Poker Tournament Results

Winnin' O' the Green

Place	Name	Prize
1	Keith Babols (Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA)	$47,890
2	Robert Fowlkes (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$23,415
3	Bobby Hoffman AKA "mad dog" (Roswell, GA, USA)	$11,545
4	Ernest Bennett (Encino, CA, USA)	$7,700
5	Art Alvarez (Chino Hills, CA, USA)	$5,775
6	Tammy Buletza (Oceanside, CA, USA)	$4,490
7	John Mikaelian (Hollywood, CA, USA)	$3,210
8	David Pearl (Anmaheim, CA, USA)	$2,565
9	Clarence Morse (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,925
10	Henry So (Oxnard, CA, USA)	$1,605
11	Kevin O’Mally	$1,605
12	Vinny Landrum (Canoga Park, CA, USA)	$1,605
13	Leo Kaykov (Glendale, CA, USA)	$1,285
14	Patrick Wachs (Simi Valley, CA, USA)	$1,285
15	Gary Beck (Lakewood, CA, USA)	$1,285
16	Johnny Johnson (Burbank, CA, USA)	$960
17	Khanh Hua (El Monte, CA, USA)	$960
18	Massoud Setayesh (Laguna Hills, CA, USA)	$960
19	Steve Margulies (San Fernando, CA, USA)	$595
20	Robert Madson (USA)	$595
21	Con Che (USA)	$595
22	Duffy Riebe (Irvine, CA, USA)	$595
23	Brian Ellenburg (Valley Village, CA, USA)	$595
24	David Tamiguchi (Torrance, CA, USA)	$595
25	Thomas Lemmon (USA)	$595
26	Bilal Barraj (Riverside, CA, USA)	$595
27	Reza Yama (USA)	$595
28	James Johnson (Orange, CA, USA)	$320
29	Lilan Shapayser (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$320
30	Randy Holland (Winnetka, CA, USA)	$320
31	Joseph Harmatz (Aliso Viejo, CA, USA)	$320
32	Alan Daniels (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$320
33	Long Le (USA)	$320
34	Minh Kha (Rosemead, CA, USA)	$320
35	Andrew Cohen (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$320
36	Arthur Cole (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)	$320

Tournament Report

Bridesmaid is Finally a Bride I've had more second-place finishes than Daniel Negreanu," sighed Keith Babols after he won the fourth event of Winnin' o' the Green, $100 no-limit hold'em, and scored his first-ever tournament victory. Right after blinds went to $10,000-$20,000, Babols, a mortgage broker, caught fire, knocked out two players and soon had more than half the chips in play. Three players were left, and after a few more hands went by, veteran pro Bobby Hoffman, who just moved to Atlanta, proposed a deal which ended the event. Rob Fowlkes, a graphic designer, had a few more chips than Hoffman and took second. "He was just too hot," Hoffman said of Babols, explaining why he chose not to play it out. With 463 entrants and 820 rebuys, the $128,300 prize pool easily exceeded the $50,000 guarantee. Nine players started the final table after a two-table double knockout. Opening blinds were $3,000-$6,000, with $1,000 antes and 18:40 left. David Pearl arrived with a big lead, holding 157,000 chips, but quickly lost two-thirds of them. On hand five he held A-J and was in big trouble when the flop came J-9-8, because Hoffman, with Q-10, had the nut straight. Hoffman checked and Pearl bet 10k. When a 7 turned, Hoffman bet 25k and Pearl moved in. He lost 68k, and Hoffman now had the lead. Two hands later, Pearl's pocket 9s lost to Art Alvarez' pocket 10s, and he was suddenly down to 52k. Blinds were now $4,0000-$8,000 with $1,500 antes. On hand 16, Hoffman raised with A-J from the small blind and Clarence Morse, holding Q-6 in the big blind, decided to call all in for about 30k. The board came J-8-3-K-9 and we lost our first player. After taking the antes and blinds on the next hand, Hoffman increased his lead to about 220k. A few hands later, Fowlkes made the biggest hand of the night when his pocket kings became quads in a pot against John Mikaelian, a gambler. An unusual exchange then came down on hand 21. Hoffman announced a raise, but before he could say for how much, Ernest Bennett moved in. "You're much too excited," Hoffman decided, raising the minimum and folding. A hand later, a frustrated Pearl continued to be dogged by bad luck. Art Alvarez, a stockbroker, moved in with A-K. Pearl called with pocket 9s and busted out in eighth place when an ace flopped. Two hands later, with blinds now at $6,000-$12,000 and antes of $2,000, Mikaelian called for his last 5k with K-9 and was busted by Babols when his pocket 4s held up. A key hand for Babols came on hand 30. He moved in with K-Q and was called by Hoffman with pocket 8s. A queen hit the river, and an Babols excitedly hauled in a huge pot. "Relax, is this your first tournament?" Hoffman said to shut him down. Soon after, Babols made a bad call but got lucky. After Fowlkes raised to 25k with Ks-Js, Babols put him on a steal and moved in with Q-3, then got off with a split when a six-high straight hit the board. Tammy Buletza, a poker dealer, finished sixth after she moved in for 27k with A-8. Hoffman raised with A-J and his kicker played when the board showed 6-4-3-A-3. Hoffman now regained the lead he had lost earlier to Babols. Beginning to play more wildly now, Babols moved in with pocket treys and lost 71k to Fowlkes, who had A-10 and flopped two pair. But then blinds went to 10k-20k with 3k antes, and suddenly everything went Babols' way. First, he moved in with pocket jacks and got called by Alvarez with pocket aces. A board of 10-8-7-9-3 gave Babols a straight as Alvarez finished fifth. One hand later, Bennett moved in with A-8. Babols called with pocket 6s and flopped a set. Bennett cashed out fourth and Babols now had well over 300,000 of the 642,000 chips in play. "You picked the right time to get hot," Hoffman commented, as Babols rocked to the headphone music of Eminem. With blinds so high and Babols so hot, Hoffman proposed his deal and event four was over. -Max Shapiro BIOGRAPHY Keith Babols started to play poker when he was 16, and was taught by his father, Karlis Babols. "If I don't make a final table, then he will," Keith remarked. "I love my pop," he added. Playing in the Bike's weekly tournaments, he's racked up any number of seconds in the past few months, and is relieved to have finally scored a victory. His biggest prior cash-out for second was $3,500 at Hollywood Park. Currently he plays tournaments at least once a week, along with $300 and $500 pot-limit and no-limit side games. He describes his play as conservative. "If I have a hand, I'll come in strong. If I don't, I'll leave it alone." Tonight, Babols was able to score a win without making a rebuy. "At the break, I had $1,600 in chips," he explained. "If I had made a rebuy, I would have only gotten $500 more."