17 brave souls braved the worst air quality on the planet to do battle in Fremont for Event 7, 4 of whom would be awarded points for their efforts.
Rich Modjeski was the bubble boy when his pocket kings were outdrawn by ace five.
FINAL FOUR
With the blinds sitting at 800/1,600/200, the final four consisted of Rod Flora (8,200), Adrian Aguilar (12,500), Michael “Gordo” Gordon (32,300), and Sandi Sarmiento (45,500).
The early parts of the round consisted of Rod or Adrian moving all in pre-flop and taking down the pot. Both began steadily chipping up with this strategy.
Sandi raised to 4,000 and Rod three-bet jammed. Sandi made the call for not much more than double her bet and both turned over ace queen for the chop.
Later in the round the first bust out in the money happened. Adrian moved all in for 11,000 and Sandi moved in over the top. Adrian turned over queen nine suited and Sandi turned over kind eight off suit. The flop brought a king and no back-door outs for Adrian. The turn brought a jack giving Adrian four tens to hit the gut shot, but the river eight sent him out the door. Adrian received 6 points for his efforts in Event 7.
Later in the same round, Gordo raised to 4,000 on the button, Sandi called from the small blind and Rod called from the big blind.
Sandi checked the flop of two, five, eight and two clubs and Rod jammed 17,200. Gordo took a couple of minutes and called with king queen and no clubs. It turned out to be ahead of Rod’s four three suited that gave him an open ended straight draw. The turn brought another five and the river brought a three giving Rod a pair of threes and the win. Rod doubled through Gordo who became the short stack.
Gordo survived the remainder of the level but left the tournament in third place early on during the next level with the blinds at 1,000/2,000/300. From the button, Gordo shipped 15,000 and was called in the small blind by Sandi. Gordo turned over ten nine off suit while Sandi held ace jack. The flop brought Gordo a ten to take the lead, but the turn brought a jack that held up and took him out. Gordo earned 15 points for his third-place finish.
Heads up play began with Sandi holding a slight chip lead over Rod. They played mostly small pots until Rod doubled through Sandi to take the massive chip lead.
Rod limped in and Sandi checked back. Sandi led 3,000 into a flop of ace, nine, two with two diamonds and Rod called. The turn brought the five of diamonds and Sandi moved all in. Rod snap called. Sandi turned over eight two of diamonds for the flush, but Rod turned over king queen of diamonds for the nut flush and the double up.
The tournament ended shortly into the next level with blinds of 1,500/3,000/500. Sandi moved all in and Rod called. Sandi held pocket jacks and Rod held pocket threes. The flop of king, six, five seemed safe for Sandi, but the turn two and river four gave Rod a straight on the victory. Sandi earned 26 points for second place and Rod’s second victory of the season gave him 38 points and the massive points lead with 11 events left on the schedule.
WINNER
