BARGE 2000 Tournament of Champions August 4th, 2000 Only nine days after r.g.p'er Spencer "Zorak" Sun was crowned the Champion of Champions (so should we call Chris "Jesus" Ferguson the King of Kings?), he sat down at a tournament that had the exact same format (a mix of Texas Hold-Em, Seven-Card Stud, and Omaha Hold-Em High-Low Eight or Better) as the "real" Tournament of Champions. I'm sure some might argue that the skill levels of some of the players matched those from this other tournament (such as J.P. Massar, who made the final table at the 1999 Tournament of Champions). This tournament certainly costs a lot less than the real Tournament of Champions, but that didn't mean it was any less prestigious because it is part of BARGE, the Big Annual Rec.Gambling Excursion to Las Vegas, held at Binion's Horseshoe. Just over 100 people signed up and sat down to try to be this year's champion. The Final Table was set when J.P. Massar was knocked out in 10th place when he took a pair of threes against Jeff Siegal's pair of fours and Peter Secor's Ah Jc. The flop and turn was Ks Qc Td Kh, and JP can survive with a queen or ten to split the side pot (the second pair counterfeits Jeff's higher pocket pair), or a three to make three's full and win outright. But the river delivered the 9s, and J.P. was out. That left the following players: Seat Name Stack (approximate) Affiliation 1 Jim "Bullbert" Bullard 25,000 2 Peter "foldem" Secor 23,500 ADB 3 Cliff "Deadhead" Matthews 35,000 4 Charles Natkins 30,000 Virgin 5 "Allknight" Adam Bachrach 15,000 6 Jeff Siegal 90,000 7 Don "trythat" Perry 32,000 8 Ross "Roadkill" Poppel 35,000 9 Tony "Karma" Goldstein 56,000 With a 500 ante and the blinds at 4,000/8,000, it was obvious that many players were seriously short-stacked and would have to make their move. After a 16,000 raise by Tony Goldstein, Adam Bachrach makes his, calling all-in. Tony has Ah Td, and Adam Ts 9s. The board comes Jh 4h 5d 3h 6s, and Tony wins with an ace-high. Adam is out in 9th place. After the ante goes up to 1,000 and the blinds to 5,000/10,000, Peter Secor calls all-in for his remaining 9,500. Cliff raises to 30,000 to get heads-up with Peter. Amazingly, they both have presto! Peter has the black fives, and Cliff has the red fives. The board is 7s Kh 8c 2c Ah, and they split the pot. On the very next hand, Peter raises to 15,000 and Cliff calls. Charles, who is playing in his first no-limit tournament ever, re-raises all-in for 29,500, and both Peter and Cliff call (with Peter all-in for 20,000). Charles has 4s 4d, Peter has Js Ts, and Cliff has As 3d. The board is Ks 7s 9c Qh Qd. Charles wins the side-pot with his pair of fours, but Peter takes down the main pot with a king-high straight and has increased his stack to over 60,000. Who says no-limit hold-em is "raise and take it"? After Jim and Don both survive an all-in situation, Jeff goes all-in under the gun and Cliff calls out of the big blind with a short stack. Jeff has As Jc, and Cliff has 8s 4d. The board shows 5d Ts 7s Ad Td, and Jeff wins with two-pair. Cliff is out in 8th place. After surviving an all-in situation himself when his 7s plays and outkicks the board's 6c, but still short-stacked, Charles calls all-in from the small blind after Don raises all-in and Jeff calls as well. Don has Kc Qh, Charles has 9d 4s, and Jeff has Ad 9c. The board is 2d 4h 5c Qc 5h and Don wins with two-pair. Charles is out in 7th place. With his stack being eaten away by the blinds and antes, Jim makes his stand. Under the gun, he goes all-in for 12,000, but is called by both Ross and Tony. They check the flop and turn but when the river comes (board is 8c 9h 7h 5s Ks), Tony bets all-in and Ross folds. Jim has a good hand, Kh Qc, but Tony has 6c 5c for the straight. Jim took the bull by the horns, but is out in 6th place. On the very next hand, Jeff raises all-in and Don calls. Jeff has Ad Jc, Don has Ks Js. The board is As 5s 6c 4c Jh and Jeff wins with two pair. Don is out in 5th place. At this point, by my crude count, Jeff still had about a 3:1 chip advantage over the other stacks, Peter and Tony were about even, and Ross short-stacked. Two hands later, Jeff picks on Ross's big blind and raises all-in. Ross defends, but Jeff has As 7c compared to Ross's Ts 9d, and when the board doesn't pair anybody (8d Kh 6d Js 3h), Jeff wins with ace-high and Ross pops out in 4th place. After the flurry of hands being played as the shorter stacks tried desperately to stay alive, things both did and did not quiet down. We returned to "raise and take it" mode, but two critical hands reduce Jeff from chip leader to second place. First, Peter raises all-in for 49,000 from the small blind and Jeff calls. Peter has Ac 6h and Jeff has Kh 5c. The board is Tc 8c Qh 9d 2s and Peter doubles up with ace-high. Next, Peter makes it 40,000 on the button and Jeff re-raises all-in. Peter calls all-in for a total of 69,000. Jeff has As 8d, but Peter has Ac Th, and the board of Ad 6c 3s 2s 4d means Jeff is out-kicked. Peter doubles up again and takes over the chip lead. By visual inspection, Peter appeared to have 150,000, Jeff about 130,000, and Tony about 75,000. After two steals by Tony, he was up to about 100,000. Jeff's cards now started going a bit dead, and perhaps with that some of his up-until-now superb timing. From the small blind, Jeff raises Tony's big blind all-in, but Tony defends with Kd Jh. Jeff can only muster a Jc 9c, and when the board comes 4s 3d 3c 5d 3s, Jeff is down to 1,500. Jeff throws in that last 1,500 on the button. Both Tony and Peter call, and they check down the board, hoping to eliminate Jeff. The board comes Qh Td Jd 3h 7s. Jeff turns out to have a monster Ac Ks but only takes down a miniscule 4,500. Tony has 7c 8h and his pair of sevens beats Peter's 8c 4s. After surviving another all-in with a pair of tens, Jeff goes all-in from the small blind for 12,500, with Peter and Tony calling. Again the two big stacks check down the river, trying to eliminate Jeff. This time they succeed. Peter has Ad 8d, Tony has Qd Tc, and Jeff has only 7c 6c. The board is 5s 9d 5c Th 3s, and Tony wins with a pair of tens. Jeff is out in 3rd place. Tony now has a huge chip lead, and it's all over quickly. After a limp by Peter on the button, the flop comes 3d 2h 7h. Both check, and the turn is the 2c. Now Tony taps Peter and he calls. The river is the Td, and Tony's 7s 4h makes a pair of sevens to beat Peter's Qs Jd. Peter is out in 2nd place, and Tony Goldstein is the winner. Final Results 1st Tony "Karma" Goldstein $1,435 2nd Peter "foldem" Secor $945 3rd Jeff Siegal $599 4th Ross "Roadkill" Poppel $445 5th Don "trythat" Perry $311 6th Jim "Bullbert" Bullard $222 7th Charles Natkins $178 8th Cliff "Deadhead" Matthews $133 9th "Allknight" Adam Bachrach $90 10th JP Massar $44 11th Peter "Taki" Caldes $44 (C) 2000 Jeff Okamoto. All rights reserved.