| EVENT #6 | The Orleans Open Half Seven Card Stud / Half Hold'em ($230 buy-in) |
July 16, 1998 |
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The Final Table Official Results The Evening Tournament |
And a Child Shall Beat ThemBy Mike PaulleIt takes years of experience to win a half stud/half hold'em tournament, especially when you've only played in a few stud events in your life. Right? Wrong!!! We went back to record setting today as 234 players showed up the half and half event. That was 10 more than last year. The total prize pool was $46,800. When Guy DeFalco made his flush on the river, Gene Bowden had to go home empty-handed. There were now 18 players left, all of whom were in the money. To set up the final table, JJ Volpe had to go all-in with K 5 of Hearts. Ray DiDonato had A 4. How about a board of A A 4 for a little overkill? Volpe was 10th.
Willa Borsellino could have waited for the two shorter stacks to go out, but she fell in love with a pocket pair of 10's. Raising and re-raising with Daniel Negreanu, Willa ran out of chips. Daniel turned over Jacks in the pocket to Will-a Borsellino out of the tournament in 9th. Mohammed Dacam had lost most of his chips in a confrontation with Steen Rassow's trip Kings. All-in with 8's, it was again Rassow who finished the job when he caught Queens. Dacam de-went out 8th. Brent Carter and Steve Musket were all-in for the small and big blinds respectively. In a very smart play by Musket, he had made sure to have more chips than Carter in their blind hands. The child sheriff of the table Daniel Negreanu took both gentlemen out on the same hand with a 6 4 when a six flopped. Paul Pedersen came all the way from New Zealand and couldn't find a hand to play. Nearly blinded off, Paul finally took a stand with Aces. Ray DiDonato apologetically turned over Jacks and Threes to send Paul out the door looking for some sheep to kick. Guy DeFalco had managed to survive on low chips until the antes and bring- ins went too high. Going all-in with an Ace showing, Guy was called by Negreanu with Jacks. A third Jack was no help to a Guy. DeFalco left in 4th. Now it was Steen Rassow's turn to have his cards go dead. Unable to catch a pair, Steen was steamed to lose to DiDonato's 8's and 6's. At this point the chips were $77,000 to $41,000 in favor of Ray DiDonato. "I'm a terrible stud player," Daniel Negreanu said. "But I'm 6-0 in tournaments. I've never even finished second." "I never won a hand heads up," Ray DiDonato said. "He caught runner runner two pair twice to take most of my chips." The "terrible" stud player, Daniel Negreanu is on the rush of a lifetime having won a World Series of Poker bracelet at the tender age of twenty. And the child shall beat them.
10th-18th received $468 JJ Volpe, Dave Clack, Allen Green, Miguel Fiatt, Fred Sniba, Tom Noyes Sr, Ken Reed, JC Pearson and Marie Gabert.
Hassan Habib took 1st place and the Tournament of Champions entry in a heads up duel with Lew Spitzer. After Steve Rydel was knocked out, Hassan and Lew played for $1and the TOC seat. They split the rest of the money $8,500 each.
Official Prize Money
11th-20th received $360 Sammy Arzo (CA), Dale Harty (LV), Yong Phan (CA), Robert Toft (PA), Miguel Jacob (Costa Rica), Beth Belzer (LV), Craig DiSalvo (AZ), Ken Buntjer (OR), Gene Bowden (AZ), Victor Logen (TX)
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