|
In the second of our monthly NJFP Bar-Tab
Satellite Tournament, Steve “The Tank” Trank walked
into the final table with a dominant stack of
$28,000 chips, and walked out as our new satellite
champion.
The final table began innocently enough, as two of
the final ten were knocked out in the first three
minutes. Joe “The Lip” Lipari and Rocio Salinas
finished in 10th and 9th, respectively. After that,
however, there was a standstill of the highest
proportions, as they went almost 45 minutes without
anyone being eliminated. Finally, at the risk of
being blinded out, “Julito” Tavarez had to go all-in
with his remaining chips, only to be eliminated by
…. you guessed it, “The Tank”. Julio finished in
eighth place.
Adam Kostad, Top 20 NJFP player and the tallest of
the infamous “70 Crew” (not that that’s saying
much), finished in 7th place, while top 30 player
Luis Abad finished in sixth.
Without question, the “Rudy influence” was deep in
the heart of Jose F. Garcia, as he was stealing
blind after blind with his aggressive all-in,
devil-may-care approach. However, it only takes one
time to get caught, and the man who was second in
overall chips at the start of the final table was
eliminated in fifth place. Our only wild-card entry
in the top 10, Tatyana “The Mad Knitter” Kasmtanova,
who started the day at a disadvantage with only
$1000 chips, got knocked out on the bubble,
finishing in a very respectable fourth place.
And then there were three. Although “The Tank” had a
dominant chip stack, his two opponents were not
going to give up without a fight. “Jumping” Jimmy
Velasquez and Lee “7-Old School” Balestier had
scratched and clawed their way into the money, and
were preparing to make their stand.
In what would turn out to be the hand of the match,
Lee was the first to battle the chip leader, and had
no choice to go all-in with his remaining chips.
Lucky for him, he started with a very strong A-K
suited, heavily favored against Steve’s 5-4 off
suit. Lee was feeling even better after the flop
showed that not only did he pair his ace, he also
caught the nut flush draw. A king on the turn gave
him two pair, certainly more than enough to hold on
against Steve’s measly pair of fives.
Alas, he forgot who was dealing.
That’s right. Rob “Lord of the River” Grosch,
vilified far and wide by NJFP players for the
enormous bad beats he seems to impose on the river,
looked at the glowing and confident face of “senior
70” and silently chuckled, almost as if he knew the
outcome that was about to unfurl. Sure enough, in
front of an awe-struck crowd, there it was …. a five
on the river, giving Steve trip fives and
eliminating Lee from the competition in third place
with a $50 satellite. As the crowd gasped in
amazement, a voice could be heard amongst the masses
… “Yep, that’s about right.”
With Steve well out in front, in almost seemed a
matter of time before he would walk away as the
champ. However, to his credit, “Jumping” Jimmy held
his ground, and managed to make dent after dent in
Steve’s chip stack. At the final hand, an all-in
victory by Velasquez would have given him an equal
amount of chips as “The Tank”, and would have given
us a whole new ballgame. It was not to be, as
Steve’s 10-6 off suit held up, giving Jimmy second
place with a $100 satellite, and Steve first with a
$150 satellite.
Congratulations to all who participated for making
this venture as successful as the first. Keep those
bar tabs coming, and we’ll see you in a month for
“Part 3”.
|
