| Stirring Victory for Wong
Charlie Wong, a pro for only three months, seemed to have his first tournament win locked up with two-thirds of the chips and three players left. Then he got heads-up with Mary Dale, who owns a collectibles business. Playing as coolly as a seasoned pro, she took several pots in a row to take a big lead herself. As the give-no-quarter match continued, Wong slowly moved back up. After more than 20 raise-and-fold hands, there was finally a showdown. Wong crippled Dale and five hands later got the rest of her chips to take down the 23rd event of Legends 2004, $500 pot-limit hold’em.
Blinds at the final table started at $1,000-$2,000, allowing an opening raiser to bet anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000. After one hour, 30 hands and 12 all-ins, 10 players were still left. At last, with $1,500-$3,000 blinds, Peter Lee opened for $10,500 with pocket jacks. Huong Doan moved him in for $10,000 more and made quad kings.
Three hands later we lost our second player. Oregon logger Dennis Waterman had hung in after starting with only $5,500. He moved in for the fourth and last time with A-K and finished ninth when he couldn’t overcome Wong’s pocket queens.
Alexandra Vuong is a cook for Barry Greenstein. He was sweating his protégé and remarked that she wasn’t aggressive enough, but might be a bit feistier tonight because she had just given up smoking. Down to $1,000, she put it in with 8c-7c against Dale’s 5-5, virtually a 50-50 match-up. The 5s held up, and Vuong finished eighth.
By the time blinds went to $2,000-$4,000, Doan, who had been the most aggressive raiser at the table, had won (or stolen) enough chips to take the lead with $68,000. Wong and Randy Gil, who owns a phone systems business, were virtually tied for second place with about $43,000 each. Playing against Russ Floyd, Doan tried another move, betting $5,000 into a board of Q-Q-A-5. He moved all in for $19,500 and she folded, playfully slapping his hand. “You’ve been stealing from me all night. I’m going to call the L.A.P.D. on you,” he chided her.
Can Hua was one away from the button when he pushed in his last $7,500. “I have a bad hand,” he said when Gil called from the big blind. Hua’s K-5 was indeed bad against Gil’s A-J, and even worse when Gil caught two more aces. Floyd, who owns a sportsbook business and a couple of World Poker Challenge titles, was next out in perhaps the key hand of the night. He had 10-8 in the small blind, Wong K-5 in the big blind. On a flop of K-10-4, Floyd moved in for about $40,000. Wong called and covered him, winning after a 5 turned to give him two pair. Floyd finished sixth and Wong now had the lead with about $110,000.
Peter “The Poet” Costa, who owns several major titles, went all in for $8,000 with Q-6. “Oh, God,” he groaned, when Dale showed pocket kings. Four left. Three hands later, with blinds of $3,000-$6,000, Wong opened for $21,000 with A-6, then busted Doan when she moved in for $26,000 more with K-Q. He now had all but about $85,000 of the $233,000 in chips.
Dale then doubled up against Wong when she beat his pocket deuces holding A-6 and made aces full. Finally it got heads-up when Gil, with K-10, moved in for $16,000 on a flop of Q-10-2. Dale had the remaining 10s for a set. She was now close to even, then picked up the next two pots with uncalled bets and took a big lead with about $150,000.
After a string of no-flop hands, Wong was close to even again. On hand 100 he raised with K-Q, she re-raised $36,000 with K-J and he moved in. When the board came A-9-4-7-Q she was down to about $30,000. Five hands later she was all in with Q-9. Wong, had Ah-8h and paired his ace to nail down his victory. —Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Charley Wong, 31, used to be a restaurant manager while playing poker off and on for three years. Three months ago he turned pro. He still plays mainly cash games, $20-$40 up to $40-$80 limit hold’em and no-limit once in a while, to pay for his tournaments. He’s played five events so far, and had one earlier cash-in here at Legends. His style of play, he said, is to adjust to the table and get more aggressive when play gets short-handed. On the big hand when he took most of Dale’s chips with K-Q, he said he almost didn’t call her re-raise, but decided he couldn’t wait for a better hand.
Wong said he got in trouble with three tables left, and was all in three times. His big error there, he said, was giving a player with a weak hand a free card and allowing him to catch a card. Now with this win under his belt, he plans to increase his tournament schedule.
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