| WOG Gets Record Turnout
A door-busting crowd of 847 players turned out for the first event of Winnin’ o’ the Green 2004, $50 no-limit hold’em. It was the largest turnout for WOG, the largest turnout for any Bicycle Casino tournament, and very likely the largest turnout for any tournament ever in southern California. In addition to the tournament room and adjacent lobby, a special tent, part of the main floor and even the employees’ cafeteria were pressed into service to handle the overflow crowd.
Tournament poker is here to stay.
Winner of the opening event was John Spoonen, a low-limit side game player entering his first tournament. Spooner is a telemarketer (a business-to-business telemarketer, not the kind that calls you at dinnertime). When he got heads-up with Bob Eades, an engineer and home game player, they were nearly even in chips--344 to 331k--and the two agreed to an even-money chop.
Not surprisingly, with such a large field and 20-minute rounds, there were pretty much all unfamiliar faces at the last three tables. And almost everyone at the final table actually had jobs, with only one player, Gerry Lilagan, identifying himself as a pro.
The final table got there after William Braun, who is in sales, knocked out Sorin Enache. He had AQ versus10-K, and nailed it with a flopped ace. The final table started with blinds of $5,000-$10,000 and $500 antes, 2:48 remaining. With the blinds increasing at supersonic speed, there wasn’t much room for finesse or strategy. It was mostly all-in and hope for the best, and it took only 37 hands before the evening ended.
The fourth hand, with blinds of 8-16k and 2k antes, saw the first casualty. Oscar Robles raised to 16k with pocket 9s, David Burks, a lineman, moved in for 46k with 10-9 and Lilagan called with pocket 7s. Everyone missed the board, Robles’ 9s won and the lineman went offline in 10th place.
Three hands later Spoonen, with Ks-Js, moved in with a flush draw on a flop of A-Q-3 and two spades. Lilagan called with A-10 and busted when the flush came. Two players left their seats on the next hand. Seth Pennet, a loan officer, anted up his last two chips and was dealt 10-7. Scott Drulias, a teacher, tossed in his last three chips with 9-2. And Stephen Beyer, a construction engineer, found pocket kings in the big blind. The cowboys would have been good enough, but Beyer ended up with a winning straight. Drulias, with the extra chip, finished seventh and Pennet eighth.
Blinds now were 10-20k with 3k antes. Eades raised to 40k holding A-7. Gary Yates, an attorney with a few small buy-in tournament wins, called all in for 34k holding K-5. A board of 8-5-4-10-6 gave Eades a river straight and now five were left. On the 18th hand, Braun put in his last chips, about 22k, with K-8. Robles had only 7-4 in the small blind but ended up winning with two pair. Eades, meanwhile, had started putting in frequent pre-flop raises, steadily increasing his stacks as he picked up blinds and antes.
By the time blinds went to 20-40k with 5k antes, Spoonen had become low-chipped. He began his recovery by going all in for 43k with J-9 and making a straight against Eades. Stephen Beyer, a construction estimator, went out on hand 30. He moved in for 61k with A-6 and lost when Eades’ pocket 8s held up.
Eades had a big lead at this point, but then Spoonen picked up a couple of pots to move in front. On the final hand, Robles put in his last few chips with Q-2. Eades was behind with J-4, until a jack flopped to get the match heads-up. The two finalists were both tired and readily agreed to split and go home. – Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
John Spoonen was introduced to poker about five years ago by a friend of the family, a high-limit pro named Teddy Feldman, and until now his game of choice has been limit hold’em cash games ranging from $4-$8 to $9-$18. He entered this first tournament when a friend called to tell him about the event, and he came with a few buddies.
Tonight he was low on chips in the early stages, then won a few hands and kept going up and up, not getting in trouble until near the end of the tournament when he was all in.
His playing strategy was simple and straightforward: don’t bluff, play big cards and wait for good hands. He said he was pretty calm the whole time, though he got perhaps a bit nervous toward the end with $15,000 on the line. Will he be playing more tournaments now? “Definitely,” he said.
|
