One for the thumb!

Bristow wins 5th career title

Kevin Bristow made SPT history Friday night, winning his 5th career title. The event also tightened the competitive player of the year race.

The event started with 11 players, one of the smaller events in recent SPT history. WIth Barry and Duncan moved out of the area, and a number of conflicts for regular players, the game started with two tables of 5 and 6. Travis and Dave G. were quickly knocked out, and we got to one table in the third level of play.

The final table chip counts:

Kevin Bristow 3,450

Greg Buhler  3,025

Dave Narayan   2,025

Ron Fukui       3,000

Eric Stamp     3,275

Steve Harbaugh    5,225

Chis     1,925

Tim Waisner      3,900

Sanjit   6,925

Harbaugh and Sanjit continued to amass chips, knocking out Chris and Dave Narayan, respectively. However, Bristow was slowly building his stack with raises that got no callers. Bristow tried it again, raising with A-10. Stamp was short stacked and moved in with A-K. Not having to call much more, Bristow made the call and said "Stamp, you know a 10's coming". First thing on the flop, a 10 hits (with a Q)... no jack or king came and Stamp was out again on a bad beat, in 7th place.

Harbaugh had lost a number of chips at this point. He limped in with A-Q, then Bristow raised 1,000 in the small blind with A-K. Harbaugh moved in, and Bristow called. No help came, and Harbaugh was out in 6th place.

The top 5 got points towards the player the year, but only the top 4 got paid. Waisner slow played pocket jacks, just calling pre-flop. Greg checked in the big blind with 8-3. The flop came 8-8-6. Greg checked and called Waiz's flop bet. The turn 5 got Waisner to move all-in, with Greg calling. No jack on the river, and Waisner was out in fifth place. He earned 58 points in his 3rd point finish of 2006, and 12th of his career.

Ron was fortunate earlier in the table, when his J-10 suited was all-in vs. Sanjit's pocket 10's. Ron hit a flush to stay alive. He wasn't as fortunate when his K-6 was all in vs. Sanjit's A-Q. A King came on the flop... but it also had a jack and a 10, giving Sanjit a flopped straight. No Ace to chop came, and Ron was out in fourth. He earned $24 and 76 points in his 3rd cash of the 2006 SPT season.

3 handed, Greg was the short stack, but made a few raises to pick up more chips. After Bristow folded on the button, he moved all-in from the small blind with K-Q. Sanjit called with pocket aces. No help came on the board, and Greg was out in third place. This is Greg's 4th cash of the 2006 season, and his 9th career cash. He won $49 and 102 points.

Heads up, Bristow had a slight chip lead over Sanjit. However, Sanjit made a number of check raises to pick up the lead. Both players saw a flop of 6-6-9, with Sanjit holding 6-8. Bristow had 3-4 of diamonds. Both checked. The queen of diamonds came on the turn, putting two diamonds on the board. Bristow checked, Sanjit bet, and Bristow moved all-in. Sanjit called and showed his three sixes.... but the river was a diamond, and Bristow had a huge chip lead.

After a couple of all-ins that weren't called, Bristow moved all-in with 8-7 from the button. Sanjit pondered for a minute, then called with K-4. No help came... until the river 8 gave Bristow a pair, and the title.

Sanjit won $61 and 145 points in his second cash of the 2006 SPT season.

Kevin Bristow won $111 and 242 points in his 4th cash of the SPT season, and 18th of his career.

The player of the race now has 5 players within 150 points of the lead - one win can swing it. Below that, many players have a shot at earning an entry into the year end Tournament of Champions!