| Brunetti Wins No-Limit!
Franco Brunetti, a real estate developer relatively new to tournaments, went on a tear toward the end of tonight’s $300 no-limit hold’em event to take the chip lead from hairdresser Christopher Bjerke and rush to a win. It was his second tournament victory and by far his biggest cash-out.
Bjerke was chip leader with 62,700 when the finalists assembled. Antes were $200, blinds $600-$1,200, and 9:23 remaining. Ron Faltinsky, a nutritional supplement distributor, was lowest-chipped with 7,300. He soon moved in with pocket 9s, survived against Bjerke’s pocket treys, and after going all in a couple more times, managed to hang on all the way to third place.
Lou Diamond Phillips, the actor/director and avid poker player, was first out. With blinds of 1-2k with $300 antes, poker player Andrew Morgan raised to 6k, Phillips moved in for 15k more and both Bjerke and Morgan called. The board came A-5-8-Q-J. Phillips had pocket jacks, Bjerke won with As-Ks and Morgan mucked without showing.
Bjerke now had over 100k in chips.
On hand 17, Brunetti raised to 6k and animal caretaker Jason “Rocky” Katsutani moved in with his remaining chips holding pocket 6s. “You don’t have a pair, do you?” he asked when Brunetti called. Brunetti had only A-Q, but made a pair when an ace came on the end.
Faltinsky, raising all in for the third time, needed a miracle when he turned over pocket 10s and Morgan called. “Ooh,” Faltinsky exclaimed when Morgan turned over pocket jacks. But the “ooh” turned to “ahh” when Faltinsky got his miracle with a flopped set which then turned into a full house. Two hands later Brunetti made it 6k to go with K-Q and Morgan raised all in for 5k more with pocket treys. “Gotta call,” Brunetti said. A king turned, and now seven were left.
Blinds went to $2,000-$4,000 with $500 antes. Randy Holland had started with 28,800 in chips but hadn’t found much to play and was down to about 9k. Deciding he had to do something, he tried an all-in move with just Q-4. His timing was off because Faltinsky had pocket aces, and now six were left. One hand later there were five. Brunetti tried a loose raise with 10c-7c, and Sarkis Kedjejian made an even looser all-in call with 5-4. The board came 9-9-7-4-A, and another seat opened up.
And one hand after that there were four left. Brunetti moved in with A-J and Andreas Raattamaa, a Swedish pro who split a major pot-limit hold’em event at the Eurofinals three years ago, called for his last 8k with Q-7. Nobody connected with the board, and the ace-high did the job.
“You’re a one-man wrecking crew,” one of the players commented. “My loose image is finally paying off,” Brunetti responded. With about 110k, he had now the lead. But then Bjerke got it back a few hands when he made it three bets pre-flop and Brunetti, the original raiser, folded.
Nicholas Dileo, a pro from New York City, went out right afterwards. “Ace-high,” he announced after going all in against Bjerke with A-7. It was really “ace-low,” because he had an ace with a kicker lower than Bjerke’s A-Q. After the board showed A-K-3-9-4, we were down to three.
On hand 41, Faltinsky moved in for the last time, for 29k, with A-9. Brunetti called with A-5 and Bjerke with pocket 8s. A board of 10-5-4-2-5 was checked down. “I thought you’d bet into me,” Brunetti said to Bjerke after turning up his winning third 5. No matter. He now had 166,500 in chips to 119,500 for Bjerke, and the two ended it with a chip-count deal. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY: Franco Brunetti, who lives in West Hollywood, is 36 years old and estimates that he’s been playing poker for 35. He’s been a developer of both residential and commercial property for six years. His side game of choice is $100-$200 7-card stud. He’s only been playing tournaments for a year, has had several cash-ins and one small win at a Commerce tournament a couple of months ago, which encouraged him to start playing more events. And tonight’s win gives him the impetus to play a lot more, he added.
Brunetti describes himself as a “selective” tournament player. Tonight, he said, he was never in real trouble, though he was a little low midway through. Then he got lucky when he moved in with A-J, got called by Bjerke with J-J, and managed to catch two more bullets. “At the end I played pretty well,” he summarized.
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