Players hit prize money at World Series of Poker

LAS VEGAS — Hundreds of cardplayers at the World Series of Poker main event were guaranteed money on Saturday after a 26-year-old, part-time poker player was eliminated on the bubble in 649th place.

Kia Hamadani of Los Angeles was down to his last 3,000 chips and was forced to gamble them because of minimum bets in the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament. He bet the chips before flipping over his cards, a three and a four, which were pitted against an opponent’s nine-deuce.

His opponent made a full house with the community cards to leave Hamadani out of the prize money, though tournament officials awarded him with a free seat next year in the $10,000 buy-in event.

Hamadani said the free seat was OK, but no consolation for not finishing higher in the tournament.

“I wasn’t really playing this tournament to cash,” said Hamadani, who said he also runs an investment business. “What I want to do in this tournament is win.

“I’m used to pretty big swings in my usual line of business as well,” he said.

Tournament officials started hand-for-hand play with 653 players remaining, needing five players to bust before hitting the money. Only four players busted in the first nine hands, and it took several hands more before Hamadani was all-in.

After Hamadani busted, 77 other players were eliminated in the next 39 minutes, each winning at least $21,365.

Hamadani said he began the day with 280,000 chips, well above average among the 789 players who started the day. But he said he hit a bad run and won only one hand in two hours and found himself severely short-stacked as the money approached.

He said he considered giving an opponent 10-1 odds to win $1,000 on a side bet because he was so sure he would remain in the tournament long enough to cash despite his dwindling stack.

Hamadani was almost right.

Across the room a few hands earlier, 38-year-old Richard Harrington said he considered folding pocket aces — the best starting hand in Texas Hold ‘em — when faced with an all-in bet.

He called and was well ahead of his opponent’s king-jack, until a king and jack hit on the flop to give the opponent two pairs. Though behind, running deuces on the turn and river gave Harrington a better two pair to keep his tournament hopes alive.

“I’m not even looking at my cards until the money,” Harrington said afterward.

Dave Russell, a horseshoer from Frenchtown, N.J., faced chants of “Jack! Jack!” from the crowd and had only one open ally at his table when he went all-in with his aces and faced an opponent’s ace-jack. Though a jack hit on the flop, Russell’s aces held up.

“I couldn’t lay aces down before the flop, how stupid is that?” Russell said.

The rest of the players left will win some piece of a $61 million prize pool. Top prize is $8.55 million.