Brunetti
Wins No-Limit!
Franco Brunetti, a real estate developer
relatively new to tournaments, went on
a tear toward the end of tonight’s $300
no-limit hold’em event to take the chip
lead from hairdresser Christopher Bjerke
and rush to a win. It was his second tournament
victory and by far his biggest cash-out.
Bjerke
was chip leader with 62,700 when the finalists
assembled. Antes were $200, blinds $600-$1,200,
and 9:23 remaining. Ron Faltinsky, a nutritional
supplement distributor, was lowest-chipped
with 7,300. He soon moved in with pocket
9s, survived against Bjerke’s pocket treys,
and after going all in a couple more times,
managed to hang on all the way to third
place.
Lou
Diamond Phillips, the actor/director and
avid poker player, was first out. With
blinds of 1-2k with $300 antes, poker
player Andrew Morgan raised to 6k, Phillips
moved in for 15k more and both Bjerke
and Morgan called. The board came A-5-8-Q-J.
Phillips had pocket jacks, Bjerke won
with As-Ks and Morgan mucked without showing.
Bjerke now had over 100k in chips.
On
hand 17, Brunetti raised to 6k and animal
caretaker Jason “Rocky” Katsutani moved
in with his remaining chips holding pocket
6s. “You don’t have a pair, do you?” he
asked when Brunetti called. Brunetti had
only A-Q, but made a pair when an ace
came on the end.
Faltinsky,
raising all in for the third time, needed
a miracle when he turned over pocket 10s
and Morgan called. “Ooh,” Faltinsky exclaimed
when Morgan turned over pocket jacks.
But the “ooh” turned to “ahh” when Faltinsky
got his miracle with a flopped set which
then turned into a full house. Two hands
later Brunetti made it 6k to go with K-Q
and Morgan raised all in for 5k more with
pocket treys. “Gotta call,” Brunetti said.
A king turned, and now seven were left.
Blinds
went to $2,000-$4,000 with $500 antes.
Randy Holland had started with 28,800
in chips but hadn’t found much to play
and was down to about 9k. Deciding he
had to do something, he tried an all-in
move with just Q-4. His timing was off
because Faltinsky had pocket aces, and
now six were left. One hand later there
were five. Brunetti tried a loose raise
with 10c-7c, and Sarkis Kedjejian made
an even looser all-in call with 5-4. The
board came 9-9-7-4-A, and another seat
opened up.
And one hand after that there were four
left. Brunetti moved in with A-J and Andreas
Raattamaa, a Swedish pro who split a major
pot-limit hold’em event at the Eurofinals
three years ago, called for his last 8k
with Q-7. Nobody connected with the board,
and the ace-high did the job.
“You’re
a one-man wrecking crew,” one of the players
commented. “My loose image is finally
paying off,” Brunetti responded. With
about 110k, he had now the lead. But then
Bjerke got it back a few hands when he
made it three bets pre-flop and Brunetti,
the original raiser, folded.
Nicholas
Dileo, a pro from New York City, went
out right afterwards. “Ace-high,” he announced
after going all in against Bjerke with
A-7. It was really “ace-low,” because
he had an ace with a kicker lower than
Bjerke’s A-Q. After the board showed A-K-3-9-4,
we were down to three.
On
hand 41, Faltinsky moved in for the last
time, for 29k, with A-9. Brunetti called
with A-5 and Bjerke with pocket 8s. A
board of 10-5-4-2-5 was checked down.
“I thought you’d bet into me,” Brunetti
said to Bjerke after turning up his winning
third 5. No matter. He now had 166,500
in chips to 119,500 for Bjerke, and the
two ended it with a chip-count deal.
BIOGRAPHY
Franco Brunetti, who lives in West
Hollywood, is 36 years old and estimates
that he’s been playing poker for 35. He’s
been a developer of both residential and
commercial property for six years. His
side game of choice is $100-$200 7-card
stud. He’s only been playing tournaments
for a year, has had several cash-ins and
one small win at a Commerce tournament
a couple of months ago, which encouraged
him to start playing more events. And
tonight’s win gives him the impetus to
play a lot more, he added.
Brunetti
describes himself as a “selective” tournament
player. Tonight, he said, he was never
in real trouble, though he was a little
low midway through. Then he got lucky
when he moved in with A-J, got called
by Bjerke with J-J, and managed to catch
two more bullets. “At the end I played
pretty well,” he summarized.
Max Shapiro
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