If at First You Don't Succeed.....
Andrew has a 'Ball' winning his first major poker tournament
Last year, a middle-aged software engineer from San Diego named Andrew Ball
flew into Las Vegas with high expectations. He taxied downtown to the 2004 World
Series of Poker, and chucked his suitcase into a hotel room, then immediately
raced downstairs into a single-table satellite for the next day's $1500 buy-in
No-Limit Hold'em event. He won the seat. Ball's World Series of Poker was off
to a great start. But lightning rarely strikes the same place twice.
The following day, disaster struck. Ball couldn't do anything right. Virtually
every table decision he made was wrong. "Every time I zigged, I should
have zagged," Ball explained about his disastrous first WSOP tourney experience.
Ball busted out early, hung around a few more days, then returned home to California,
disappointed with his results, but wiser for having gone through the experience
of finally playing in a World Series event and competing at the highest level
for the first time.
Exactly ten months later, Ball found himself sitting at the final table of
the $200 buy-in Limit Hold'em event at the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit
event, hosted by Harrah's Rincon. Not only had he made it to the finale, he
arrived with a decisive chip lead. Ball had 65 percent more in chips than the
second-sized stack at the table. It took Ball nearly four hours to bounce every
opponent out of contention, culminating in an epic heads-up battle with a tough-minded
lady named April Solis, from Pacific Beach, CA. Indeed, this final table was
played in two parts - the first two hours during which 7 of the 9 finalists
were eliminated, and the second two hours which featured a back and forth tug
of war of chips and willpower between two very determined players.
Event #2 attracted 203 entries, many of whom braved wintry winds and a rare
Southern California downpour to get to the casino. Some of the roads to the
Harrah's were closed due to mudslides in the area. But the storms did nothing
to dampen the excitement and enthusiasm in the poker tournament room. Day One
lasted 10 hours, during which 193 players were eliminated. Nine of those players,
places 10 through 18 received prize money. The nine finalists returned for Day
Two and players were eliminated as follows:
9th Place - It took a half hour before the first bust out. Oddly enough,
two players went out on the same hand. Bill Croft had arrived with only a few
chips -- $3,000. With betting limits at $1500-3,000 Croft faced a tough challenge.
Although he did manage to survived two full orbits, the odds finally caught
up with the 41-year-old poker player originally from Houston, who now lives
in Las Vegas. Croft lost to two pair, and collected $788 for 9th place.
8th Place - Mark Hayes went out on the same hand. The Chula Vista resident
plays mostly $4-8 limit poker and has managed to win three local tournaments.
But 8th place was as high as he could climb on this day. Hayes, a baker, collected
$1,181 in dough.
7th Place - Eric Saikin is a 57-year-old retiree from Sunrise, AZ. He
has been playing poker for 30 years. Saikin went out next, and received $1,575
for 7th place.
6th Place - William G. Sholz is a high-limit player, who normally sits
in $100-200 games. Of the remaining finalists, Sholtz looked to pose the most
serious challenge to the chip leader - Andrew Ball. But Sholz suffered a bad
run of cards towards the end and crashed and burned in 6th place - worth $1,969
in prize money.
5th Place - Dr. Barton Gratt is a Professor of Radiology at the University
of Washington. He calls poker his "hobby." Dr. Gratt writes fro Card Player
magazine and has authored two poker books - Poker Stories with Winning Lessons
and Paid to Play Poker (both available on amazon.com). Dr. Gratt made an interesting
prediction that 'in 5 to 10 years the WSOP will be the biggest sporting event
in the world, second only to the Olympics." We believe Dr. Barton to be right
in his optimism. Unfortunately, the poker gods did not reward Barton's affections.
He busted out next in 5th place, and collected $2,363.
4th Place - William Guerena came to the final table second in chips.
He was a force during the first hour, but ran out of momentum as the blinds
and limits increased. Guerena was blinded down and played A-7 as his last hand.
Andrew Ball had plenty of chips to call Guerena's final bet with the underdog
Q-J. When a Queen fell on the turn, Guerena was all but out. On the river, an
Ace failed to come for the retiree from Canyon Country. He was gone. Guerena
earned $3,151 for 4th place.
3rd Place - Robert Topham is a 37-year-old poker player from Salt Lake
City. We made it to the final trio, then became the 3rd place finisher. On his
final hand, Topham was pot-committed with Q-5 when a Queen flopped. Unfortunately,
an Ace flopped also, and April Solis had an Ace in her hand. The board showed
A=Q=2=9=4, and Topham vanished. He received $3,938.
The heads-up duel between April Solis and Andrew Ball lasted 78 hands. The high
betting limits meant that winning two or three big pots in a row was all that
was necessary to seize victory. That was much easier 'said' than 'done.' At
one point, Solis took a 3 to 1 chip lead and as photos were being taken of the
two finalists, Ball shouted out "Quick! Take my picture while I still have
some chips!" Then, things shifted in Ball's favor and he had the chip lead.
Incredibly, just 20 minutes after being so close to her first major tournament
win, Solis found herself 'all in' with A-K against Ball's small pair. She was
down to the river card, and desperately needed a King or Ace to survive. Boom!
King dealt on command. The crowd cheered. Solis smiled. Even Ball had to grin.
But the hands won by Solis only seemed to delay the inevitable victory that
was to come for Ball. The crushing blow to Solis' stack came when Ball flopped
a club flush and milked the pot on each round of betting, with Solis painfully
calling all the way and fearing the worst.
Down by a 5 to 1 margin, the final hand of the tournament came when Ball took
K-J up against Solis' K-10. Solis was in a terrible spot. The last board of
the night showed A=Q=6=3=9. Solis had finally been defeated.
"I had a very tough time putting her on a hand," Ball explained in
a post-tournament interview. "She was very tenacious. Against April, I
almost felt like I was playing a game of keno....I'll just call her bet and
hope I hit something."
April Solis, a real estate and stock market investor from San Diego, received
$7,168 as the runner up. Interestingly enough, Solis said she probably would
not have played in this event. But she won a $30 buy-in single-table satellite
and took the seat. The satellite win ended up being worth over seven grand in
profit. "I believe you will see many more women continue to play and win
in poker tournaments," Solid said afterward.
Meanwhile, Andrew Ball was thrilled with his first-ever tournament victory.
"I cut my teeth on the local San Diego games, starting at $3-6 up to $10-20
and now up to no-limit," Ball said. "I came to Harrah's Rincon because
I knew the World Series of Poker Circuit events were going to be held here,
and I felt like I enjoyed the advantage of being on my home court."
When asked what the feeling will be like to drive through the Coastal Mountains
back home to San Diego, nearly $13,000 richer and with a gold ring from the
World Series of Poker, Ball said, "I'm going to be pumping my fist the
whole way. I've always dreamed about winning a tournament associated with the
World Series. And to me, this really is a dream come true."
If at first you don't succeed....try and try again.
Final Table Started at: 4:00 pm PST
Final Table Ended at: 8:10 pm PST
Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director
World Series of Poker Tournament Director - John Grooms
World Series of Poker Circuit Director - Ken Lambert
Harrah's Rincon Poker Room Manager - Bob Corona | 
