GENERATION 20'S ARE FIRST AND SECOND
There were 203 entries, 18 were paid. Total prize pool: $295,365. Each player started with 2,500 in chips so there were 507,500 total chips in play.
FINAL TABLE
Seat/Player/Hometown/Chips
Seat 1 Scott Gottlieb Charlotte NC 14,700
Seat 2 David Plastik Las Vegas NV 64,500
Seat 3 Scott Epstein Las Vegas NV 92,900
Seat 4 J C Tran Sacramento CA 64,100
Seat 5 Brian Bonacci Roswell GA 34,100
Seat 6 Lonnie Alexander Las Vegas NV 73,800
Seat 7 Jeffrey King Colchester CT 22,200
Seat 8 Dustin Sitar Las Vegas NV 32,900
Seat 9 Steve Crockett Costa Mesa CA 67,700
Seat 10 Brian Ahern Beach Park IL 42,400
There were 9 minutes left in the 500/1,500 blinds with a 200 ante.
Rather than wait to get nine handed last night, today's Final Table began ten handed.
But it didn't stay that way long. On the second hand, the shortest stack, Scott Gottlieb went all-in with A Q offsuit. Scott Epstein, the starting chip leader, called with pocket 4's. So we got to nine handed right away. Scott won and Scott lost. Great Scott!
Ten hands later, one of my favorite players (I know I'm not supposed to have favorites) because of his great name for gags--David Plastik, picked up pocket Queens. We had a new chip leader because J C Tran had the pocket rockets to lift David off the table.
Then on hand 19, Brian Bonacci lost with those same pocket Aces. Brian had won his first two all-ins but went to that well once too often. Lonnie Anderson (not Loni Anderson) called Brian B (not Brian A) with pocket 8's. Bonacci knew he lost when he saw the flop of 7 6 5. Lonnie said "Come on, Otis" which mystified all of us until he explained that he was up and down like Otis elevator. Sure enough a 9 came on the river. We started with two Scotts and two Brians. Within the first half hour we'd lost one of each. Odd.
Now I have to tell a sad story. Lonnie Anderson has had one of the best runs in poker for the last six months. He must be able to play, because he makes so many final tables with big stacks. But the guy has no luck when he gets here. Twice in the times I've covered him, Lonnie has started in 2nd and finished in 7th. That's not easy to do. It took a while. Anderson lasted until hand 66, when Lonnie tried to buy J C Tran off the nut flush draw with a K J offsuit all-in. Tran was having none of it. He had the A 6 of Hearts and two hearts on the flop. The Ace high was good without the Ace on the river.
Another guy I've seen a lot of recently, is Steve (not Davie) Crockett. Steve made it to hand 80 when he met his Alamo. His dwindling ammunition made him make a last stand with the A 8 of Clubs from the big blind. It wasn't a tough call for Dustin Sitar (playing Santa Ana) in the small blind with pocket 7's. This is the junk that gets written when I'm tired. LOL.
J C Tran had a humongous chip lead when he took out Brian Ahern in 5th. Ahern played well for nearly four hours without many chips. He had the button and the 10 9 of Diamonds. J C Tran had 'Tran mountain' as the TD called it in the big blind with J 9. The call barely dented Tran's stack and the Jack held up as a high card.
That was hand 98. We were four handed. 72 hands later we were still four handed until suddenly the dam broke and in eight hands it was all over.
First Scott Epstein had the button and sent his last 54k into the pot with A 8 offsuit against the blinds. Tran the Terminator did the dirty with pocket 6's in the small blind.
Four hands later, Jeff King who started 9th in chips went all-in for an extra 50k with the A 6 of Spades. Who else? J C had A K which was very golden.
Heads up, Tran had a 3-2 chip lead over Dustin Sitar. And I had my two GENERATION 20 players in first and second. The money and the chips were about even so no deal was struck. It took only four more hands to have both players flop top pair. The flop was Q 9 2 with two clubs. They reraised each other all-in. The very talented young Sitar, with his 'Unibomber-look' hooded sweatshirt, had Q 6. No chance against the man of the hour. J C Tran turned over another monster--K Q.
I'll do a young guns money update in the next few days when the tournament does it's super satellites in advance of the $10,000 WSOP Circuit Championship.
MikePaulle@PokerPages.com
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