Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 17:57:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Ken Kubey Subject: [Target] 2014 TARGET Report Hi all, Here it is. The official 2014 Report. The 19th TARGET event was held at the Mirage. Friday, 10:00 a.m. Sandi and I are actually on-time getting to the Mirage. I meet Susan Sandberg, the new Mirage poker room manager. We work out a few details. No, she didn't write _Lean_In_. About 20 of us meet for brunch. Funny how jumpy people were to save $5 by getting to the line early. This year we were all able to sit at one long table toward the front of Cravings. Free beer and wine were available at the bar. Beer at 11:00 a.m.? Sure. --- Back to the poker room we go... Mark Gershoff was the Tournament Director (TD) this year. He was busy running the Mirage's other tournaments, so the dealers and I did most of the actual directing. Again we used Patrick Milligan Tournament Timer. I supplied the laptop. 24 players this year. The tables: Dave Tahajian Len Marciano Ross Poppel Ken Kubey Rod Chavez Russ Fox Patti Beadles Kenny Shei Rick Mombourquette Corey Imsdahl George Wattman Chris Mecklin Barbara Garrett Paul Stine Kyle Minnis Linda Lewis Ming Lee Scott Byron Jack Moser Larry Bierman Arthur Goltz Joe Long Carol Kline Kevan Garrett A $200 buy-in got each of us 2000 in tournament chips. Note: I cursed the random number generator for putting Pattin on my left. Cards were in the air maybe 5 minutes late. 12:35ish. Mom Garrett's A6 looked pretty good on and A-A-X flop, but not as good as Linda Llew's AK! Barbara received an Dollar Tree fish, a $10 slot certificate and a roll of Lifesavers. Dan Goldman had to bail out on TARGET due to being at a WSOP Final Table! Someone (Kenny?) was tracking the action and gave the update: "Someone not name Goldman eliminated." TARGET players responded with "Yay!" Somewhere in here I got a shoulder massage from Carol for organizing TARGET. Carol is now required to attend TARGET *every* year!! I'm doing okay and raise UTG to 500 (2.5) with JJ just as Sandi walks up. Joe Long pushes all-in. I make the call. Joe shows TT (a pair of 10s) so I'm way out in front. A stupid 10 flops and your beloved organizer is sent to the rail. --- Kevan missed a straight draw against Paul's AK on a board of A-K-X-4-X. Kevan was out in 11th place. Final Table: Jack Moser 6075 Linda Lewis 2725 Joe Long 7900 Ming Lee 6625 Len Marciano 2500 Arthur Goltz 7650 Patti Beadles 2700 Paul Stine 6050 Kenny Shei 1850 Corey Imsdahl 3000 No one returning from the 2013 Final Table. Wow! Oh, that reminds me. I plan to write up the 2013 report soon! Three TARGET rookies made it: Linda, Joe and Kenny. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th get $1000 entries in the WSOP. 5th gets $210. 6th gets $75. 7th gets a handshake. The tournament will end when we are down to four players. Final table notes... --- Marciano's AQ falls to Kenny's AT on a A-T-X-X-X board. End for Len in 10. 10th place, that is. --- Corey's jacks need a jack against Jack's kings. Got that? The Kings win again hockey fans. Corey out in 9th. --- Kenny's 88 survives against Jack's AK. --- Patti is knocked down to one 100 chip. Triples up with 83o, but then her QT is whipped by Jack's? 77. Patti subdued in 8th. --- Kenny is jamming right and left. I think partly due to his wanting to get over to the Rio to play a 5:00 p.m. WSOP event. He finally builds up a decent stack only to be smacked back down when his AT loses to Ming's AQ. --- I'm standing behind Paul as he goes all-in and shows me AQo. Looks pretty good against two players when the flop comes A-Q-X. Llew crushes Jack in the side pot with her AJ as Paul triples up. --- Jack is all-in as Ming and Llew check it down on a board that is missing an 8 for a straight. Ming declares "Two pair." Jack shows K8 for the straight. Ming then rolls over his hand 85. No pair at all, but a straight. What was he drinking again? Water? --- Jack finally loses an all-in with 88 vs. Linda's Q3s when a queen hits. Mr. Moser is mowed down in 7th. --- Arthur gets his last chips in good with AT vs. Ming's A7. The flop is safe for AG's AT... 8-6-X. A 10 pairs Arthur on the turn, but that opens the door for a river 9 making Ming a straight and Arthur is out in a flash. 6th place and $75. --- Kenny pushes with AT. Linda calls with AJ. The board runs out with no help and Linda kills Kenny in 5th. $210 for Kenny. --- We finished with 10:53 left at the 500-1000 blind level. Quite a battle! Congratulations to Linda Lewis, Ming Lee, Joe Long and Paul Stine! Ming wins TARGET for the 2nd time (2002). Joe and Linda win as rookies. Paul wins for the first time after some near misses. Thanks also to the Mirage and poker room manager, Susan Sandberg and TD Mark Gershoff who helped set this all up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Several of us went to the Carnegie Deli. $17 seems a little steep for a sandwich, but it could probably serve three. And they are so, so good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to everyone who played in TARGET and a big Thanks to all of the folks who sent checks in early. That really helps me a lot. I tried to shake each players hand after he or she busted out. Every year I think that maybe we should close down TARGET, but then every year it is so much fun that we need to keep it going. I'll be sending out a survey soon. I hope everyone had a good time during the TARGET weekend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WSOP report. Joe, Ming and Paul played in the $1000 Seniors WSOP event, but didn't make the money. TARGET player Rick Mombourquette had a nice cash as did Dan Goldman. Linda played in a $1500 event, but fell short of the money also. --- Thanks to some folks for helping with the set up and for helping get signatures. Let's do this again in 2015. We need more WSOP cashes! Ken Kubey