Poker Tournament Results

Big Poker Oktober

Place	Name	Prize
1	Yehoshua Levi (Van Nuys, CA, USA)	$19,597
2	Lawrence Fujii (Henderson, NV, USA)	$9,750
3	Ut Nguyen (Downey, CA, USA)	$4,765
4	Robert Campbell, Jr (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$3,180
5	Jesus Delgadillo (Downey, CA, USA)	$2,385
6	Chris Zurawski (Glen Ellyn, IL, USA)	$1,855
7	Dimitrios Karambelas (la Marada, CA, USA)	$1,325
8	Eulises Molina Sandoval AKA "Taxi" (Bellevue, WA, USA)	$1,060
9	Anton Ulker (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$795
10	Evan Wallack (Bristow, VA, USA)	$660
11	Mark Halfon (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA)	$660
12	Jason Payne (Brampton, ON, Canada)	$660
13	Chau Nguyen (La Puente, CA, USA)	$530
14	Joe Saccone (Venice, CA, USA)	$530
15	Ron Sohrabi	$530
16	Kurt Lohse (Ladera Ranch, CA, USA)	$450
17	Frank Corrales (Pico Rivera, CA, USA)	$450
18	Ronny Mirel (Beverly Hills, CA, USA)	$450
19	Travis Green (Irvine, CA, USA)	$370
20	Pearl Driz (USA)	$370
21	Chris "The Armenian Express" Grigorian (Panorama City, CA, USA)	$370
22	Stephane Fitoussi (Oxnard, CA, USA)	$370
23	Tony Tolentino (Norwalk, CA, USA)	$370
24	Doug Xu	$370
25	Joseph Harmatz (Aliso Viejo, CA, USA)	$370
26	Ben Cerda	$370
27	Daniel Bohnett (Northridge, CA, USA)	$370
28	Moshe Manzori	$370

Tournament Report

Another Final Table for Josh Levi – This Time 1st Place Event #15 of Big Poker October drew 273 players to eclipse the $30,000 prize pool guarantee by over 70%. The no-rebuy event narrowed the field down to the final nine players at about 4:15am when a double knockout sent two players to the rail. The final table convened midway through level 16 where the ante was 2000 and the blinds were 6000/12000. There was no talk of a chip count initially since the short stacks were looking at a $795 payday and 1st place had $19,597. The first elimination occurred on hand #5 when Anton Ulker was all-in from the button with A-7o and was called by the big blind Taxi Sandoval with a dominated A-6o. The flop was K-9-5 and Anton extended his lead. The turn 6 paired Taxi and put him in the commanding lead leaving Anton with three outs. The river 10 missed Anton and he was eliminated in 9th place earning $795. The following hand dealt a firm blow to Taxi's big stack. Taxi had Chris Zurawski covered and all-in. Taxi was holding J-J and Chris was a 2:1 dog with A-T. The board was A-K-7-9-7 and Taxi had to ship half of his stack to Chris. On hand #22 Josh Levi had Robert Campbell tangled in a big pot. Robert had the slight lead in this race with pocket 8s. Josh's A-Q hit the flop of Q-5-4. Robert had two out twice but the turn 3 and river Jack gave Josh the pot. The last hand of the final table occurred about 5:45am when Taxi Sandoval pushed his last 84,000 into the pot with K-Q. He was called by the big blind Ut Nguyen with an Ah-Jh. The board helped nobody with a 8-6-3-7-2 and Ut's Ace high was the winning hand. Taxi Sandoval of Bell Gardens finished in 8th place and earned $1,060. The final seven players played for another five hands and decided to have a chip count calculated. The numbers came back and it was approaching 6am when each player accepted the deal and Josh Levi was the chip leader and declared the victor. -- Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel BIOGRAPHY Josh Levi is a construction contractor who usually plays the $300-$500 No Limit cash game at The Bike but occasionally plays tournaments. He placed 2nd in the first event of the Big Poker Oktober series where he outlasted almost the entire 829 player field. Josh was a professional Soccer Player in Israel prior to moving to the U.S. where he played semi-pro ball in 1995. He has three children and notes that his family is his proudest accomplishment. Josh was on the short stack in the early stages of the tournament but made a good comeback and held that lead during most of the final table.