Raj
Kattamuri Wins $127,016
in His First Live Poker Tournament!
The
final table of the $2,000 buy-in Limit
Holdem event went nearly seven hours before
the winner was finally determined. That
player was 27-year-old Raja Kattamuri,
an electronics engineer from Dallas. Kattamuri
topped a tough field of 174 players and
won a whopping $127,016 in prize money
– in addition to his first gold and diamond
bracelet, which is presented to each event
winner at the Jack Binion World Poker
Open.
A
few minutes into Day Two, Joe Anthony
was the first player to exit from the
final table. The North Carolina-based
attorney says he first started playing
poker with his dad at age ten. Anthony
received $5,081 for ninth place. Daddy
would have been proud.
Tony
Guoga, from "down under" -- Melbourne,
Australia -- went out next in eighth place
and collected $6,351 in prize money. Guoga,
who was making his second final table
at this year's Jack Binion World Poker
Open added another in-the-money finish
to a successful tournament career that
includes several wins on the European
poker circuit.
David
Tran came into Day Two with the lowest
stack, and managed to survive for nearly
two hours before succumbing to his fate
-- a seventh-place finish. Tran, from
El Monte, CA picked up $7,938 in prize
money.
Thomas
Ferguson, a retired coach from Texas,
made his last decision of the night about
three hours into play and went out in
sixth place. Ferguson, who made a final
table here last year, received $11,114.
Yda
McCaskey, from Las Vegas, was the next
player to exit. She has tournament wins
at the Peppermill and Reno Hilton, but
could do no better than fifth place in
this event. She collected $14,289.
Amir
Vahedi enjoyed a stellar year playing
tournament poker in 2003. He started off
the new year with his first final table,
in this event, finishing fourth. Vahedi
was in position to move higher up the
money ladder, but fell short when his
A-K was snapped off by John Esposito's
4-4 when the final board showed K-J-4-5-10.
Vahedi, who made the final table in the
main event of the World Series of Poker
last year, received $19,053 for his performance
in this event.
John
Esposito spent most of the final table
low on chips, that is, until he eliminated
Vahedi. Then, he rocketed up into the
chip lead and took decisive control of
the three-handed play by being the aggressor
and winning several pots. At one point,
Esposito built a 3 to 1 chip lead versus
his two opponents -- Dan Alspach and Raja
Kattamuri.
The
three finalists battled for nearly two
hours before the next elimination. In
that span, John Esposito took a number
of beats that gradually saw his stack
decline to the point where he was the
shortest-stack.
Esposito
went "all-in" with A-10 versus Dan Alspach's
K-Q after the flop came J-10-4, with three
clubs. Esposito
had the Ace of clubs, representing the
nut-club flush draw along with a pair
of 10s. However, Alspach held the K-Q
of clubs, which was good for the “made”
flush. Two red cards fell on the turn
and river, which put the cigar chomping
former winner of the Limit Holdem event
at the 1999 World Series of Poker out
in third place. He was paid $31,754.
With
two players remaining, Raja Kattamuri
started off with a very small chip lead.
Within just a few hands, Dan Alspach seized
the chip lead -- (approx.) $180K to $170K.
Limits were $6K-12K which meant heads-up
play would go quite a while.
That's
exactly what happened as it took Kattamuri
1 hour 20 minutes to win the last pot
of the night:
Kattamuri
-- 5-2
Alspach -- 10-6
Final
Board -- 10-2-2-7-8
On
the hand, Alspach made top pair while
Kattamuri flopped three 2s. Alspach made
things very interesting on the turn when
a second heart fell, giving Alspach several
outs with his 10-6 of hearts. A black
8 fell on the river, giving Kattamuri
the victory with the magical Deuces. Alspach,
a retired engineer from the oceanside
paradise of La Jolla, CA received $63,508
as the runner up.
Incredibly, this was Raja Kattamuri's
first live poker tournament. He started
playing poker online about six months
ago and developed a strong desire to play
live tournament poker. Kattamuri, who
works a full-time job, decided to make
the Jack Binion World Poker Open his introduction
to the nuances of live action, after playing
over the Internet. The decision paid off
royally, with a six-figure win and a place
in the record books as a tournament poker
champion.
-- by Nolan Dalla
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