by Chris Newton

	Thang "Kido" Pham Wins!

	JC Tran

Big hand comes - JC makes it 24,000 on the button Kido re-raises to 70,000 and JC calls. A flop of 6 A K produces two checks but a J on the turn sees Kido betting 130,000 which JC calls. A repeat Jack comes on the river and Kido looks at JC's stack asking how much he had . Its roughly counted and declared at 220,000.
"All-in" says Kido. Now we wait. JC looks at the pot at his cards and at Kido. Atleast 4 minutes elapse, he moves, the crowd claps and cheers but he is only re-positioing himself in his seat. "Will you show me" he asks Kido. "If you call" says Kido. Then just as I was betting he would fold, Kido gets up from his seat and JC calls immediately.

Ace 8 for Kido

and K Q for JC Tran

Kido Pham is the Champion

The Game is Ante 1000 4000-8000 Blinds - 38 minutes on the clock

Kido has a substantial lead , but has been playing a lot looser than most of the others at the table.

JC wins about 30,000 in th first hand then for several hands the chips just go back and forth. Kido gets the lost chips back in two hands where he bets 25,000 or so on the flop to take the centre. Kido is winning hands 2 to 1 at the moment.

Small pot to Lee.

Big Pot Now

Lee Watkinson makes a substantial raise pre-flop Kido calls. The flop comes K J K Kido bets 50,000 and Lee goes all-in , Kido calls with many more chips.
Lee shows the K Q and Kido has thee flush draw with J 9 . Michael builds the tension and the the turn is dealt - A - Kido in the lead. Many outs for Lee but it is the 2 and Lee Watkinson will collect the 3rd place money of $138,556

Kido collects about 40,000 and then in the BB the blinds and antes, no calls. Next hand in the SB he makes up the blind and wins , with no betting against Lee when his 6 pairs on the board. Kido on the button next hand flat calls and bets the flop to take it. In the BB next hand no takers and he makes another small profit.
He wins 50,000 two hands later when JC calls 25,000 pre-flop and 20,000 on the river Kido showing a winning pair of 9s.

Huge pot to JC Tran the board read 6 5 3 6 , JC bet 60,000 on the turn , Kido looked at JC's stack and bet 100,000 more. As Kido released the chips JC puts his hands behind his chips and pushes the near 200,000 in - Kido folds. The flop action was a large as well about 40,000 each.

There are bigger bets now we are down to four players.

Lee goes all-in on the button taking the 16,000 centre.

Scotty now on the button goes all-in , Kido quickly calls from the BB.
Scotty has A J and Kido the K K
The flop comes 8 2 4 - Ace only for Scotty
The turn is Q and the river a very meek 3 .
Scotty Nguyen has come 4th in this event collecting $100,468

	Scotty

The first hand after the break Joe is in the SB and pushes the 54,000 in . Lee Watkinson in the BB calls the bet with 9 9 . Joe has K 8 .
The flop fairly well seals the matter as it has a 9 as well as J and 6 . The turn card of 8 puts an end to Joe in this tournament as he is drawing dead in the hand.
So The reigning World Champion Joe Hachem put a bit of an underline under his title by coming a very creditable 5th today collecting $88,172.

Ante 1000 : 4000 - 8000 Blinds

Just 6 minutes left in this level.

Scotty has the nut top straight on the turn when he pushes all-in for 25,000 and JC calls with top pair but no live draw. Scotty doubles up.

Joes bet the lot and its the other short stack Scotty Nguyen calling with 3 3 Joe has A 8 .
The flop comes J 10 Q giving Joe a double gut-shot and the two high cards for a better pair. Its the A on the turn putting Joe in the lead and a 5 on the river keeps him in this contest.

15 Minute Break Now

JC re-raises Kido's flop bet of 35,000 for 60,000 more. Kido folds and JC is starting to dominate the large action.

