Edward
"Bolivia" Moncada Engineers
First Tournament Victory, Wins $44,800
"Bolivia"
Moncada got his nationalistic nickname
when a couple of fellow South American
players discovered that Moncada's parents
are from Bolivia. He was beating a game
in California that night, and each time
he entered the cardroom again, shouts
of "Bolivia!" echoed across
the poker room. The name stuck. "Bolivia,"
who earned an engineering degree from
Cal-Berkeley, has been playing poker seriously
for two years. He topped an extremely
competitive field of 128 players and earned
a whopping $44,800 in prize money. But,
the road to victory wasn't easy.
Play
at the final table started with blinds
at $1200-$2400, with a $400 ante.
Michael
Bittan, from Northern New Jersey, was
the first player to bust out. He came
in very low on chips with just under $3K.
Sitting in the big blind with A-3, Bittan
called David Plastik's pre-flop raise.
Plastik, with 7-7, won the pot when Bittan
failed to connect with a pair. Bittan
recieved $2,176 for tenth place.
"Syracuse"
Chris Tsiprailidis has won numerous poker
events over the past 15 years. But he
wouldn't win this one. "Syracuse"
Chris put his last chip into the pot from
the big blind with 6-7, versus Bill Johnson's
6-6. A seven failed to materialize for
the Greek from Syracuse, which meant the
equivalent of $3,200 in drachmas for Tsiprailidis.
"Big
Jim" Schmidt, from Spokane, WA was
also low on chips most of the night. He
made his final stand with K-8, but lost
to an Ace-high. "Big Jim" hobbled
away from the final table in eighth place,
with $3,840.
Atlantic
City local Sanjay Pandya was the victim
of one of the worst beats of the night,
when his 9-9 lost to an underpair. Pandya
moved all-in pre-flop and was called by
David "the Beatmaster" Plastik
with 6-6. Miraculously for Plastik, he
caught a six on the river, and busted
Pandya out in seventh place. The finish
paid Pandya $4,860.
New
Yorker, Earl "Hardnuts" Brown
hung on for nearly two hours before he
finally was forced to call "all in"
with K-10. Unfortunately, "Hardnuts"
Brown went soft when he realized his hand
was dominated versus Matt Glantz' A-K.
Brown failed to catch a much-needed ten,
which meant a sixth place finish and $5,760
in winnings for the player who has many
final table appearances at local tournaments
played here in Atlantic City.
One
of the most interesting hands at the final
table occurred when Matt Glantz got into
a big confrontation against two players
-- David Plastik and "Bolivia"
Moncada. Glantz tripled-up with K-K versus
Plastik's A-K and Bolivia's J-8 suited.
Suddenly, Glantz had rocketed up close
to the chip leader (still, Bolivia with
about 90K).
David
Plastik's roller coaster ride at the final
table finally flew off the tracks when
he moved all-in with Q-7 after a flop
of A-7-4. Bill Johnson, who had steadily
increased his stack during the early rounds,
was delighted to call with top pair (A-10),
which meant Plastik was drawing slim.
The pair of Aces held up for Johnson,
melting Plastik in fifth place with $7,040.
Matt Glantz made all the right moves during
most of his time at the final table. But
he finally made a wrong one when he called
a raise by Kenny Goldstein. Glantz, with
K-J faded a raise by Goldstein, who showed
Q-Q. Glantz failed to connect with his
hand, and exited in fourth place, good
for a $8,960 payday.
With
three players remaining, the chip counts
stood as follows:
Johnson
-- $165K
Bolivia -- $65K
Goldstein -- $90K
With
blinds at $2,000-$4,000 (and antes at
$500) things changed very quickly when
"Bolivia" made a $15K pre-flop
raise with A-K. Johnson aggressively re-raised
all-in with K-Q, and Bolivia quickly called.
Although Johnson was a big dog, he did
pick up a huge draw with a high club in
his hand, when the flop came with all
clubs. But two low red cards fell on the
turn and river respectively, which meant
"Bolivia" had completely turned
the tables around on Johnson. Now, it
was "Bolivia" with the chip
lead.
Bill
Johnson, from Ohio, survived three all-ins
early on -- then, zoomed into the chip
lead for over an hour -- before he finally
lost the key hand during which he was
eliminated from the tournament. He tried
to make a move with A-9 and was called
by Kenny Goldstein, with K-10 after the
flop came K-J-3. Johnson failed to hit
his Ace and departed in third place with
$11,500. Incredibly, Johnson just started
playing no-limit hold'em tournaments last
week. Odds are, this won't be his last.
The gentleman from Ohio took $11,500 back
to the Buckeye State.
"Bolivia"
Moncada enjoyed nearly a 2 to 1 chip advantage
on the final hand of the night. Both players
played the final deal cautiously until
the river card made two-pair for both
players. Then, a flurry of chips went
into the pot and "Bolivia showed
the better hand. It all started when "Bolivia"
was dealt K-3 suited. Goldstein, with
6-3, checked behind his opponent when
the flop came Q-J-3. A King fell on the
turn, giving "Bolivia" the higher
pair (Kings versus 3s). When a 6 rained
down on the river, that card gave both
players two pair -- Goldstein's 6s and
3s versus "Bolivia's" Ks and
6s. “Bolivia” was the winner.
He was thrilled with his victory and waved
to the cheering crowd, assembled inside
the third-floor ballroom of the Sands
Casino.
Stan
Goldstein, from Los Angeles, collected
$23,040 for second place. Meanwhile, "Bolivia"
Moncada recieved $44,800 for first place
in what was his first major tournament
victory. "I know one thing for sure,"
Moncada said. "I'm definitely the
best poker player here who's Bolivian."
Who
can argue with that?
-- by Nolan Dalla
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