The Final Day of the $10,000 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star
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| Ted Forrest Wins! | |
Saturday, 17th of March 2007 02:21 AM
In a nine-hour plus final table (the longest in WPT history) and an epic two-and-a-half hour heads-up match, Ted Forrest prevails to win his first World Poker Tour title. Ted Forrest is our champion and wins $1,100,000 + a $25,500 WPT Championship entry + the $5000 bounty for knocking out J.J. Liu!Saturday, 17th of March 2007 02:13 AM
And we're done! Ted Forrest pushed all-in preflop and J.J. called. Ted showed 7 7 against J.J.'s A 8 . The board never connected with J.J.'s overcards, as it came 4 5 Q 4 7 . Ted rivers a full house and eliminates J.J. Liu.
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| J.J. Liu, 2nd place | |
J.J. Liu finished in 2nd place and wins $600,000.
Saturday, 17th of March 2007 02:09 AM
J..J. calls the big blind and Ted checks. On the flop of 5 2 2 both players check. On the T turn, Ted checks, J.J. bets 500K and Ted calls. On the 7 river, Ted bet 900K and J.J. eventually calls. Ted flips over Q 2 . He flopped trips. J.J. mucks.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 02:04 AM
J.J. moved all-in again and this time Ted called. J.J had K J and Ted had K T . The board came 9 5 3 J 9 and J.J. doubles up to nearly 3M.Blinds are now up to 200K/400K with a 50K ante. Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:58 AM
Now J.J. has moved all-in but Ted decided to fold and wait for a better hand.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:56 AM
J.J. raised to 480K and Ted called. The flop came A K 7 . Both players checked. On the T turn, Ted bets 300K and J.J. called. On the 2 river, Ted immediately declared "All-in". J.J. went into the tank, removed the sunglasses, and started talking to herself, and finally made the big call, showing Q J for the nut straight. But Ted forcefully tabled K 5 and rivered the nut flush. Ted is now the runaway chip leader and J.J. is in big trouble with just 800K left.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:50 AM
In the first hand after the break, J.J. called and Ted moved all-in. No call.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:48 AM
We are about to get started finally. Matt Savage just joked that he has just taken the cards "out of the freezer". J.J. Liu leads Ted 5M to 4M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:36 AM
We are on another short break. Is the sun rising yet on the east coast?Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:29 AM
Just going back and forth some more. J.J. has 4.8M to Ted's 4..2M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:27 AM
Ted raised to 480K and J.J. moved all-in. Ted folded. We have played a WPT-record 245 hands now and we are 8.5 hours in.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:24 AM
Ted moved all-in preflop but didn't get called.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:22 AM
At these blind levels, nearly 5% of the overall chips are in the pot before anyone bets. That's significant.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:19 AM
J.J. just took down a pot of 1.0M when her turn bet went uncalled. We are nearly even in chips again.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:18 AM
The blinds are now up to a whopping 120K/240K with a 30K ante.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:16 AM
On a 2 3 7 flop, Ted checked, J..J. bet 160K, and Ted check-raised to 460K. J.J. released her hand.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:12 AM
Ted raised to 400K and J.J . called. The flop came J A 4 . J.J. led out with 300K and Ted made the call. With the 9 turn, J.J. checked, Ted bet 700K and J.J. folded. Ted Forrest has taken the chip lead.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:08 AM
We are back to being dead even in chips (actually J.J. is ahead by 40K).Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:04 AM
J.J. raised to 350K and Ted called. The flop came 8 2 5 . Ted led out with 275K and J.J. folded.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 01:01 AM
It's one in the morning here. Holy crap!Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:58 AM
Ted raised to 350K and J.J. called. On the K 6 6 flop, J.J. checked, Ted bet 300K, and J.J. folded. We are nearly dead even in chips now.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:53 AM