Next hand however it is a bit different. JC makes it 18,000 to go Kido makes it 50,000 and Joe makes it 150,000. JC gives this one up. Kido goes all-in and Joe calls straight-away.
Joe has K K and Kido J 10 .
It takes 5 minutes to count the chips Joe has more.
The flop J J 2 WHOA THE CROWD GO WILD. Kido has hit twice.
The turn is a 6 and the river the A . Tragedy for the big pair, Joe has 40,000 left and Kido now has over 600,000.

Just blinds and antes stuff for a while - no flops. All one raise pre-flop, take it.

Then John Smith in the SB tries to take the blinds and antes with an all-in raise for about 40,000 more. Kido says "they are friends but he will call". John has A 6 and Kido the dominant A K .
The flop comes 10 2 8 no help for John, a repeat 2 the 2 makes the turn so John can split with a 10 or 8 as well as win with an 8.
The river is the 4 though and John Smith will depart to the interview area in 6th place collecting $75,576.

JC Takes some more pots and has over 425,000 now
Joe takes three pots in a row and the two chip leaders are starting to create a gap to the other contestants - the last pre-flop raise was with Ace Ace.
Next hand is won by JC no takes for his pre-flop raise and the two of them have won the last 7 hands between them.

Quick Chip Count

JC Tran being the best improver today.

The game at the moment is 500 Ante 3000 - 6000

Kido takes a nice amount when he re-raises Scotty and John Smith from the SB for 70,000 more than Scotty's 12,000 open raise. Both Scotty and John fold and Kido shows Q 3 offsuit.

JC raises to 17,000, Joe on the Button calls, Scotty in the BB adds 30,000 and JC adds another 60,000. Joe folds and Scotty shows Ace Queen and folds and JC shows Kings.

Steve Hudak finds a big hand Queen Queen and makes it 55,500 all-in on the flop. He might have bet it a lttle earlier though as his oppenent Joe Hachem holds A 8 and the flop is 9 A 2 to give Joe top pair.Joe makes the call. The turn comes 4 and the river after an appropriate TV pause the 2 .
Steve will collect $62,980 for his 7th placed finish in this event.

	Steve Hudak - 7th in the 10K Event

Kido takes one with a 25,000 bet on the flop.
Blinds and antes to John Smith with an 11,000 raise preflop
Same action with Kido Pham doing the raising and taking

Amazing hand just on the end of that level . JC is the SB and John Smith the BB, Kido limps for the 4,000 After a flop of K 4 6 Kido bets 12,000 and only JC calls. An Ace on the turn sees Kido betting 50,000 and eventually JC goes all-in with two Jacks. Kido calls with more chips and A 4 , leaving JC with two outs. Not a probem ( says the dealer quiettly to himself ) and the J appears. JC doubles up.

The cry of All-in! Call! goes up. Lee Watkinson has gone all-in on the turn when the board reads T K Q 5 . Doug Lee almost never backs down and calls for less chips with K 2 . Lee shows J 9 and already has the unbeatable straight.
Doug Lee, bold player and nice guy, will be the first to be eliminated today in 8th place receiving $50,384.

JC Tran finds a hand where he gets back into this competition. The board read 8 K 2 9 when Doug Lee goes all-in with K 2 . JC has already mad a hand though as he calls and turns over A 5 for the nut flush. A J rounds out the board and JC doubles up.

Kido captures 90,000 from Steve Hudak when he goes all-in after Steve bets 50,000 on the flop both players having put in 46,000 pre-flop.

27 minutes left on the clock at this level 500 Ante 2000 - 4000 blinds.

The button is on Lee Watkinson, just after the deal, Joe gets up and says Stop ! Stop ! and proceeds to deal each of the other players a sache of Sugar. "Pass the Sugar" has become Joe's catch cry.
I first heard it 7 years ago in the Crown Poker room where both he and I learnt to play.

Just about to do the introductions.
All players here now.

	Scotty making one last call

	JC Tran also making One last Call

	John Smith chatting with Kido Pham

Still no players. Plenty of ladders, ESPN guys, money,security guards, audience, TV screens dealers.

35 Minutes till official kick-off

2:00 pm PST