Gilbert wins, moves to Iowa.

 

In his farewell tournament before moving to Des Moines, Matt Gilbert pulled out a victory on Saturday, sending him off in style. Matt won $150 for the victory, and became the first 3 time winner on the Sacramento Poker Tour, as well as becoming the career points leader.

 

The tournament commenced after the ping pong tournament, which was another repeat champion, as Tim Waisner (Waiz to his friends) won the title again. What was a surprise was that he faced Jim, not Barry in the finals. Waisner took out Barry in the semi-finals, sending Barry to the loser's bracket. Jim pulled out an upset over Steve to face Barry. In a shocking turn of events, Jim took out Barry as the crowd chanted "JWB, JWB". Jim went on to the finals against Waiz. While keeping it close at 21-15, ultimately it was Waiz who prevailed, and repeated as champion.

Waiz's success continued during the poker tournament, as he finished second to Matt. The tournament started with 15 participants with a $25 entry, 5000 in chips. The first casualty was Dave, who moved all-in with A-8 off suit, only to be called by Mark, who had A-K. Nothing higher than a 6 came, and Dave was out. Mark would later go all-in blind, only to be called by Sean with 9-9 and bust out the previous tournament winner. Spicey was also an early casualty, meaning the two point leaders for 2004 were out early.

 

Matt, meanwhile, continued to pick up chips and bully people with re-raises. Matt took out Shreve and Jim (who some have started referring to as "Aces"). Down to 7, Waiz then went on the offensive, and took out Sean and Stamp. The top 5 was Kevin, Duncan (playing in only his second SPT event), Bill, Waiz and Matt. The play with 5 players lasted quite a while, as many all-ins from short stacks Kevin and Bill went uncalled. Kevin stayed alive when his 5-5 vs. Bill's 7-7 had a 5 come on the flop. Shortly after that, Kevin opened the pot for 4000 (playing 800-1600 blinds) with K-J. Matt moved in, having slightly less than Kevin. After a long delay, Kevin finally called, and Matt showed K-Q. No help, and Kevin was forced to move in on the next hand with A-8 offsuit. Matt called with Q-2, a 2 came on the turn, and Kevin was out 5th. Duncan was next to go, forced to move all in as the blinds moved up. Waiz took him out, and we were down to 3. The chips moved back and forth and each of the final 3 had the chip lead at various points. Bill finally fell in 3rd place as the blinds forced him to go all in, and it was heads up. Only a few hands in, Matt moved in with Q-Q. Waiz, realizing that he couldn't fold or else he wouldn't have enough chips to do anything, called with 8-3 suited. No help came, and Matt had once again prevailed.

 

The planned second tournament didn't happen due to lack of interest and time constraints.

 

The next major is McDaniel's World Series of Poker, in Roseville. Mike McDaniel looks to repeat as champion, though he has played in only one SPT event.