy” Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Amir is a structural engineer and has been playing poker for over four years. He picked up poker after he moved to the Los Angeles area from Florida. He plays mostly cash games and you can find him at the $500 No Limit tables here at The Bike. He has been playing in more tournaments lately and made three final tables, including one 1st place finish, earlier this year at the Winnin’ o’ the Green. Amir learned Hold’em from books and from playing with his friends at home games. Amir attributes his win to doubling up early and never having a below average stack.
CHIP COUNTS ARRIVING AT FINAL TABLE:
Seat 1 Amir Ghazvinian $443,000
Seat 2 Austin Yoo $233,000
Seat 3 Sang Pham $295,000
Seat 4 Khan Pham $431,000
Seat 5 Paul Pugh $241,000
Seat 6 Kevork Vorperian $222,000
Seat 7 Edmund Liu $731,000
Seat 8 Gyorgy Kovacs $134,000
Seat 9 Kirk Conrad $240,000
Seat 10 Jae Ok $150,000
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