Mamacita! Astarita!

Another sunny, but cool, day at Tara Hills in San Pablo brought 21 players to contend for Vegas seats as our 12th season is nearing its end. There are several players who are consistently making the final table. In fact, this final table had 5 players who have final tabled in at least 2 of the last 4 tourneys, including Sandi Sarmiento (4 final tables in a row), Joe Wiebelhaus and Ricky Flora (3 of last 4), and Robert Astarita and Dennis Koeller (2 of last 4). Pretty Impressive! Final Table consisted of:

● 9th – Ash Showeb
● 8th – Dennis Koeller
● 7th – Ricky Flora
● 6th – Dominic Chan
● 5th – Sanjay Vara
● 4th – Jeannette Sims
● 3rd – Joe Wiebelhaus
● 2nd – Sandi Sarmiento
● 1st – Robert Astarita

Final table significant hands:

A 3-way all in between Ash Showeb (Q 10), Sanjay Var (K 9) and Sandi Sarmiento (K 10). Sanjay is the chip leader at this point. Ash and Sandi are all-in for their tournament lives as we see two 10’s come on the flop and no help on the turn and river for Ash and Sanjay. Ash goes out in 9th and Sandi triples up.

Dennis runs his pocket 10’s into Joe’s pocket Q’s and is out in 8th place.

Ricky finishes in 7th when his AQ is outdrawn by Jeannette’s KQ when the flop comes J 10 9, giving Jeannette a straight.

Dominic earned the bubble boy title again when he jams with A5 suited and is called by Jeanette holding KK and a bigger chipstack! With a clean run-out for Jeanette Dom is out in 6th place.

Sanjay, having held tight to the chip leader position for most of the tournament in his first appearance this season, gets out pipped with his pocket 6’s against Joe’s pocket 7’s. Sanj gets 5 points for this 5th place finish.

About this time, the TD, Ray Chiu is involved in a cash game, and much to the surprise of everyone at the table, he folds to a raise of $1 (yes, it is very shocking!) He managed to overall win 7+ times his initial (borrowed) buy-in.

The next huge pot and turning point comes when the two largest and nearly even stacks among the remaining 4 players face off with Joe pushing all-in pocket 7’s and is called by Jeannette holding QJ pre-flop. Jeanette is crippled as she double up Joe when the board offers her no help. Joe now with a significant chip lead and 4 players remaining.

Jeannette then shoves the next hand with less than a couple blinds left holding 8 4. She is called by Sandi holding KJ (1 spade). Flop is 5 Q 5 with 2 spades. Runner, runner spades gives Sandi the win and sends Jeannette home in 4th place with 9 points.

Joe, somehow, was next to go out in 3rd for 19 points when the flop came A K J against Robert’s A 5. And, then to rub it in more, Robert hit a 5 on the turn, giving him two pair.

Heads up was a fairly short battle with Robert going in with a substantial lead. Sandi did find some hope when she shoved preflop with K 8 and beat Robert’s K 2, making the stacks much closer. Unfortunately for Sandi, she couldn’t maintain the momentum. In the final hand, Sandi held Q 7 against Robert’s 10 9 and was ahead preflop, but the flop put Robert ahead when it came 10 6 8. The pot grew as there was betting on the flop and turn. There was a little something for Sandi on the turn when she hit her 7, but it gave Robert a straight. With a Q on the river, Robert bets enough to put Sandi all-in for the tournament. Sandi eventually could not find a fold having improved to top and middle two pair on the river, however it wasn’t enough to overcome Robert’s turned straight, calling for all her remaining chips takes second place and Sandi earns 30 points after another consistent final table result.

Congratulations to newcomer this season, Robert Astarita, who achieved his second tournament win for 42 points. This moves him into a tie for 3rd place in the overall standings at 108 points, giving him a great shot to earn at seat at this year’s Monster Stack..

Congratulations to all! The next tournament is again at Tara Hills in San Pablo on Saturday, April 7. Please be reminded that start time is 11:00 a.m.

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