Poker Tournament Results

The Mini Series

Estrella Baltazar

Tournament Report

Flopped Straight Propels Star Baltazar to Limit Hold’em Win The 2009 Mini Series of Poker continued with Event #12, a $170 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament. A field of 104 players vied for a share of the $15,132 prize pool. Final table play began with 28 minutes remaining at level 16 with blinds at 4K-8K playing 8K-16K. Pho Van Tran had the chip lead going in with 148,000 of the 728,900 chips in play. Limit hold’em can prove to be fast and action packed as displayed by this final table. We lost our first player on hand #4 when Aurelio Bularan was all in with pocket 5’s on a flop of 3-10-10. He ran into Tony Gordy holding K-10 good for trip 10’s. a King on the turned sealed the pot for Gordy sending Bularan out in 10th place for $265. Just a few hands later Andrew Doerfer held A-J and bet the flop of A-K-A. Rami Zagayer, who held A-K, called him down. Doerfer bet his last chips on the river and Zagayer made the easy call with the nut full house sending Doerfer out in 9th place for $300. On hand #16 Tom Almquist had his last chips in on a flop of 10-2-7 holding K-Q. Star Baltazar flopped two-pair with 10-7 and made the easy call. The turn brought a 9 and gave Almquist a gutshot straight draw. The river came a 7 filling up Baltazar and sending Almquist out in 8th place for $340. The very next hand Tony Gordy was all in during a huge multi-way pot that included Star Baltazar betting each street and Rami Zagayer calling down all the way. Baltazar flopped a straight holding 6-3 on a flop of 5-2-4. Zagayer held pocket deuces and flopped a set but could not fill up sending a huge pot to Baltazar. Gordy did not show and was eliminated in 7th place for $375. Ellix Powers had his last chips in with K-9 and ran into Pho Van Tran’s pocket Aces. The board came 4-9-Q-J-5 and Tran’s Aces held up. Powers was sent out in 6th place for $530. Hand #25 saw William Dannels all in with Q-10. He was up against Rami Zagayer who held 7c-6c. The flop came 8c-10c-9d giving Dannels top pair and a gutshot straight draw. However it gave Zagayer a 10-high straight with a flush draw. The turn came a 9c giving Zagayer a straight flush eliminating Dannels out in 5th place for $680. Benjamin Lin was quiet most of the final table and decided to put his last chips in with J-5. Star Baltazar found pocket deuces in the big blind. The flop came Q-6-10 which was no help to Lin. The turn brought a King giving Lin an open-ended straight draw in addition to two over cards. It was not meant to be as the river came a Queen leaving Baltazar’s pair of deuces just enough to knock out Lin in 4th place earning him $885. We were 3-handed for some time until Pho Van Tran was all in on the turn with K-5 on a board of A-5-6-7. Tran was ahead of Star Baltazar who held J-9. The river came an 8 giving Baltazar the 9-high straight and eliminating Tran out in 3rd place for $1,435. No hands were dealt heads up as a deal was made. Star Baltazar had a commanding lead over Rami Zagayer thus being declared winner of event #12. -- O.J. Alcaraz BIOGRAPHY Star Baltazar works in finance and has been playing tournament poker for 3 years now. You can find Star in the local card rooms playing in a tournament or a limit hold’em cash game. She prefers no limit for tournaments to limit. The biggest hand of the final table was when she held 6-3 and flopped a straight. Star said 6-3 was a lucky hand for her in the past and proved lucky for her again tonight. CHIP COUNTS ARRIVING AT FINAL TABLE Seat 1 Pho Van Tran $148,000 Seat 2 Star Baltazar $145,000 Seat 3 Tom Almquist $39,000 Seat 4 William Dannels $26,000 Seat 5 Tony Gordy $74,000 Seat 6 Andrew Doerfer $55,000 Seat 7 Aurelio Bularan $17,000 Seat 8 Benjamin Lin $80,000 Seat 9 Ellix Powers $29,000 Seat 10 Rami Zagayer $117,000 Chip Variance = 1000