[Report kindly submitted by Max Shapiro]
Miner Digs Way to Pay Dirt!
There wasn’t much finesse to the final event of Winnin’ o’ the Green 2003. It was pretty much bang-bang, all in every hand. Seven players departed in 19 hands, and seven deals later it was over. Rusty Bagaygay had the chip lead three-handed, but after that it was all Michael Fetter, and the man who is a miner by occupation dug his way to victory in the $100 no-limit hold’em event.
Noel Castro finished 11th. He was in the big blind for his last $1,500 with 5s, 6s and Frank Schram beat him with pocket 10s. The final table started with $500 antes and $2,000-$4,000 blinds, 24 minutes remaining.
On hand one, Brian McCann moved in for $15,500 with K-10 and Peter Paik finished him with pocket aces. Brian collected $415. Two hands later Badia Khalil raised all in for $12,000 holding Q-J. Rusty called with pocket 9s, and made a straight when the board came 10-7-2-8-J. Ninth place paid $475.
Four hands later Frank Schram called all in for about 20k with pocket kings after Monty Grinkevich moved in. Monty, holding A-Q, took the lead when an ace flopped, but Schram also made a straight to survive. Ty Methfessel anted his last $500 chip on hand eight. He had only 9-5 to Rusty’s K-J, took the lead when a 5 flopped, but then a river king left him in eighth place for $590. The pace did not slow. On hand 12, Tony “TNT” Nasr called all in for $2,000 with A-6. Paik moved in with J-8 and Tho Ngo called all in with K-K. The board came A-J-6-10-8. Tony took the main pot with aces and 6s, Paik took the side pot with jacks and 8s and Tho took a hike, taking home $710.
On hand 13, with $1,000 antes and $3,000-$6,000 blinds, Paik pushed in his $20,500 with 10-8. Fetter was waiting with pocket aces, and Peter took sixth-place money of $950. The pattern so far had been for Rusty to make nominal raises while everybody else simply moved in. On the next hand Rusty again raised to 12k with Kh, 10h. Tony, in the big blind, had 6-7. But since ‘67 is his wife’s birth year, he decided to call with his last 4k. So much for sentiment. Rusty flopped three cowboys and filled on the river to blow up TNT, who cashed in for $1,185.
A few hands later Grinkevich was also in the big blind, all in with the same “lucky” 6-7. Frank Schram had K-9 and made two pair and Monty departed with $1,660. Bagaygay now led with $96,000 to $77,500 for Fetter and $42,500 for Schram. But after losing pots to Fetter and Schram, Rusty’s chips shrunk. On hand 24, Michael busted Frank when his Ad, 7d held up against K-Q after the board came A-8-6-K-8. Third paid $2,365. Fetter now held a 5-1 chip lead, and he closed things out two hands later, going in with Q-9 against Bagaygay’s 10-9. Rusty flopped an open-end straight but missed and took home $4,615 while the miner had a major win of $8,995.
-- Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Mike Fetter, 40, is a miner who does underground pipe work. Deeply religious, he requested that this biography make mention that he is “a servant of God.” A poker player for about eight years, he plays nooner tournaments at the Bicycle Casino, with an occasional larger event, as well as a lot of Internet poker. This is only his third or fourth casino tournament this year. No limit is his favorite game. He has a win at the Normandie, but his highlight was winning best all-around at the Mini Series last year, which gave him a seat in the WSOP championship, where he finished 19th.
Tonight he made a remarkable comeback to win the event because with three tables to go, he was down t="" ly $50 after his A-Q lost to a paired jack.
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