Ted is working his way back up. The chip differential has narrowed substantially. J.J. has 4.8M to Ted's 4.2M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:48 AM
We just reached the 80K/160K level with a 20K ante.On the first hand, it was an unraised pot and the flop came 4 6 8 . Ted checked, J.J. bet 300K, and Ted moved all in for 2.95M. J.J. sat in contemplation and removed her sunglasses. Ted sat motionless. Finally, she folded. Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:45 AM
Ted won a 1M pot when his jack made top pair.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:39 AM
J.J. continues to grind Ted down. He's nowhere near the danger zone, but he has to be watchful of his dwindling stack size.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:36 AM
J.J. with about 6M to Ted's 3M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:34 AM
They are taking turns raising and folding. We have now played 200 hands at this final table.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:31 AM
J.J. Liu has about 5.5M versus Ted Forrest's 3.5M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:29 AM
Now Ted has won two pots by betting or raising on the flop.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:26 AM
OK, so the pattern has been that J.J. wins the vast majority of the pots, but Ted wins the big ones. Taken all together, Ted is more or less staying even in his chip count.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:23 AM
J.J. called the big blind, Ted mini-raised to 200K and J.J. called. The flop came 6 5 4 , Ted led out with 300K and J.J. called. The turn was K and Ted bet 750K. J.J. folded.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:19 AM
They have exchanged betting and folding for two hands. J.J. still has a substantial chip lead, around 5.7M versus 3.3M.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:16 AM
The tournament director has announced that we have one more hand at 30K/60K and then we will be at 50K/100K with a 10K ante.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:07 AM
We are on a short break now. We are nearly seven hours in now and have played about 185 hands.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:05 AM
Ted just took down a big pot. He bet 400K on the 9 8 7 flop and got called. On the 2 river, he bet a million and that was too much for J.J., who folded.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:03 AM
Now he just folded the button. Bizarre action from a strong heads-up player.Saturday, 17th of March 2007 12:01 AM
I can't believe how many times Ted has just called from the button, only to fold to a big preflop raise by J.J. Liu. It must somehow be part of his master plan.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:59 PM
This time, Ted raised to 150K preflop and J.J. called. The flop came A 8 J , J.J. checked, Ted bet 300K and got called. On the 6 turn, she check-called 600K. Then, on the 9 river, she checked again and Ted pushed out one million. After thinking for a couple minutes, J.J. decides to make the call. They show: Ted has A 7 and J.J. has A 3 . The 7 doesn't play and we have a split pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:54 PM
J.J. Liu repeatedly has raised preflop and Ted Forrest repeatedly folds. Ted is giving her a lot of respect now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:49 PM
J.J. wins two small pots by raising before the flop on one hand, and then leading out on the flop on the next.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:47 PM
Ted wins a small pot when he bets 175K on the river and J.J. decides not to come along.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:45 PM
The first hand proved to be a big one, but the players split the pot when they each paired their ten and neither of their kickers played.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:43 PM
OK, the money's on the table, the cards have been shuffled, and we are underway.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:37 PM
We are awaiting the money presentation before commencing heads-up action.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:35 PM
Word on the street is that Ted Forrest would have been a Star in this tournament and carried a $5000 bounty like the others, but he was too late committing to attend.
Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:32 PM
A woman has never won a full-field WPT event, so J.J. Liu is on the brink of history. But she has her work cut out for her. Not only is she battling feeling unwell, but also she is up against the freakishly lucky highly-skilled Ted Forrest.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:29 PM
Going into heads-up play, J.J. Liu has 5,305,000 in chips and Ted Forrest has 3,695,000.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:28 PM
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| Amir Shayesteh, 3rd place | |
Amir pushed all-in with his last 385K and Ted Forrest called. Amir turned over a powerful K K and Ted had A 8 . Ted was looking for the ace and got it with the A J 9 flop. The 5 turn and T river sealed the deal. Amir Shayesteh is our 3rd-place finisher and earns $314,500.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:22 PM
Now J.J. has won two hands by raising preflop and getting no action.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:21 PM
J.J. Liu has over five million in chips now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:20 PM
And now Amir has moved all-in and J.J. has asked for a count, which is 285K more. She folds.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:19 PM
That was a nearly impossible fold. Amir must have missed his draw and not even be able to beat a bluff. He is severely shortstacked now and has only one realistic move now: all-in.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:17 PM
On a 5 3 Q flop, J.J. Liu checked, Amir Shayesteh bet 100K and J.J. check-raised to 200K, which Amir called. On the T turn, J.J. led out with 300K and Amir straight called, leaving him with half his starting chips behind. On the 4 river, J.J. put a tall stack of 600K out, which would put Amir all-in. Shayesteh took several minutes and lowered his head nearly to the table before making his decision: FOLD.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:09 PM
From the button, Ted raised to 150K and both blinds called. On the K 9 5 flop, both blinds checked to Ted, who rifled in 200K. The others passed and Ted collects a nice pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:07 PM
In a limp pot, the flop came 5 2 K . Ted bet 100K and both J.J. and Amir called. The 3 turn made Ted check and J.J. check. Amir moved all-in and the other two folded immediately.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:05 PM
J..J. Liu now has half the chips in play, with her stack crossing over the 4.5M mark.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:02 PM
According to the WPT, we have played 152 hands at this final table tonight.Friday, 16th of March 2007 11:02 PM
Amir's short stack status is becoming more apparent. With the big blind at 60K and his stack of just over a million, he is not in peril by any means, but his options are becoming a little limited.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:58 PM
Ted just took a pot from Amir when his top pair was good and he got Amir to call a 100K river bet.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:52 PM
J.J. Liu just took down a nice pot by raising Ted Forrest off his hand on the flop. J.J. has taken a slight chip lead.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:49 PM
We are taking turns with the button raising and the blinds folding.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:47 PM
We have skipped another level and we are now at 30K/60K with a 10K ante.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:46 PM
Updated chipcounts:Ted Forrest 3,855,000
J.J. Liu 3,715,000
Amir Shayesteh 1,430,000 Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:37 PM
We are taking a short break. J.J. Liu was led to the ladies room by relatives and she seemed a little unsteady.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:35 PM
J.J. Liu won a 650K pot from Ted Forrest when her A-Q was just better than Ted's A-T on a board of 6 3 3 J A .Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:31 PM
Ted just took a 500K pot from Amir when his pocket eights were best on a board of 5 9 3 T 2 .Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:28 PM
Ted Forrest has extended his chip lead by winning a 300K pot over Amir Shayesteh when Ted's top pair was good.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:24 PM
Lots of small pots recently. The players are taking turns winning these.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:19 PM
We are five hours into this final table and with the three players fairly even in chips, we may be here for quite a while.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:15 PM
Ted Forrest is the chip leader with 3.5M but with nine million in play, that is not a substantial lead over the other two.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:14 PM
We are down to three-handed action now. J.J. Liu is the only remaining Shooting Star and still carries a $5000 bounty. If she were to win the tournament, she would collect her own bounty, on top of the $1.1 million.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:11 PM
