Par Sean Chaffin
A deep run here in the Gardens Poker Championship becomes just the latest nice feat for L.A. area player Duey Duong (pictured). With the money bubble set to burst in the afternoon on Sunday, the 42-year-old was keeping his thoughts on getting in the money and possibly much further. He’s been in this spot avant.
In July, Duong made a massive run in the World Series of Poker Main Event. He eventually finished 19e pour $324,650, a huge run in an event that featured almost 8,600 players. He’s had to battle to keep his deep run going here at the Gardens.
“I had a bad first day,” he said at the second break in the action. “I started Day 2 avec seulement 36,000 and then I ran pretty good yesterday. I started today with about 200,000 but haven’t had anything going so far – just surviving.”
This becomes Duong’s second WPT cash and he’s hoping it ends with a trip to Las Vegas for a final table appearance at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. Beyond the WPT and WSOP, he also notched a nice finish in 2011 quand il a gagné un $150 event at the Bicycle Casino for $252,425. Duong also has several other nice finishes with more than $1.2 million in live tournament winnings. Like many players, he learned the game while playing in college.
Married with an 8-year-old daughter, Duong manages the business side of his wife’s dental practice. She also owns an office in Las Vegas and is gone quite a bit. He spends much of his day watching their daughter when he’s not managing the business’ books.
That has limited his time at the poker tables and Duong tries to spend as much time as possible with his wife and daughter. Before branching more into poker three years ago, he owned an IT business with his brother.
“I play mostly local tournaments at the Commerce and the Bike,” he said. “I have a daughter so I’ve been sticking to the shorter tournaments because I can’t be away that long. Poker has been a mainstay and now I mostly play cash games late at night in weird hours. But I don’t even get to play cash games too much anymore.”
While making a deep run again on a big stage is nice, Duong is focused on his own play. As the action continued to unfold near the bubble on Sunday, he wasn’t marveling at the prestige of a possible final table appearance or looking ahead.
“I just take it one hand at a time,” he says. “I don’t look too far ahead. I don’t know the prize pool or what it pays or anything like that. I just keep focused on one decision at a time.”
Sean Chaffin est un écrivain indépendant à Crandall, au Texas, et son travail apparaît sur de nombreux sites Web et publications. Suivez-le sur Twitter @PokerTraditions.