WSOP - Event #17 Official Report

[Talking Poker]

2005 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suites Casino-Resort
Official Report

Event #17
Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $2,500
Number of Entries: 373
Total Prize Money: $857,900

Official Results:

1. Quinn Do Seattle, WA $265,975
2. Chi Chang Los Angeles, CA $137,265
3. Mike Davis Spokane, WA $68,630
4. Tony Nasr Pico Rivera, CA $60,055
5. ‘Captain’ Tom Franklin Gulfport, MS $51,475
6. Sammy Arzoin New York, NY $42,895
7. Rodeen Talebi Dallas, TX $34,315
8. Spencer Sun Novato, CA $25,735
9. Noah Boeken Amsterdam, Holland $17,160

10. Greg Debora Toronto, ON (Canada) $10,295
11. Nat Koe Irvine, CA $10,295
12. Brian Clark Roseville, MN $10,295
13. Sammy Lewis Las Vegas, NV $8,580
14. Derek Leforte Vancouver, BC (Canada) $8,580
15. Mark Gregorich Las Vegas, NV $8,580
16. Keith Videtto San Ramon, CA $6,865
17. Ashok Surapaneni Las Vegas, NV $6,865
18. Erik Gault Burke, VA $6,865
19. Carlos Mortensen Madrid, Spain $5,145
20. Steven Shkolnik Woodland Hills, CA $5,145
21. Ivo Donev Graz, Austria $5,145
22. David Plastik Las Vegas, NV $5,145
23. Bill Edler Las Vegas, NV $5,145
24. Al Ardebili Jersey City, NJ $5,145
25. Ron Long Ft Wayne, IN $5,145
26. David 'Rabbi' Danheiser Las Vegas, NV $5,145
27. Kieu Duong Mayslanding, NJ $5,145
28. AJ Kelsall Lutz, FL $3,430
29. Chad Niebor Grand Rapids, MI $3,430
30. Greg Mueller Vancouver, Canada $3,430
31. Thomas Garza Reno, NV $3,430
32. Kelly Harmon Nampa, ID $3,430
33. Bruce Corman Knottingham, England $3,430
34. Hooman Nikzad Scottsdale, AZ $3,430
35. Steve Zolotow Las Vegas, NV $3,430
36. Steve Black St Catharines, ON, Canada $3,430
Do takes the Dough
Vietnamese-born Quinn Do wins $2,500 Buy-In Limit Hold’em Championship

Every road to the World Series of Poker is different. Distinctive paths and turns along the way make every player’s avenue a unique story. Sadly, most players fail to reach their target. They crash and burn along the way. They are defeated in side games and satellites, and get busted out of tournaments.

Broken dreams litter the ‘bad beat highway,’ which has become the fitting nickname ascribed to the hallway leading from the poker tournament arena back to the Rio’s main casino.

This year, out of the tens of thousands of poker players who come to Las Vegas from all over the world, only 45 will return home as WSOP champions. The rest will walk the Rio’s long hallway, exchanging their tales of despair with anyone unfortunate enough to get trapped and have to listen. But not all poker tales are bad. Some have happy endings. Some are even captivating. The latest champion is a 29-year-old semi-professional poker player and restaurant owner from Seattle, WA, named Quinn Do.

Quinn Do arrived in the United States at the age of 11. He attended the University of Washington, where he came within a few credits of graduating with a degree in criminology. Do’s ambition was to work in criminal justice – and he considered a career as a private investigator.

“It’s very interesting to me -- trying to understand why people act the way they do,” Do explained. “In criminology, you get into people’s minds. The psychological part of it really appealed to me.”

As much as criminology appealed to Do, he discovered he could make better money by opening up a restaurant. Do’s life took its first major detour when opened a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant, which turned out to be very successful. That was just the beginning. His life was to take another route entirely when a few friends walked in one day and started to talk about poker.

“I was sitting there and my friend told me she made a lot of money playing poker. I already knew how to play, so I went to some of the local clubs and played $10-20 (limit hold’em). I did that for about three months. But I really got a lot better at it when I started playing online. I did that for a year before I started to play in tournaments.”

The total prize pool for the Limit Hold’em event amounted to $857,900. The final table included one former gold bracelet winner –‘Captain Tom’ Franklin, a three-time champion. The chip leader was Chi Chang, who enjoyed a substantial lead against the rest of the field. After the 20 finalists on Day Two played down to the remaining 10, players and starting chips counts were as follows:

THE FINAL TABLE:

SEAT 1: Noah Boeken 20,000
SEAT 2: Quinn Do 77,000
SEAT 3: Sam Arzoin 61,000
SEAT 4: Rodeen Talebi 101,000
SEAT 5: Greg Debora 44,000
SEAT 6: Mike David 87,000
SEAT 7: Spencer Sun 105,000
SEAT 8: Tom Franklin 124,000
SEAT 9: Chi Chang 212,000
SEAT 10: Tony Nasr 33,000

Players were eliminated in the following order:

10th Place – About an hour into play, Greg Debora took a bad beat when he moved ‘all in’ with A-Q. Tom Franklin had Q-J and watched with delight as a queen and jack both flopped. To put salt into Debora’s wound, another queen fell – making Franklin a full-house. Debora got the crowd’s sympathy, plus $10,295 for 19th place.

