By all measures, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament was a rousing success. Attendance ballooned to 391 players in 2009, up 25 from 2008. Heads-up play came down to a recognizable WPT veteran, Steve Brecher, against one of the world’s top female pros, Kathy Liebert.
The final table, which began around 4:00pm local time, saw two eliminations in the first 11 hands. Chau Vu hit the exit in sixth place from the televised final table when he shoved with A-8, but ran into Tony Behari‘s pocket eights. The flop of K-J-10 gave Vu a gutshot straight draw, but an ace or queen did not hit on the turn or river and he was ousted in sixth place, $135,000 richer for his efforts. Three hands later, Thao Le‘s queens ran into Liebert’s aces. Le pushed on a board of 5-2-2-6, but found himself drawing to two outs despite holding an overpair to the board. Le’s fifth place effort was worth $180,000.
Play slowed down considerably due to the deeper stacks after two quick eliminations. In fact, Behari’s exit in fourth place did not occur until the 117th hand. Behari shoved with K-8 suited, but ran into Liebert’s pocket tens. The board ran out J-7-2-3-4 and Behari was sent packing in fourth place for $230,000. Chris Moore was sent into the San Jose night in third place in a hand that saw him raise to 125,000 pre-flop when he meant to make it 175,000. As a result, Brecher called with K-3 of diamonds and flopped a flush draw. The chips went into the middle after the 9-5-4 flop with two diamonds; Moore showed A-K for ace high. A diamond hit the river, giving Brecher a flush and sending Moore home $291,500 richer.
Heads-up play between Liebert and Brecher lasted over 50 hands, completing the 12 hour final table marathon. Brecher was the chip leader entering heads-up action and never relinquished. On the final hand, Brecher shoved for A-9 and Liebert called for her tournament life with Q-10 of spades. She flopped a flush draw, which failed to hit, giving Liebert second place for $550,000; Brecher took home $1.03 million.
Brecher told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded, “I always thought one of my problems in major tournament was stamina, but it wasn’t tonight. I was able to keep functioning.” On Liebert’s play heads-up, Brecher noted, “I think Kathy may have become demoralized after the bad beat. We got it all in with her A-K and my A-Q and I turned a straight. That was really the crucial hand of the final table.” The hand in question occurred on the 178th of final table play. Brecher was all in for his tournament life in the hand, which saw the flop come K-J-5. The turn was a 10, giving Brecher his straight. If Liebert’s Big Slick would have held up, she would have ousted Brecher in third place and held better than a 2:1 chip lead over Moore heads-up.
Here’s a look at the final paydays from the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament:
1st Place: Steve Brecher – $1,025,500
2nd Place: Kathy Liebert – $550,000
3rd Place: Chris Moore – $291,500
4th Place: Tony Behari – $230,000
5th Place: Thao Le – $180,000
6th Place: Chau Vu – $135,000
Liebert was the final Shooting Star remaining, one of 50 who originally took to the felts. As part of Liebert’s elimination, Brecher took home a $5,000 bounty plus an autographed t-shirt. Liebert reached her second WPT final table of Season VII, as she also took third in the North American Poker Championship back in October for $282,000, a tournament ultimately won by Glen Witmer.
Two tournaments remain for the WPT in Season VII, which airs on Fox Sports Net on Sunday nights:
Foxwoods Poker Classic: April 3rd to 8th, 2009
Foxwoods Resort Casino (Mashantucket, Connecticut)
WPT World Championship: April 18th to 25th, 2009
Bellagio (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT felts.
