| Edward "Bolivia" Moncada Engineers
First Tournament Victory, Wins $44,800
"Bolivia" Moncada got his nationalistic nickname when a couple of fellow South American players discovered that Moncada's parents are from Bolivia. He was beating a game in California that night, and each time he entered the cardroom again, shouts of "Bolivia!" echoed across the poker room. The name stuck. "Bolivia," who earned an engineering degree from Cal-Berkeley, has been playing poker seriously for two years. He topped an extremely competitive field of 128 players and earned a whopping $44,800 in prize money. But, the road to victory wasn't easy.
Play at the final table started with blinds at $1200-$2400, with a $400 ante.
Michael Bittan, from Northern New Jersey, was the first player to bust out. He came in very low on chips with just under $3K. Sitting in the big blind with A-3, Bittan called David Plastik's pre-flop raise. Plastik, with 7-7, won the pot when Bittan failed to connect with a pair. Bittan recieved $2,176 for tenth place.
"Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis has won numerous poker events over the past 15 years. But he wouldn't win this one. "Syracuse" Chris put his last chip into the pot from the big blind with 6-7, versus Bill Johnson's 6-6. A seven failed to materialize for the Greek from Syracuse, which meant the equivalent of $3,200 in drachmas for Tsiprailidis.
"Big Jim" Schmidt, from Spokane, WA was also low on chips most of the night. He made his final stand with K-8, but lost to an Ace-high. "Big Jim" hobbled away from the final table in eighth place, with $3,840.
Atlantic City local Sanjay Pandya was the victim of one of the worst beats of the night, when his 9-9 lost to an underpair. Pandya moved all-in pre-flop and was called by David "the Beatmaster" Plastik with 6-6. Miraculously for Plastik, he caught a six on the river, and busted Pandya out in seventh place. The finish paid Pandya $4,860.
New Yorker, Earl "Hardnuts" Brown hung on for nearly two hours before he finally was forced to call "all in" with K-10. Unfortunately, "Hardnuts" Brown went soft when he realized his hand was dominated versus Matt Glantz' A-K. Brown failed to catch a much-needed ten, which meant a sixth place finish and $5,760 in winnings for the player who has many final table appearances at local tournaments played here in Atlantic City.
One of the most interesting hands at the final table occurred when Matt Glantz got into a big confrontation against two players -- David Plastik and "Bolivia" Moncada. Glantz tripled-up with K-K versus Plastik's A-K and Bolivia's J-8 suited. Suddenly, Glantz had rocketed up close to the chip leader (still, Bolivia with about 90K).
David Plastik's roller coaster ride at the final table finally flew off the tracks when he moved all-in with Q-7 after a flop of A-7-4. Bill Johnson, who had steadily increased his stack during the early rounds, was delighted to call with top pair (A-10), which meant Plastik was drawing slim. The pair of Aces held up for Johnson, melting Plastik in fifth place with $7,040.
Matt Glantz made all the right moves during most of his time at the final table. But he finally made a wrong one when he called a raise by Kenny Goldstein. Glantz, with K-J faded a raise by Goldstein, who showed Q-Q. Glantz failed to connect with his hand, and exited in fourth place, good for a $8,960 payday.
With three players remaining, the chip counts stood as follows:
Johnson -- $165K
Bolivia -- $65K
Goldstein -- $90K
With blinds at $2,000-$4,000 (and antes at $500) things changed very quickly when "Bolivia" made a $15K pre-flop raise with A-K. Johnson aggressively re-raised all-in with K-Q, and Bolivia quickly called. Although Johnson was a big dog, he did pick up a huge draw with a high club in his hand, when the flop came with all clubs. But two low red cards fell on the turn and river respectively, which meant "Bolivia" had completely turned the tables around on Johnson. Now, it was "Bolivia" with the chip lead.
Bill Johnson, from Ohio, survived three all-ins early on -- then, zoomed into the chip lead for over an hour -- before he finally lost the key hand during which he was eliminated from the tournament. He tried to make a move with A-9 and was called by Kenny Goldstein, with K-10 after the flop came K-J-3. Johnson failed to hit his Ace and departed in third place with $11,500. Incredibly, Johnson just started playing no-limit hold'em tournaments last week. Odds are, this won't be his last. The gentleman from Ohio took $11,500 back to the Buckeye State.
"Bolivia" Moncada enjoyed nearly a 2 to 1 chip advantage on the final hand of the night. Both players played the final deal cautiously until the river card made two-pair for both players. Then, a flurry of chips went into the pot and "Bolivia showed the better hand. It all started when "Bolivia" was dealt K-3 suited. Goldstein, with 6-3, checked behind his opponent when the flop came Q-J-3. A King fell on the turn, giving "Bolivia" the higher pair (Kings versus 3s). When a 6 rained down on the river, that card gave both players two pair -- Goldstein's 6s and 3s versus "Bolivia's" Ks and 6s. “Bolivia” was the winner. He was thrilled with his victory and waved to the cheering crowd, assembled inside the third-floor ballroom of the Sands Casino.
Stan Goldstein, from Los Angeles, collected $23,040 for second place. Meanwhile, "Bolivia" Moncada recieved $44,800 for first place in what was his first major tournament victory. "I know one thing for sure," Moncada said. "I'm definitely the best poker player here who's Bolivian."
Who can argue with that?
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