James Van Alstyne pushed all-in for 425K from under-the-gun and both Amir Shayesteh and Ted Forrest called. The flop came K Q 4 . Amir checked, but Ted bet 250K, and Amir made the call. The turn came the J . Amir checked and Ted bet 500K. Amir puts his head in his hands and then folds. James Van Alstyne turns over pocket tens but Ted Forrest has A-K for top pair. James needed a nine or ace to make a straight but the 7 slammed the door on him. James Van Alstyne finishes in 4th place and earns $250,000.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:04 PM
J.J. Liu just took down another pot by raising Ted Forrest on the turn.Friday, 16th of March 2007 10:00 PM
James pushed all-in again, this time from the more dangerous under-the-gun position, but he still got no callers.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:59 PM
James Van Alstyne pushed all-in from the small blind and J.J. Liu, in the big blind, asked for a count but decided not to take the chance this time.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:57 PM
J.J. Liu raised to 100K from the button and Ted Forrest called from the big blind. On the scary 9 T 5 flop, Ted checked, J.J. threw in another 100K, and Ted passed.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:55 PM
The players have just been shipping chips around evenly over the past several hands, with most signs of aggression being met with folds all around.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:52 PM
With the big blind at 40K, we are seeing much larger pots and more all-in moves now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:51 PM
That discovery about the blinds clears up a mystery. Twice earlier, I thought they had skipped a blind level but wrote it off to early senility. But the third time, I had to go find out. I guess if they didn't skip a few levels, we would be here until tomorrow morning.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:48 PM
Now James Van Alstyne pushed all-in preflop but got no takers.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:47 PM
James Van Alstyne raised to 140K preflop and J.J. Liu reraised to 300K. James folded. Liu had now crossed over the 3M mark to take the chip lead!Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:46 PM
Amir just took a nice pot from Ted Forrest. Ted had raised to 100K preflop and Amir had called from the blind. The flop came 8 9 3 and Amir checked, Ted continued with a 100K bet, and Amir check-raised to 350K, which Ted called. Both players checked the 4 turn. On the J river, Amir leads out with 350K and Ted folds.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:44 PM
If indeed she had ever lost it, J.J. Liu has regained her composure. She has been playing reasonable poker for the past several hands, just taking down a pot on the flop with a bet.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:42 PM
Amir Shayesteh just won a nice pot when the board read K T 4 4 . All three players had checked the flop. On the turn, Ted Forrest bet 50K, James Van Alstyne called, and Amir came over the top with a 275K raise. Ted and James folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:38 PM
The WPT has decided to just skip merrily on by the 25th blind level and go right to level 26: 20K/40K with a 5K ante. I've learned that the contestants have to sign an agreement ceding this right to the tournament staff. So if you're the short stack, the WPT can jack the blinds up on you and you have no recourse but to deal with it.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:33 PM
The exact same thing just happened again. James raised to 140K and J.J. Liu moved all-in. James folded. Does J.J. Liu feel so ill that she has to play this way rather than stick around and play poker?Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:32 PM
James Van Alstyne raised to 140K preflop and J.J. Liu moved all-in. James thought about it and folded. Was that an impulsive move by J.J due to her feeling unwell?Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:30 PM
We are still on an unscheduled break from the action. My sources have told me that J.J. Liu is not feeling well, due to the heat from the lights and her pregnancy situation. So they paused to let her cool off a bit before resuming.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:24 PM
We are much more balanced with our chip situation now:Ted Forrest 3,115,000
J.J. Liu 2,475,000
Amir Shayesteh 2,255,000
James Van Alstyne 1,155,000 Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:17 PM
We are moving on to level 25 (15K/30K with a 5K ante) and they are coloring up those pesky blue 1000 chips.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:15 PM
This time, Ted Forrest mini-raised James Van Alstyne on the turn and takes it down. That makes at least five times that I have seen Ted make a minimum raise, which is a fairly unusual move in no-limit hold'em, especially in multi-way pots. It is often interpreted as a strong move, as if the raiser is begging to get called by giving his opponent(s) excellent pot odds. But some of these times, Ted must be using his table image and his chip lead to push others off their hands with these fishy mini-raises.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:11 PM
