Bristow wins back-to-back tournaments at MD5.

MacLean wins TOC, sets re-buy record

Man Day 5 (MD5) was a complete success for Kevin Bristow, as he won both the preliminary tournament as well as the main event, the 4th major of the year. The wins establish Bristow as the only 4-time winner on the SPT, and ties him with Mark Holmes as the only 2-time major tournament winners. Sean MacLean, on the other hand, was an early success, but rapidly deteriorated into a complete meltdown, setting an SPT record with 10 re-buys in the main event.

The day started early, with a (late) 9:30 am starting time with the Tournament of Champions (TOC). Barry Bonillo was an initial scratch in the lead-in tournament, as he was feeling the effects of too much partying the night before. Aces dubbed him "Barrett Robbins" after the Oakland Raiders center. However, Bonillo came through and made it just as the lead-in TOC tourney was ending, and just in time to join the main TOC tourney. Jim "Aces" McDaniel won the lead-in for bonus chips in the main event, but it would be the last we'd hear from him on this day. During the TOC, Sean berated many players and was the one player that no one (except, perhaps, Sean), wanted to win. However, he amassed a big chip lead during a critical pot as Kevin, Spicey and Sean all had Aces with an Ace on board, but Sean's A-K was good. Sean eventually took out Waiz to win the inaguaral TOC. The "I'm going to sweep all the tournaments" comments started approximately 3 seconds after he won.

The sweep was not to be, however, as Bristow had other plans. The 1 PM preliminary tournament started with 13 entrants. Play moved fast, and the final table was set after only 45 minutes. Holmes was knocking out many players (he had 5 kills during this tournament), and picked up a big chip lead. The final 3 of Stamp, Holmes, and Bristow went back and forth for a number of hands. Bristow's aggressive play with numerous all-ins and raises led to a slowly increasing stack. Holmes moved in on Bristow with A-4, Bristow called with a small pair that held up, and it was down to the final 2. At this point, Stamp was a 5-1 chip underdog, and was waiting for the right spot. About 10 hands in, Bristow raised with KQ suited, Stamp moved in with pocket 6's, and Bristow called. A flop of K-Q-3 gave Bristow the lead, and the King on the river gave him his first (but not last) tournament win of 2004.

The main event was the standard major structure, with re-buys for the first hour and a half. Sean was in no shape to be playing, yet continued despite the many beverages he had consumed. He had a stretch of 5 consecutive hands where he lost, then re-bought, then lost again. A few of these hands were bad beats (his pockets aces lost to Jim's pair of 5's when a 5 came on the turn), but most were simply overplaying hands (more than once, he defended calling raises by saying "They're suited"). Overall, Sean re-bought an amazing 10 times. With the buy-in and add-ons, Sean contributed $135 to the pot. Holmes had 4 re-buys as he tried to match Sean, but the level of inebriation and horrible play could not be matched.

The re-buys had an effect on the table, as the 10,000 in chips that Sean lost were spread around the table, with Bristow, Spicey, McDaniel and Gilbert the main recipients. Play should have tightened up after the re-buy period ended, but Sean's reckless play forced more action. Amazingly, he knocked out Chief, and outlasted 5 other players. However, Bill finally quieted the table as he knocked out Sean. At 11 players, a huge pot developed as McDaniel raised with J-J, Gilbert went all-in with 10-10, and Jim called. A 10 on the river, however, once again led to a disappointing finish for "Aces" McDaniel.

The final table had Dave Guiterrez and Matt Gilbert with big stacks. Early in, a major pot developed between Matt and Jon Mangrum. Jon had A-J and called a raise from Matt's K-Q. A flop of A-Q-rag came down, with Jon betting out. Matt raised, Jon re-raised, and Matt moved in. Matt was perhaps the only person at the table surprised to see that Jon had an Ace, and said multiple times "Wow, I didn't put you on an Ace". A King on the river, however, bailed out Gilbert and knocked out Mangrum in 7th place. Duncan survived an all-in vs. Bristow as he moved all-in with A-8 on a 9-9-5 board. Bristow called with 6-6, but an Ace on the river kept Duncan alive. Dave, however, put Duncan out shortly thereafter, and the final 5 was Stamp, Spicey, Gilbert, Dave and Bristow. Stamp, Spicey and Bristow all placed in the money in both tournaments.

Stamp was the first to go out, in almost the exact same scenario as the previous tournament. Bristow raised on the button with KQ suited, Stamp moved in with 8-8, Bristow called, and a K on the flop knocked Stamp out in 5th. Spicey was out in 4th, as he slowed played Kings. He limped in, and Bristow called from the SB with KJ. The flop was 10-9-Q, for a flopped straight. Bristow checked, and called a moderate bet from Spicey. A blank on the turn led to another Bristow check, and then Spicey moved all-in. Bristow called and we were down to 3. Play at 3 lasted a while as there were frequent interuptions trying to get a good photo of Sean in a comprising position as he had passed out at this point. Pictures were unsucessful, however.

At 3, Gilbert called from the SB with 6-9, Bristow raised with A-8, and Gilbert called. A Flop of 9-7-10 came down, and Gilbert moved all-in. Bristow called with the straight draw, and a 6 on the river led us to heads up play. Dave started heads-up with a strong chip lead, and built it up with some well timed bets. On one hand, Bristow raised with 7-7, with Dave calling. The flop of A-A-Q came down, and Dave checked-raised, leading Bristow to lay it down. At this point, Dave had a 3-1 chip lead. Bristow picked up a few pots to get the lead down to 60-40. Dave then raised on the button with K-7 suited, Bristow went all-in with 8-8, and Dave called. A 7 came on the flop, but no other help, and suddenly Bristow had a 90-10 chip lead. It was over shortly thereafter as Bristow had Q-6 vs. Dave's A-5 with both seeing the flop of K-Q-5. Dave bet out, Bristow moved all-in, and Dave called. No help came, and Bristow won his second tournament of the day.

The $350 first place win was the second biggest win in SPT history. The $845 prize pool was second only to the $945 prize pool at the Derby Day tournament, which had a $35 buy-in and re-buys.