Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker / WPT Event Season 8

Satish Vitha

Tournament Report

Satish Vitha Wins the 2009 Legends of Poker Event #13 – $545 Limit Hold’em Tournament The 2009 Legends of Poker had its thirteenth overall event at the Bicycle Casino’s newly remodeled Events Center. The $545 Buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament was a 2-day event which began with a total of 106 players and a prize pool of $51,410. In addition to a first prize of $14,225 the winner also received a championship ring. Final table play began at level 14 with blinds at $5K/$10K with limits at $10K/$20K. Van Nguyen entered the final table as the chip leader holding $309,000 of the $1,787,000 chips in play. On the 6th hand Andrew Wang raised pre-flop with A-Q suited and was re-raised by Ron Ryneal of Team Cobra with pocket A’s. Andrew then raised again and was re-raised again by Ron causing Andrew to call all-in. The rainbow flop came Q-K-5 keeping Ron in the lead with his pocket A’s. The 5 on the turn and K on the river completed the hand and pushed Andrew out in 10th place for $1,025. Five hands later the short stack Fred Clayton found himself calling all-in with K-7 after being re-raised by Van Nguyen with A-K. The board would not offer any help to Fred as it came 3-10-3-Q-9 and Van’s Ace high was good enough to eliminate Fred in 9th place sending him home with $1,145. We did not have to wait long before we had our next player eliminated. On the 15th hand we had a three-way pot with John Claycomb re-raising all-in and Chester Sheehan and Satish Vitha calling pre-flop. Action was checked around until the river as the board came A-A-5-8-6. When the river 6 hit Satish decided to bet causing Chester to fold. The cards were turned up with John holding pocket K’s and Satish with A-4. John’s King’s up could not win against Satish’s trip Ace’s and John was knocked out in 8th place earning him $1,275. Just two hand later Bill Williams, who was at his 4th final table in a row at a LOP limit hold’em tournament, found himself all-in on the turn with A-Q against Van Nguyen’s 9-10 suited. The 10-2-6-J put Van in the lead with a pair of 10’s but Bill still had two overcards and a straight draw with the river still to come. The 3 on the river was not the out Bill was looking for and he was eliminated in 7th place worth $1,685. The pace at the final table slowed after the 17th hand and we would have to wait for two level increases and forty-four hands before our next player exited the tournament. On the 61st hand Ron Ryneal raised on the button with A-Q and was re-raised by Angie Tran in the small blind with pocket 10’s, Ron decided to re-raise back and Angie called. When the flop came 5-8-10 Angie check-raised Ron and he was forced to call all-in being heavily pot committed. The A’s on both the turn and the river gave Ron a set but Angie had made a full house and Ron was out in 6th place taking home $2,280. Twenty-seven hands and one level increase later John Zentner raised under the gun and was re-raised by Satish Vitha in the big blind, John decided to re-raise Satish who called. The flop came 6-7-7 and Satish checked, John bet, Satish raised, and John called. The turn was a 2 and Satish led out with John calling all-in. The cards were turned up and Satish had the lead with pocket J’s versus John who had A-K suited. The Q on the river helped no one and John was eliminated in 5th place worth $2,990. On the 150th hand Van Nguyen raised on the button with pocket 5’s and was called all-in by Angie Tran in the small blind with K-J suited. The board would not provide any help to Angie however as it came 4-2-10-A-9 and Van’s pocket 5’s were good enough to knockout Angie in 4th place earning her $4,300. With three players left the action increased but it would still take thirty-one hands before we had our third place finisher. On the 181st hand at level 20, with blinds at $30K/$60K and limits at $60K/$120K, Chester Sheehan raised on the button and was called by Satish Vitha in the small blind and called all-in by Van Nguyen in the big blind. The flop came K-K-J and Chester found himself re-raising all-in after he was check-raised by Satish. All cards were turned up with Chester in the lead with A-K, Satish with K-5, and Van with 8-9. A 10 on the turn gave Van an open-ended straight draw but a 2 on the river ended Van’s day in 3rd place earning her $6,620 while Chester more than doubled-up. With the two remaining players going heads-up the action was deliberate and aggressive. There were three lead changes during the heads-up battle and even one hand that was cagily played by both players who had flopped queen high straights with both players holding J-9. The 216th hand would prove to be the final one with Chester Sheehan re-raising all-in before the flop with Q-5 and Satish calling with pocket 8’s. The flop gave little help to Chester as it came J-2-5 and with another J on the turn and an 8 on the river Satish made a full house winning the tournament and ending Chester’s run in 2nd place with Chester taking home $8,640, and Satish Vitha winning the thirteenth event of this year’s Legends of Poker with his full house earning him first place, a championship ring, and the first place prize of $14,225. -- Matt Snodgrass BIOGRAPHY Satish Vitha is a businessman from Cerritos, CA where he has been playing for many years off and on. His favorite game is Limit Texas Hold’em and he enjoys both the tournaments and cash play. He feels one should not play many hands in Limit but instead choose the spots carefully. Early on the final table he tried to bluff as the limits would increase but was called down two out of three times. Satish believes one significant moment was in the three-way hand that knocked-out Van Nguyen and made Chester the chip leader, but Satish was able to battle back regaining the chip lead and eventually the win.