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NJFP-500 Tournament of
Winners Results
In the inaugural “NJFP-500 Tournament of
Winners” that took place this place on March 8 and 9 at
Mario’s Restaurant in Clifton, over 80 players battled it out
for the winner take all prize, of a $500 sponsored satellite
seat.
In the end, it was newcomer, Michael “Gray Shirt Guy” O’Hare,
who walked away with the hard fought victory. O’ Hare
qualified at the Colorado Café, and started with the bare
minimum entry of $1500 chips, but by the end of Saturday had
amassed a chip stack of over $22,000.
By the time Sunday rolled around, 80+ players turned to only
18, and the day’s festivities started with the elimination of
what many feel is one of the best players at NJ Free Poker,
Chris “Black Eyed Peas” Van Cleve, who started the day with
only $3000 in chips. Chris decided to push his luck and went
all-in with a pair of 5’s. Unfortunately, he was up against
A-Q suited, and when an Ace flopped, it ended Van Cleve’s
day.
As the tourney neared a final table, some notable NJFP
players were gunned-down one by one. Among them were Wally
“Big 2” Brackett, Angel “The Patriarch” Serrano Sr., and Lee
“7-Old School Balestier”.
Not long after reaching the final 10, another long-time
player was eliminated; Dorothy “The Flag” McGuinness, who has
been making a habit of reaching final tables in big
tournaments, was short stacked and went all-in with K-10, and
seemed to be in decent shape, even with three callers.
Dorothy hit another King on the flop, but unfortunately for
her, Mike “Unabomber” Hroncich rivered a straight, ending
McGuinness’ run in 10th place.
Next to go was Joe Quispe, who started Sunday with over
$18,000 in chips, but just couldn’t seem to find any luck.
With his final $2000, along with possession of the all
important button, he made the … uh … rather curious move of
going all-in with the monster pre-flop of … wait for it … 2-3
off-suit. Predictably enough, he didn’t hit, and he was
knocked out in 9th place.
The next player down was Top-10 poker diva, Kristina Smith.
She started Saturday as one of the chip leaders, and by the
end of the day, her aggressive style netted her ….about $5000
in chips. Still, it was good enough to enable her to survive
until Sunday, where it took Smith no time at all to quadruple
her chip stack and put her in prime position to make some
moves at the final table. With A-Q in the hole, she raised,
and hit a Queen on the flop along with 8-9, which is exactly
what Hroncich was holding, when he made his initial, pre-flop
call. They both went all-in with Hroncich’s two pair holding
up. Smith finished the day in 8th place.
In seventh was John “The Moose” Roos, who began Day 2 with a
little over $2000 in chips, by far, the lowest stack out of
the remaining players. Still, he bided his time, won some
pots here and there, and hung in there to make it to the
final table. But with A-J in his hand, he decided to go
all-in and he went up against the buzz saw known as “The
Unabomber”, who called with A-K. Hroncich’s dominant hand
held up (surprisingly, there were very few “river” cards
cracking dominant hands, even though the infamous Rob “Lord
of the River” Grosch was dealing). Roos finished in 7th
place, and Michael Perrella, a rising star in the NJFP
league, who is quickly making a name for himself as a smart,
tough player, ended up short stacked in the end and had to
settle for 6th place.
A NJFP final table wouldn’t be quite the same without a
little “70” representation; provided by Paul “Primetime”
Esperanzate. He would hang on in this tournament by making
calculated raises at opportune times, but would only raise
prime numbers (his initial “4700” raise would prove to be a
trendsetter for other players in this competition). In the
end, he had little choice but to go all-in with A-9, and when
his opponents’ two pair hit, Esperanzate would exit in 5th
place.
Carlos Maldonado was the next to go, but not before he made
waves, with a great read of an all-in move, against O’Hare.
After O’Hare made a big-stack raise, and after long and
careful consideration, Maldonado looked at this J-9 and
confidently exclaimed … “Let’s gamble”. To his and everyone’s
amazement, he was ahead pre-flop, as O’Hare only had 7-6
suited connectors. Sadly for Maldonado, a 3 to 2 favorite
going into the hand, O’Hare hit the flush, and Carlos walked
away in 4th place.
Then it was down to three: O’Hare, Hroncich, and George Del
Grande. After a long of weekend of tournament play, none of
the three were going to walk away without a fight, and all of
them had a “Let’s play some poker”, mindset.
After 45 minutes of see-saw, back and forth action, it came
down to playing for all the marbles at the same time, as all
three went all-in. O’ Hare’s A-7 vs. Del Grande’s A-10 vs.
Hroncich’s K-Q. Though dominated pre-flop, O’ Hare would
continue his weekend of riding the Irish luck train by
flopping a 7, and after a tense turn card, everyone an
opportunity to win the pot.
Drum-roll please… an anti-climatic Blank on the river, gave
Michael O’ Hare the inaugural NJFP-500 Tournament of Winners
championship, and a trophy to show-off at the Colorado Café,
in addition to the $500 sponsored seat. Congratulations to
Mike O’Hare from everyone at NJ Free Poker.
Thank you to all of the NJFP poker Dealers, for another job
well done, and special thanks to Rob Grosch for organizing
and executing another successful event. Keep your eye on the
website and your email for another chance to play in the
NJFP-500, but first, remember that the NJFP Bar-Tab Satellite
Tournament will lockout at the end of March, and will be
played in April (location, time and date TBA).
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