Japanese duo thrills duel in Tinian poker tourney

The folks at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino rolled out the red carpet for 25 of the region’s finest card slingers over the weekend during the Hats, Chaps & Six Guns Texas Hold “Em Poker Tournament, but Yukihiro Nomura of Japan outdueled the competition to take home $4,800 and the championship trophy.

While it took the better part of two days, utilized countless decks of cards, and cycled through a number of dealers, it came as little consequence to Nomura who raised his hands, clenched his fists, and let loose his barbaric yawp when his all-in bet prevailed over countryman Shigeto Kobayashi.

With the pocket Queens, Nomura played the bully by upping the ante to $10,000. Kobayashi hoped that his Ace and Six would carry him through and saw the bet, but Nomura went all in on a gamble and won in thrilling fashion on the flop.

“I am very happy, so very, very happy,” said Nomura

Nomura played like a champ and despite trailing Kobayashi when he joined the final table, he displayed all the swagger of Joe Namath before Super Bowl III. A veteran to the Dynasty scene, Nomura said that while he may return for next month’s tournament, it may be a bit difficult.

Rather than wait, the champion was already looking for more fun in the casino when he was stopped to answer what his first expenditure would be. The Tokyo native wisely said that he planned to buy a Louis Vuitton Bag for his wife, but that he also had eyes on joining the action in the baccarat table.

Cowboy hat-wearing tournament director Tony Jackson was as happy as the onlookers who gathered close around the final table when the tournament came to a climax and said that he couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the two-day affair.

“It was a fantastic ending. Kobayashi came in as the chip leader. He did play a bit conservative and Nomura-san just chipped away. [Nomura] bet very strongly, there was some very big betting there near the end, some quality cards, and the perfect ending to this type of tournament. [Nomura] had pocket Queens, the flop comes, it’s just the perfect ending,” he said.

Saipan local John Douglas ended up knocking off his nemesis by eliminating Matsushita Toshinori, but made a blunder by mistaking his pocket cards and losing a bundle to set him way back. From there he was an easy target, but the big guy still went home with a sizable $2,400 chunk of change in addition to his beautifully etched crystal trophy for third place in the tournament.

There’s more Texas Hold “Em on the horizon, and though Jackson said that the next big tournament will be coming soon, details for next month’s event are still in the works for the slew of high rollers flying over from Japan.