In a limped pot, three players saw a J A K . James Van Alstyne bet 60K and Amir called. With the Q turn, James bet 120K and Amir again called. On the 5 river, James bet 170K and Amir called once more. James showed his ten and Amir threw in his cards. Another nice pot for James Van Alstyne.Friday, 16th of March 2007 09:06 PM
James Van Alstyne raised to 80K preflop and Ted Forrest called from the blind. The board came T 7 J . Ted checked, James bet 90K, and Ted moved all-in. James immediately called down his last 336K on top and flipped over his 7 7 for a set. Ted sighed and showed his K J . Ted needed runner-runner of some sort. But the board came 8 5 and James Van Alstyne doubles through Ted Forrest.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:59 PM
Ted Forrest now has one third of the nine million chips in play. The announcer mentioned that of the four previous WPT final tables Ted has made, he placed fifth, fourth, third, and second, in that order. So if you are a big believer in trends ...Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:57 PM
Ted Forrest and Amir Shayesteh both checked the flop and turn on a board of K 9 J 2 . On the J river, Amir tried betting 80K and Ted Forrest called. Amir looked reluctant to show his cards, so Ted flipped over A-Q and Amir mucked. Ace high was good and Ted scoops another pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:54 PM
On a 5 K J flop, James Van Alstyne checked, J.J. Liu bet 30K, and James check-raised to 90K. Liu folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:51 PM
Action has resumed. Amir raised and got no callers.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:47 PM
The tournament director has stopped the clock and we are waiting around for some unknown reason.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:44 PM
Some chipcount updates:Ted Forrest 2.8M
Amir Shayesteh 2.75M
J.J. Liu 2.4M
James Van Alstyne 0.5M Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:42 PM
James Van Alstyne seems to be getting pushed around. On a flop of Q J 3 , James led out with a 36K bet and J.J. Liu raised to 80K. James folded again.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:39 PM
On a T 6 2 flop, James Van Alstyne bet 150K, Amir Shayesteh called, but Ted Forrest put in a suspicious mini-raise to 300K. James and Amir fold and Ted takes a nice pot.
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| Vincent Shaw | |
Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:36 PM
In our first family pot, all five players saw a J 8 6 flop. Incredibly, all five checked. The turn came 9 and Ted bet 80K. Vincent Shaw raised all-in for an additional 144K. Amir just straight called. Ted got out of the way. Vincent showed K 9 for a pair of nines, but Amir had J 4 , for a pair of jacks and a flush draw. The T ended Shaw's run. Vincent Shaw, a local player, finishes in 5th place and takes home $200,000.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:31 PM
VIncent Shaw raised to 50K from under the gun and J.J. Liu called from the big blind. On the 8 4 T flop, J.J. led out for 60K and Shaw folded. Liu flashed an eight before mucking.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:27 PM
With that hit, Amir Shayesteh has dropped out of the chip lead and that title now belongs to Ted Forrest. J.J. Liu is over the two million mark, also.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:25 PM
J.J. Liu raised to 60K from the button and Amir Shayesteh reraised to 210K from the big blind. J.J. called. The flop came K 3 9 and Amir led out with 120K, which J.J. immediately called. On the 2 turn, Amir took a long time shuffling and counting chips before shoving out 180K, which J.J again called right away. Both players checked the 6 river. Amir showed pocket queens but J.J. held A-K to take a big pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:21 PM
Blinds are now up to 12K/24K with a 4K ante.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:19 PM
With that hit, Vincent Shaw lost nearly half his stack and is down to about 500K. Ted is up to 2.8M and needs to remember that we are playing no-limit hold 'em here, not pot limit. That was a bizarre lack of concentration from a world class player.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:17 PM
In a limped pot, four players saw the 4 6 3 flop. Vincent Shaw bet 70K and both Ted and James called. With the 5 turn, Vince checked, Ted bet 150K, James folded, and Vince called. On the 9 river, Vincent checked, and Ted said, "I bet the pot". The tournament director told Ted that he had to state an amount, so Ted bet 400K. Vincent went into the tank and finally called. Ted flipped up the 7-8 for the stone cold nuts. Vince mucked.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:12 PM
Ted Forrest has won a couple small pots by betting on the flop and getting no customers.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:08 PM
If J.J. Liu manages to win tonight, not only would she be the first woman to win a World Poker Tour event, but she would also be the first pregnant winner, as she is four months along right now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:05 PM
