Another Le Makes a "Nam" for Himself

Okay. So the title for this post was just going to be "Tuan's Cuz Takes Title at Bay 101," as I'm more of a fan of alliterative headlines than cheesy ones that play off player's names.

But then my WCP cohort Chops, who's in Hawaii right now, where he is either getting married this weekend or doing research for his upcoming role in the Magnum P.I. remake, texted me and told me to check out the lame headline over at CardPlayer.com, that sums up Nam Le's WPT win as follows:

"Nam Le Makes a Name for Himself at the Bay 101 Shooting Star"

And so the cheesy headlines playing off player's names continues, and no doubt we'll contribute our share of similar headlines over the years to come, including the one above.

So yes, Nam Le, the cousin of Tuan Le, the insanely fearless player who makes Gus Hansen look like Dan Harrington and Donald "The Bank Owns Me" Trump look like a poor fool with a combover (considering Le has cashed close to $4.5 million in the last 3 years), is the latest WPT champion after taking the top prize at the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, California. Nam outlasted more than 500 players and a final table that included David "Remember Me' Williams, Chad "the C-list actor/A-list poker player" Brown and French pro and LAPC Day 2 chipleader/LAPC Day 3 bubble boy Fabrice Soulier.

The final day started with Nam Le and local fave Ravi "Ravioli"* Udayakumar at the top of the chip counts and that's how it ended as the other four flamed out and Nam and Ravi found themselves heads up for the Bay 101 title and the $1,172,800 cash. Ravi, who hails from right there in San Jose, had a considerable edge at first with more than a 2-to-1 advantage ($3,625,000 to Le's $1,555,000), but Le turned the table on him quickly winning a $2.2 million dollar pot in which he trapped, then punished Ravi after flopping a jack high straight. And no more than 10 minutes after heads up started, Le was the victor and Ravi settled for second and a $629,500 takeaway.

This was Nam's biggest win to date and his first main event crown. Most recently, Le won the $1,500 NLHE event at the Bellagio Festa Al Lago IV ($147,925), and his best WPT finish was in 2004 when he placed 6th in the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic ($152,468).

Here's what the payouts looked like for the TV final table:

1. Nam Le - $1,172,800
2. Ravi Udayakumar - $629,500
3. Danny Smith - $340,000
4. David Williams - $280,000
5. Fabrice Soulier - $240,000
6. Chad Brown - $200,000

Oh, and add $5,000 to Nam Le's earnings as he was also the guy who knocked out David Williams, who was one of the 50 "star" players in the event with a 5 G price tag on his stack.

* 3rd grade humor there.

(Photo of Nam Le courtesy of the World Poker Tour. Check out their new live tournament updates online.)