Franco Brunetti Scores Trophy & Title in $500 No Limit Hold'em Event
There was $90,500 to be awarded in the $500+$50 No Limit Hold'em tournament. 181 players began this no rebuy tournament and the last 18 are going to share in the prize pool. The final table was set at 12:45am during Level 11 where the blinds were 800/1,600 and a 200 ante.
The first elimination occurred on hand #9 when Franco Brunetti was all-in against Brian Anderson. Brian showed A-Q and Franco showed his A-A. Franco's Aces hold up with a board of J-5-4-2-6. Brian Anderson, a professional photographer, finished in 10th place and earned $1,360.
The next confrontation occurred on hand #13 when Randy Holland raised and was re-raised by Ben Gold. All the money went in the middle preflop and Randy showed his Q-Q and Ben Gold was in a race with A-K. The board was A-9-5 and the race was practically decided. The turn and river were 7-5 and Ben Gold's pair of Aces wins. Randy Holland finished in 9th place and earned $1,585.
On hand #31, Tony Abesamis was all in with short stacked Rafael Maronyan. Tony held A-Q and Rafael, a previous event champion, had two live cards: 10-7. The board was 7-3-2-Q-9 and Rafael flopped his pair but Tony turned his higher pair for the win. Rafael Maronyan finished in 8th place and collected $1,585.
Hand #39 proved to be costly for Russ Gallo. Russ found himself all-in with A-J against James Lee's pocket Queens. The flop of A-6-4 put Russ in the lead and the turn 5 extended that lead. But the Queen on the river changed all that and James Lee eliminated Russ Gallo in 7th place. Russ pocketed $2,260 of the prize pool.
Six hands later, Tony Abesamis raised Franco Brunetti. Franco went into the tank and figured he had to call getting over 2:1 on the re-raise for all of Tony's chips. Tony showed pocket 7's and Franco was in a race with his A-J. After some verbal jousting of 'Why did you call?' and 'Why did you raise?' from each of the players the board came A-Q-9-Q-8 and Franco won the race while eliminating Tony Abesamis in 6th place for $3,165.
It was not until hand #55 at about 3am that Tony Nguyen raised preflop to 10,000 with pocket 8's only to get called all-in by short stack James Lee with K-5. The board was Q-9-2-2-2 and Tony was in the lead the whole way and then fills up on the river. James Lee finished in 5th place and pocketed $4,070.
Three hands later, Gary Childress, the short stack entering the final table, is guaranteed at least 4th place money now. Gary called for all his chips against Franco Brunetti's preflop raise. Franco shows pocket 4's and Gary revealed his Q-10o. The flop was K-Q-2 and Gary has the lead. The turn deuce was extended Gary's lead. However, as we have seen a couple of times on this final table, the river is one of the 2 outs that Franco needed…the 4. Franco fills up on the river and eliminated Gary Childress in 4th place for $5,430.
Once three handed, a chip count was calculated and a little bit of negotiation by Ben Gold, the shortest stack, finalized this match. Franco Brunetti had the chip lead and was declared the winner. Tony Nguyen took 2nd place and Ben Gold finished 3rd.
-Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
Franco Brunetti has been playing poker for over 20 years. He typically plays in the biggest No Limit games in Los Angeles. Franco has multiple tournament wins in 2004 and 2005. He felt this win was long overdue and was looking forward to future Winnin ‘O' the Green events. Franco is a real estate broker and played semi-professionally in the 90's but opted for a 'real' job with real responsibilities and has kept poker as a side job for now. Franco would like to dedicate this win to his children, Daniella and Michael.
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