Poker Tournament Results

Winnin’ O’ the Green

Rafael Maronyan

Tournament Report

Rafael Maronyan Goes From Worst to First Last night 250 players competed for $75,000 in prize money plus 250 individual $25 bounties in event #7, a $325 No Limit Hold'em bounty tournament. The final table was set at 1:45am on Level 13 with blinds of 1500/3000 with a 500 ante. Wasting no time on hand #1, short stacked Tony Abesamis pushes all-in from the cutoff position with pocket 5's. Paramjit Gill, on the button, instantly calls with pocket Kings. The board was 8-4-2-A-10 and Gill's Kings hold up. Tony Abesamis finishes in 10th place and earned $940. On hand #13, Spiderman raised preflop with A-Q and was called all-in by Robert Bakovic's pocket 10's. It was a race and an Ace high flop (A-6-3) gave Spiderman the lead. The turn and river were void of 10's (3-9) and Robert Bakovic was eliminated in 9th place for $1,125. Play slowed until hand #32 when Charlie Yenokyan, raised all-in with As-4s and was called by Paramjit Gill's Ks-Qd. The board was 10d-4d-2d-Jd-6 giving Gill the turned flush and sending Charlie out in 8th place for a $1,500 slice of the prize pool. On the very next hand, Ba Minh raised all-in preflop with pocket Jacks. Paramjit called with big slick (A-K) and another race ensued. The flop hit Gill with a A-9-3 and Ba was looking for one of two Jacks. The turn and river were 4-A giving Gill an added trip Aces. Gill is the clear chip leader at the table and Ba Minh finishes in 7th place for $1,875. After getting crippled in a huge pot (hand #42) by Rafael Maronyan's river flush, Theodore Simonson was all-in on hand #43 with less than the big blind and had Q-3. The big blind James Nguyen showed 10-2 in the big blind and the board was J-10-6-10-4. James hit trip 10's and finished off Theodore Simonson in 6th place earning $2,625. Just two hands later, Spiderman pushed all-in preflop with K-Q and was called by William Dolce's Q-9. The flop of K-8-7 hit The Amazing Spiderman and William was drawing thin to runner-runner. No runner-runner on the turn or river ( 9-Q) and both players had two pair but Spiderman's Kings up took down the pot and eliminated William Dolce in 5th place for $3,375. Play went 4-handed for another 35 hands before the final hand of the event. James Nguyen had to sit out on two separate occasions for the F-bomb penalty. He did not direct it at anyone, he was just describing the action (i.e. F'n good call man!) but the rule is the rule and James found his stack paying the price for sitting out. The Bicycle Casino has adopted the new TDA rules for penalties and is enforcing them for the entire Winnin ‘O' the Green tournament even though the TDA has declared the rule changes to go in effect on March 15, 2007 (Ides of March) The new rule requires the player to sit out for one round instead of a set number of minutes. The rule is designed to limit how much damage is done to a chip stack during a penalty, especially at a short handed final table. It is a rule change that is well accepted by both the tournament staff and the players. Great job by the TDA in addressing the penalty situation in a mutually beneficial solution. On hand #79 James pushed all-in with 9-8 and was called by Rafael Maronyan's pocket 5's. The board was K-6-4-6-5 and Rafael's set of 5's is the winner. James Nguyen finished in 4th place for $4,500. The final 3 players reached a chip count deal and Rafael Maronyan, who was short stacked earlier in the final table, was the chip leader and was awarded the title and trophy. Paramjit Gill finished in 2nd place and Spiderman in his 3rd final table appearance in the Winnin ‘O' the Green series, took 3rd place. -Jay'Bugsy' Siegel BIOGRAPHY Rafael Maronyan owns a Home Inspection company and has been playing poker for over 12 years. He plays $20/40 Limit Hold'em exclusively at The Bicycle Casino and plays No Limit Hold'em in tournaments only. He is a former Poker Dealer at the Commerce Casino and has seen many hours of poker being played at all levels of skill. This is Rafael's first tournament win in the last 3 years that he has played tournaments. Rafael would like to dedicate this win to his wife Vicky for all of her support.