Capitol players take LAPC titles
By Arnold Warner

The recently completed Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) at Commerce Casino started off with a decidedly Northern California flavor, as Sacramento players were victorious in the first two events.

Event 1 was no-limit Hold’em with a $335 buy-in, four starting days (next day re-entries allowed) and a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000. Of the 51 events in the series, the prize pool for this tournament was second only to the $10,000 buy-in WPT Main Event, as 5,847 people entered creating a prize pool of $1,683,936.

Taking home the first place prize money, trophy and Tag Heuer watch was Darrell Cain of Fair Oaks who plays regularly in Sacramento in Capitol Casino’s weekend tournaments as well as the “first Tuesday” tournaments at the Lucky Derby Casino in Citrus Heights.

“It was surreal,” Cain said. “I can’t even tell you the feeling. I stayed on a cloud probably for three days after that, even though I only had two and a half hours of sleep for the previous two days. But it was an incredible feeling.”

The tournament began on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 1:00 p.m. with identical start times on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Each of the four days played down to 18 survivors, all 72 of whom would return on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. to play the tournament to its conclusion.

Day 1A brought 1,282 players and Day 1B 1,273. Cain was one of 1,491 entries for Day 1C but only lasted through about half the field before he was eliminated. Undaunted, he bought in again on Day 1D, and found himself with plenty of competition. “On Saturday they had the most people of all the days. It was 1,804 people. So I played from one o’clock in the afternoon until six o’clock in the morning on Sunday to make it to the final 18,” Cain said.

He added, “At one point we were down to about 22 or 23 players and I was in the bottom three or four people. I had the lowest amount of chips and then I got on a run towards the end and pretty much secured that I was going to be—as long as I didn’t make any major mistake against somebody with a big stack—I was going to be one of the 18.”

After playing until 6:00 a.m. Cain had to come right back that same day to start again at 2:00 p.m. “Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep.”

He started the final day 25th out of the 72. In recounting how he made it from there to the top of the ladder he said, “I won a couple of really big hands and set some nice traps, but the talk was my huge comeback, because when we got down to the final four of us I had had pocket kings and I slow played them a little bit and you’re tired and I saw the flush out there, but I did not put the guy on a flush. Anyway, he went all-in and I immediately called, and this was the second chip leader to me, but I thought he had me covered at the time.

“I had almost 7,000,000 in chips and I went all the way down to 80,000. I had eight 10,000 chips. I had actually walked away from the table and was about to go where you cash out and they called me back saying, ‘Hey, we think you’ve got a few chips left.’”

He returned for the big blind, but after a 10,000 ante he had less than half a big blind left. He was dealt Q-10 and the other three players stayed in. He quadrupled up when none of them got a pair and queen high was the best hand. On the following hand, in the small blind, he got A-3 and said that when he had a raise behind him it didn’t feel right and he folded. He got it all in again on the next hand with 7-7 and was called by A-7. When no ace appeared he had doubled up again.

“Now I was almost close to a million again, and after that it was pretty much a blur. I don’t even remember the hands I was getting. Picking and choosing when to push, I doubled up again or maybe tripled up and before you know it I was chip leader again.”

After another player was eliminated the three remaining players decided to chop the remaining prize pool by chip count, so Cain, as the chip leader, was named the champion and received the hardware and $245,000 (not the $363,936 officially listed as the first prize money).

Cain got his start playing poker about 12 years ago with his father, Albert “The Captain” Cain in Southern California when he would go to visit. They mostly played Five-Card Draw at first which led to Hold’em. Then about 10 years ago he and a friend entered their first tournament against about 50 other players and they took first and second. He was hooked. “Of course, I was first and he was second,” Cain added with a laugh.

He mostly played in home games with friends at first, then started going to the local cardrooms, mostly the Capitol and Lucky Derby. “Then we started going to Reno and eventually Las Vegas, so it just kept expanding,” he said.

He even played two events at last years World Series—the Main Event and a $2,500 event. His father had won the Main Event seat, but wanted him to take his place since he plays more tournaments. He won the other WSOP seat playing at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln and was actually heads-up to win a Main Event seat there too, but came up just short.

Referring to the LAPC win, Cain said, “This was the second biggest tournament I’d ever been in as far as the number of people and was definitely the best I’ve ever done. Definitely my biggest cash.”

On Monday, Jan. 25, Andy Pham of Sacramento, a prop player at the Capitol Casino, continued the trend with a win in Event 2, a limit Hold’em tournament with a $335 buy-in that attracted 371 entries, creating a prize pool of $106,198 and a first place prize of $29,198.

Once again, when they got down to the final three players they chopped based on chip counts, but this time they played to the conclusion for the trophy and watch. “I should not have chopped at all,” Pham said. “The only reason why I did that was because there was a friend [Peter Nguyen came in third], a guy I knew. He’s from here too, so … courtesy, but in hindsight I should not have done that. I beat 368 people and I felt like I was the strongest player, and I had the strongest support. I had like 20 people who all play here at Capitol Casino supporting me.”

When asked about his road to the title, Pham quickly became animated. “The amazing thing was, from the first minute that the tournament started I was the shortest stack,” he said. “On the first break—the dinner break—I came back with 5,400 in chips when the blinds were 300/600 and I hung in there. Then, when there were three tables left I was still the shortest stack!

“Then, before the final table—10 people make the final table, but only nine make the ‘next day’ final table—I was still the short stack. So I hung in there and never gave up, because I’ve played several tournaments before and that’s one of the things you should do is always hang in there and never give up, no matter how short stacked.”

When they got back together the next afternoon with the final nine players, Pham says, “I had like 54,000 in chips when the average stack was like 200-something thousand. I was still the short stack with eight people and then with six people I was still the short stack.

“The amazing thing was, the first four people that got knocked out was by myself. What happened was, two chip leaders went at each other and one guy got crippled, then I came in and I finished him off. So, although I was the one knocking them out, I still never had much chips until there were five people. Then when we were down to three I knocked out the remaining two, so I knocked out seven of eight people at the final table.”

Born in Vietnam, Pham came to the United States in the late 1980s and his family settled in Sacramento where he graduated from high school and Sacramento State. He started playing poker in the mid 1990s, first playing at Cache Creek, later at the Silver Fox and then at the Capitol Casino where he has been a prop player for several years now.

Asked about whether he had any mentors or helpers with developing his poker game Pham said, “I learned poker all by myself; however, throughout the years I have met several friends who also started from here, like J.C. Tran. Way back we used to play together, so in a way he inspires me. Because of the success he’s had, I believe that I can try to be whatever I can be. I’m very proud to have known him and to have him as a friend because he represents Sacramento. The whole world knows J.C. Tran comes from Sacramento. Many players to come from Capitol Casino have done good for themselves.”