Gank
Banks Hold’em Win!
Brett “Gank” Jungblut, a young tournament
specialist, charged out in front in the
late stages to run off with the 16th event
of Winnin’ o’ the Green 2004, $300 limit
hold’em. On the final hand he had only
8-4 against Mickey “Mouse” Mills’ K-10.
Mills flopped a king and checked. The
slow-play backfired because Jungblut,
who wouldn’t have called a bet, caught
runner-runner 4-8 to exterminate the mouse
and win the rebuy event.
This
was an interesting final table. Besides
the usual pros it included a surgeon,
a stuntwoman and, of course, the mouse,
actually an attorney running a real estate
investment trust who also boasts two 7-stud
championships at Commerce. The table got
underway with $1,000-$2,000 limits and
a bit over 30 minutes remaining. It instantly
became a slaughter, with four players
knocked out in 15 minutes.
First
to go was restaurant owner Gary Baber.
He was ahead with pocket 10s to Nicholas
Dileo’s 7s until a 7 flopped. Next, Hung
Nguyen was all in with Q-10. Dileo, a
New York pro, had A-4, flopped an ace
and caught a 4 on the river. Christopher
Wong, arriving with only $1,500, had his
pocket jacks chewed up by the mouse’s
pocket queens and finished eighth. Finally,
Soontaree “Terri” Rathbone had pocket
kings against A-3 for Dileo. The flop
was 6-6-3, and then a trey turned to fill
him.
The
table now settled into a more normal pace
lasting another 125 hands. With limits
at $1,500-$3,000, Dileo led the pack with
about 50k while stuntwoman Susan Traube
had a tenth as much. Then Mickey Mouse,
down to 4k with Q-J against J.C. Tran’s
Ah-6h, let out a whoop when he flopped
a straight.
The stuntlady now began her own death-defying
acts. With only 2k left, she outran Albert
Song. He flopped a flush, but she made
a bigger one with Ad when a fourth diamond
turned. Next she chopped with Dileo, A-K
vs. A-K, then went all in again and won
with K-7 when a 7 flopped. “She swims
with sharks,” cried Mickey Mouse, referring
to one of her stunt specialties. (And
what did he think she was doing at the
table?)
The
mouse, meanwhile, was grabbing cheese
from his opponents. As he beat Tran with
a flopped flush, spectators began chanting
the Mickey Mouse theme song. He then finished
off Traube, who invested her last $500
with pocket 7s. “I’m done,” she said,
when Mickey turned up pocket queens. Queens
also proved the downfall of Song, the
surgeon. Jungblut cut him out of the tournament
when his ladies held up against 5-5.
With 2-4k limits, the count was: Dileo,
51k; Mills, 49k; Jungblut, 35.5k; and
Tran, 9.5k. Tran was next out. “How much
do you have?” Jungblut asked as he raised.
“Eighty thousand,” Tran replied. Not quite.
Holding A-2, Tran went all in on a 10-8-2
flop and lost to Jungblut’s pocket 9s.
At this point Dileo had 68k to 39 for
Mills and 38 for Jungblut, and a deal
was cut for the bulk of the prize money.
As
play continued, Jungblut took a hit with
K-9 against Dileo’s A-9 and later went
all in for $500, again against Dileo.
“Send me home, Nicky,” he said, but he
got to stay when his Js-4s turned into
three jacks.
With
limits approaching 3-6k, the three were
fairly close. Later, Dileo was suddenly
cut down to 9k when Jungblut showed pocket
aces. The 9k disappeared on the next hand
in three-way action when Jungblut, with
A-4, flopped two pair. Heads-up, Mills
had about 32k to 112 for Jungblut. The
mouse gave his last squeak a few hands
later when Jungblut’s runner-runner ended
the evening.
BIOGRAPHY
Bret “Gank” (his online poker moniker)
Jungblut is a charter member of “the Crew,”
originally six players sharing the same
house and bankroll. They’re now down to
four and are going separate ways with
separate bankrolls, but the shared knowledge,
he said, benefited him tremendously. Jungblut
began playing poker in college because
the competitiveness (he played basketball
for one season) appealed to him. “Winning
is more important to me than the money,”
he said. After fulfilling his promise
to his parents to get his business degree,
he began playing professionally seven
years ago.
His
preferred game had been Omaha hi-lo but
now it’s hold’em after three wins in three
months. He also won at the Hustler’s Grand
Slam and in a big online event. Jungblut
plays a lot of online tournaments and
placed third in the Poker Stars rankings
last year. His game plan now is to focus
on $300-$500 buy-in casino events.
Max Shapiro
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