9th Place – Dutch poker pro Noah Boeken won the 2005 European Poker Tour championship event at Copenhagen. This is his second time to cash at this year’s World Series. Boeken lost most of his chips to Quinn Do’s trip aces, and then went out a short time later. Boeken collected $17,160 for 9th place.

8th Place – By the time play was eight-handed, the betting limits at 5,000-10,000 were so high that a key hand or two was all that was necessary to take the chip lead. The downside was that losing a hand or two meant elimination. Spencer Sun won the Tournament of Champions in 2000. The northern California-based computer programmer appeared to be one of the favorites at this final table, but he ran card cold during the worst phase of the tournament. Sun did make two pair on his final hand, but lost to Quinn Do’s straight. Sun went down in 8th place, good for $25,735.

7th Place – Rodeen Talebi went out next when he was short stacked and committed his last chips in the big blind. Tom Franklin eliminated Talebi, who was making his second final table appearance at this year’s World Series. Talebi finished in 6th place in the previous Limit Hold’em event. This time, his prize amounted to $34,315.

6th Place – Sammy Arzoin was short-stacked during most of Day Two. He went ‘all in’ after flopping a pair of queens, but ended up losing to Quinn Do’s flush. Arzoin, who was born in Casablanca, Morocco, has several in-the-money finishes at the World Series. This time, his win for 6th place amounted to $42,895.

5th Place – ‘Captain’ Tom Franklin had the chip lead at one point, but lost it as Quinn Do’s rush of cards continued. Franklin finally got low on chips and went ‘all in’ with A-4 suited after an ace flopped. Giant-killer Quinn Do called with 10-10 and hit a set of 10s on the turn. That was a dishonorable discharge for the Captain. Fifth place paid $51,475.
Franklin’s bid for a fourth gold bracelet came up short.

4th Place – Tony Nasr, a.k.a. ‘TNT’ was the next player to explode. He was desperately short-stacked and was competing with Mike Davis to move up a notch on the money ladder. Nasr lost that battle and went out in 4th place. Nasr, originally from Lebanon, has appeared at several other final tables at major tournaments, although this was his first time to finish this high at the WSOP. Nasr’s cut of the action amounted to $60,055.

3rd Place – A few hands later, Mike Davis went out when he moved his last chips in with A-4. Chi Chang had plenty of chips and called the small raise with 9-7. A seven flopped and Davis – the CEO of a grocery chain – was sacked as the third-place finisher. He bagged $68,630 in prize money.

2nd Place – That left Quinn Do to battle Chi Chang for the gold bracelet. Most interesting was the fact that for both players, this was their first trip ever to the WSOP. After several events in which tournament veterans finished high in the money, this event was certain to have a rookie winner.

When heads-up play began, Quinn Do enjoyed a 2-to-1 chip lead – 630,000 to 315,000. Limits were 15,000-30,000. An hour later, Do increased his lead to 3-to-1. Witnessing the two rivals play was like watching ice melt. But if Chang’s stack was melting, Do’s was becoming a giant iceberg. A slow but steady stream of chips flowed from Chang’s stack over to Do, until Chang had enough and was forced to move his last chips into the pot in a losing battle. Do’s winning hand was A-7 of clubs, which flopped a nut flush.

Runner-up Chi Chang is 43-years old. The early chip leader normally plays $40-80 cash games. This was his first appearance at the WSOP. It was worth a whopping $137,265 in prize money.

1st Place – Quinn Do was surrounded by several supporters, including John Phan and Liz Lieu. Do later stated that both Phan and Lieu had given him tournament advice. Whatever they said, it certainly worked.

As Do collected $265,975 for first place, he snapped on the coveted gold bracelet awarded to all WSOP champions. “This is really beautiful,” he said. “I am more into the bracelet than anything else.”

Afterward, Quinn Do departed the Rio Pavilion’s tournament arena and made the long trek back to the Rio. For Do, the carpeted boulevard was not that ‘bad beat highway.’ It was instead, the shining avenue of a new poker champion.


Official Report by Nolan Dalla – World Series of Poker Media Director

World Series of Poker Circuit Director of Operations – Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director – John Grooms
Rio Poker Room Manager – Michael Matts
Rio Poker Tournament Director – Robert Daily