Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker / WPT Event Season 8

Tony Le

Tournament Report

Tony Le Takes the Win in the 2009 Legends of Poker Event #6 No Limit Hold’em The final table of Event #6 of the 2009 Legends of Poker was a highly active one. The Event Center at the Bicycle Casino saw twenty-two separate all-in bet in the first twenty hands in this No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $335 buy-in. The 2-day event began with a total of 262 players and a prize pool of $76,242. In addition to the first prize of $28,242 the winner also received a championship ring. Final table play began at level 17 with blinds at 10k-20k with a $3000 ante. Paul Herrick entered the final table as the chip leader holding $426,000 of the $2,887,000 chips in play. Even with the flurry of the all-in bets to begin the final table we had to wait until the 18th hand before we had our first elimination. Andy D. Le opened the action with the 16th all-in bet at the final table and was called by Freddy Legaspi with Q-J and Estrella Baltazar with K-9. After the pre-flop action Freddy and Estrella were content with simply checking down the hand. The board came 6-8-K-2-2 and Estrella’s pair of K’s was declared the winner after Andy mucked his hole cards, he was eliminated in 10th place good for $950. Our next elimination occurred on the 23rd hand when Tuyen Luong pushed all-in with pocket 9’s and Freddy Legaspi called with A-J. The flop gave Tuyen a set and the lock on the hand when it came 9-7-4 and a K on the turn followed by an 8 on the river could not improve Freddy’s hand and he was sent out of the tournament in 9th place earning him $1,140. Six hands later James Kim found himself all-in with pocket 9’s against Phuong Nguyen’s A-9. James had the early lead with a flop of J-J-6, but the A on the turn was unkind to James and A on the river filled up Phuong’s boat, eliminating James in 8th place and giving him a $1,525 payday. It was not until the 42nd hand that we had out final elimination from the tournament. Tuyen Luong bet all-in from late position with A-4 suited and was called by the short stack David Spitler who had A-Q suited on the button. The flop came K-Q-K and it looked as if David was in a great position to double up. The 8 on the turn helped neither player but the 8 of clubs on the river was enough to give Tuyen an A high flush and send out David in 7th place earning $1905. The remaining six players discussed a chip count and after the staff ran the numbers the players were in agreement to a deal. Tony Le was declared the winner of the Legends of Poker sixth event and received the ring in addition to the first place payout of $28,172. -- Matt Snodgrass BIOGRAPHY Tony Le recently moved to Los Angeles, California where he is a writer. He has been playing poker for nine years and in that time he has come to find No Limit Hold’em to be not only his best game but also his favorite. Tony prefers tournament action over cash games and by observing him on the final table it is little wonder. He decided to hold to a tight / aggressive strategy at the final table, picking his spots and pushing the action in those spots. Tony felt that the key hand for him at the final table occurred on the 28th hand. Tony had A-Q in the big blind and called a large bet pre-flop. When the flop came 6-9-3 he checked causing James Kim to push all-in. After contemplating the situation Tony decided to call with only his Ace high putting his tournament life at risk. The decision turned out to be the correct one as James turned over A-10 and after the 2 on the turn and the 7 on the river Tony was awarded the pot and became the chip leader. His call on that hand earned him several compliments by the other players at the table. -- Matt Snodgrass