Mariealena!
Mariealena! Mariealena!
Mariealena
Calabrese has been around the poker scene
for ten years. She started out playing
poker in Atlantic City a decade ago and
gravitated to playing in bigger cash games
around the country in recent years. However,
up until tonight � Calabrese had not won
a major tournament. That all changed on
a wintry night in Tunica, when Calabrese
topped a highly competitive field and
captured first place and $29,732 in the
Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better event
at the 2004 Jack Binion World Poker Open.
Avner Levy, the too-often out-of-control
ex-tennis pro turned poker madman, arrived
at the final table with the chip lead.
However, since betting limits started
at $1K-2K. even Levy � with $19K � was
vulnerable to extinction. In short, it
was anyone�s tournament to win when play
resumed on Day Two.
Three
hands into play a big hand came when Chris
Bjorin started with (A-A) 6 and ran into
a roaring freight train � Tony Guoga�s
rolled-up 3s. Amazingly, Bjorin caught
a third Ace on fourth- street, and had
the advantage. But Gunga managed to snap
a pair of 9s on sixth-street to go with
his trip 3s � for a full house. Bjorin
was �all-in� and caught a life-saving
pair on the final card to make a higher
full house. As it turned out, that would
prove to be a $15,000 card.
About 15 minutes later, Bjorin eliminated
two players in a single hand. 1998 World
Champion Scotty Nguyen had been �all-in�
three times and survived, but his luck
ran out when he started with split Kings
against two players � Tony Guoga�s split
Aces and Bjorin�s straight-flush low draw.
Guoga was also �all-in� by fifth street
and the hands were dealt out as follows:
Nguyen
� (K-2) K-3-2-6 (3) -two pair, Ks and
2s-
Bjorin � (7h-5h) 8h-3h-10h-6 (x) -heart
flush, 8-low-
Guoga � (A-Q) A-3-4-6 (6) -two pair, As
and 6s-
Nguyen,
who has won numerous poker tournaments
in his illustrious career took eighth
place and $2,230. Guoga had slightly more
chips than Nguyen and finished in seventh
place. Tony Guoga, from Melbourne, Australia
went down under with $2,973.
Brent
L. Carter survived his first �all-in�
and won a big three-way pot when he made
a 7-high straight, cutting deeply into
Mickey Seagle�s stack. Seagle split several
pots and managed to survive on a low stack
until winning a huge pot against Mariealena
Calabrese and Captain Tom Franklin, with
a flush. Meanwhile, Mr. Dynamite, Avner
Levy survived a rough first hour, then
exploded � increasing his chip lead from
$19K at the start, to $51K as the players
went on a short break.
Limits increased to $2K-4K, and Captain
Tom Franklin was on life support. Franklin
took a number of beats at the final table
and was down to just $2K when he exited
in sixth place. Franklin, who won an Omaha
event at the 1999 World Series of Poker
and has a whopping 48 tournament wins
in his career, could do no better than
sixth place in this event. He collected
$3,717.
Las
Vegas pro Mickey Seagle went out next
when he made two small pair against Avner
Levy�s higher two pair. Seagle, who finished
second in a holdem event at the World
Series of Poker in 2001, and made two
final tables at the JBWPO last year, added
a fifth-place finish to his record and
received $4,460.
Levy
lost two key hands in a row � to Chris
Bjorin and Mariealena Calabrese, which
ripped half of the chips out of his stack.
At that point, all four players were very
close in chips. Disaster continued for
Levy, who then missed a low-draw against
Brent L. Carter, and was suddenly down
to just $8K. It was a stunning 15-minute
reversal for Levy, who looked like the
player to beat mid-way through the finale.
Levy finally went out a short time later
when he completely missed and showed (5-2)
6-Q-J-8 (9) as his final hand. Levy, who�s
trademark line after winning a big pot
is �Come to Pappa,� won the $1,000 Limit
Holdem event at last year�s JBWPO. �Pappa�
was given $5,203 for fourth place.
Mariealena
Calabrese now had the chip lead with three
players remaining. Thirty minutes later,
she won a $35K pot at Brent L. Carter�s
expense, with a flush � leaving Carter
with just $10K, which was just enough
chips commit to one final hand. Limits
had increased to $3K-6K and Carter made
his final stand with a powerhouse hand,
rolled-up Queens. Incredibly, the (Q-Q)
Q failed to improve, while Chris Bjorin
managed to take a starter of (7-5) 5 and
turn it into a heart flush. Brent L. Carter,
from Treasure Island, FL was making his
second final table appearance at this
year�s tournament. He received $8,920
for third place.
Mariealena
Calabree started heads-up play with a
commanding 8 to 1 chip lead versus Swedish-born
ex-patriot now living in England � Chris
Bjorin.
It
took 1 hour and 15 minutes before the
final hand was dealt:
Bjorin
� (K-3) K-2-4-6 (6)
Calabrese � (K-J) J-10-7-K (7)
Bjorin
was �all-in� on sixth-street. Calabrese�s
two pair, Ks and Js topped Bjorin�s two
pair, Ks and 6s. Bjorin, who has won several
major poker tournaments, collected $17,096
as the runner-up.
With
her victory, Calabrese became the third
woman to win an open event in the five-year
history of the JBWPO. She joins Melissa
Hayden (2000) and Cecilia Mortensen (2003)
as the previous female champions.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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