BEFORE
AND AFTER
It
happens so often; it's almost a rule rather
than an exception. Once the money is spoken
for, everything changes.
There
were 12 entrants in the $1,500 Buy-In,
Ace-to-Five for a total prize pool of
$16,920. Three players were paid.
To
setup the Final Table, it got wild. "Two
flies with one smack," was the way Chris
Bjorin described it. Must be a direct
translation from the Norwegian. There
were supposed to be seven at the Final
Table. This space is reserved for the
last player out before it forms. Well,
the 8th place finishers is now a name
lost in history, because Jody the event
director told the players to play one
more had while he got set up. "That fatal
one more hand," Bob Williamson said afterward.
Steve Zolotow went all-in and mucked his
hand while Williamson went all-in with
an 8 and both hit the road when Chris
Bjorin showed 7 5. So we were five. To
their great relief, however, the two 'flies'
got their Final Table Hall of Fame jacket
coupons.
THE FINAL TABLE:
34 mins left of 60.
The blinds were $50/$100
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 James Covington Charlotte NC $3,275
Seat 2 O'Neil Longson Salt Lake City UT
$5,750
Seat 3 Huck Seed Las Vegas NV $1,275
Seat 4 Chris Bjorin London, UK $5,725
Seat 5 Tony Popejoy Logansport IN $1,975
Former
World Champion Huck Seed is having a dreadful
tournament. Close several times but still
no cigar. Huck perished in 5th when his
76 lost to O'Neil Longson's 6 5. Ouch!
O'Neil's
been catching cards like that for 50 years.
To show a young pup how it's done, Longson
did it again against Tony Popejoy in 4th
and the booby prize. Tony was drawing
to 2 3 4 5 and caught a 7. O'Neil had
A 2 3 6 and caught a 4. Double ouch!
While
Longson was doing all the dirty work,
Chris Bjorin was stacking the chips. When
James Covington paired up for 3rd place,
Bjorin had a 13-5 chip lead heads up on
Longson.
After
settling on a chip count money deal, the
two veteran tournament players went for
the Hall of Fame title watch. Within a
half hour, O'Neil had all the chips. Did
he make a deal too soon? We'll never know.
It
happens that way so often, before and
after a deal.
Mike Paulle
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