| By Debbie Burkhead
Billy Duarte Captures a 1st in Pot Limit Hold Em
The remaining five players in the Pot Limit Hold Em event took their places at the final table at 6:40 p.m. with seven minutes remaining with $200-$400 blinds.
David Karno, from New Orleans, in seat five was in the lead with $21,300, Mark Heintschel, from San Marcos, California in seat one, was in second place with $17,000, Billy Duarte, known to some as Boston Billy, was in third place with $12,000, Doug Kalen, from Berkeley, California was in fourth place with $10,200 and David Levi, from Las Vegas was in a little trouble with $4,800.
There were no casualties in the last seven minutes and at 6:50 the blinds increased to $300-$600.
Five minutes into the new level the two David’s went head-to-head. David Levi went all-in with his remaining $1,600 on the flop and David Karno called. Levi showed A-5 and Karno turned over K-8. The flop was good to Levi when it came A-K-9 but the river came an eight, sending Levi home in 5th place with $2,180.
At 7:30 the blinds increased to $500-$1,000.
At 7:45 the remaining four players took a short dinner break.
Billy Duarte moved up to chip leader with $26,500, David Karno dropped to second with $19,800, Mark Heintschel dropped to third with $11,300 and Doug Kalen was trailing with $7,700.
At 8:15 the remaining five players began play with 50 minutes remaining in the previous level.
At 8:25 Billy Duarte raised $2,500, Mark Heintschel reraised all-in for $3800 more and Billy called. Mark showed pocket deuces and Billy turned over pocket sixes. The board came 4-K-4-10-8 and Mark was sent home with $2,670 for his fourth place finish.
At 8:50 Doug raised to $3,000 and Billy called. The flop came 9-8c-5c, Billy bet and Doug called all-in for his remaining $1,400. Doug showed K-8 and Billy showed K-9 for a pair of nines. The turn and the river card came a 5 and Doug had to settle for a 3rd place finish and pocketed $3,640.
At heads-up Billy was the chip leader with $49,900 to David’s $15,800.
Two hands later Billy and David got involved in a hand that got all of David’s chips in the pot preflop. David showed K-J and Billy turned over A-Q. The board was no help to David and he had to settle for a 2nd place finish that added $6,060 to his bankroll.
Billy Duarte was declared the Pot Limit Hold em Champion and received $9,700 for his 1st place finish.
Billy is originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts but relocated to Colorado about 15 years ago. He is a retired dog breeder, a widower with seven children and 15 grand children.
Billy just recently began playing tournaments and already has several final tables to his credit and two 1st place finishes.
He took a first at the World Poker Open in Tunica last year in the Pot Limit Omaha and a first at the recent Legends in Omaha high.
Billy was bitten by a mosquito that was carrying the West Nile Virus a little over a year ago and it caused him to lose his memory for about 10 days.
Billy was an avid smoker prior to his bite but due to his memory loss he couldn’t remember if he ever smoked, so he hasn’t had a cigarette since.
He also told me about the day he went to play poker during the time of his memory loss and he couldn’t remember if a king beat a jack but apparently he has had a full recovery because he knew an A-Q beat a K-J tonight.
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