Ted Forrest raised to 40K and J.J. Liu reraised to 140K from the blind. Ted called. The flop came T 9 2 , and J.J. Liu bet 200K and Ted folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:02 PM
There are ten minutes left at this blind level.Friday, 16th of March 2007 08:01 PM
Chipcounts going into the next bit of action:Amir Shayesteh 3,229,000
Ted Forrest 2,124,000
J.J. Liu 1,653,000
Vincent Shaw 1,013,000
James Van Alstyne 979,000 Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:50 PM
We are on a TV break now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:49 PM
J.J. Liu just made a rare mistake. On a flop of A 5 2 , James Van Alstyne bet 70K and J.J. attempted to mini-raise, but accidentally put 104K in the pot, instead of 140K. As she did not announce a raise prior to placing the chips in the pot, the tournament director ruled that her action was a call, not a raise. So Van Alstyne got to see the 8 turn without any further investment. He checked that turn, and J.J. fired in 100K. James took his time and mucked. Hard to say whether J.J. missed an opportunity there, but she nevertheless continues her chip accumulation.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:42 PM
In a battle of the blinds, Amir raised it to 48K and Ted called. On the A K Q flop, Amir bet 60K and Ted called. Both players checked down the 3 turn and 5 river, and both showed K-8 to split the pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:38 PM
Ted Forrest just won two consecutive small pots. First he raised and got no callers. Then he raised from the button and both blinds called. On the 2 5 K flop, both players checked to Ted, who bet 45K and took the pot down.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:34 PM
And another one! Three players saw the Q Q J flop. Amir and Ted checked, J.J. Liu bet 50K and Ted called. Both checked the T turn. On the 8 river, Ted checked and J.J. bet 100K. Ted mucked and J.J. takes down another pot. She is absolutely cruising right now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:31 PM
She just took another one down. On a J-7-2 flop, Vincent Shaw bet 60K and J.J. made a mini-raise to 120K. Shaw folded. Her cheering section just broke into a "Here we go J.J., here we go!" cheer, evidently mistaking this for a field sport.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:28 PM
In a three-way raised pot, all players checked the K T 7 flop. On the Q turn, J.J. Liu rifled 50K in, the other two folded, and she took down the orphan pot. She is up near 1.3 million now.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:23 PM
J.J. Liu keeps fiddling with her sponsor's logo on her blouse. It keeps coming loose and swiveling down and the audience is becoming amused with her efforts to get it to stay in place.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:19 PM
Ted Forrest raised to 45K preflop and James Van Alstyne popped it to 150K. Ted immediately folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:18 PM
With that big double-up, J.J. Liu is up near a million in chips but still the shortest stack. James Van Alstyne has a bit more than her.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:14 PM
We are now on our 50th hand in this final table and approaching the two hour mark.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:09 PM
This time, J.J. Liu raised James Van Alstyne on the flop and took it down. The momentum has certainly swung in her favor and her cheering section has let everyone know it.
Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:05 PM
J.J. Liu just took another pot off Amir Shayesteh. Amir check-called bets of 30K, 40K, and 40K on the flop, turn, and river, with the board coming 9 4 T T J . Liu showed pocket queens and Amir mucked.Friday, 16th of March 2007 07:01 PM
Amir Shayesteh raised to 40K preflop and got called from James Van Alstyne on the button and J.J. Liu from the small blind. The flop came 7 2 8 and all three players checked. On the A , J.J. checked, Amir bet 85K, James folded, and J.J. check-raised all-in for an additional 291K. Amir agonized and made the call. J.J. showed A 8 for top two pair and Amir had A 3 for just top pair. Amir was drawing dead, so the Q river didn't matter and J.J. Liu has doubled up through Amir Shayesteh.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:56 PM
They're picking on J.J. Liu and her shortstack now. Liu had raised but Ted Forrest moved all in from the blind and J.J. had to release the hand.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:50 PM
In a blind vs. blind confrontation, James Van Alstyne raised to 58K from the small and J.J.. Liu called from the big. On the 6 J 6 flop, James bet 70K and J.J. folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:46 PM
I must have missed an earlier blind announcement, as they just announced that we are at level 22 now: 8000/16000 with a 2000 ante.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:42 PM
Amir just raised and won another pot. It is good to be the tall stack!Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:41 PM
