Barossa / Gawler Regional Final story and results

[Matty Norwood]

On Friday 28th March the first regional final for Barossa / Gawler region was held at the Vine Inn, Nuriootpa. 75 qualifiers registered to take part in the $1000 freeroll tournament, and the chance to claim the title of regional champion for season one of 2008.

The tournament had been running a total of two minutes before Alistair Hunt became the first elimination of the evening and was soon followed by a few more players searching for that early double up. For these players who were knocked out early, three sit ‘n’ go tables were available to them with the chances of winning some prizes supplied by the Vine Inn. Also set up was a spectator sit ‘n’ go table which allowed all who attended to join in the fun and festivities. By the time we went to break, there were 58 players still alive in the game, the average stack size was 3,900 and Les Elliott held the chip lead with 11,000 in chips.

Before commencing the second stage of the tournament, the presentation of the cheques to the regional leader board top five were presented. Heath Siedel received $50 for 5th, Russell Minett $75 for 4th, Gordon Foden $125 for 3rd, Aaron Kleemann $250 for 2nd, and Shaun Dilliway $500 for winning the regional leader board.

Play resumed, and players started to once again feel the ebbs and flows that tournament poker can bring, but the fun continued. As chip stacks built and more were eliminated, the second break was upon us. There were 31 players left, the average stack was 7,500 and Matthew Brown was chip leader with 20,000.

In the third stint, the serious play developed as players started eyeing off final table spots and the cash prizes on offer. A couple of monster pots developed and some bad beats were dealt. As we wound down to yet another break 16 players were remaining, the average stack was now 14,500 and Karl Pech had emerged as a huge threat to all holding the chip lead with 52,000.

Play was hand for hand upon resuming as the players fought for the nine positions on the final table. After around half an hour of play Chris Elliott was knocked out in 10th position and we had the top nine make their way over to find their seats for the final table.

The players and stack size were as follows
• Karl Pech 110,000
• Clint Feltus 32,000
• Gordon Foden 20,000
• Kyle Schroeder 19,000
• Paul Johnson 19,000
• Todd Fullagar 11,000
• Honi Phillips 10,000
• Shane Collins 10,000
• Matthew Brown 4,000

Super TD Darren sat down as dealer and the final table started. On the first hand Honi doubled up as her pocket jacks hit a set on the flop to take down Clint’s two pair. Matt was our first elimination when his Ace Jack was beaten by Kyle’s pocket 5’s which hit trips on the river. Shane was the next to go when he pushed in his stack preflop holding pocket 7’s and was called down by Clint who showed 10 8 off, a ten on the flop left Shane with two outs, neither of them hit, Shane received $50 for his efforts.

The next few hands didn’t provide allot of excitement, but then possibly the hand of the night and the turning point of the tournament was dealt. Preflop Todd pushed his remaining 11k into the pot and was called by both Hone and Karl. The flop showed 4c, 10d, 10c, Honi and Karl check down, turn card comes 5s and once again it’s checked down, now for the river 10s. Honi pushes in her remaining 6k and Karl instacalls. Karl shows Pocket sevens for a full house, Honi shows pocket kings for a higher full house and takes the 12k side pot. Todd reveals the contents of his hand ace 10 of hearts, has hit quads on the river to take the main pot of 33,000
A couple of hands later Gordon is forced all in on the big blind, Clint and Todd both make the call. With the flop on the table Todd pushes all in and Clint makes the call. The cards are tabled and Todd shows two pair, Gordy show middle pair and Clint has a gut shot straight draw. The turn and rive give no help to either Clint or Gordy, Todd takes down a 54,000 pot and Gordy’s night is over.

Next hand Kyle is eliminated when his king 10 is taken down Clint who makes a what appeared to be a tilt call with ace 4, an ace on the turn sealed the deal and ended Kyle’s night and it was down to five handed.

Todd was still on a rush after his quads and Clint was firing bets every where and eventually the two of them clashed paths. After Todd’s initial raise of 20,000, Clint reraised all in and Todd after thinking about it declared call. Clint table Jack 10 off and Todd shows pocket 8’s. The flop, turn and river gave Clint no love and he was eliminated, the pot was worth 123,000 gave Todd a commanding chip lead over the three remaining opponents

Todd took down the next few pots with little resistance from the other players. With one hand left before a 5 minute break Paul was forced all in on the small blind, his pocket 5’s looked good all the way until the river gave Karl the queen he was searching for. Paul was eliminated in 4th place and received $100.

Upon re-commencement Honi pushed her last 15,000 in and Mr. big stack Todd called her. Unfortunately for Honi her 10 5 off was completely dominated by Todd’s Queen Jack. A queen on the flop was enough to seal the deal and we were down to heads up action.

Heads up only lasted 4 hands, Todd was able to push Karl off the first three pots, then on the fourth hand Karl decided to push back and went all in for 50,000. Silence fell over the crowd as Todd thought about it for a while and then announced call. Karl shows Qd 3h and Todd shows Kh 4h. The flop comes down as 10c, 6h, 2h, and no help for Karl king high still in front. Turn card brings 2c still no help. Karl requires a queen or a 3 on the river, once again silence in the room. The river card falls to the table showing the ace of hearts giving Todd the flush and we had our first ever Barossa / Gawler regional champion, Todd Fullagar.

Congratulations and well played Todd.

I would also like to give thanks to the Vine Inn and their staff for providing wonderful service through out the night as well as the awesome room they provided.

Also a ver special thankyou to Garth and Andre who came down to assist myself and Darren in running the event. The help these two provided was extremely valuable and very much appreciated.

matty

[AceLosesKing]

Great night had by all

And in defense of 2nd in the region's poor placing (29th ) I would like to remind everyone that I didn't see 2 picture cards the entire night, until KK in the BB, which was smashed by JJ with a flop of J 5 5. Well done to Todd.

Matty, you forgot a funny story from the FT Gordy raised to 12k on the SB, after the entire table folded, and then BB raised Gordy all in for 14k.... and Gordy folded. Insaaaaaaaaaane.

He was off his face though

[Matty Norwood]

off his face is a gross understatement

[Origami]

Awesome Night...

Congratulations to All

... Todd , Karl , Honi

... Bragging Rights Forever !!