RENO HILTON CASINO SHIFT MANAGER WINS HIS FIRST TOURNAMENT
Playing in only his fourth tournament, Paul Barnett combined impressively solid play with an equally impressive rush of cards in the late stages to capture event 19 of World Poker Challenge, limit hold'em. Barnett, 34 and originally from England, is a casino shift manager at the Reno Hilton.
His final opponent was the much-more experienced Jack Fox, another Reno boy who works as an attorney when he's not making final tables. In early going at the final table, Fox completely dominated the action. With six players still left, he had been unstoppable and had accumulated more than $30,000 of the $78,000 in play. The turning point came a few hands later when Jack flopped a set of jacks against Barnett's pocket aces, only to see runner-runner hearts give Paul a nut flush and a $13,000 pot.
Yesterday was the last of four added afternoon events, Omaha hi-lo. The winner was Carson Ballantine, who collected $7,954 for beating a field of 102.
Debbie Burkhead, assistant editor at Poker Digest, was today's host. In her mercifully brief speech, she thanked the players for supporting WPC.
There were 40-minute rounds for this $300 event. Limits started at $400-$800, 14:33 remaining. Fox started with a slight chip lead, $10,800 to Barnett's $10,200. In a taste of things to come, Paul nailed Jack on the 11th hand by flopping a set, while Fox called him down with pocket 4s. But Jack quickly got his money back by flopping a set of queens against retiree Dave "Tyger" Parreira, and then went on a a tear, relentlessly betting and raising and taking pot after pot.
With limits at $6,000-$12,000,lowest-chipped Dick Turner took his A-9 against Jack's A-10. Two raises pre-flop and Dick was all in, then departed when the board couldn't help.
There was a funny incident later when Fox was heads-up with Svetoslav Nechev. (Well, maybe not funny to Nechev.) Fox kept betting into a board that came A-10-9-9-J, and Nechev called him down. "I have an ace," Fox said. "Ace what?" Nechev asked, apparently so he could throw his hand away, making it seem as if he had a smaller kicker. Fox turned up A-2 and Nechev flung his cards the length of the table, with a jack fliping over. By now, attorney Fox had run his chip count to about $23,000.
Jose Franco, a Portuguese-born dairy farmer, finished eighth. In the big blind with A-7, he added his last $200 and went against floorman Emmanuel Purto who had Q-10 and hit a winning 10 on the turn. This didn't add much to Emmanuel's stacks, and a few hands later he went out when he couldn't beat Nechev's two sixes.
Shortly after, with limits at $600-$1,200, Dave "the Tyger" got skinned. Jack opened for $1,200 with J-J. Dave had A-K. He bet the flop of 10-8-3 and Jack raised. A 6 and a 5 came, Jack put him in on the river, and six were left.
Suddenly, Nechev pulled out a thick wad of $100 bills and put them on the table. "Money doesn't play," said a puzzled Steve Morrow. "Just in case I run out of chips," Nechev explained.
Fox now had about $31,000, but then came the key hand of the night. Paul raised in middle position with A-A and Jack called from the small blind with J-J. The flop was J-4-3 with two hearts. Paul bet and Jack check-raised with his set. Jack bet a Kh on the turn, then checked when a fourth heart hit the river. Paul bet and Jack, pretty sure he was beat, paid him off and watched him turn over two bullets, one of them a heart.
One hand before a break, fireman George McMaster burnt up his last chips when he bet all in with K-J into a board of Q-3-3-6, losing to Paul's Q-5 offsuit. Limits were now $1,000-$2,000. Akiko Fujie, a computer operator originally from Tokyo, had been playing cautiously but now, in the small blind, was all in for $700 with 10-9 of clubs. Jack had A-6, and she busted out when the board showed K-7-5-6-4.
Hand 75 was the last one for Svetoslav. He had A-J, Paul had A-K. Paul bet the K-Q-4 flop, and the turn card ace which gave him two pair. Nechev, dead to a 10, called and cashed out third.
The two finalists started out fairly even, but not for long. On the first hand heads-up, Paul flopped three aces. On the next hand he flopped two pair to Jack's pair. And three hands later, Jack flopped a paired jack, but Paul made a set of queens.
"I'm getting cold-decked," Fox yelped.
By now, Paul had about $64,000 in chips to Jack's $14,000. Later down to $1,000, Jack ran it up to $5,000, but this was no night for miracles. On the last hand, Paul had K-K to Jack's A-6. Jack flopped an open-end straight which didn't close and the casino shift manager had swung his first tournament win. --Max Shapiro |
