EVENT #4 NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
Monday March 20, 2000
$100 BUY-IN w/ one rebuy
$500/$800 in chips
$20,000 Guarantee
THE NAMES STRIKE BACK
By Mike Paulle
There's a reason many experienced tournament players love No Limit. You can
protect your good hands with a big bet that denies the players behind you
sufficient pot odds to call. Tonight, seven of the nine players at the Final
Table were well-known.
There were 179 entrants and 142 rebuys in the $100 Buy-In, No Limit Hold'em,
for a total prize pool of $32,100. 2 tables were paid, a total of 18 players.
Some of the Notables who played: Eskimo Clark, Mario Esquerra, Brent Carter,
Phillip Luong, David Pham, Allen Cunningham, Randy Holland, Greg Hopkins,
Michael Konik, Dan Heimiller, Amazon Alps, David Plastik, Anthony Tran, Earl
Kim, Chris Roulier, Andre Maloof, Bev Kruksol, Hasan Habib, Jun Sin, David
Levi, Brandon King, Spring Cheong, Van Pham, Gary Lent, Gary Solomons, Dan
Lumello, Danny Morgan, Sirous B, Johnny One, Danny Lewis, Ken Goldstein, Ron
Ryneal, Jun Parado, Brenda Nelson, Tom Honkawa, Charlie Satoot, Minh Li,
Frank Rite, Herb Stein, Sophin Chea, George Marlowe, John Henson, Albert Umel
and Zena the Warrior Princess.
The dubious one-out-of-the-money award went to Phil Sandela when he took
pocket Jacks up against Marsha Waggoner's pocket Kings.
To set up the Final Table: David Hoekstra was basically blinded off in 10th.
All-in for his big blind, David found pocket 3's which lead on the flop.
Macram Merhom had called with K 9 and turned a 9.
FINAL TABLE:
26 mins left of 40. The ante is $100. The blinds are $500/$1,000
| Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1 Restie Bagaygay | Diamond Bar CA | $25,400 |
| Seat 2 Don Bitler | Scottsdale AZ | $24,600 |
| Seat 3 Toto Leonidas | Arleta CA | $43,800 |
| Seat 4 Chris Sinclair | London UK | $17,200 |
| Seat 5 Kathy Liebert | Las Vegas NV | $29,600 |
| Seat 6 Bobby Hoffman | Inglewood CA | $22,500 |
| Seat 7 Marsha Waggoner | Downey CA | $12,100 |
| Seat 8 Macram Merhom | Los Angeles CA | $8,700 |
| Seat 9 Bill Gazes | Los Angeles CA | $20,000 |
Known primarily as a backer of players, Chris Sinclair in 9th may have to
back himself more often. Chris has only been playing tournament poker for a
year and this is his first Final Table in a major. Sinclair reraised a Bill
Gazes raise of $4k in middle position all-in for $14k on the button with A
10. After a few minutes thought, Gazes called with an A Q that held up.
"What took you so long? Marsha Waggoner asked. When Marsha went all-in for
$11,5k and an A J, the always deliberate Bill Gazes studied his hand as if he
had a tough call.
When Gazes turned over the A K of Spades, Waggoner wondered out loud why he
was so hesitant to send her home in 8th place.
Now the lowest stack on the table, Macram Merhom took a shot with A 7 in the
big blind for his last $4,6k. Bill Gazes completed a trifecta with yet
another A K, eliminating the first three players in a row.
The antes were $200 and the blinds $1k/$1,5k now so the talkative Bobby
Hoffman, with only $10,6k left, tried to buy a pot with an all-in raise and
the 8 6 of Clubs. Restie Bagaygay in the big blind with pocket 8's wouldn't
hear of such a steal attempt. "I misread my hand," the voluble Hoffman fibbed
as he left in 6th.
Solid play can only get you so far in a tournament; eventually you have to
get lucky as well. Don Bitler saved chips all night with his patient play and
good reads, but when Restie Bagaygay raised $4k on the button, Bitler went
all-in for $9,5k in the small blind with pocket Jacks. Restie turned over
pocket Queens and Don bit the dust in 5th.
Hopefully Kathy Liebert will tell the story of her knockout hand on the
Internet as she, understandably, doesn't appreciate poker writers speculating
on her motives. I'll tell you what I saw without speculating. Kathy raised to
$4k. Restie Bagaygay, in the big blind,
went all-in with more chips than Liebert had. Quickly, Kathy called all-in
with pocket Jacks. Restie turned over pocket Kings. Kathy Liebert finished
4th.
With about half the chips now, Restie Bagaygay became the chip bully raising
and going all-in repeatedly. This forced Bill Gazes and Toto Leonidas to fold
just as often. Neither wanted to be the first to stand up to Restie and be
the next one out. Finally, Gazes took a stand with A 9 on the button.
Bagaygay called the $20k with the J 5 of Hearts. When a 5 flopped, Bill Gazes
at 3rd place.
The difference between 1st and 2nd was $6,420. Toto Leonidas had a problem
getting any more than 2nd, Restie Bagaygay had a 20-1 chip lead. Toto managed
to double through twice and settled for $8,000 in a deal. Restie took $11,260
and the title.
An all-star Final Table closed for business at 3:45 am.
Official Money Winners
1. Restie Bagaygay $12,840
2. Toto Leonidas $6,420
3. Bill Gazes $3,210
4. Kathy Liebert $2,085
5. Don Bitler $1,605
6. Bobby Hoffman $1,125
7. Macram Merhom $805
8. Marsha Waggoner $640
9. Chris Sinclair $490
10th-18th received $320
David Hoekstra, John Chan, Marc Leme, Pat Flanagan, Freddie Legaspi,
Greg Wynn, Debbie Landon, Alfredo Moreno and Emil Calitis
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