Amir Shayesteh is not giving J.J. Liu much credit. J.J. raised to 30K preflop and Amir called from the small blind. Amir then check-called 40K on the flop of 3 3 J . Then, on the 8 turn, Amir checked and J.J. fired 60K into the pot and Amir called. They both checked the 9 river and Amir flipped over A-K and J.J. indicated that that was good by sliding her cards in face down. Amir Shayesteh takes the pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:34 PM
The crowd began chanting when J.J. Liu raised all-in from the big blind. When James Van Alstyne folded, the crowd went nuts. Obviously a home field advantage for J.J.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:25 PM
It took less than an hour to lose our first player. With Edler out, J.J. Liu becomes the shortstack and the only player below one million in chips.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:15 PM
Players are on a short break.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:11 PM
Amir Shayesteh just eliminated Bill Edler. On a board of 6 T Q 8 , Amir bet 100K and Bill pushed all-in. J.J. Liu, who was still in the hand, folded. Amir asked for a count and then called. Bill had A Q for top pair, top kicker, but Amir had Q T for two pair. The 9 river was no help and Bill Edler finishes 6th and earns $160,000.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:05 PM
Chips in use right now are the blue 1K, pink 5K, orange 10K, and the purple 25K. The purples made their first appearance of the tournament here at the final table today. We will have to continue messing with these blue 1K chips until we reach level 25, in which the antes reach 5K each hand.Friday, 16th of March 2007 06:01 PM
Erick Lindgren and Gavin Smith are in the audience, and the announcer acknowledged them.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:54 PM
James Van Alstyne just took a nice pot from J.J. Liu. On a flushed board reading J T 4 K 8 , James bet 110K on the river (after a 70K turn bet) and Liu made the call reluctantly. James showed the A for the nuts and J.J. shook her head in disgust.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:46 PM
Bill Edler is the short stack, but by no means desperate, with about 600K.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:42 PM
Cautious play the past several hands. With the big blind at 10K and the average stack being 1.5M, that's an average of 150 big blinds, which meets most definitions of "deep stack" poker. The players can afford to weave and jab, without having to move all-in whenever they get involved in a pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:37 PM
We're through the first orbit and I have not seen J.J. Liu voluntarily put chips in the pot yet.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:35 PM
Now the blue "ALL IN" button was placed in front of Amir Shayesteh when he raised Bill Edler off a pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:33 PM
Just to remind everyone, we are still playing level 20: blinds of 5K/10K with a 1K ante.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:31 PM
Now Ted Forrest took a pot from Van Alstyne when he raised James' bet on a 2 4 3 flop.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:29 PM
In our first sizeable pot, Bill Edler moved all-in on the river when the board read K K 8 A J . James Van Alstyne folded and Bill scooped the pot.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:24 PM
Vincent Shaw raised and Amir Shayesteh re-raised with position. Vincent quickly let his hand go.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:22 PM
In our first flop, Bill Edler took the pot when he bet and Ted Forrest folded.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:19 PM
Mike and Vince have completed their lead-in and the cards are in the air!Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:15 PM
The players are riffling their chips while awaiting the "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement.Friday, 16th of March 2007 05:07 PM
The players are being introduced in order of their seats. J.J. Liu (a local favorite) got thunderous applause from the San Jose crowd.
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| WPT Bay 101 final table set | |
Friday, 16th of March 2007 04:57 PM
The players are here and several have taken their seat at the final table. There is a beehive of activity by the WPT staff and media. Privileged family and friends of the players have already gotten in and seated, and now the general audience is being allowed in. Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten are in their booth, getting their banter ready. We are probably about fifteen minutes away from player introductions.
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| Getting in to view the final table | |
Friday, 16th of March 2007 04:29 PM
We are scheduled to get underway in just over a half hour. The World Poker Tour final table set has completely taken over half the Bay 101 casino, and fans are milling about, getting increasingly excited about the upcoming action. Tickets to get inside are a rare commodity, and rabid fans waited in line for a long time to get a chance to go inside the curtains.
