WOG
Gets Record Turnout
A
door-busting crowd of 847 players turned
out for the first event of Winnin’ o’
the Green 2004, $50 no-limit hold’em.
It was the largest turnout for WOG, the
largest turnout for any Bicycle Casino
tournament, and very likely the largest
turnout for any tournament ever in southern
California. In addition to the tournament
room and adjacent lobby, a special tent,
part of the main floor and even the employees’
cafeteria were pressed into service to
handle the overflow crowd.
Tournament
poker is here to stay.
Winner
of the opening event was John Spoonen,
a low-limit side game player entering
his first tournament. Spooner is a telemarketer
(a business-to-business telemarketer,
not the kind that calls you at dinnertime).
When he got heads-up with Bob Eades, an
engineer and home game player, they were
nearly even in chips--344 to 331k--and
the two agreed to an even-money chop.
Not
surprisingly, with such a large field
and 20-minute rounds, there were pretty
much all unfamiliar faces at the last
three tables. And almost everyone at the
final table actually had jobs, with only
one player, Gerry Lilagan, identifying
himself as a pro.
The
final table got there after William Braun,
who is in sales, knocked out Sorin Enache.
He had AQ versus10-K, and nailed it with
a flopped ace. The final table started
with blinds of $5,000-$10,000 and $500
antes, 2:48 remaining. With the blinds
increasing at supersonic speed, there
wasn’t much room for finesse or strategy.
It was mostly all-in and hope for the
best, and it took only 37 hands before
the evening ended.
The
fourth hand, with blinds of 8-16k and
2k antes, saw the first casualty. Oscar
Robles raised to 16k with pocket 9s, David
Burks, a lineman, moved in for 46k with
10-9 and Lilagan called with pocket 7s.
Everyone missed the board, Robles’ 9s
won and the lineman went offline in 10th
place.
Three
hands later Spoonen, with Ks-Js, moved
in with a flush draw on a flop of A-Q-3
and two spades. Lilagan called with A-10
and busted when the flush came. Two players
left their seats on the next hand. Seth
Pennet, a loan officer, anted up his last
two chips and was dealt 10-7. Scott Drulias,
a teacher, tossed in his last three chips
with 9-2. And Stephen Beyer, a construction
engineer, found pocket kings in the big
blind. The cowboys would have been good
enough, but Beyer ended up with a winning
straight. Drulias, with the extra chip,
finished seventh and Pennet eighth.
Blinds
now were 10-20k with 3k antes. Eades raised
to 40k holding A-7. Gary Yates, an attorney
with a few small buy-in tournament wins,
called all in for 34k holding K-5. A board
of 8-5-4-10-6 gave Eades a river straight
and now five were left. On the 18th hand,
Braun put in his last chips, about 22k,
with K-8. Robles had only 7-4 in the small
blind but ended up winning with two pair.
Eades, meanwhile, had started putting
in frequent pre-flop raises, steadily
increasing his stacks as he picked up
blinds and antes.
By
the time blinds went to 20-40k with 5k
antes, Spoonen had become low-chipped.
He began his recovery by going all in
for 43k with J-9 and making a straight
against Eades. Stephen Beyer, a construction
estimator, went out on hand 30. He moved
in for 61k with A-6 and lost when Eades’
pocket 8s held up.
Eades
had a big lead at this point, but then
Spoonen picked up a couple of pots to
move in front. On the final hand, Robles
put in his last few chips with Q-2. Eades
was behind with J-4, until a jack flopped
to get the match heads-up. The two finalists
were both tired and readily agreed to
split and go home.
BIOGRAPHY
John Spoonen was introduced to poker
about five years ago by a friend of the
family, a high-limit pro named Teddy Feldman,
and until now his game of choice has been
limit hold’em cash games ranging from
$4-$8 to $9-$18. He entered this first
tournament when a friend called to tell
him about the event, and he came with
a few buddies.
Tonight
he was low on chips in the early stages,
then won a few hands and kept going up
and up, not getting in trouble until near
the end of the tournament when he was
all in. His playing strategy was simple
and straightforward: don’t bluff, play
big cards and wait for good hands. He
said he was pretty calm the whole time,
though he got perhaps a bit nervous toward
the end with $15,000 on the line. Will
he be playing more tournaments now? “Definitely,”
he said.
Max Shapiro
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