In this tournament the big name players have bounties on their heads. If you knock out a named player you automatically receive a $5,000 bonus. Its great fun and it’s always a sold out field due to the casino size. 518 players put up $10,000 each and the winner took home $1.2 million.
As the final table began everyone was taking aim at poker superstars Joanne “JJ” Liu and Ted “Hitman” Forrest. The reigning WPT Ladies’ Night champ is set to become the first women to ever take down a WPT championship but the talented “Hitman” doesn’t want the history he just wants the millions in cold cash.
With math genius James Van Alystne and solid pro Bill Edler in the mix it was sure to be an action packed final table. When Ted Forrest was left off the list of bounties, most observers figured it as a snub, but as it turns out, Forrest turned down organizers' requests to put $5,000 on his head, figuring it would hamper his chances at victory.
Here are the chip counts at the begging of the final table:
Amir Shayesteh $2,192,000
Ted Forrest $1,967,000
Vincent Shaw $1,571,000
James Van Alstyne $1,085,000
J.J. Liu $1,009,000
Bill Edler $641,000
It ended up Ted Forrest and JJ Liu heads up and the final hand went as follows; Ted Forrest moved all in from the small blind and JJ Liu called in the big blind.
Ted Forrest 7c 7d
JJ Liu Ah 8h
The board fell Qd 5s 4d 4s 7s giving Ted Forrest a full house and the victory. Ted Forrest is the 2007 Bay 101 Shooting Star Champion. He won $1,125,000, JJ Liu's $5,000 bounty, and a $25,000 seat in the WPT championship. JJ Liu made $600,000 for her 2nd place.
The final positions and cashes were:
1st Ted Forrest - $1,125,000
2nd JJ Liu - $600,000
3rd Amir Shayesteh - $314,500
4th James Van Alstyne - $250,000
5th Vincent Shaw - $200,000
6th Bill Edler - $160,000
--Steven Eddleston
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