EVENT #12 LIMIT HOLD'EM
Tuesday, July 18, 2000
$260 BUY-IN w/ One $200 Rebuy
$600/$600 in chips
SHALL WE DANCE?
By Mike Paulle
There were so many chip leader changes and surviving all-ins, this Final
Table resembled a square dance in a mental institution.
There were 243 entrants and 175 rebuys in the $260 Buy-In Limit Hold'em for a
total prize pool of $98,180. Two tables were paid, a total of 20 players.
A beautiful young woman named Justine was ill treated by the poker gods. "I
didn't rebuy," she proudly crowed confident that she would get into the
money. Throwing away pocket Queens, Jacks and 9's in her quest to get paid,
Justine watched in amazement as all-in after all-in caught miracle cards to
survive. Suddenly she was all-in for her big blind and the miracles ceased.
Benny Wan had A 9 and flopped trip 9's to send a chastened beauty to the rail
in 21st.
The Final Table was set up when Mike Marzouq made a move on the blinds with
his last chips. Mike had K 4. Tony Hamilton had an A J on the small blind and
flopped Jacks.
THE FINAL TABLE:
30 mins left of 1 hr. The blind are $1,000 and $2,000
| Player/Hometown | Chip Count |
| Seat 1: Bob Feduniak (Las Vegas, NV) | $8,400 |
| Seat 2: Brenda Jacobus (Las Vegas, NV) | $32,100 |
| Seat 3: Sonny Baza (Turlock, CA) | $18,800 |
| Seat 4: Richard Tatalovich (Scottsdale, AZ) | $21,600 |
| Seat 5: Catherine Brown (San Antonio, TX) | $50,400 |
| Seat 6: Barry Shulman (Las Vegas, NV) | $33,500 |
| Seat 7: Maureen Feduniak (Las Vegas, NV) | $21,500 |
| Seat 8: Chuck Kelly (Bridgeville, PA) | $26,600 |
| Seat 9: Tony Hamilton (Prestatyn, UK) | $16,300 |
| Seat 10: John Esposito (Las Vegas, NV) | $23,600 |
OK, so it wasn't the first time a husband and wife made the Final Table of a
major together. Maria Stern said she and her husband Max have made three
Final Tables in majors together. But this is surely the first time where
husband and wife were the first and second to LEAVE a Final Table in a major.
Brenda Jacobus raised under the gun with A J, Bob Feduniak had only $1,400
left so he called from the big blind with A 7. Both a Jack and a seven
flopped, so Bob had two chances, slim and none. Slim left town in 10th.
Followed soon thereafter by Mrs. Slim, Maureen Feduniak. Trapping herself
with a middle pair, Maureen couldn't let them go against Sonny Baza in the
big blind. With a King on the flop, Sonny bet out. Maureen didn't believe
him. When a six came on the turn, Maureen picked up a straight draw and the
trap was sprung. Now she had to pay to see Sonny's K 6 and got to join her
husband as spectators.
From the beginning this was a very loose table. Chips were flying in all
directions. You had to make a hand, because you were going to be called down.
Barry Shulman wasn't able to make too many hands. The Card Player Magazine
CEO is taking his friendly competition with his son Jeff pretty seriously.
So Barry wasn't too happy with this result. With his last chips, Barry raised
the blinds. Shulman had K J, and as luck would have it, John Esposito in the
big blind had A J.
Maybe a little too patient for this wild game, Chuck Kelly played few hands
and won fewer. Kelly tried pocket 3's as a last shot. Brenda Jacobus had
pocket 8's to Chuck Kelly off the table in 7th.
A WSOP bracelet winner in Stud, Catherine Brown brought a pretty fair chip
lead to this table and was frequently amused by the terrible things that kept
happening to her. Primarily she could get her hands past Tony Hamilton in the
blinds. Overcards, pairs, straight draws, nothing worked. So Catherine was
all-in on her big blind with J 2 when Sonny Baza raised from the button with
A 10. The table had a Brown-out in 6th.
She is never cheated. Brenda Jacobus is an action player. Raising and
reraising, Brenda isn't at all shy about betting. Winning and losing giant
pots made Brenda's stack jump up and down in unison. She had to have taken
and lost the chip lead at least four times. A pivotal hand came against
Richard Tatalovich. Brenda had pocket Kings, Richard had pocket Aces. After
several reraises pre-flop, Brenda said "I guess you have me beat," and
called. With an overpair to the board, Jacobus tried raising again, but the
Aces held up. It was her nemesis, Tatalovich who ended Brenda's evening in
5th with pocket 7's. Brenda was all-in with A 8.
The remaining four players didn't want to pay $5,000/$10,000 blinds without
some money in their pockets. Since they were all very close in chips, a
$15,000 save was agreed to. The winner would get the balance of $9,245 plus
the TOC and trophy.
Everybody had about $60,000 in chips but that's not many playing $10k/$20k.
It wasn't long before WSOP bracelet holder John Esposito was all-in with A10.
Richard Tatalovich had 8's.
Oddly, $15,000 is exactly what Tony Hamilton would have gotten if anyone
would have gone out before him at this year's WSOP Championship. Hamilton
was last out of the money on a series of bad breaks. Tony went all-in with A
7 in the big blind. Sonny Baza had K J and caught two running Kings.
Richard Tatalovich has the nerve of a cat burglar working in broad daylight.
There is something about his table demeanor that works. Richard won most of
the key pots heads up against Sonny Baza to take yet another Limit Hold'em
title. The guy can really play this game. The square dance was over in one of
the wildest Final Tables of the year. All was quiet in the asylum.
Official Money Winners
| 1. Richard Tatalovich | $35,585 |
| 2. Sonny Baza | $18,275 |
| 3. Tony Hamilton | $9,135 |
| 4. John Esposito | $6,250 |
| 5. Brenda Jacobus | $4,810 |
| 6. Catherine Brown | $3,365 |
| 7. Chuck Kelly | $2,885 |
| 8. Barry Shulman | $2,405 |
| 9. Maureen Feduniak | $1,925 |
| 10. Bob Feduniak | $1,445 |
11th-15th received $1,155
Mike Marzouq, Richard Lee, Mike Minor, Chris Compton and Mike Tashman
16th-20th received $865
Ngoc "Jimmy' Tran, Greg Abdulian, Binh Do, Perry Friedman and Benny Wan
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