PROPERTY
DEVELOPER FRANCO
BRUNETTI BUILDS NO-LIMIT WIN
Franco Brunetti, a commercial and residential
real estate developer, scored his second
major tournament win this year as he captured
the 17th event of 2004 California State
Poker Championship, $500 no-limit hold'em.
Two months ago he won a no-limit hold'em
event at the Bicycle Casino's Winnin'
o' the Green.
Although
Brunetti has been playing poker for almost
all of his 36 years, he is relatively
new to tournaments.
This
tournament was added as part of a re-scheduling,
and replaced the $1,500 7-card stud event.
The stud tourney ended up being played
anyway by request, but with only one table.
In this no-limit contest, Jesse Daniel
quickly built up a big chip lead but got
hammered in the late stages while Brunetti
came on strong and finally put Daniel
out in fourth place. At that point Brunetti
had a slight lead over poker player Gioi
Luong and twice the chips of Stan Singer,
and a chip-count deal was agreed to.
This event started at level 10 with $200
antes, $600-$1,200 blinds and 8:40 left
on the clock. Kevin Song, winner of the
earlier $1,500 pot-limit event, lost most
of his chips on the first hand when he
bet the flop, got raised and then folded.
On the next hand he moved in from the
small blind with a $4,200 raise holding
Q-8. Arizona blackjack dealer Tom Hammers
called with A-J and busted him after a
jack flopped.
Blinds
moved up to $800-$1,600 with $200 antes.
In an odd coincidence, on hands 13 and
18, players with A-Q offsuit each made
a nut flush when four diamonds hit the
board. The first time, poker dealer Andy
Bui, who was all in, overcame Daniel's
A-K. The second time Brunetti had the
A-Q, and he knocked out Jerry Chea, who
had moved in with pocket 6s.
Ken
Knight, an electrical engineer from Missouri
with a couple of wins at the Reno-Hilton,
handed over a lot of chips to Daniel with
an admittedly bad call. Knight had A-10,
opened for $2,500, bet $4,000 into a J-9-3
flop, then $9,500 more when an 8 turned.
Daniel raised $19,300 all in with Q-10
for a made straight and a draw to a flush
(which he made on the river), and Knight
called. "I couldn't put him on anything
but a stone cold steal," Knight explained
afterwards.
A
couple of hands later, a now short-chipped
Knight said good night when he moved in
for $12,000 with pocket 4s. Pro player
Gioi Luong called the raise with K-Q and
spiked a queen on the river.
Singer,
who is in public relations, never had
many chips and now went all in a couple
of times, but he escaped and began building
his modest stacks.
Bui
was next out. He put in his last $4,400
with pocket 9s against Luong's A-K. A
king flopped, an ace came on the river
and Bui cashed out in seventh place.
The
blinds at this point were moved up to
$1,500 and $3,000 with $500 antes. Thanks
largely to Knight's donation, Daniel now
enjoyed a big chip lead with $104,500.
Behind him were: Brunetti, $52,500; Luong,
$45,500; Singer, $24,500; Hammers, $16,000;
and Frank Zavala, a sports consultant,
trailing with $10,400. Zavala went out
soon after when he had K-10 and Luong,
with A-Q, blew him away by making trip
aces.
Now Daniel started going downhill, losing
a pot to Singer, who won without even
make a pair. With a board of Q-6-3-9,
Daniel bet $9,000 and Singer moved in
for $3,500 more. Singer had A-10 to A-2
for Daniel, and the 10 kicker played after
a 4 came on the river.
Daniel
then lost more chips to Brunetti, who
himself had dipped down to about $20,000.
Daniel had K-Q. A flop of Q-J-7, gave
him a pair, but it also gave Brunetti
a set of jacks, and he doubled up.
A
couple of hands after that, Brunetti eliminated
blackjack dealer Hammers. Brunetti opened
for $9,000 with pocket deuces and Hammers
called all in holding Kh-9h. Both players
missed when the board came A-8-7-J-5,
and the deuces held up as Hammers cashed
out in fifth place.
Brunetti
by now had increased his chip count to
about $80,000. A deal was suggested, but
Brunetti wanted to wait until it got down
to three players.
Meanwhile,
Daniel kept slipping away. On the next
hand he opened for $9,000 and was called
by Brunetti and Singer. When the flop
came K-10-2, Singer bet $10,000 and Daniel
called. A jack and 6 were dealt. Singer
bet another $10,000. Daniel folded and
Singer showed pocket queens. Daniel now
was down to $33,000.
He
dropped another $9,000 on the next hand
after folding when Brunetti bet $10,000
into a board of K-10-3-6.
Daniel
then made a little comeback, but finally
busted out in a hand against Brunetti.
Daniel opened for $10,000 with Q-10 and
then the real estate developer put him
all in for about $15,000 more holding
K-Q. The board came J-5-2-4-7 and Daniel
was out of action, cashing in fourth.
The field was down to three and Brunetti
now was agreeable to a deal. The chips
were counted. Brunetti had $106,500, Luong
had $97,000 and Singer had $50,000. After
the usual discussion and negotiation,
a deal was reached and Brunetti had locked
up his second major win of the year.
-- by Max Shapiro
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