"Star light, star bright, if I bust you I receive five grand tonight."
That modified nursery rhyme basically sums up the theme of the
WPT's Bay 101 Shooting Star championship: bust one of the tournament's 50 selected "Shooting Star" players, and receive a $5,000 bounty.
On March 12, the bounty hunting began as a field of 209 gathered for day 1A of the 2007
Bay 101 Shooting Star. Along with the $5,000 rewards, the
Bay 101 Shooting Star also featured a $10,000 prize for the two players who finished as the day 1A and 1B chip leaders.
At 11:17 a.m. PDT, the first flight of Northern California's richest poker tournament kicked off with $25-$50 blinds and $20,000 stacks. Due to the bounty structure, each table started with at least one "marked" player, which, much to the delight of the larger-than-normal crowd of autograph hounds, resulted in a number of high-profile draws.
The bounty bubble popped shortly after the start of level two when John Hennigan's pocket sevens dropped to an opponent's quad sixes. Additional $5,000 rewards soon followed with the eliminations of Vanessa Rousso, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, and Tom McEvoy.
The first bounty to pick up a bounty occurred courtesy of Liz Lieu's bustout of David Pham. Despite the win, Lieu exited the
Bay 101 Shooting Star in post-dinner break play after her flush and gutshot straight draws missed against an opponent's top pair.
Making his customary late arrival, Phil Hellmuth took his seat nearly 20 minutes after Hennigan's elimination. "The Poker Brat," who spent most of play seated at the same table as Joe Sebok, lasted until the 10th level, and then became arguably the day's most "colorful" bustout. After moving all in with A-K and receiving a call from pocket aces, Hellmuth immediately walked off the tournament floor, and was in the Bay 101 parking lot by the time the dealer turned over the river card.
While Hellmuth generated buzz with his late arrival/early exit routine, David Williams garnered attention for his improbable leader board ascension. At one time down to $9,000, Williams scored numerous victories en route to amassing a top five chip stack.
During one hand, Williams called an $11,000 bet by Peter Feldman on a Q
10
7
4
board. A 2
river led to a $20,000 Feldman bet. Following a second call, Feldman insta-mucked, only to have Williams flip over K
J
- king high. Feldman, visibly upset, shook his head as Williams raked the pot.
At 11:07 p.m., following the completion of 10 one-hour levels, play concluded for day 1A of the 2007
Bay 101 Shooting Star championship.
The top five chip counts of the tournament's first flight are as follows:
1. David Williams - $188,900
2. Paul McCaffrey - $183,700
3. Andrew Soss - $175,000
4. Peter Feldman - $157,100
5. William Vo - $125,000
Williams, who passed McCaffrey during the final hands of play, earned $10,000 for finishing at the top of the leader board.
Other pros still in contention include Sean McCabe, J.C. Tran (Shooting Star), Joe Sebok, Bill Edler, Scotty Nguyen (Shooting Star), Allen Cunningham (Shooting Star), J.J. Liu (Shooting Star), Kenna James (Shooting Star), and defending champ Nam Le (Shooting Star).
Some notables who failed to advance were Shane Schleger, Amnon Filippi, Tuan Le, Alex Jacob, Devin Porter, Josh Arieh, and Gavin Smith.
Day 1B action begins at 11:15 a.m. PDT.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and daily recaps.
Quote of the Day: "If you give it to me now, you'll never get it back" - Paul McCaffrey on the $10,000 chip-leader prize envelope Tournament Director Matt Savage placed next to him with 30 minutes remaining in the day's final level.