We are headed into the final table of the World Poker Tour's Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament! Just six players remain. While yesterday, the 2006 World Series of Poker's boy wonder, Jeff Madsen, went into the day with the chip lead and held it for most of play, he busted out, leaving Amir Shayesteh heading into the final with the chip lead.Amir Shayesteh has been playing poker, mostly as a hobby, for eight years. He won his way into this Bay 101 tournament by winning a $1,000 satellite. An Iranian by birth, he has owned a restaurant for the past two years. Here is the full list of chip counts heading into what's sure to be an exciting final day!
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| Amir Shayesteh | |
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| 1 | Ted Forrest | 2006000 | | 2 | James Van Alstyne | 1139000 | | 3 | Joanne "J.J." Liu | 966000 | | 4 | Vince Shaw | 1518000 | | 5 | Amir Shayesteh | 2731000 | | 6 | Bill Edler | 638000 |
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| 1 | $1,125,000 | | 2 | $600,000 | | 3 | $314,000.00 | | 4 | $250,000.00 | | 5 | $200,000.00 | | 6 | $160,000.00 |
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| Ted Forrest | |
Ted Forrest heads into the day second in chips with 2,006,000, not far behind the chip leader, Amir, who starts the day with 2,731,000. Ted Forrest is widely known as one of the best all-around players in the world. His 5 World Series of Poker bracelets have come in as many games: Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, and No-Limit Hold'em. In addition to being a top poker pro, Ted Forrest is well-known for his frequent proposition bets. Ted once bet $10,000 he could do a standing backflip during a WSOP event. He won. He also took a wager that he could do fifty 225lb. bench presses in a single day - he tore a pectoral muscle. Vince Shaw will start the day in third place, with 1,518,000. Little is known about Mr. Shaw as of press time, given that he is a newcomer to the major tournament circuit and has yet to place in the money in any major events.
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| James Van Alstyne | |
James Van Alstyne, starting in fourth place with just over 1 Million in chips, is a 38-year-old native of Columbus, Georgia. James started out as a professional Blackjack player, well-known for his excellent card-counting skills. But after casinos widely instituted rules banning card-counting, James moved into the realm of poker and hasn't looked back. James has 8 first-place finishes in major events to his credit, the most recent having occurred just last month at the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event hosted by the Commerce Casino during the L.A. Poker Classic.
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| Joanne "J.J." Liu | |
Joanne "J.J." Liu rounds out the top five with just under 1 Million in chips.Joanne made her first final table in a major poker tournament in a 1996 World Series of Poker limit hold'em event, the same year she started playing poker. Since then she has accumulated almost $1 Million in prize money, placing in numerous major tournaments. Most recently, Liu entered the final table of the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, a World Poker Tour event, with the chip lead. She finished fourth in that tournament for her largest payday ever, worth almost $400,000.
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| Bill Edler | |
Last, but certainly not least (pardon the cliche), Bill Edler goes into the final day of play with a short-stack of just under 700k. While BIll may not necessarily be a household name in the realm of professional poker, he's certainly made his mark on the game, especially by taking home first place in the first-ever Poker NetCast Heads-Up Challenge hosted by the Crystal Casino in February. Bill received $215,000 for his win, and will be looking to top that today. PokerPages.com was the only source of free, on-the-fly live coverage of the Poker NetCast Heads-Up Challenge. Click here to see our live coverage from the final day of play. Play is scheduled to start at 5pm PST at the Bay 101 Casino today, and PokerPages' own Michael Cheser will be on-hand to report the goings-on LIVE, as they happen! Check back today for LIVE coverage of what's sure to be one heck of a final table.
After successful careers in the financial and high-tech industries, Michael Cheser became fascinated with poker in early 2006. Defying all probabilities, he managed to cash in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. When not tournament reporting for PokerPages, he can be seen haunting the $1/$2 no-limit tables in Las Vegas, applying his unique strategy of playing only AA. Contact Michael |
