Poker Amateur Wins Pro-Am Equalizer Round TonightNick Gonzalez Will Play for $500,000 Thursday |
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Maybe the two amateurs among this group of four pros didn't need an equalizer.
Actors Nicholas Gonzalez and Yancey Arias were the two amateurs at second qualifying match at the Pro-Am Equalizer Monday, but Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, and Shawn Sheikhan had no idea what they were getting into.
And to top it off, the two amateurs started at a 3-to-2 advantage in chips with $150,000 to make it more fair. Phil Gordon got it right when he said before the match that the extra equalizing number of chips might make a difference in this case.
And he was exactly right, all the way down to predicting the winner.
The match started with Arias playing the part of giant killer. After a round or two of action, it was obvious that Arias - and not Hansen - was the player willing to play any two cards just by the number of raises he made from the start.
That's what Hansen thought when two aces hit the flop while holding pocket sixes. After a small raise, Hansen pushed for about one-third of his chip stack and Arias immediately went all in. Hansen called and he was the first one out.
"I played it bad," he said.
That hand put Arias over the $300,000 mark, but he would need a little luck to slay the next dragon. Matusow got all his money in when he hit two pair holding A-9. Arias called with A-T, and exploded out of his seat when the river revealed a 10.
The draw-out didn't surprise Matusow.
"I'm running really, really bad," he said. "I'm in the middle of one of my biggest losing streaks right now."
In the next big hand, Arias had a chance to knock out the last two pros with one shot, but instead, he ended up helping triple up Chan.
After Sheikhan made a small raise holding A-Q, Chan only called. When action got to Arias, he quickly moved all in with pocket tens. Sheikhan worried aloud that Chan might have a monster, but still called. Chan flipped over aces and the flop helped no one, sending the Sheik to the rail.
"You guys happy now? You chopped me out," Sheikhan said.
During a short break, Arias said that he was glad to have a chance to play in the Pro-Am Equalizer, which will be aired on ABC November. Because everyone is playing for the chance to win $500,000, he said the pros played differently here than at the charity tournaments he has participated in. He said now he can say he actually played with the professionals.
Chan was next to get knocked out, and he nearly doubled up Gonzalez after calling an all-in with pocket nines. This came right after Gonzalez raised four hands in a row. Chan said he though Gonzalez would push all in on the hand, and he did.
Gonzalez held pocket tens, though, and each of the last two nines stayed in the deck.
Heads-up play began with blinds at $1,500-$3,000. Arias had about $450,000 to Arias's $250,000. The two are friends and they both seemed to be happy the other one made it down to heads-up.
Gonzalez took the chip lead just about even a few hands after blinds went up to $3,000-$6,000 by taking a cue from Arias and pushed back against his frequent raises and it seemed like for most of an hour the dealer was only pushing the chips toward him.
The heads-up battle went on for more than 70 hands, but Gonzalez managed to keep a significant lead until the end came for Arias.
He moved all in with A-J and Gonzalez called with K-T. When the flop hit 8-T-8-5-9, Gonzalez became the first amateur to get to the final match that will be held Thursday. He's guaranteed at least $25,000 and has a chance at $500,000.
Click here to read about the Pro-Am Equalizer tournament that's being filmed at South Coast casino in Las Vegas, and click here to read about the first match that took place earlier today.
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