Waisner, Bristow win SPT events

Waisner wins 5th, Bristow 6th titles

At the second major of the 2007 SPT season, it was a repeat performance in the two events held on April 28th at McDaniels.

In the first event, 11 players started in the Crazy Pineapple event. With a smaller starting field, and the larger pots that occur in Crazy Pineapple, the final table was set pretty quickly. Play moved at a fast pace, and Spicy was the first one out as his 6-6 flopped a set, only to lose to Waiz, who hit runner-runner for a straight.

Eric Stamp was out in 8th as his A-K lost to Greg's K-K. Sanjit Singh bluffed off his chips with J-10 on an A-Q-8 board, called by Greg with A-8, and Sanjit was out in 7th. On the points bubble, Barry Bonillo got all-in with top two pair on a J-10-9 board. Unfortunately for Barry, Waiz had 7-8 for a flopped straight. No help came, and Barry was out in 6th.

At 5, Kevin Bristow was all-in pre-flop with A-K-J, vs. Greg's 4-4. A Q-Q-10 flop helped, and the A on the turn (keeping K-J) gave Bristow the straight. But the Q on the river gave Greg a full house, knocking out Bristow in fifth. The fifth place finish was no money, but 58 points. It was Bristow's 26th career points finish.

David Narayan was out next. He had K-8 and moved all-in with the nut straight and a King high flush draw. However, Waiz had the Ace high flush already, and Narayan was drawing dead. Narayan won $30 and 76 points in his second cash this year, and 5th of his career.

At 3 handed, Greg moved all-in with A-3 and a straight draw. Harbaugh called with 10-10, and the pair held, knocking out Greg in third. He won $49 and 102 points in his 3rd cash this year, and 15th of his career.

Heads up started with Harbaugh holding a chip lead over Waiz - 19,400 to 13,600. However, Waiz won a number of small pots to take the lead. Finally, Harbaugh moved all-in with A-6 on a 9-8-6 board. However, Waiz had again flopped a straight with 10-7. A 6 came on the river, but it wasn't enough to prevent the win for Waiz.

Harbaugh won $71 and 145 points in his 2nd cash this year, and 9th of his career.

Tim Waisner won $96 and 242 points in his 5th career win, 3rd cash this year, and 19th career cash. He tied Bristow for the all-time number of SPT wins. He would stay tied for about 8 hours.

The second major of the SPT season started with 22 players, the largest this year, and the 4th biggest in the history of the SPT. While re-buys were down (only 13), most players took the add-ons, and we had a prize pool of over $1,000 for only the third time ever.

Play moved at a decent pace, and we had our final table after a few hours:

Tim Waisner 9075 chips

Sanjit Singh 8,900 chips

Greg Buhler 17,375 chips

Travis Green 15,375 chips

Rick Thomas 12,100 chips

Barry Bonillo 7,475 chips

Eric "Spicy" Christensen 11,475 chips

Kevin Bristow 6,825 chips

Aleks Campau 16,400 chips

While Bristow started as the short stack, he went on a mini-rush, winning 4 pots in a row and pushed his stack over 18,000 before we lost a player.

Travis lost a number of small pots, and was the first one out at the final table. He was all-in with A-J vs. Greg's 7-7. The flop came with an Ace, but it also had a 7, and Travis was out in ninth.

Barry Bonillo was next to go. He was in a blind vs. blind match up with Rick Thomas. On a 10-8-7 board, Bonillo was all-in with A-10. Thomas thought about it for a while, but finally called with J-J. The Jacks held, and Bonillo was out in eighth.

Spicy lost some pots, and the ever increasing blinds forced him to play all-in with Q-3. Bristow had K-9 in the blinds, and a K came to knock out Spicy in seventh.

Short stacked, Waiz also was forced to get all-in, but he had a strong hand with K-Q. Bristow had J-10 of hearts and called his all-in. The turn gave Bristow a straight draw and a flush draw, and the 7 of hearts on the river knocked out Waiz in sixth.

At 5, all players were in the money. Sanjit was short stacked for a while and continued to stave off elimination with well timed all-ins. Finally, however, he moved in with A-9 and was called by Aleks Campau with 9-9. The nines held, and Sanjit was out in fifth. He won $75 and 120 points in his third cash this year and ninth of his career.

Rick Thomas was now getting short stacked, and had 3,000 of his 5,000 left in the big blind. He woke up with 7-7, and called Bristow's raise with K-9. However, a King on the flop and another on the river gave Bristow the pot and knocked out Thomas in fourth. Rick won $96 and 145 points. It was Rick's first cash this year, and fourth of his career.

At three, Buhler and Bristow had large stacks, and both seemed content to stay out of each other's way. Ultimately, Aleks was forced to go all-in with A-3, and was called by Bristow with 8-8. The eights held, and we were down to 2. Aleks Campau earned $165 and 181 points in his first cash this year, and second of his career.

Starting heads up, Buhler held about a 3-1 chip lead on Bristow. However, Bristow won some small pots to get the chips almost even. With the blinds 2,000-4,000 (there was over 100,000 in chips in play), the action would go quickly. Bristow raised with A-8, and was called by Buhler with Q-10. The flop came 8 high, and Buhler checked. Bristow bet, and quickly calle d Buhler's check-raise all-in. The Ace on the turn gave the pot to Bristow, and a huge chip lead, with Buhler down to 7,000. However, he doubled up on the next hand, and Bristow folded 3 times in the blinds, and suddenly Buhler had over 30,000.

Buhler raised on the button with Q-9 suited, and then called the all-in from Bristow, who had 6-6. The sixes ultimately held, and Bristow had come back from being the final table short stack to winning the event.

Greg Buhler won $247 and 242 points in his 4th cash of the year, and 15th of his career. He also moved into a tie with Jim McDaniel for 3rd most cashes all-time.

Kevin Bristow won his 6th career title (including 3 majors). He won $343 and 379 points. It was his 27th career points finish and 22nd career cash.

Tim Waisner continues his stranglehold on the player of the year race, but now Bristow is only 234 behind, and Buhler only 327 behind. There are also a ton of players with a shot to make the TOC, where each of the top 8 are guaranteed a pay day.

Stay tuned for details on the next SPT event - to be held in June at Kevin's in Natomas.